Ratings
Pros: Easy to dial in great tones. switches for halving power and number of active power tubes increase versatility. overdrive channel combines classic orange fuzziness and modern punch.
Cons: Shape control on the overdrive channel can add raspiness.
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Street: $1,499
orangeamps.com
The dual-channel TH100 is a lesson in brutal simplicity that hearkens back to Orange’s golden era of no-nonsense designs with immense power. Four EL34s generate 100 watts, but the front-panel half-power switch and a rear-panel switch that pares the tube array down to just two let you reduce it to 70, 50, or 35 watts.
The preamp has four 12AX7 tubes, and the clean channel has bass, treble, and volume knobs, while the dirty channel is governed by gain, volume, and shape (EQ) knobs. A series effects loop and channel footswitching round out the amp’s features.
The TH100’s huge-sounding clean channel won’t disappoint those who relish the bottom-heavy cleans and velvety highs of the classic OR120 amp from the early ’70s. With the amp set at full power and with all four power tubes in play, the enormous headroom makes it challenging to generate any real distortion—even with high-output humbuckers. And it’s ideal if you like loud clean passages or use pedals to lend color. Setting the amp to use just two output tubes softens the low end significantly, and setting it to half power and cranking the volume up halfway yields a smooth, rich overdrive with a humbucker-loaded Les Paul out front.
The amp’s overdrive channel dispenses mammoth-sized distortion that can be tailored to a wide range of rock and metal tones. The slight tinge of upper-mid fuzziness that’s a hallmark of Orange amps is there, but even in extreme gain settings, it never gets too overbearing. Small adjustments of the shape control can have a big effect on the presence, mids, and highs, and the knob is particularly useful for dialing back the intensity of all three for refined modern metal tones.
Setting the shape above 2 o’clock when using brighter-toned humbuckers can make the highs piercing, so it’s best to start at about noon and use it conservatively from there. That said, the TH100’s spartan control layout makes it really hard to get a bad sound out of the amp, and its copious headroom and blistering gain channel make it a no-brainer for players who crave house-leveling Orange grit and power, yet like a classic clean tone in the mix too.
Watch Ola Englund demo the amp:
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Ratings
Pros: Incredible note separation. clean tones with humbuckers sound surprisingly clear. Drive channels have a perfect balance of girth, punch, detail, and cut.
Cons: Channels 2 and 3 share an EQ section. Expensive.
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Street: $2,999
diezel.typo3.inpublica.de
The Diezel D-Moll is a 100-watt powerhouse that delivers crystal clean tones and smoldering overdrive from six ECC83 preamp tubes and a quartet of KT77 power tubes. Each of the three channels—clean, crunch, and lead—has dedicated gain and channel volumes. The clean channel uses a dedicated 3-band EQ, while the crunch and lead channels share a 3-band EQ.
Diezel also threw in their highly regarded variable mid-cut circuit, along with two master controls, a series/parallel effects loop, and a pair of presence and deep knobs for tweaking the highs and lows. The amp’s channel-switching, midcut, effects loop, and muting functions can be activated from the front panel, a standalone MIDI controller, or Diezel’s own Columbus footswitch.
Diezel amps have always been known for refined tone and smooth response, and the D-Moll does not disappoint on either count. The clean channel does a bang-up job at delivering massive body and warmth from the dark-toned humbuckers in a Les Paul, but also adds a beautiful piano-like chime in the upper mids and highs. Few high-gain amps have clean tones on par with a great Fender or Vox, but the D-Moll’s exquisite clarity could easily bump it onto that exclusive list.
Channel 2 delivers the smooth and highly detailed overdrive that the third channel from Diezel’s VH4 made famous, but with spongier lows and a more rounded top end. Both single notes and riffs have monstrous body, and the midcut circuit yanks back the low mids for supremely vicious metal tones.
The third channel has considerably more gain than the second, but except for a stronger upper-mid focus, their voices aren’t that different, and channel 3’s fluid lead tones are a perfect compliment to channel 2’s ripping onslaught.
The ferocious nature of the D-Moll’s overdrive makes it pretty intimidating, But it’s the remarkable note separation, midrange detail (which is present across the entire gain range), and refinement at even high-gain settings that make the amp truly special in its class.
Watch Ola Englund demo the amp:
See more Monsters of High Gain 2013 reviews and videos: