NAD Orange Rocker 30

What's Hot
cm01cm01 Frets: 448
edited March 2021 in Amps
Had one years ago and sold it because I thought the clean channel wasn’t loud enough but remember the drive channel being fantastic.

So when one came up locally this week at a great price and with a WGS ET-65 speaker, I pounced on it.  Plugged it in and was a bit disappointed, it sounded a little harsh and bright to my ears.  A quick look at the valves revealed that they were the original Orange valves from 17 years ago!  Put a couple of old Brimar 12AX7’s in V1 & V2 and a Marshall in V3 and man does it sound good now!  Haven’t got any EL34’s, so the power valves will have to wait, but I’m happy with the way it sounds already - lovely tones that made me want to keep playing, so I’m well happy.
0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
«13

Comments

  • dave5150dave5150 Frets: 25
    I used to gig one of these a decade ago and recently I’ve been tempted to pick one up again. 
    Posts like this aren’t helping my GAS...!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • cm01cm01 Frets: 448
    edited March 2021
    I had to buy it because it was such a bargain - the equivalent of £350 with the WGS speaker ... I’ve had a bit more time to tinker with it and it really is fantastic.

    The clean channel takes pedals beautifully (and is louder than I remember, plenty loud enough to gig) and the drive channel sounds great no matter how much gain you dial in - I really like the drive channel channel on the edge of breakup, using the guitar’s volume to clean up and pushing it with pedals for driven sounds.  I’m going to try it with an extension cab I’ve got which has a Canabis Rex - I reckon it’ll sound great mixed with the WGS speaker.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    In my opinion these are the best-sounding modern Orange amp and one of the best of any amps. Even though the circuit is quite different, to me it captures the character of the old 70s Oranges well. I prefer the head version into a 2x12”, but the combo is fine, especially with a different speaker from the stock V30.

    The clean channel does take pedals brilliantly, especially heavy distortion and fuzz. The dirty channel loves clean boosts, overdrives and vintage fuzz.

    The guitarist in the band I play bass in uses one with about half a dozen different pedals from an MXR Micro Amp up to a Foxrox Octron and a Marshall Drivemaster and it sounds great with all of them. It’s the perfect volume for gigging with a reasonably loud drummer (and a bass player who loves fuzz ;) ) too.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • cm01cm01 Frets: 448
    edited March 2021
    It really is an underrated amp ... I might get a head cab made for it and use it with my 2x12, but I’m in no rush.

    I threw a load of drive pedals at it earlier - Barber Burn Unit, Sparkle Drive, Micro Amp, Mosky Silver Horse - and they all sounded great, had fun stacking them too... the clean channel sounded great with my ME-50 in front of it, with a bit of compression and noise gate and the RAT drive sounded so good I’ve just bought a Mosky RAT to try out! 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    And although it’s sometimes faulted for not having an FX loop, it doesn’t need one - even if you use the dirty channel, it’s not really high enough gain to be a problem with modulation and delay in front of the amp.

    The build quality is great too, I’ve never seen a single one with any fault other than a blown valve - even that’s rare since it doesn’t run them very hard - and it’s cathode-biased so replacing them is plug and play.

    I really have no idea why Orange discontinued it - or why values remain so low (although we should possibly keep quiet about that ;) ).

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBM said:
    And although it’s sometimes faulted for not having an FX loop, it doesn’t need one - even if you use the dirty channel, it’s not really high enough gain to be a problem with modulation and delay in front of the amp.

    The build quality is great too, I’ve never seen a single one with any fault other than a blown valve - even that’s rare since it doesn’t run them very hard - and it’s cathode-biased so replacing them is plug and play.

    I really have no idea why Orange discontinued it - or why values remain so low (although we should possibly keep quiet about that ;) ).

