Orange AD 50 Head

Quite small on features. Fat yet Muscular tones. Great Chung! Thank Christ for the Presence knob. I always disliked Mids anyway, so I was pleased not to have to look at a knob dedicated to them. Good simple controls. Very Responsive. I am sure that it's almost impossible to get a bad sound out of this if you are plugging straight in. Or otherwise.

To quote Emile Janders, "Yahoo!"
Objectively, the sound is incredible. . Unbelievable.
Subjectively, it's beyond the beyond.
Next to ANY of Orange's PCB jobs; Ridiculously great. I never wanted to play or hear one of these, simply because they are not cheap. But my PCB AD30H head used to blow up every other week for some reason or another, and I was in the process of getting a replacement AD30H head when there happened to be one of the AD50 Custom heads in the shop. I tried it out, based on the idea that it would be more reliable in the long term etc.. But the sound was far, far better. Really. No, i mean really. Happy to own one.
PS. Pedals work really well if they are worth plugging in. Don't bother with average pedals on this amp. It doesn't need or want them. e.g. An Old Vox Tonebender can work. A SuperFuzz can be an hoot if you like 'Sparks' etc. Such good responses..

I have taken it out to a bunch of shows, and it has been very impressive in its performance. Solid. It runs for years; no problems. A little loud, visually. Can be relied upon to attract unneccessary attention. In my opinion, it's a bit too good to be taking out to most venues. People don't really deserve to hear it, I think. Take another amp to the show, unless you have no other choice and need super sound.

The amp might as well not exist where it comes to user's manuals or the like... Orange are a bunch of clowns; they won't respond with any kind of relevance via e-mail. They expect the customer to make international phone calls as a substitute for there not being any kind of user's guide. (But you won't need one; It's easy. Don't run it without the correct speaker load attached. etc. Don't change between 30w and 50w mode when it's on... You might blow something up.

Monumental sound. Weighs in as pretty heavy. Need a Roadie or two;
Overall, this amplifier is better than we know. I doubt that any amp would ever get a perfect 10 overall. Not from me, anyway. I think it does what it does about as well as any amp could ever hope to. The only Orange built in recent memory that's actually worth a damn. Try to forget the PCBs. I had one (AD30H), and the difference between the AD50 and the AD30, is that the AD50 is good; while the AD30 is ****. Sorry, but it's true. No comparison really.
One is an amp; the other a tribute to amps. (like most amps these days...)

I'm a sucker for OLD Vox ac30's and this is the only amp I like BETTER in the world!!! I'm a pro player and I make a good living at it. I know what I need to make guitars sound how I want them to and this amp has it like no other. This is the only hand wired amp that Orange makes that uses the same type of tone controling as an ac30. In that I mean interactive bass and treble with a cut nob.... (ac-30 dudes know what I mean.)

It doesnt sound exaclty like my ac30's but super close... and the things that dont sound ac30ish about it are not bad things at all... Its much like an ac30 with a bit of that older Orange 120 sound. But not at all brittle sounding like the Orange ad30 can sound to me....(ad30 is a great amp also, but nothing like an ac30).

I always use an ac30 combo and bring along some type of a seperate head to use as a back up if anything goes rong with the vox. It's happened... I just use the vox cab with the head..... Same drill, but since I've had the ad50 I havent used the vox once and the rolls have changed. I only use it at the 30 watts so that I dont blow out the celestion blues in my vox cab... I've never had a problem... its nothing like the ad30's that are always breaking down. It has NO pc boards in it... Its built Ford tuff

pretty crap. If you get a pc board amp from them just waite for it to burn out and then go get another. If you buy a hand wired amp from them and it breaks down, bring it to a good tube amp guy and he's fix it for next to nothin and you'll never have to worry about customer support!!! Sorry Orange... That's just the word on the street.

Great!!! Great!!! Great!!! I do love this amp... If it was stolen or lost I'd be screwed cause I'd have to seel more gear to get another one... I dont have any money, just gear!

My amp is #15 from the Orange Custom Shop. It's only about 3 months old. Oranges are known for their simplistic designs, and this custom amp is no different. It's a one channel beast with knobs for bass, treble, presence, gain, and master volume. It has a sustain input that is essentially like a boost when activated. One of the best things about this amp is the fact that there is a switch in the back that allows the amp to go from 50 watts of class AB EL34 power to 30 watts of class A power. I normally do not like to give 10's in the ratings, but this thing is seriously so well-built and designed with it's simplistic yet complex sound, I must concede the 10.

I play mostly alternative modern rock, and this fits my sound perfectly. With my les paul standards, the sound is very robust and warm. It's definitely a very meaty British tone that has more warmth than you'll never imagine. Because this is a point to point hand-wiring job and the worksmanship, there is almost no noise from the amp, no hissing, no buzz, whatsoever. Of course there is noise only when it is cranked up on the gain, but it's surprising how quiet this monster is. The overdriven gain is very concise, if that is the word. Orange wasn't lying when they said that you could still hear every string and note when playing open chords even when the gain is cranked up high.

No question, nor doubt. This is definitely one of the best built custom amphead I have ever seen. It's literally a work of art, I must say. I don't intend to have any problems with it, and even if I were to, I have heard nothing but great things about the Orange company and their employees. It's ridiculously sturdy of an amp, and I honestly have no fear of doing gigs without a backup because of it.

I've never dealt with the company, so it wouldn't be fair for me to rate them here. But from what I've heard, Orange is getting better and better. And that's definitely saying something in this day in age of boutique pedals and amps with personal customer service.

I've been playing for a few years now, and am an obsessive gear freak. I can't believe how fortunate I was to come upon this amp and to actually call it mine. I'd seriously hunt down the thief to my amp, if it were stolen and give him/her hell on earth. You know how you learn to love and gain even more interest after acquiring certain things? This amp has made my time with playing music even that much more priceless and immeasurable. It's given me a whole new meaning to playing for the love of it.