Orange has revealed the Orange Crush Bass Series, effectively redesigning their entire entry-level bass combo range in one fell swoop.
The range has taken inspiration from the company's 4 Stroke series bass amps, sporting a parametric EQ circuit across the series, allowing bassists to fine tune these amps to any musical style with much greater control.
Analogue circuitry is complemented by newly-designed speakers and ported cabinetry, while other features include an onboard tuner and headphone output featuring CabSim filtering to emulate the response of Orange's stage-ready OBC bass cabinets.
The Crush Bass 50 and 100 are a nod to Orange's OB1 Series amps with interactive gain and blend controls enabling 'bi-amp' style tones by adding harmonics and variable levels of grit to the core bass sound. Perfect, says Orange, for earthy '70s vintage tones and savage distorted anarchy, without losing that all-important low end.
Crush Bass 25
The Crush Bass 25 (RRP £149 Inc VAT) might be the smallest in the range, but its character is described as fat and composed, with a surprising low-end thump.
Its highly active EQ, with parametric mid control, allows bassists to dial in a range of sounds, hopefully making it a versatile miniature rig for players on which to hone their tone.
Crush Bass 50
The Crush Bass 50, (RRP £229 Inc VAT) combines the essentials of a portable practice rig with all the tone and features ordinarily reserved for the professionals.
Also featuring an active parametric EQ, this 50 Watt rig is designed to produce warm modern cleans but should be capable of much more besides, thanks to the amp's gain and blend circuit. From retro grind all the way up to full-on distorted mayhem, this footswitch-able feature combined with the effects loop should add plenty of tonal possibilities.
Crush Bass 100
The Crush Bass 100 (RRP £369 Inc VAT) is touted as versatile in both sound and application, packing enough power for smaller venues. The high-end engineering techniques used in its design are key to its forceful and detailed tone.
The introduction of discrete components in the 100 Watt output stage, rather than common integrated ones, should mean the amp has additional levels of clarity across the entire sound spectrum. The Crush Bass 100 also adds a balanced output for live use.
