Orange Rockerverb vs. Thunderverb 50 - anyone?

[Chris O]

Kinda thinking something different than my Chupa, since I have a lot of modded Marshall tones from my other gear.

These two amps perked my interest a bit. Definitely a bit different than the Marshall, but doesn't sound Recto either which is a big plus! FWIW, I'm mainly into 80's hard rock/hair stuff. I don't care for the down-tuned, mid-scooped mod rock sound. I like crunchier amps, and am not above boosting one for the right spank. Needs a loop that is delay friendly.

Any suggestions on which might suit me a little better if I continue down that road? What's the major differences between the two? I don't use clean channels much if at all, so "pristine clean" doesn't rev my motor.

Thanks!

 

[Chris O]

Thanks!

MOARRR?!?!

 

[joepete77]

I chose the rockerverb out of the two. It has more gain on tap then the thunderverb, although the thunderverb has the cool feature of have a footswitchable built in attenuator.

 

[Axe-Man]

Kinda thinking something different than my Chupa, since I have a lot of modded Marshall tones from my other gear.

These two amps perked my interest a bit. Definitely a bit different than the Marshall, but doesn't sound Recto either which is a big plus! FWIW, I'm mainly into 80's hard rock/hair stuff. I don't care for the down-tuned, mid-scooped mod rock sound. I like crunchier amps, and am not above boosting one for the right spank. Needs a loop that is delay friendly.

Any suggestions on which might suit me a little better if I continue down that road? What's the major differences between the two? I don't use clean channels much if at all, so "pristine clean" doesn't rev my motor.

Thanks!

Hey Chris, what sort of music are you looking at? I can get alot of stuff out of my Yeti as it has a great clean to broken clean which with some pedals makes it pretty flexible.

I recently played through a Thunderverb 200 which had balls (down to 30hz!) but it is more of the modern scooped Recto type sound IMO. I believe it's got a solid crunchy clean channel if you dime it. Never played the Rockerverb though I would imagine the Chupa/Yeti would be able to pretty easily cover the English Orange sound. I would love a Thunderverb for 'that' sound (I liked it better than my old Recto) but the Yeti just cut beautifully and was 'my' sound...whatever I want to dial in (apart from the modern sound) is basically there. Add a trem, rev and put the mids on 1 and with a couple of subtle tweaks it sounds fat, warm and chimey...like a really nice present Fender/Vox hybrid...really love it for this sound.

The Yeti is ultimately Marshally but it gives me alot of flexibility from classic Marshall stuff to pretty mad gain. I actually use it mostly on the Plexi mode so it takes pedals really well and it has a great chimey clean with SC's and breaks up with a bridge HB.

My only critisism is that I would like more bottom end when it's not would up. Clean it shakes the house apart with some volume but it needs to be loud to really put out the bottom end with gain. It's tight as hell though and roars when wound up. I guess it is in no way a bedroom amp! I might get a parametric EQ for it to sort this down the track but it's fine at jam level.

Does the Chupa sound a bit like the above?

If not, maybe talk to Nik and find out what the Yeti circuit changes were and you might be able to reign the Chupa in a little as I know it sounds pretty agro...but in a really good way! I find the Yeti plenty feral so it covers the classic/modern(ish) stuff pretty much bang on for me personally.

Just my POV/findings in the short time I've had it anyway!

 

[Chris O]

Axe,

I play mainly 80's rock/hair stuff. Yes, the Chupa covers it in spades, but so does my Quick Rod and Friedman/Jet City JCA20.

At the end of the day, it's a redundant tone, and I'm having a lot of fun looking at other tones.

There is NOTHING wrong with the Chupa in terms of what I get from it tone-wise. It's a GREAT amp, and has given me all the Marshall-y goodness I could ever want. If not for the Splawn, I wouldn't be talking about moving it. That said, Orange has always appealed to my ear as well - or at least what I think is Orange...on studio stuff, who knows?

Just basically feeding a GAS attack is all. The Chupa has no shortcomings at all. I just think I have those tones covered well enough by other amps.

 

[blackba]

Keep in mind there are 2 versions of the Rockerverb 50. The mk1 has 6V6 power tubes and the mk2 has EL34 power tubes. I had the mk1.

Never played a thunderverb 50.

 

[James Lugo]

Owned both, never warmed up the Thunderverb, to thick for me. The Rockerverb's are great.

 

[Chris O]

Keep in mind there are 2 versions of the Rockerverb 50. The mk1 has 6V6 power tubes and the mk2 has EL34 power tubes. I had the mk1.

Yep... thanks!

I'm leaning mainly toward the RV at this point. Mk 1 in order to keep it affordable.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

The Thunderverb isn't a hair metal amp at all. It offers a very different feeling that is more in the vein of traditional Matamp/Orange tone but with a lot of gain and modern accoutrements, such as a PPIMV (which is strangely listed as an attenuator), a second channel and an effects loop.

The Rockerverb is a decent amp. It's like a Marshall mixed with a Dual Rectifier to me - woofy and compressed. I can't hear myself playing when I run a guitar through it. I've tried both the first and second editions but not with a quartet of EL34's. All the shops that have had the Rockerverb in stock have only ever had the 50 watt version. I hear the extra two power valves - and whatever else is needed to compensate - makes the amp come alive. I should so because it's certainly not alive sounding to me at 50 watts.

With that said, the clean channel is very nice indeed and breaks up transparently, and has a nice taper to the volume control. I like that in an amp. Although the gain can be sporadic at times, it's also tameable and accepts pedals like a champ. The low-end is very sweet, and there are no harsh Marshall-esque frequencies there at all even with the stock V30 cabinet.

For 80's metal the Rockerverb 100 would be the better of the lot. Try the K100's to offer a little more definition.

 

[joepete77]

Keep in mind there are 2 versions of the Rockerverb 50. The mk1 has 6V6 power tubes and the mk2 has EL34 power tubes. I had the mk1.

Yep... thanks!

I'm leaning mainly toward the RV at this point. Mk 1 in order to keep it affordable.

I like the tones of the 6v6 rv mk1 over the el34 mkii although the verb an loop are improved on the mkii. Great deals are to be had on the mk1 rv as I got a new rv 50 mk1 for 1400 on eBay.

 

[Chris O]

Trigger = Pulled!

First version Rockerverb on the way! And...WHITE tolex! Cool, huh?

Watch the classifieds - Chupa soon to appear!