The Matamp/70's Orange/EA USA Thread:

[nightterrors]

I figured they were newer, I know pretty well nothing about new Oranges. Any I have tried, not my cup of tea.
Apparently they could be from the AD series?

[new05002]

could be RV, AD, TV...maybe even post 72 ORs reissued

[nightterrors]

just read on a Thread on the orange forum that they are single-channel AD30's

[new05002]

bleh. Im sure people are aware of my usual disdain anything beyond the 70s OR units from Orange. I would like to build some OrMat based amps, a couple of them have some interesting schemes that are different from the GT120

[nightterrors]

I'm with you on that.

Are the Ormat 200's a lot different from the Ormat OR100's other then the extra 100 watts?

[new05002]

yea same kind of idea in the 200s but they are cleaner in the amp. The Drive and Boost is more elaborate. Uses a williamson phase inverter and runs in UL

[Ancient Astronaught]

just read on a Thread on the orange forum that they are single-channel AD30's

Guh I've wanted one of those single channel AD30's for quite a while..... when they do pop up they're usually around 8-900$ so they're not to spensive, just elusive.

[nightterrors]

yea same kind of idea in the 200s but they are cleaner in the amp. The Drive and Boost is more elaborate. Uses a williamson phase inverter and runs in UL

Yeah, I've heard the ORMAT 100's are a little "thinner" sounding compared to the ORMAT 200's.

[new05002]

As far as I know the OrMat 100s are similar to the GT120 but main difference is probably the Drive control. They both use a feedback based way of decreasing gain but there are a few versions. Also the Depth/BassBoost is pre1st gain stage rather than post 1st gain stage (ala in the GT120)

[D.o.S.]

I agree with the preference toward first-run Oranges and Matamps over the current crop of Orange heads. The newer cabs are nicer than the old ones, IMO.

Also, for the record, I don't get down with EA.

No pictures, but my rig is an P&T OR120 into an OBC115--which is essentially a TL606.

[chillerthanmost]

Nick, how would a 200w Matamp (or OrMat) compare to a 200w Hiwatt of similar era, say, pre '72? As far a schematics go, or if you have personal experience, which do you think would excel at playing bass through. I'm debating between going for one of these two designs if I ever plan a custom build. And between those two, how would anyone compare the newer 200w Matamp's to those? Might be a lot to ask considering both amps mentioned are pretty rare, haha. Just kinda posting out loud

[new05002]

the 200W hiwatt would be much brighter, much more british sounding, totally different style EQ. Matamp and Orange would be darker. Hiwatt would feel louder due to brightness. New Matamps? no clue to be honest. Matamp all the way for bass but i think that would depend on the kind of sound you want

[Gone Fission]

yea same kind of idea in the 200s but they are cleaner in the amp. The Drive and Boost is more elaborate. Uses a williamson phase inverter and runs in UL

Aha. Now past interwebs reading makes sense. I've seen people mention the Williamson design with UL before but that never matched up to the usual Orange schematics in circulation. But I've never seen a 200 watt Orange or Ormat schematic.

[new05002]

the traditional Orange and Matamp phase inverter is a cathodyne. The Williamson is actually half cathodyne but adds a gain stage for each output of the cathodyne to increase the amplitude for each half of the phase inverter. Normal cathodynes are done using 1 12ax7, 1 half for the driver and 1 half for the cathodyne. In a Williamson 2 12au7s are normally used so that the gain of the drive + cathodyne is low and the 2 additional gain stages can increase gain without clipping the signal. The reason why this is kind of an ideal phase inverter (again more in the hifi sense) is that cathodynes provide really good balance between its outputs in terms of matched amplitude but it suffers from limited total amplitude it can provide as compared to say a long tail pair. The Williamson keeps the awesome balance then its increases the maximum amplitude to equal to or greater than a long tail pair. Now your thinking, why the hell doesn't everyone use this configuration. Well 1, there is considerable issues with phase when applying negative feedback to a williamson and 2 it uses 2 pretubes with more current consumption than a regular 12ax7 cathodyne.

[D.o.S.]

the 200W hiwatt would be much brighter, much more british sounding, totally different style EQ. Matamp and Orange would be darker. Hiwatt would feel louder due to brightness. New Matamps? no clue to be honest. Matamp all the way for bass but i think that would depend on the kind of sound you want

I know what you're going for here, but that descriptor (as it relates to all the companies in question) is relatively hilarious.

Which sounds more "American," a Mesa, a Fender, or a Peavey?