2012 Orange OR50H

Overview

This is my favorite Orange in the collection so far. It has a massive sound with a surprising amount of gain on tap, but surprisingly cleans up very well too. The feature unique to this particular Orange that others in my collection lack is the H.F. Drive or “Punch” control, which sounds to me like a presence control with a very wide range. I don’t have a schematic for this amp so it’s hard to tell exactly (if you have a schematic, please contact me!). It’s also possible that it’s something similar to the old school Orange “F.A.C.” control, but those were a 6-position rotary switch with various capacitor values attached, and this is a smooth rotation.

Technical aspects aside, this punch control in conjunction with the gain and other EQ controls gives this amp some of the most interesting and awesome tones I’ve ever heard from an amp. Set around 12 O’clock, it’s a nice neutral tone and allows you to sound similar to other Oranges - even similar to the Dual Dark I have when the gain is cranked up. Additional cut and saturation can be added by increasing the the control by a notch or two, but much higher than that can be ear piercing. It makes palm mutes for heavier styles stand out nicely and while you never lose that trademark Orange mid-fuzz, it still rips. One of my other favorite tones is to roll the punch down two notches from center, keep the gain up, and then cut the mids while maxing the treble control, which makes for an an incredible fuzz tone straight from the amp. It’s amazing just how much ground this amp can cover just from tweaking that one control, and gives this amp its stand-out feature compared to other Oranges of this era.