Orange Amplification is one of the world's most iconic amp builders. Their circuits have powered the work of musicians across genres, from Peter Green and James Brown to Mastodon. And from the very company's very first amp, Orange has always deftly combined style, tone versatility and innovation. But aside from a few short-lived experiments with digital amplifiers in the mid 1970s, the company has remained resolutely dedicated to the power of the vacuum tube. With the OPC, which is as much a desktop computer as a guitar amp, Orange is venturing beyond their time-tested template for success—creating a tool that gives players the power to practice, record, and create from a portable, combo-sized box that still beams with bold and striking Orange style.
A Geek in Rock 'n'Roll Threads
There's little clue that the OPC is anything other than another cool-looking Orange amp at a distance. Like most other Orange products, the presentation is immaculate and features their signature orange vinyl, wicker grille, and iconic crest & logo. The controls on the top of the amp look like typical guitar amp fixtures too—there's a Volume control, Treble, Middle, Bass, an orange jewel light, two ¼" input jacks and a power button. It's important to note that the knobs control the signal between the computer output and the internal speakers; they do not control the signal routed into the computer. Also on the top-side control panel is But there is also a slot for a CD/DVD drive and a USB jack on the top control panel. One of the ¼" input jacks is a guitar input, the other has two mini-switches that toggle instrument/mic impedance and +20dB boost. A retractable Wi-Fi antenna stows away from the top panel.
On the back of the unit you'll see a lot of typical PC connections as well as some additional audio in/outs including optical S/PDIF Out, digital S/PDIF Out, integrated audio outputs for 5.1 and 7.1 setups, and integrated mic & line inputs. There's two additional ¼" line inputs allowing you to wire in keyboards or rack effects, for instance, and two ¼" line outputs for connecting to studio reference monitors. The right channel line output also doubles as a stereo headphone output.
The OPC is built around an Intel i3 3.10 GHz dual core CPU running 64-bit Windows 7 with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive. And it comes loaded with PreSonus Studio One recording software, Acoustica Mixcraft 5 multi-track/midi software and IK Multimedia's AmpliTube emulations software.
There are a multitude of data connections for interfacing with peripheral devices as well, including eSATA, two HDMI outs, VGA out, Ethernet, and seven USB ports, two of which are USB 3.0 capable. Stock graphics are handled by the motherboard however, the OPC allows you to install a graphics upgrade into a PCI Express x16 slot. If this all looks like hieroglyphs, rest assured that the connectivity options will allow you to connect just about any peripheral device, with the exception of Firewire
While a traditional guitar amp uses guitar speakers to color the sound of an amplified signal, the onboard software in the OPC emulates the entire signal chain, from the amp, to the cab, to the mics, all the way down to their placement around the emulated cab. For this reason, the OPC uses two two-way 165mm JBL GTO6528S speakers full range speakers, which are not intended to color the sound but—like studio reference monitors—project a flattened, source-accurate frequency response.
Future Sounds
After connecting the OPC to my own monitor, I hooked up the included keyboard, mouse and power, powered up the ultra-quiet unit and plugged my Fender Stratocaster into input 1. Once Windows 7 was running I opened AmpliTube 3 software and immediately heard my processed signal through the OPCs internal speakers. Getting up and running is about as effortless as turning on any normal amplifier, and players otherwise intimidated by using a computer interface will dig how streamlined the process of plugging in and making music is.
The OPC does not get very loud. In fact, at medium room volumes the full-range speakers begin to overload under the pressure, and, since the speakers are not designed with breakup in mind, the results can be less than pleasing. I definitely had enough headroom to practice by myself or with another guitarist, and when the unit is operating within its capabilities it delivers the emulated tones effectively. This is not an amp that you'll use with a big, loud band, though I definitely had enough headroom to practice by myself or with another guitarist. But the OPC interacts with the player much differently than a regular amplifier. The full-range speakers and emulators together limit the ability to create nice musical feedback. And instead you'll often get shrill, almost microphone-like feedback rather than the sweet singing stuff you'd hear from say an overdriven Orange stack.
AmpliTube is, of course, one of the best-known emulators on the market. And it offers a wide array of amp, cab, and stompbox simulations as well as countless routing capabilities that enable preset storage, gating, looping, and tuning among myriad other functions. The possibilities are nearly endless. There's also very little of the latency that's common in any computer-based emulation/recording system, and response feels essentially immediate on the OPC. Earlier this year Tiago Della Vega, the world's fastest guitar player according to Guiness World Records, broke his own speed record by nailing 'Flight of the Bumblebee' at 340 bpm on an Orange OPC, which should clear up any doubts about latency.
