UB48: Orange Gain Baby 100 – BIG Disappointment! – Buyer Remorse! Ready to Return?… and Then...!

Orange Gain Baby 100 Watt Amplifier – Stand-Alone or Rack-Mounted

While Orange has never really been on my radar, I do have fond memories as a young teenager back in the early 1970s when I first clapped eyes on an Orange half stack in my local music store… boy did it stand out from the crowd.

This is what Orange says about their Gain Baby 100: Not just for gain, the unit’s silky clean channel includes an integrated VCA compressor to alleviate the need for an additional stomp box. Plus, integrated bass and treble controls make it simple to dial in the desired frequencies.

Four distinct stages are available on the high gain channel allowing players to dial in their preferred level of crunch and saturation. Boost solos with a foot-switchable volume control and patch in effects pedals courtesy of a buffered FX loop. Then, utilize the onboard 3-band EQ and Tight switch to tweak your tone even further.

Output options include a Balanced DI XLR out, allowing producers to add their own IRs downstream. Dual speaker outputs are also included, making the Gain Baby equally suitable on a festival stage or in the studio. Plus, Gain Baby‘s 100W into 8 ohms or 70W into 16 ohms can power any full-sized guitar cab with ease! (End Quote)

In this video overview you will hear that I was at first not pleased in the slightest with what was coming from this little box – notably the High Gain section… however, once I rolled back the volume controls on the various guitars I was testing the amp with… everything changed! With guitars at full volume the distortion sounded thick and mushy and in some cases, the edginess of tone was really unpleasant to my ears. Rolling the guitar volume back and now I could hear a solid overdrive / distortion with good separation and clarity of tone… gone was that muddiness and shrill edginess.

While this particular amplifier (on of three) is more geared towards the heavy mettle player I was not interested in the other two which are geared for a more classic rock tone. I already have amplifiers that excel in that area so for me, this choice was about having the option of something just a bit different… the amp now sits nicely in my cabinet rack. I hope others find this video helpful… Enjoy.

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Stu's Guitar Recording Journey
Unboxing Music Equipment Videos
Product Reviews
Stu's Guitar Journey! (12 part Video Series)
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Stu's Guitar Channel short Trailer

In UB 49 Video (Unboxing Video 49) In this video I take a look at a classic British Amplifier that has found its way into my amplifier rack and that being the VOX AC15CH Valve amplifier head -    • UB49: VOX AC15CH Amplifier Head Unbox & Re...  

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