    Or you might be weird like me and love the lo fi gritty madness from delays and mods before distortion :smile: 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • wineredwinered Frets: 78
    Very pleased with mine. It's the head version. It sounds good with tubescreamers, OCD or a Fulldrive and I use a little reverb too. I like the clean channel but it did seem quieter than I expected. Maybe you just need to turn it right up.The dirt channel's great though. First twin channel amp I have had where I liked the dirty channel.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • russpmrusspm Frets: 436
    How does the 15 head Terror version compare?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    winered said:
    Very pleased with mine. It's the head version. It sounds good with tubescreamers, OCD or a Fulldrive and I use a little reverb too. I like the clean channel but it did seem quieter than I expected. Maybe you just need to turn it right up.The dirt channel's great though. First twin channel amp I have had where I liked the dirty channel.
    It’s not *really* a twin-channel amp - the only real channel is the overdrive one. The clean ‘channel’ is more of a power amp input with a single gain stage to make it suitable for guitar-level signals, which is why it seems quiet unless you turn it up full and/or put a loud pedal in front of it.

    russpm said:
    How does the 15 head Terror version compare?
    It’s pretty good, but it doesn’t quite have the bottom end and punch of the 30. The low-volume settings are very useful at home though. My guitarist friend had the Brent Hinds version as a backup/alternative for a while - it did record very well, but didn’t quite cut it with the band in a room even through the same 2x12”.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • cm01cm01 Frets: 448
    Quick technical question - the speaker in my combo is 16ohm - in terms of extension cabs, I know you’re supposed to plug another 16ohm cab and use the two 8ohm outs - my extension cab is 8ohm, would it damage the amp if I used that (along with the combo’s 16ohm speaker) or do I need to get hold of a 16ohm speaker? 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • cm01cm01 Frets: 448
    winered said:
    I like the clean channel but it did seem quieter than I expected. Maybe you just need to turn it right up.
    The clean channel on the head I had previously was way quieter than the dirty channel, but on this new combo the imbalance is nowhere near as bad ... the guy I bought it off said it was the first version of the amp with different transformers, so that might have something to do with it?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    edited March 2021
    cm01 said:
    Quick technical question - the speaker in my combo is 16ohm - in terms of extension cabs, I know you’re supposed to plug another 16ohm cab and use the two 8ohm outs - my extension cab is 8ohm, would it damage the amp if I used that (along with the combo’s 16ohm speaker) or do I need to get hold of a 16ohm speaker? 
    It's fine, with both of them run from the 8-ohm outputs - that gives a total load of 5.33 ohms, which is within the usual 2:1 safe mismatch range. 2/3 of the power will go to the extension cab so it needs to be at least 20W rated. (Or preferably 25-30W).

    cm01 said:

    The clean channel on the head I had previously was way quieter than the dirty channel, but on this new combo the imbalance is nowhere near as bad ... the guy I bought it off said it was the first version of the amp with different transformers, so that might have something to do with it?
    No, although the valves could have.

    I'm not aware there were any differences in the transformers either, I think that's just seller-BS.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • cm01cm01 Frets: 448
    Great stuff, thanks for that, much appreciated!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • dave5150dave5150 Frets: 25
    Despite gigging one for years, I really can’t remember what it sounded like. 
    Is it anywhere near any of the three main stables of amp (V/M/F)?
    Knowing that it takes pedals well, I wish I’d had the pedals then that I have now!!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    dave5150 said:

    Is it anywhere near any of the three main stables of amp (V/M/F)?
    Of the three, closer to Marshall - but really, it's an Orange with slight Marshall characteristics.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • dave5150dave5150 Frets: 25
    Thanks! My next purchase was going to be something plexi-ish to pair with an AC but maybe I should pick one of these up instead...
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • chrisj1602chrisj1602 Frets: 3889
    I loved my Rocker 30 Combo, gigged it for 5-6 years straight, and made a big mistake selling it. Depending on the gig, I sometimes sat it on top of an Orange 1x12, sounded fantastic.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • McTootMcToot Frets: 2041
    God damn this forum and its GAS-inducing information. 

    Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder


    My trading feedback  - I'm a good egg  ;) 

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • riffpowersriffpowers Frets: 344
    I want one. 
    I had one but I should’ve spent more time with it . Sold it cos it was last in and I needed the cash. I used a mates r30 combo quite a bit and the thing I didn’t like about it was likely the speaker. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • McTootMcToot Frets: 2041
    I've found a well-priced combo (in my preferred black livery) 'near' me. I say near - it's about 75 miles and 1hr:45 away. I fear that the government's stay at home order well put the kibosh on that even if we are now allowed to nip out and exercise with one other person... 

    Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder


    My trading feedback  - I'm a good egg  ;) 

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.