In addition to emulations of around two dozen popular amp models, this version of AmpliTube features exclusive emulations of five Orange amplifiers—OR120, Tiny Terror, Rockerverb 50, AD 30, and Thunderverb—and the emulations are fantastic. You can get the sound of high-gain amplifiers blasting with the punch and clarity as if they were recorded in a world-class studio and sparkling-clean amp tones replete with delicious spring reverb emulations. Amp models include most of the more ubiquitous classic and neo-classic amplifiers—enough to cover just about every style of music. There is a modern hi-gain Dual Rectifer-style modeler, several Marshall-like models, Blackface and Silverface Fender styles, and a JC120 clone, to name a few. There are around 50 stompbox effects too and an assortment of popular and unusual speaker cabinet models, microphone models, and rack effects.
For me, one of the key advantages to AmpliTube, and any modeling software, is the amazing versatility. The number of possible rigs you can create is only limited by your own time and creativity. With my Gibson SG wired into the machine I was able to churn out thick, shredding staccato metal riffs, yet I was only a click away from the edgy, dynamic punch of a vintage Marshall or the beefy warmth of a classic Fender. While the input controls on the top of the OPC do not interact with the software, the controls on your guitar do. Simply adjust the input level within AmpliTube using the lighted input meter so your signal is coming in clear, then, as you back off your guitar's level knob, the modeler's preamp responds with a cleaner, more sedated tone, and vice versa. Switching pickups will produce tone changes that you've come to know and appreciate in your trusted axe—with my Gibson SG that translates to thick & punchy in the neck, and cutting & mid-rangy in the bridge. Since these types of control changes are outside of the digital environment, even subtle tweaks sound completely seamless. And I'd venture that in an A/B test of a song mixed with these emulations against one recoded and mixed with real tube amplifiers would leave most listeners stumped.
Inclusion of PreSonus' flagship multi-track recording software, Studio One, is another strength of the OPC. The platform allows you to route, record, and arrange audio within the multi-track environment, and it's a comparatively straightforward alternative to some of the more complicated recording environments considered industry standards. The software features MIDI tracking that enables you to create arrangements that can be played back by software instruments that include basses, organs, pianos, synths and samplers. In my opinion, the most impressive and important instrument is a third-party plug in called EzDrummer by Toontrack, which features an enormous bank of high quality drum samples that allows you to create realistic drum tracks for backing up your riffs. Players more accustomed to Acoustica's popular Mixcraft 5 multi track/MIDI software can also opt to use that very capable platform as an alternative to the PreSonus package.
The Verdict
The Orange OPC can be everything from a totally badass gaming machine to the ultimate practice amp to a robust recording studio—which makes it a qualifier for the most versatile amp on Earth. Players who are familiar with the integration of computers into their own studio/practice rig may wonder why someone would put a computer interface into a combo amp case. But the portable, plug-and-play nature of the system makes it easy for players to experiment with computers and emulators. And in that sense the OPC can offer up whole worlds of compositional and arrangement possibilities to players that might otherwise be turned off by creating in in-the-box tools.
Software guitar amp emulators have come a long way in the last 10 years and the OPC is built around some of the best advancements. But the same march of technological evolution that makes the OPC possible might be its greatest enemy. Though you are able to upgrade software, and open the OPC to upgrade certain parts, the hardware will eventually grow outdated like an y PC. But if you're itching to explore software emulators and venture into recording without the hassle and expense of a full digital audio workstation, the OPC could be the perfect solution. And it looks a lot cooler than a computer too.
Buy if...
you want a supremely versatile modeling amp with a fully capable recording suite built-in in a portable and stylish package.
Skip if...
you work primarily from a single, full-featured digital audio workstation
Rating...
MSRP $1499 - Orange - orangeamps.com |
LR Baggs Session DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp / DI
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For the first time in the band’s history, the Dawes lineup for Oh Brother consisted of just Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith (left and right).
Goldsmith’s lyrics spoke to me the loudest, with lines like “Well, you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks / Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it’s starin’ right back” (a casual Nietzsche paraphrase); and “Oh, the snowfall this time of year / It’s not what Birmingham is used to / I get the feeling that I brought it here / And now I’m taking it away.” The way his words painted a portrait of the sincere, sentimental man behind them, along with his cozy, unassuming guitar work and the band’s four-part harmonies, had me hooked.
Nothing Is Wrong and Stories Don’t End came next, and I happily gobbled up more folksy fodder in tracks like “If I Wanted,” “Most People,” and “From a Window Seat.” But 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albumschart, didn’t land with me, and by the time 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die was released, it was clear that Goldsmith had shifted thematically in his writing. A friend drew a thoughtful Warren Zevon comparison to the single, “When the Tequila Runs Out”—a commentary on vapid, conceited, American-socialite party culture—but it still didn’t really do it for me. I fell off the Dawes train a bit, and became somewhat oblivious to their three full-lengths that followed.
