orange terror rocker 15 Head & Brent Hinds terror Head
Two new Terrors from Orange put the popular lunchbox head into the decidedly hard rocking genre. It might get loud!
An unveiling of tempting new Orange gear has become an eagerly-anticipated regular event at the winter Los Angeles NAMM show and this year is no exception with the arrival of a pair of new Terror lunchbox heads that are going to appeal to all kinds of players. Orange’s original Tiny Terror is one of the world’s most popular guitar amps, having sold over 30,000 units since its introduction.
Unsurprisingly, it’s spawned a whole range of equally desirable Terror products, not to mention countless imitators. With the all-steel lunchbox format’s appeal as strong as ever, Orange has expanded the range with the all-new Terror Rocker 15 and an amp that will be particularly exciting for
hordes of Mastodon fans, the Brent Hinds Signature Terror 15.
Both heads stick to Orange’s tried and tested aesthetics, featuring white powder-coated steel cases painted with graphics that take their inspiration from the legendary ‘pics only’ amps of the early 1970s. The Brent Hinds model has extra detailing that reflects Brent’s face tattoos – giving it a distinctive look that gels perfectly with Orange’s artwork – together with the Mastodon logo on the rear.
Inside the chassis, most of the components live on a robust throughplated printed circuitboard, with a smaller one for the rear panel sockets. Assembly and components are typical of Orange’s usual high build-quality and attention to detail, with metal film resistors for low noise and consistency, and high temperature Carli film capacitors. The toggle switches all have the same reassuringly solid ‘clunk’ when operated, leaving us in no doubt the new heads are built to last, as well as look good.
Both lil’ Terrors have two footswitchable channels: Natural, with a single volume control, and Dirty with gain, master volume, bass, mid and treble controls. On the front panel, the standby switch offers a choice of high- and low-power options, which deliver either 15 or seven watts to the speaker outlets, while on the rear panel a clever ‘headroom/bedroom’ attenuator switch allows the power to be dropped to one or half a watt, depending on the front panel standby switch position.
Other rear panel features include three speaker outlets and a pair of send/returns for the Terror’s valve-buffered effects loop,
These tough Terrors are typical of the British character we’ve come to expect from Orange
together with a footswitch jack for remote channel-changing.
Everything about the two new Terrors is typical of the quintessentially British character we’ve come to expect from Orange, and tough construction makes them ideal for heavy-duty road work. Nevertheless, both heads are very portable thanks to their compact dimensions and come with a padded gigbag embroidered with the famous Orange logo.
“The Rocker 15 Terror is a Terror version of the Rocker 15 which in turn is based on the long-discontinued Rocker 30,” commented Orange’s Technical Director, Adrian Emsley. “I added a tube-buffered FX loop and a bedroom/headroom switch. This knocks the output power down. The Natural channel has a single volume control and it’s just one gain stage, so the only
overdrive you can get on that channel is output tube distortion.
“The Brent Hinds Terror works the same way except both channels have been re-voiced. The natural channel lets a little more bottom end through; the dirty channel gets bright and crunchy straight away and just fattens up as you increase gain. The dirty channel on both amps has three gain stages.”
sounds
While both new Terror heads have identical features, they sound distinctly different. Without the burden of tone controls, the Rocker 15’s Natural channel is as simple as it gets; you just turn up the volume. This channel’s high headroom and tonal purity is great for pedal users; the pre-set gain and tone will suit practically all single coils and humbuckers, with a sweet treble, warm midrange and a tight bass response that’s ideal for rhythm playing.
Balance the volume control with the Terror’s power switching options and you’ll find some great power amp drive sounds from the dual EL84 output stage which are perfect for classic rock and very evocative of Orange’s 1970s designs, with plenty of midrange punch at higher volume settings.
Alternatively, flip to the Dirty channel, and you’ll discover those classic Orange tones in the lower half of the gain control, with a noticeable jump in gain past two o’clock. From here on the Rocker 15 nails all the modern Orange sounds, from 90s Brit rock to modern metal and more. Although the Rocker 15 sounds great with single coils, a decent humbucker really kicks the sounds into action; it sounded superb with the slightly scooped mids of our PAF-loaded Les Paul.
The Brent Hinds signature version has the same features as the Rocker 15, however, it’s been re-voiced to suit Brent’s taste. Shy and retiring it isn’t, with a fatter Natural channel and more gain on the Dirty channel, which has a little more
The Rocker 15 nails all the modern Orange sounds, from 90s Brit rock to metal and more
top end. Things start off with a mean aggressive crunch, getting progressively more saturated as the gain control is wound up. For modern rock, it sounds superb; the overdrive suits big power chord rhythm playing, with a multi-layered smouldering sustain that changes character depending on how hard you hit the strings. With the approval of Mastodon’s axeman, you’d expect lots of no-compromise rock tones and the Brent Hinds Terror certainly has them in abundance. But there’s subtlety in the Natural channel too, although to our ears the standard Rocker 15 has a sweeter treble and slightly more headroom, offering more scope for pedal users.
Verdict
Orange has done it again, with two superb and very giggable heads that will delight those who want to experience the full range of classic and modern Orange tone in a compact, highly portable package. As you’d expect from Orange, there’s no compromise on quality, while offshore manufacturing keeps the price down, making the new Terrors affordable to most budgets.