J
Junk Yard Dog
Well-known member
I had a fly gig last weekend and was not sure of the backline (ended up being Orange Rockerverb MKII) and I play Splawn's, Modded Marshall's, and Ground Zero Hellion V2.
To ensure I had another option, I purchased these 3 amps. Overall, as one who gigs somewhat regularly, I am super impressed with all 3 of these little units.
I bought the Airis Effects 51-Filthy 100w Class D amp and the Orange Dual Baby (Class A/B) first; both of those are great at home.
At band practice, both are cool, but the Aris was not able to keep up as well as expected at higher volumes, but it is a cool AF unit and hope Richard keeps expanding on this design. The EQ and switches on this unit are more powerful/versatile than I expected, so that's great. I could get decent low-mid gain tones with it and then boost it. My ask of Richard would be to make a 'less gainy' version, or make the gain sweep on the 5150 be able to do lower gain tones, for when I need to do some Kravitz or Black Crowes tunes.
The Dual Baby was going to be the winner, as I played that one at band rehearsal the longest. Bandmates all were impressed right away.
Channel A is great, but lacks depth, though that can easily be fixed using an eq in the loop, which I run my board 4cm, so I'll need to try that next. Also, I don't like the 'Tubby' sound of Orange amps, so I disengage that sound/feel via the switch.
Man, Channel B is really awesome for hard rock/metal tones, but is a bit noisy. It has a LOT of gain and when you switch on the Tight knob, it adds a bit of gain and makes it brighter. It's a CHUG machine without a boost. And it has a good amount of Depth/Punch without an EQ.
NOTE: I really needed to spend more time with both of these at band levels, but both units surprised me quite a bit.
Then I tried the Iridium at home (not at band jam, which was a mistake for comparison sake) following Euge's tips on his YT channel, and that was the winner for me. It's lighter and smaller than the Orange, more flexible with way more features. I use the Classic Channel with gain on 5-7 for a rock/hard rock tone, then roll my volume down for cleans (cleans up really well), then boost that channel with a Wamper Tumnus or the Teemah! in my Pod Go, which I ran 4cm.
The sound on stage through an open back Orange 2x12 was better than the Orange RVMKII, and the sound out front on the PA (large room, 400 attendees) was pretty awesome. Had guitar nerds coming up to me asking how I got that tone, and all thought I was playing the Orange. When they saw the Iridium on stage, they were very surprised.
I used to bring two tube heads to all my gigs: not anymore. The Iridium fits in my gig bag and I would easily use it as my primary amp at gigs if I needed to. I'm getting lazier loading/unloading gear.
Hope this is helpful for any of you looking at these units.
I need to spend more time with all of these units. No, they're not going to replace your tube amps, but for my situation at a fly gig, or even local gig, I could make them work really well as my primary amp.
To ensure I had another option, I purchased these 3 amps. Overall, as one who gigs somewhat regularly, I am super impressed with all 3 of these little units.
I bought the Airis Effects 51-Filthy 100w Class D amp and the Orange Dual Baby (Class A/B) first; both of those are great at home.
At band practice, both are cool, but the Aris was not able to keep up as well as expected at higher volumes, but it is a cool AF unit and hope Richard keeps expanding on this design. The EQ and switches on this unit are more powerful/versatile than I expected, so that's great. I could get decent low-mid gain tones with it and then boost it. My ask of Richard would be to make a 'less gainy' version, or make the gain sweep on the 5150 be able to do lower gain tones, for when I need to do some Kravitz or Black Crowes tunes.
The Dual Baby was going to be the winner, as I played that one at band rehearsal the longest. Bandmates all were impressed right away.
Channel A is great, but lacks depth, though that can easily be fixed using an eq in the loop, which I run my board 4cm, so I'll need to try that next. Also, I don't like the 'Tubby' sound of Orange amps, so I disengage that sound/feel via the switch.
Man, Channel B is really awesome for hard rock/metal tones, but is a bit noisy. It has a LOT of gain and when you switch on the Tight knob, it adds a bit of gain and makes it brighter. It's a CHUG machine without a boost. And it has a good amount of Depth/Punch without an EQ.
NOTE: I really needed to spend more time with both of these at band levels, but both units surprised me quite a bit.
Then I tried the Iridium at home (not at band jam, which was a mistake for comparison sake) following Euge's tips on his YT channel, and that was the winner for me. It's lighter and smaller than the Orange, more flexible with way more features. I use the Classic Channel with gain on 5-7 for a rock/hard rock tone, then roll my volume down for cleans (cleans up really well), then boost that channel with a Wamper Tumnus or the Teemah! in my Pod Go, which I ran 4cm.
The sound on stage through an open back Orange 2x12 was better than the Orange RVMKII, and the sound out front on the PA (large room, 400 attendees) was pretty awesome. Had guitar nerds coming up to me asking how I got that tone, and all thought I was playing the Orange. When they saw the Iridium on stage, they were very surprised.
I used to bring two tube heads to all my gigs: not anymore. The Iridium fits in my gig bag and I would easily use it as my primary amp at gigs if I needed to. I'm getting lazier loading/unloading gear.
Hope this is helpful for any of you looking at these units.
I need to spend more time with all of these units. No, they're not going to replace your tube amps, but for my situation at a fly gig, or even local gig, I could make them work really well as my primary amp.