Oh Brotheris Goldsmith’s latest addition to the Dawes songbook, and I’m grateful to say that it’s brought me back. After having done some catching up, I’d posit that it’s the second work in the third act, or fall season, of his songwriting—where 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscrollercracked open the door, Oh Brother swings it wide. And it doesn’t have much more than Dawes’ meat and potatoes, per se, in common with acts one or two. Some moodiness has stayed—as well as societal disgruntlement and the arrangement elements that first had me intoxicated. But then there’s the 7/4 section in the middle of “Front Row Seat”; the gently unwinding, quiet, intimate jazz-club feel of “Surprise!”; the experimentally percussive, soft-spoken “Enough Already”; and the unexpected, dare I say, Danny Elfman-esque harmonic twists and turns in the closing track, “Hilarity Ensues.”
The main engine behind Dawes, the Goldsmith brothers are both native “Angelinos,” having been born and raised in the L.A. area. Taylor is still proud to call the city his home.
Photo by Jon Chu
“I have this working hypothesis that who you are as a songwriter through the years is pretty close to who you are in a dinner conversation,” Goldsmith tells me in an interview, as I ask him about that thematic shift. “When I was 23, if I was invited to dinner with grownups [laughs], or just friends or whatever, and they say, ‘How you doin’, Taylor?’ I probably wouldn’t think twice to be like, ‘I’m not that good. There’s this girl, and … I don’t know where things are at—can I share this with you? Is that okay?’ I would just go in in a way that’s fairly indiscreet! And I’m grateful to that version of me, especially as a writer, because that’s what I wanted to hear, so that’s what I was making at the time.
“But then as I got older, it became, ‘Oh, maybe that’s not an appropriate way to answer the question of how I’m doing.’ Or, ‘Maybe I’ve spent enough years thinking about me! What does it feel like to turn the lens around?’” he continues, naming Elvis Costello and Paul Simon as inspirations along the way through that self-evolution. “Also, trying to be mindful of—I had strengths then that I don’t have now, but I have strengths now that I didn’t have then. And now it’s time to celebrate those. Even in just a physical way, like hearing Frank Zappa talking about how his agility as a guitar player was waning as he got older. It’s like, that just means that you showcase different aspects of your skills.
“I am a changing person. It would be weird if I was still writing the same way I was when I was 23. There would probably be some weird implications there as to who I’d be becoming as a human [laughs].”
Taylor Goldsmith considers Oh Brother, the ninth full-length in Dawes’ catalog, to be the beginning of a new phase of Dawes, containing some of his most unfiltered, unedited songwriting.
Since its inception, the engine behind Dawes has been the brothers Goldsmith, with Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums and sometimes vocal harmonies. But they’ve always had consistent backup. For the first several years, that was Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards. On We’re All Gonna Die, Lee Pardini replaced Strathairn and has been with the band since. Oh Brother, however, marks the departure of Gelber and Pardini.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is an intense time; this is a vulnerable time,’” remarks Goldsmith, who says that their parting was supportive and loving, but still rocked him and Griffin. “You get a glimpse of your vulnerability in a way that you haven’t felt in a long time when things are just up and running. For a second there, we’re like, ‘We’re getting a little rattled—how do we survive this?’”
They decided to pair up with producer Mike Viola, a close family friend, who has also worked with Mandy Moore—Taylor’s spouse—along with Panic! At the Disco, Andrew Bird, and Jenny Lewis. “[We knew that] he understands all of the parameters of that raw state. And, you know, I always show Mike my songs, so he was aware of what we had cookin’,” says Goldsmith.
Griffin stayed behind the kit, but Taylor took over on bass and keys, the latter of which he has more experience with than he’s displayed on past releases. “We’ve made records where it’s very tempting to appeal to your strengths, where it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this, I’m just gonna nail it,’” he says. “Then there’s records that we make where we really push ourselves into territories where we aren’t comfortable. That contributed to [Misadventures of Doomscroller] feeling like a living, breathing thing—very reactive, very urgent, very aware. We were paying very close attention. And I would say the same goes for this.”
That new terrain, says Goldsmith, “forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do. I’m really excited in that sense, because it’s like this is the first album of a new phase.”
“That forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do.”
In proper folk (or even folk-rock) tradition, the music of Dawes isn’t exactly riddled with guitar solos, but that’s not to say that Goldsmith doesn’t show off his chops when the timing is right. Just listen to the languid, fluent lick on “Surprise!”, the shamelessly prog-inspired riff in the bridge of “Front Row Seat,” and the tactful, articulate line that threads through “Enough Already.” Goldsmith has a strong, individual sense of phrasing, where his improvised melodies can be just as biting as his catalog’s occasional lyrical jabs at presumably toxic ex-girlfriends, and just as melancholy as his self-reflective metaphors, all the while without drawing too much attention to himself over the song.
