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The new Orange Tiny Terror ventures into
the review chamber this month. From the
company that is synonymous with British
voiced tube tone comes a new class “A”
all-tube mini amp. Packing a lot of punch in
a small pouch, the Tiny Terror is the latest
brainchild of Orange Senior Designer,
Adrian Emsley. The company claims that it
has been able to squeeze every drop of
that signature Orange tone into the Tiny
Terror, providing guitarists with an affordable
alternative to the company’s higherpriced
models. Sounds like a great idea to
me, so lets grab a six pack and start terrorizing,
Orange style.
No Bigger Than A Lunchbox
They say it’s not the size of the dog in the
fight, but rather the size of the fight in the
dog. Obviously this was the theory behind
the design of the Tiny Terror. Literally no
bigger than a lunch box, the Tiny Terror
measures just 6” high, 5” deep and 1 foot
long, and weighs in at just over 12 lbs. It
features a cool, retro-looking white metal
chassis with vented top plate, and the traditional
orange logo and insignia.
There are front panel controls for volume,
mini tone knob and gain, two rocker-style
toggle switches for on-off-stand by and
switching the output from 7 to 15 watts, and
one 1/4” input, that’s all! Rear panel features
are much the same, providing three 1/4”
outputs, two rated for 8 ohms and one 16
ohm output. There’s also an 115v VAC power
input and a 250mA recessed fuse housing,
but that’s it. The Tiny Terror was designed to
simply connect a speaker cab, allow you to
plug your guitar in and start throwin’ down.
No complicated programming or confusing
menus to scroll through. Guitar to amp to
speaker; you get the idea.
Inventing Terror
The Tiny Terror utilizes class A valve technology
with a 100% analog signal path that
eliminates any and all digital clipping output
characteristics. Driven by a pair of EL84
power valves and a front end that utilizes
a duct of 12AX7 preamp valves. Switchable
from 7 to 15 watts of output, Orange
designers have designed the gain structure
of the Tiny Terror to work in a very unique
way; utilizing a dual gang gain pot, one
side turns up the first gain stage to the
point of very heavy compression, while the
other side changes the impedance of the
second gain stage so that it to compresses
to the same degree.
It utilizes a five section fully filmed interleaved
output transformer that is very
closely balanced to primary. The EL84
output tubes are cathode biased to
around 90% in the 15w position, and 96%
in the 7w position. In short, the Tiny
Terror is designed to produce as much
gain as a four stage gain pot, but the output
tubes are driven evenly all the way
through. The tone control is also designed
in a unique way, where the tone circuit is
not on the preamp side, but actually part
of the phase inverter (power amp) so the
gain structure of the amp is unaffected by
the tone control.
Raising the Terror Alert
For testing purposes, I utilized two different
cabs: an older Marshall (1966B) 2x12 cab
with stock 75w Celestions, as well as a
Marshall (1960B) 4x12 cab, loaded with
Celestion Vintage 30s. From the guitar
garage, a Les Paul Limited recently
acquired at the Arlington Guitar Show and a
mid ‘90s photo flame Telecaster were put
into service.
The setup was literally the extent of plugging
in three chords: power, speaker input,
and instrument input. Before you know it,
you’re ready to rock. After all, the tried and
true technique of “straight into the amp” is
the source of the purest tone.
My first test was with the Telecaster. Using
the 15w output setting, volume on seven,
tone on eight and gain on three, the
Telecaster sounded like a telecaster should
after consuming a six pack of Red Bull. It
was big, fat and ballsy, while still retaining
an articulate high-end sparkle, supplying
enough of the “twang thang” that we all
love. I really appreciated clean tones that
produce a fair amount of tube compression
saturation. Though the tone is still clean
and distinguishable, it’s got some nuts to it.
In experimenting with increasing the gain
characteristics, the Tele really started to roar
with the gain on six and reducing the main
output to four. Don’t be fooled, fellow tone
chasers, this is a loud 15 watts, and more
than enough for most clubs. By engaging
the 7 watt switch (lowering the plate on
the power transformer), it was way cool
to run the master on ten, tone on ten and
gain on two. This provides a very nice
power valve compression that is silky and
smooth and breathes, all at a very comfortable
output level that would be very
desirable for recording.
With a quick change over to the 4x12
Marshall cab, and the new love of my life, a
Les Paul Limited with an insane flametop in
Santa Fe Sunrise (I had to throw that in), I
am ready to let the rubber hit the road. Try
setting the gain on six and the tone and
volume on ten in the 15w mode, and the
Tiny Terror transforms into a giant beast.
Angus Young lives in this tone. Don’t let the
small size fool you; the Tiny Terror is capable
of producing a huge overdriven tone
with an incredible amount of gain. It was
pleasantly surprising, as I did not expect
this amount of gain.With sustain forever,
the Les Paul sings in this mode.
The Tiny Terror still retains that trademarked
vintage-voiced Orange tone, but adds
enough gain to satisfy hard rockers. I really
dig a tube amp when the tubes heat up to
the point you can smell them. Oooh, oooh,
that smell, the smell of tone surrounds you.
You can tell the amp is biased a little hot,
and that’s the smell of Tiny Terror.
The Final Mojo
Upside
The Tiny Terror is 100% indicative of what its
name implies. It’s both tiny and a terror,
class A style. Refreshingly simplistic and
straight forward in finding a tone suitable for
any style of playing, from highly compressed
clean tones to an incredible vintage-voiced
British overdrive, the Tiny Terror is a bad
motor scooter. Great for recording and yes,
more than enough for live gigs. Don’t let the
size fool you, because in this case, size
doesn’t matter. The Tiny Terror will kick your
ass, but at a list price of $699 and a street
price of $549, complete with custom form-fit
padded case, the Tiny Terror will save your
ears, your back and your wallet.
Downside
An effects loop would be a welcomed
feature, but would understandably drive
up the price.
Rating: Golden M
Orange USA
MSRP $699.00
2065 Peachtree Industrial Court
Suite 208
Atlanta, GA 30341
404-303-8196
www.orangeamps.com
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