Orange Dark Terror
September 2011 Guitarist 105
£399
GUITAR AMPS
The British company continues its winning formula with
a Terror aimed directly at hard rockers by Mick Taylor
Photogr aPhy by Jo by SE SSIoNS
Orange Dark Terror
£399
M
etal in the morning –
that’ll be our lasting
memory of the Orange
Dark Terror, and a fond one at
that. There we were, slightly
bleary-eyed in front of Doug
Doppler, Orange’s impossibly
enthusiastic demonstrator at
the 2011 Frankfurt
Musikmesse. “You get the
idea!” he yells as he blasts
through any number of massive
riffs and incendiary solos.
Indeed we do. It’s an Orange
Tiny Terror for rock and metal
players, right? “Right!”
You have to hand it to the
British company. On launching
the Tiny Terror back in 2006, it
kick-started the whole genre of
modern, credible lunchbox-
sized heads and in so doing
furthered the cause of little
amps in general. They are now
officially not, as many guitarists
previously assumed, entirely
silly. Quite the opposite, in fact.
So, the Dark Terror. It follows
the same dimensions as the
immensely popular Tiny
Terror, its metal chassis turned
the appropriate Colour Of Rock,
with a f lash of tangerine behind
Orange’s customary graphic
symbols to keep it on-brand.
The included gigbag is both
cute and practical, though the
shoulder strap – as with Terrors
before it – could really do with
more padding and tear
protection. A small point, but
one that becomes relevant
when you have your guitar on
one shoulder, Tiny Terror on
the other and both hands full of
mic stands and pedalboards.
A quick peak through the
slotted grille reveals two more
preamp valves than you’d find
in a Tiny Terror. As it turns out
one is for the extra preamp gain
stages and the other is to drive
the series effects loop, a
welcome addition over the
standard Terror. All of the
electronic components bar the
transformers, IEC mains inlet
and power switches are
mounted on a custom-designed
PCB, screwed securely to the
metal chassis. Most people
agree that the more expensive
Hard Wired Tiny Terror
sounds better than PCB
version, but it comes in at
almost twice the price. While
we’re on the subject, there are
also plenty of people who’d
agree that the point-to-point,
hard-wired circuit approach
matters far more when it comes
to low-gain, vintage-type tones.
Moving on…
The Dark Terror’s power
section uses a pair of EL84
valves operating in class A.
The Shape control adds some extra sonic versatility to the mix
GIT346.rev_orange.indd 105 8/11/11 4:11:57 PM