Orange Crush 30 Acoustic Amp Review (sort of)

[RalphH]

Hi all,

It seems like there are basically no reviews of this new amp on the internet yet, so figured I would share my thoughts on it. There is only one problem; I've really nothing to compare it to as it's my first acoustic amp. Sorry :/

I'll start with what I like; the tone is great as far as I can tell. I like the way my voice sounds through it and the guitar sounds full and natural.

Its very small and light, esp considering the 8" speaker. It smells really nice too. I know that's an odd thing to say but it smells of real, high quality vinyl. It's very nice.

The lean back of the design is great. It is extremely portable.

It takes AA batteries, which is good because you can swap them whenever needed and wont wear out. I see this as an upside vs something like an inbuilt rechargeable, though it could get pricey.

Downsides (not complaints as they were obvious going in):
The features seem to be based on what controls they could fit on it, eg the guitar channel has bass, mid & trebble, the vocal channel only has bass & trebble.

Worse, there is only one global notch filter, not one per channel, so youd better hope you only have guitar or mic feedback, not both.

There is chorus and reverb, and you can choose how much to apply to each channel, but as they share a dial, you can only have one of them at a time.

It has one 1/4 input and one combined XLR & 1/4, meaning you could have 2 guitars, which doesn't seem very useful, but not a vocal mic and a guitar mic, which seems odd. An XLR and a combo would seem like a more useful pair.

A headphone Jack would be nice.

Overall I feel like it sits between the Fishman mini charge and the artist in terms of features & controls, but its cheaper than either.

Seems like its loud enough for a pub gig or busking.

I like it, but like I said, I've nothing to compare it to. I hope the above might be helpful if you're considering it.

I primarily bought it as a practice / jam amp for vocals, so the batteries are more of an added bonus than a primary feature for me.

Happy to answer any questions.

[jricc]

Thnx for the review!

[RockerDuck]

The Fishman mini is 60 watts, the Orange is 30 watts, and the Fishman Artist is 120 watts. You can't compare the Orange to the mini and Artist. The Orange takes 10 AA batteries, which can be expensive. The downside is the proprietary power supply. The plus, plus is 13.5 lbs. lightweight and 5 to 8 hrs on battery.

[varmonter]

You mean you need to buy 10 aa.
batteries after every 5- 8 hrs of use??
thats essentially every gig. or your changing in the middle of a set... .
Thats a deal breaker for me.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by varmonter

You mean you need to buy 10 aa.

batteries after every 5- 8 hrs of use??

thats essentially every gig. or your changing in the middle of a set... .

Thats a deal breaker for me.

I used to use rechargeable AA batteries back when I used a Rland Street Cube Ex. They worked well.

[varmonter]

Originally Posted by lkingston

I used to use rechargeable AA batteries back when I used a Rland Street Cube Ex. They worked well.

That would certainly be the less costly
way. ill stick with my d68 for now.
if you use rechargeable aa. can you charge them in place . or do you have to
take them all out and place them in a charger or two...?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by RockerDuck

The Fishman mini is 60 watts, the Orange is 30 watts, and the Fishman Artist is 120 watts. You can't compare the Orange to the mini and Artist. The Orange takes 10 AA batteries, which can be expensive. The downside is the proprietary power supply. The plus, plus is 13.5 lbs. lightweight and 5 to 8 hrs on battery.

Hi RD

Given that it takes 10X the power to double the volume, the difference between 30 & 60 Watts is minimal. And the efficiency of speakers also factors into it, as does the ohms at which the output wattage is measured. The Fishman mini has s 6.5" 'woofer' versus 8".

The Orange lacks a tweeter but does provide Phantom power to the XLR input. The Fishman lacks phantom power, but does have a 'dome' tweeter. I've worked with two quality acoustic amps one with a small 6.5" and the other dual 8" woofers on the same stage (both with tweeters), and the 8" was a winner every time.

The real test is how it sounds.

And these two are not the only acoustic amps 'out there'.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by varmonter

That would certainly be the less costly
way. ill stick with my d68 for now.
if you use rechargeable aa. can you charge them in place . or do you have to
take them all out and place them in a charger or two...?

You can't charge them in the amp. Swap or plug it in and run on mains power.

Originally Posted by varmonter

You mean you need to buy 10 aa.
batteries after every 5- 8 hrs of use??
thats essentially every gig. or your changing in the middle of a set... .
Thats a deal breaker for me.

Well not every gig -- because to me 'gig' implies you're probably somewhere with power. Certainly every busking session. As for changing them mid-set... at least you can -- with the mini charge you'd have to go home and charge the amp, which is even less convenient. There's pros and cons to both.

Originally Posted by RockerDuck

The Fishman mini is 60 watts, the Orange is 30 watts, You can't compare the Orange to the mini and Artist.