Of course, most of our conversation revolves around songwriting, as that’s the craft that’s the truest and closest to his identity. “There’s an openness, a goofiness—I even struggle to say it now, but—an earnestness that goes along with who I am, not only as a writer but as a person,” Goldsmith elaborates. “And I think it’s important that those two things reflect one another. ’Cause when you meet someone and they don’t, I get a little bit weirded out, like, ‘What have I been listening to? Are you lying to me?’” he says with a smile.
Taylor Goldsmith's Gear
Pictured here performing live in 2014, Taylor Goldsmith has been the primary songwriter for all of Dawes' records, beginning with 2009’s North Hills.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Gibson ES-345
- Radocaster (made by Wylie Gelber)
Amps
- ’64 Fender Deluxe
- Matchless Laurel Canyon
Effects
- 29 Pedals EUNA
- Jackson Audio Bloom
- Ibanez Tube Screamer with Keeley mod
- Vintage Boss Chorus
- Vintage Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
Strings
- Ernie Ball .010s
In Goldsmith’s songwriting process, he explains that he’s learned to lean away from the inclination towards perfectionism. Paraphrasing something he heard Father John Misty share about Leonard Cohen, he says, “People think you’re cultivating these songs, or, ‘I wouldn’t deign to write something that’s beneath me,’ but the reality is, ‘I’m a rat, and I’ll take whatever I can possibly get, and then I’ll just try to get the best of it.’
“Ever since Misadventures of Doomscroller,” he adds, “I’ve enjoyed this quality of, rather than try to be a minimalist, I want to be a maximalist. I want to see how much a song can handle.” For the songs on Oh Brother, that meant that he decided to continue adding “more observations within the universe” of “Surprise!”, ultimately writing six verses. A similar approach to “King of the Never-Wills,” a ballad about a character suffering from alcoholism, resulted in four verses.
“The economy of songwriting that we’re all taught would buck that,” says Goldsmith. “It would insist that I only keep the very best and shed something that isn’t as good. But I’m not going to think economically. I’m not going to think, ‘Is this self-indulgent?’
Goldsmith’s songwriting has shifted thematically over the years, from more personal, introspective expression to more social commentary and, at times, even satire, in songs like We’re All Gonna Die’s “When the Tequila Runs Out.”
Photo by Mike White
“I don’t abide that term being applied to music. Because if there’s a concern about self-indulgence, then you’d have to dismiss all of jazz. All of it. You’d have to dismiss so many of my most favorite songs. Because in a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.” (He elaborates that, if Bob Dylan had trimmed back any of the verses on “Desolation Row,” it would have deprived him of the unique experience it creates for him when he listens to it.)
One of the joys of speaking with Goldsmith is just listening to his thought processes. When I ask him a question, he seems compelled to share every backstory to every detail that’s going through his head, in an effort to both do his insights justice and to generously provide me with the most complete answer. That makes him a bit verbose, but not in a bad way, because he never rambles. There is an endpoint to his thoughts. When he’s done, however, it takes me a second to realize that it’s then my turn to speak.
To his point on artistic self-indulgence, I offer that there’s no need for artists to feel “icky” about self-promotion—that to promote your art is to celebrate it, and to create a shared experience with your audience.
“I hear what you’re saying loud and clear; I couldn’t agree more,” Goldsmith replies. “But I also try to be mindful of this when I’m writing, like if I’m going to drag you through the mud of, ‘She left today, she’s not coming back, I’m a piece of shit, what’s wrong with me, the end’.... That might be relatable, that might evoke a response, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily helpful … other than dragging someone else through the shit with me.
“In a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.”
“So, if I’m going to share, I want there to be something to offer, something that feels like: ‘Here’s a path that’s helped me through this, or here’s an observation that has changed how I see this particular experience.’ It’s so hard to delineate between the two, but I feel like there is a difference.”
Naming the opening track “Mister Los Angeles,” “King of the Never-Wills,” and even the title track to his 2015 chart-topper, “All Your Favorite Bands,” he remarks, “I wouldn’t call these songs ‘cool.’ Like, when I hear what cool music is, I wouldn’t put those songs next to them [laughs]. But maybe this record was my strongest dose of just letting me be me, and recognizing what that essence is rather than trying to force out certain aspects of who I am, and force in certain aspects of what I’m not. I think a big part of writing these songs was just self-acceptance,” he concludes, laughing, “and just a whole lot of fishing.”
YouTube It
Led by Goldsmith, Dawes infuses more rock power into their folk sound live at the Los Angeles Ace Hotel in 2023.
