Orange AD200b Clean/clear at high volume?

[amishrockstar]

I have an AD200 and 2 410 cabs. It’s great for heavy/doomy stuff, but I have some melodic riffs that just sound muddy/gritty at high volume (fine at low volume). Any thoughts (hope) on getting a clear tone from an amp that’s naturally gritty at high volume (without turning down)?
Thanks!!

 

[beans-on-toast]

Chances are the amp is doing what it does. Things that you can do is check that the power tube bias is optimally set, turn down the bass EQ.

 

[amishrockstar]

Thanks! I'll look into checking out the tubes (maybe replacing factory ones). A buddy just mentioned maybe I could A/B with my solid state Ampeg head. That could be an option, but just one more thing to lug around...

 

[Wasnex]

The way to get the most clean volume is to max out the Master and then set the output using the Gain control.

Some people report the preamp going into drive with the gain as low as 9 O'clock. If you are having this problem, try the Active input.

This amp reportedly makes about 160-170W clean. This is not a lot of power if you are pushing a lot of lows. This amp sounds great with the bass cranked up, but the lows get mushy and wash out pretty fast if you crank it up. I think it sounds best with the lows dialed back a bit. I suggest starting with Bass, Mids, Treble at 10, 3, and 9 O'clock.

You can't produce a mid boost with the AD200B tone stack. AFAIK, the flattest setting is with the Mids close to max, Bass cracked open a hair, and Treble complete CCW (off).

See this Post: Attn: Orange AD200B owners where do you set your EQ

I believe you can click the link to the tone stack model in the post and play around to see how it responds.

Good Luck!

 

[amishrockstar]

Very interesting. Thx!
I hadn't thought of trying the active input. Will give that a go too.
Yeah, I'd heard something about "flat" being really wonky with where the dials are -- appreciate the link.

 

[rodl2005]

Running volume fully on and gain as your volume control for me

 

[Tim1]

My favorite amp and I have never had a problem getting plenty of clean volume, but of course volume is always relative. I think it has the fender eq curve where flat is 2-10-2 iirc. I tend to start with everything in the middle but usually end up with bass around 4, mids 6 or 7 and treble 5 or 6 depending on the room and cabinet (often a Barefaced 410 or 610 these days)

 

[markjazzbassist]

Flat is treble off, mids at max, bass at 1 (the first little notch). Try this first. Then try master cranked and gain to taste

 

[kbakerde]

2nd a lot of the comments.

Max Vol, use gain as Vol control
Check your EQ make sure you’re not cranking them
Use a LPF so the amp isn’t trying to amplify super lows and sucking up power.
What bass are you using and how hot is the input signal? Use the Active input or just adjust the bass volume to bring the input level down.

I was using a P bass with some great but pretty hot pickups. I had to lower them to get where I wanted.

The AD200 will never have a HiFi clean with no distortion. But you can maximize the clean sound by using some tricks.

One last thing. Perhaps consider new cabs. I used an AD200 with some very high efficiency 12” speakers and it was good and very clean. Switched to the OBC115 pair and all the hair of the amp came out to play. So the cabinet could be part of it.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

I have an AD200 and 2 410 cabs. It’s great for heavy/doomy stuff, but I have some melodic riffs that just sound muddy/gritty at high volume (fine at low volume). Any thoughts (hope) on getting a clear tone from an amp that’s naturally gritty at high volume (without turning down)?
Thanks!!

Sell it, get an OB1-300...more juice, clean and distortion with a footswitch...lighter, no maintenance and lower operating cost!

 

[amishrockstar]

Just to put a proverbial bow on this thread… turning bass & treble way “down” to like 8-9 o’clock and mids to 3-4 o’clock, it sounds fine at really high volume. It was helpful to learn that bass & treble need to basically be “off” to get the AD200’s flat tone, while mids need to be cranked full. Thanks for all the replies!