The Orange Crush range of solid state guitar amps have been a raging success, so the company is now upping the stakes with the Super Crush 100; two-channel head and combo with built-in reverb and a new design over the existing Crush blueprint.
The all-analogue JFET preamp design and 100-watt Class A/B power amp apeing the tone of Orange's Rockerverb in a solid state package, the Super Crush should be able to run the gauntlet from clean to heavy gain with singing overtones at low and high volumes.
The two analogue preamp channels are completely independent, with lofty headroom as a pedal platform or crushing gain if required. The Clean channel is a "bright, vintage-flavoured, two-stage design" that can go from crystal clear up to girthsome crunch. The Dirty channel brings the heavy with passive three-band EQ and wide-ranging cascading gain on tap.
The power stage here is the same 100-watt Class A/B as the Pedal Baby 100 for "all the dynamics, presence and feel of a big valve amp."
In addition there's some really useful features here for stage and recording with a fully buffered FX loop and CabSim balanced output to mimic the sound of a 2x12 cab for your interface or a PA.
This is for any kind of player really - from your jazzers, through to your bluesers, through to your rockers… through to your boozers
Ade Emsley
The Cab Back switch selects between the sound of an open or closed back cab to enhance the experience. You can also run a 16 ohm cab from each of the speaker outputs. The compact 1×12 combo Super Crush 100 features a Celestion G12H-150 speaker.
And we all need some reverb. The on-board digital reverb processor provides "a lush, spring reverb ambience, adding a deep and shimmering finishing touch to your sound," according to Orange. Or add in your own to the FX loop.
This is a versatile amp, and Orange designer / amp warlock Ade Emsley is keen to stress that. "This is for any kind of player really - from your jazzers, through to your bluesers, through to your rockers… through to your boozers. You can dial this in for pretty much any playing style - it's not a genre-specific amp."
And it looks like Ty Tabor of prog heroes King's X is already solid on the Super Crush 100, saying; “This Is the very best transistor amp made… period. It’s my No 1. Amp for live and in the studio”. Check his demo out above.
The Super Crush 100 is priced at £429 for the head and £599 for the combo. More info at Orange Amps.
