Orange Thunderverb 50

50 watts, 2 channel, tube buffered serial effects loop, tube buffered accutronix reverb tank, built in attenuator, all footswitchable
power tubes: 2x EL34 preamp:ECC83/12AX7 reverb/effects: 12AX7/12AY7
reverb and attenuator are global
channel A: vol, bass, mid, treb, gain
channel b: vol, shape, gain
single input, 1x 16ohm out, 2x 8 ohm out
extended tone range allows for use as bass amp
2007 model

extremely versatile amp with the bright idea of a built in attenuator. can do everything but classic surf and metal.

using an SG w/ 500T/P94R, classic player strat, and jagmaster.
fender tuner, ehx soul preacher, BYOC slow gear clone, BYOC triboost, ehx #1 echo, BYOC phaser, ehx tube zipper, micro pog, metal muff, line 6 FM4, ehx frequency analyzer, holy grail, deluxe memory man, small clone, BYOC screamer, voodoo labs trem, ehx big muff, morley ABC switch, danelectro EQ. grail and memory man are in the effects loop.

my amp search is finally at an end for a long time. this thing is absolutely glorious on all accounts. extremely versatile and all-in-all just prestine, celestial even
.
clean: surprisingly bell-like and glassy for EL34s, closer to fender than marshall in this aspect. the lows are the best i have ever heard courtesy of the ETR technology and simply bloom and punch, tight but powerful and warm. the middle strings chime, and the treble strings spank. most amps lean one way or another, but the TV50 fully represents the full spectrum. my strat sounds gloriously like a strat, my SG gloriously like an SG. perfect and powerful. fairly loud cleans attainable with the 50W RMS power rating.

dirty: the just-broken up area is just stunning. rich and smooth, with loads of character and chime. like a marshall, fender and a vox teaming all of their positive qualities and none of their negatives. cranking everything yields a gain just shy of metal territory, even for older stuff. my metal is pedal assisted. but ACDC gain is achieved at about 75% of the gain knob, for a reference.

reverb: wow, a little goes a LONG way. i never set it past %30 or so. also, although a spring verb, has more of a hall sound to it, ruling the onboard verb out for surf, but perfect for everything else. the ehx holy grail picks up the spring verb in that case. glorious and haunting and although potent, it is tastefully applied.

effects loop: i may never turn off my Deluxe memory man after plugging into this amp's fx loop. gorgeous. still experiementing with different pedal orders and loop arrangements.

attenuator: a total godsend. i dont know why the thunderverb series are the first amps i know of with attenuators on them. some people are scared of these as tone-sucking or what have you, but i assure you the thing is beautiful. allows you to go from full window shattering output to whisper quiet, or even to silent, while your tubes are still overdriven to the hilt. no tone loss whatsoever. absolutely brilliant.
again, attenuator, channels, fx loop and reverb are all footswitchable

some notes: i use channel B for my cleans, because i like the shape knob better for it, and channel A for gain. shape knobs replaces channel A's tone row but boosting mids to the left and scooping them to the right. basically a smiley/frowny face knob, graphically speaking. and all amps from now on should be built with attenuators in them, at least if they are of this qulity. period.

I LOVE THIS AMP!!!

built like a tank. rugged. rather heavy, in that wonderful sort of way. good top and back ventilation for our little glass friends. but i would suggest a flight case to protect the tolex, and to provide mobility via casters as the orange cabs dont have them, as they supposedly decrease bass response. so far it fires up like a champ and sings for me, no questions asked. like a good girlfriend should.

havent had to deal with orange for repairs or anything, however i would appreciate it if they updated the download portion of their site with the thunderverb 50 and 200 user manuals, as mine did not arrive with one. i just want to read as much as i can about this amp that may not be visually or readilly apparent, due to the somewhat lack of literature about this beautiful beast on the web. however the manuals they DO have are fairly useful for sample settings to get someone started.

i have been playing for about 11 years, most gear listed above, but certainly not all. i have played many amps, and fell in love with this one.

lets face it. orange's are pricy, so at this stage of amp buying, one has to be extremely picky. and with the thunderverb 50, i went out on a limb, as i ordered it online while i was out to sea. there were hardly any reviews on the net, and i was denied access to the youtube video demonstrations. from where i sat, it looked like no one had ever owned one of these, given they are fairly new. most literature given was copied and pasted from TV200 reviews/promotions. the TV50 and TV200 differ in a lot more ways than RMS output (different power tubes, slightly more features on teh 200), so this mistake is pretty irresponsible on the parties involved. but alas, i ventured out on the limb and now i never want to go back. this amp is amazing, and i hope this review would do for someone else what i wish someone had done for me, and assure that this is in fact an AMAZING GUITAR AMPLIFIER. hands down. worth every last penny and much more.

if this amp were stolen, i dont even want to talk about it. hope they have a bomb shelter.

price paid reflects cab and 2 footswitches and a sweet tshirt from humbucker music. head and cab covers came free as well.