NCD - Orange PPC212 Cabs....Meh

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Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

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So, after years of being curious but never really wanting to pull the trigger, mainly on the account of myself finding these cabs ugly as fuck, I finally landed not one, but 2 Orange PPC212 cabinets.

Both cabs are a bit older, well worn with UK V30's in them. Just cosmetic wear. I plugged into them with both a Single Rectifier and my Mezzabarba Trinity, and was underwhelmed by both.

I've always heard the Orange cabs were darker in comparison to other V30 loaded cabs, but damn. It's like someone turned the tone knob on your guitar from 10-3 on both of them. The thick grille cloth really does seem to remove a large amount of high end. I was super surprised.

I remember these cabs being all the rage in the hardcore scene about 10 years ago when I first got into gear. I guess I could see why some of those dudes would like them because they think they need all the low end to be covered by guitars and mids and highs are dialed way down....you know...bad tone.

Definitely didn't live up to the hype for me unfortunately. I'll try them with a few more amps before I decide to off them, but for now, just not my thing.
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I would be interested to see if the 4x12s sound identical. I also thought they are horrendous looking. When they came out with the black cabs, though. That is metal. Orange is one of the most offensive colors out there, and I am in Longhorn country.
 
Same, never liked the modern orange cabs. I wonder if they changed construction method or materials over the years. I have a 70's 4x12 that sounds great. Mind you it has blackback G12M's which help. Maybe the V30 is a bad combo with them?
 
Side note Kyle, you seem to have a shit tonne of amps - do you have a switching system? I just got some KHE stuff (there's a nearby thread), wondering what you're doing?
 
Yeah, never really liked Orange cabs myself. They are especially hard to mic up too. They can be made to sound great in the room, but mic'd up, they always have a certain stiff boxiness to the mids and the highs can be almost dark but fizzy at the same time.

Their logo is also horrible. What is it even supposed to be? Looks super dated. Almost as bad as the Electro Harmonix one, LOL.
 
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I have a few modern ones and while I do like them, I'm ready to move on from a couple of them. They make EVM's sound different in a way I don't like.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
I would be interested to see if the 4x12s sound identical. I also thought they are horrendous looking. When they came out with the black cabs, though. That is metal. Orange is one of the most offensive colors out there, and I am in Longhorn country.
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Yeah, I'm not too big on the orange tolex but I gotta say I think the black ones are some of the raddest looking cabs ever
 
They have one of these in one of the rooms at the rehearsal place we frequent. I am not a fan of it at all. I dislike the 4x12 as well.
 
Bad.Seed said:
So, after years of being curious but never really wanting to pull the trigger, mainly on the account of myself finding these cabs ugly as fuck, I finally landed not one, but 2 Orange PPC212 cabinets.

Both cabs are a bit older, well worn with UK V30's in them. Just cosmetic wear. I plugged into them with both a Single Rectifier and my Mezzabarba Trinity, and was underwhelmed by both.

I've always heard the Orange cabs were darker in comparison to other V30 loaded cabs, but damn. It's like someone turned the tone knob on your guitar from 10-3 on both of them. The thick grille cloth really does seem to remove a large amount of high end. I was super surprised.

I remember these cabs being all the rage in the hardcore scene about 10 years ago when I first got into gear. I guess I could see why some of those dudes would like them because they think they need all the low end to be covered by guitars and mids and highs are dialed way down....you know...bad tone.

Definitely didn't live up to the hype for me unfortunately. I'll try them with a few more amps before I decide to off them, but for now, just not my thing.View attachment 86927
Click to expand...
Sounds like you need to peel the Orange.
I heard you mention you have a Stilletto Ace?
Wired it up for a solid round or two.
Straight up heavy metal Humble Pie.
 
I had one with a Peavey 6505+ rig when I started buying gear after a couple of years just using plug-ins. I liked it ok but it was very directional. Then I bought a Splawn Quick Rod and Nitro and it had to go quick pretty quickly afterwards. I had a black one but no way in hell would I want an Orange cab
 
Bad.Seed said:
So, after years of being curious but never really wanting to pull the trigger, mainly on the account of myself finding these cabs ugly as fuck, I finally landed not one, but 2 Orange PPC212 cabinets.

Both cabs are a bit older, well worn with UK V30's in them. Just cosmetic wear. I plugged into them with both a Single Rectifier and my Mezzabarba Trinity, and was underwhelmed by both.

I've always heard the Orange cabs were darker in comparison to other V30 loaded cabs, but damn. It's like someone turned the tone knob on your guitar from 10-3 on both of them. The thick grille cloth really does seem to remove a large amount of high end. I was super surprised.

I remember these cabs being all the rage in the hardcore scene about 10 years ago when I first got into gear. I guess I could see why some of those dudes would like them because they think they need all the low end to be covered by guitars and mids and highs are dialed way down....you know...bad tone.

Definitely didn't live up to the hype for me unfortunately. I'll try them with a few more amps before I decide to off them, but for now, just not my thing.View attachment 86927
Click to expand...
To be honest, man..With the light cosmetic damage, those cabs look badass and vintage as shit. Even orange. I wish they were better for you.
 
I had a ppc 4x12 from the 90s built like a brick shit house , I thought it sounded awesome I run my amps bright though ,
 
I’ve always dug the 412, but haven’t tried a 212 yet. Bummer
 
Are the 2x12's loaded with 8 ohm V30's? That might account for some of the darkness...
 
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