DUY has announced the release some of their best-known plug-ins for VST Windows users. In this first stage, these are the plug-ins available for VST-Windows: DUY DaD Tape DUY DaD Valve DUY Wide DUY… [Read More]
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DUY releases Windows VST versions of 6 plug-ins: DaD Tape, DaD Valve, Wide, Shape, Max DUY and Z-Room
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Orange TH30 Combo
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Something’s happening in the boardrooms of amp-builders everywhere. Years of chiropractic bills and hearing tests have taken their toll, spurring designers into coming up with smaller, quieter valve-driven amps that are still up to the rigours of today’s gigging circuit.
Small valve amps are nothing new, but Orange has helped revive this idea over the last couple of years with its Tiny/Dual Terror and Rocker 30 models. Its latest offering, the TH30 (available as a head or combo) has important tweaks.
“The TH30 fills a different space. It’d be a disservice to view this purely as a hard rock oriented amp.”
Orange’s Damon Waller gives us the juicy details: “The idea was to deliver something on a similar playing field to the Rocker 30, but also deliver some extra features. It’s got the same valve-driven effects loop as the Rockerverb 50 MKII, and a proper clean channel with EQ.”
Sounds good for clean players, but what’s in there for fans of Orange’s heavier artists, like Slipknot and Gallows?
“We’ve also added an extra gain stage into the Dirty channel,” says Damon, pleasing the gain freaks among us. “It’s the dirtiest channel on any amp we have.”
The amp is powered by four EL84 power valves and is switchable to 15 or seven watts for situations that require less headroom. The preamp contains four ECC83 valves, and there’s an ECC81 on the effects loop.
The clean channel has a single master volume with two-band EQ, while Dirty offers gain, Orange’s Shape tone control and a master volume. The combo’s 1×12-inch Celestion G12H speaker completes the package.
Start with the clean channel in full power mode and you give the EL84s maximum headroom for the cleanest sounds. By adjusting the volume and output power settings of the amp, combined with your guitar’s volume control, you’ll unlock an extremely versatile set of tones, from clean to slightly driven sounds that work for indie/Americana, blues and classic rock while delivering the characteristic chime of EL84s.
Onto the Dirty channel and Orange ain’t messing about. It’s awash with tons of gain, and the Shape control sweeps the tone from a wide open, mid-rich rock sound to a tight, scooped modern metal voicing.
There’s some blinding competition, granted, but the TH30, in its portable format, fills a different space. It would be a disservice to view it purely as a hard rock orientated amp; those EL84s provide sweet clean, crunch and distorted sounds. Some may be put off by the seemingly basic controls at first, but just wait ’til you plug in…
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Orange TH30 Combo
Indie Guitars Shape Doublecut Semi-hollow
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
We have been consistently impressed by Indie’s quirky designs and competitive prices. This Shape semi-acoustic guitar sees the company moving upmarket, without losing its value-for-money ethos and emphasis on original design.
Its solid mahogany sustain block and genuine flame maple top give the guitar the extra resonance of a hollow design and the power of a solid body. Combine this with hardware from TonePros and Grover, and the Indie stands tall in the mid-range guitar market.
Indie has easily done enough in terms of specification and build quality to justify the price of the Shape; it continues to impress with its satin finish, and there are no rough edges to be found – even the inside of the f-hole is tidily painted.
“Indie has easily done enough in terms of spec and build quality to justify the price of the Shape.”
The recessed controls, well applied binding and flame finish all smack of a high-end instrument. Although Indie’s doublecut body shape is original, it does remind us slightly of Fender’s much-missed Starcaster, the ’80s axe beloved of Radiohead and The Killers.
Semi-hollow bodies like this are used by guitarists as diverse as bluesman BB King, Britpop wonder Noel Gallagher, G’N'R’s Izzy Stradlin and loincloth toting rocker Ted Nugent.
This list is a good indication of the styles the Shape feels at home in, with its big, fat and sometimes swampy tone providing extra resonance and overtones from the hollow chambers.
The mixture of Indie’s GR8 humbuckers (voiced for a vintage tone) on the semi-hollow body and 25-inch fingerboard gives you the perfect balance between the classic, fat sound of a semi-hollow body guitar and the snappier attack of a longer scale length. The resulting tone makes the Shape a very responsive guitar to play unplugged, too.
Indie claims this model can deal with everything from clean jazz to high-gain rock. Semi-acoustics are certainly versatile beasts and, plugged in, the Shape lives up to that promise.
The guitar has the inherent fatness needed for big chords, and its semi-hollow construction encourages the good kind of feedback when you get lairy.
It’s hard to find fault with this guitar. You’ll appreciate the high build quality from Indie, the unrestricted heel-less neck join, and the way the satin finish doesn’t get sticky, even at sweaty gigs.
While we’ve played better sounding guitars for this money, few match its combination of features, playability and build quality.
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Continued here:
Indie Guitars Shape Doublecut Semi-hollow
LP 45th Anniversary Congas, Bongos And Mambo Cowbell
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Having forged a legendary reputation, LP is now into its fifth decade providing scores of world-class percussionists and aspiring players alike with the industry-standard choice. Martin Cohen’s company produces a vast catalogue of instruments that are both durable and widely regarded as the real deal.
Build
This limited edition 45th Anniversary range offers the player a choice of an 11″ quinto, 11 3/4″ conga and 12 1/2″ tumba with a matching bongo set, mambo cowbell and cabasa (not included in this review).
The congas stand 30″ tall and their shape is inspired by LP’s original design dating back to the ’60s. They’re constructed from kiln-dried ash wood with a slim reinforcing layer of fibreglass applied to the upper part of the inside of the drums. This serves to add strength while focusing the tone.
“You could play these for hours and not feel like you’ve been whacking a table top as with some bongos – courtesy of the heads which give and take with every stroke.”
The congas and bongos are beautiful, with a rich dark blue gloss finish highlighting the wood grain patterns underneath. With brushed nickel hardware throughout, heart-shaped tension plates and LP’s Comfort Curve II extended collar rims, they certainly look a class act.
All of the instruments sport the company’s brand new ‘tribal’ logo, and on the congas and bongos the logo’s Silver Sparkle finish contrasts beautifully with the blue grain swirls. Matching chunky carrying handles make carting the congas around easy and they all have mounting collars which can be situated on either side of each drum if you decide to stand-mount them.
The inclusion of LP’s minimalist but highly effective ‘Pro-Care’ rubber protectors on the tension screws means that even if you happen to knock the drums against each other that finish won’t get ruined.
A unique and highly practical touch is found on each of the three drums in the shape of an integrated, screw-tightened mounting bracket. This allows you to attach a variety of auxiliary items such as bells, blocks, splashes and, perhaps most usefully, microphones! You could then wail away as hard as you like in the knowledge that, even if you move any of the drums while playing, you will always get a consistent mic level.
The mambo cowbell is a large, affordable bell that would work equally well in timbale or drum set situations. It has an easily adjustable mounting bracket that is especially kind on the fingers. When mounted and gently finger-tightened, the bell is reassuringly steady and didn’t budge even under heavy abuse.
Hands on
The congas were beautifully responsive and, even when played placed on the floor, had a deep, full sustain in the bass frequencies; mid-tones and slaps were easy to elicit and the feel of the durable but highly responsive heads was a pleasure. The addition of the thin fibreglass internal coating did seem to make a difference and possibly tightened up the tonal palette, producing a highly musical set that you will be sure to be impressed by.
(2 pages; go to page: 2)
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LP 45th Anniversary Congas, Bongos And Mambo Cowbell