The difference between 30 and 60w is minimal and with the bigger speaker on the crush, it might even win in terms of ability to project sound.

It also has a mix DI out and a L/R separate line out so ability to plug straight into a PA at a larger venue and just use the crush as a monitor is there. I dont really see the need for more wattage on this type of amp

[varmonter]

Originally Posted by RalphH

Well not every gig -- because to me 'gig' implies you're probably somewhere with power. Certainly every busking session. As for changing them mid-set... at least you can -- with the mini charge you'd have to go home and charge the amp, which is even less convenient. There's pros and cons to both.

ok i suppose its moot since you would
invariably come home after every gig
and recharge. my eae will go two gigs
easy. but i dont think ive ever tried 3 gigs.. i just plug it in at home in the car
or at the gig. if need be. no swapping
out batteies. Not sure id want to deal
with 10 aa batteries after every gig though. But one gets used to what one
has..

It also has a mix DI out and a L/R separate line out so ability to plug straight into a PA at a larger venue and just use the crush as a monitor is there. I dont really see the need for more wattage on this type of amp

thats a great feature in a 30 watt amp.
the eae d68 has this abikity as well.
nice to be able to send a sig to FOH
or send a seperate eq to a more powerfull speaker.7

[RalphH]

I primarily bought it as a practice / jam amp for vocals, so the batteries are more of an added bonus than a primary feature for me. I don't plan to get through a lot of batteries. I like the idea that I can take it downstairs quickly without having to crawl around on the floor unplugging it and replugging it, but I don't busk, so I don't mind the inconvenience of AAs. It's a fairly reasonable priced amp even without the battery power option so I don't feel like I paid extra to have it -- it's about the price of the regular loudbox mini, but with different features - you loose half the watts, but get a bigger speaker, phantom power and a notch filter.

Originally Posted by RalphH

It also has a mix DI out and a L/R separate line out so ability to plug straight into a PA at a larger venue and just use the crush as a monitor is there. I dont really see the need for more wattage on this type of amp

Correction - after some fiddling, they're both mix mono outputs, just one balanced XLR and one unbalanced 1/4". I'd assumed the 1/4 was TRS but it's not. Seems like it could easily have been, and would have been nice, but never mind.

[guitaniac]

On the subject of batteries, rechargeable AA batteries (and chargers) are fairly easy to acquire and remain useable for a good long time. I use rechargeable AA batteries for a camera which I use weekly and a preamp which is used even more often. It literally took me years to wear out the first batch. I'm currently using Energizer rechargeable batteries.

[varmonter]

Originally Posted by guitaniac

On the subject of batteries, rechargeable AA batteries (and chargers) are fairly easy to acquire and remain useable for a good long time. I use rechargeable AA batteries for a camera which I use weekly and a preamp which is used even more often. It literally took me years to wear out the first batch. I'm currently using Energizer rechargeable batteries.

I use them in my game cameras. i.have
a set at home charging then i take them
and my laptop into the woods ..replace
the batts and download the photos..
works well..

[raqcoon]

I'm a year late to this thread, but that gave users a year to use this amp. Being that I plan to enter vanlife in spring 2021, my concern is about battery duration. Do 10 AA batteries last 3-8 hours as advertised? Presumably that's at moderate volume.

I have 10 Fenix AA batteries, rechargeable by USB & output the full 1.5 volts. Mine are the cheapest ($8.50 each at B&H) 1600 mAh, not the super pricey 5000 mAh. Nevertheless, ten are 16000 mAh, plenty of amperage for this Orange. USB batteries can be charged by solar, car, or AC wart.

[varmonter]

Yup a year later and 10 AA batteries
Are still a deal breaker for me.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by RalphH

You can't charge them in the amp. Swap or plug it in and run on mains power.









Well not every gig -- because to me 'gig' implies you're probably somewhere with power. Certainly every busking session. As for changing them mid-set... at least you can -- with the mini charge you'd have to go home and charge the amp, which is even less convenient. There's pros and cons to both.







The difference between 30 and 60w is minimal and with the bigger speaker on the crush, it might even win in terms of ability to project sound.

Yeah, in theory, but my experience tells me that 30 watts is not enough.

When I first got my EAE D6-8 it was 40 watts and ran on a SLA battery (which means that the power diminished as the charge went down, much like AA batteries would). It sounded good but it was underpowered for all but the smallest gigs.

Then they offered an upgrade which added LiON batteries (full power until complete discharge) and 80 rather than 40 watts. The upgraded 80 watts handles small gigs nicely.

The general rule is one watt per audience member for a polite seated listening audience. Add bad acoustics and a standing crowd with everyone shouting over each other and you need way more than that!