The Rocker 30 is the amplifier that so many have asked for. This amplifier was built to be practical, but to also be the best sounding small combo you've ever played!
Rocker 30
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on march 05, 2005 7 of 8 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 1190
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: Some people may be looking at the price and wondering why is a 30G amp cost 1190 dollars? This is because this amp is tube driven, making it capable of reaching very high volumes. This amp is the coolest looking thing ever, it is covered in Orange vinal. This amp will not reach any death metal, or nu-metal highs in gain, but that doesn't matter to be because I play stuff like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Hendrix. This amp is great for blues players. Volume is no issue due to the amps tube driven build. // 8
Sound: I use a Joe Satriani signature guitar with a floyd rose tremelo system and DiMarzio pickups, and as I said before, I play classic rock, shread, and blues. This amp has the most beutiful clean channel I have ever heard, and it is perfect for playing songs such as Little Wing. This amp has a considerable amount of distortion, but if I ever need more, (which I hardly ever do) I'll just hook up my Wylde Overdrive pedal. This amp makes noise only at high volume, as is every amp I have ever played. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I would never head to a gig without a backup, but I can bet that this amp would pull through. It is a great amp for small gigs and venues. Tubes must be replaced every 1 1/2 to 2 years, depending on how much you play it. The amp has never broken down on me, but I am not rough on it anyways. // 8
Impression: I play on this amp with a JS100 and occasionally a Wylde Overdrive pedal, and it has a great tone. I have been playing for 4 years and I am very happy that a 30G amp can pull off such high volumes. If this amp were stolen I would be mad because I cant afford another, but I would save for another. My favorite thing about this amp is the clean channel which I suggest for practicing because distortion covers up mistakes but clean unveils them, the clean is beautiful. I alwways wanted a tube-driven amp that didnt cost a million bucks, and this amp fits the bill perfectly, a must buy for all blues players. // 10
Rocker 30
Reviewed by:
metal jello, on august 19, 2010 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 1000
Purchased from: Craigslist
Features: The Orange Rocker 30 is a two channel, 30 watt Class A valve head. The Natural channel has a master volume and that's it. The Dirty channel features a master volume, gain, and 3 control EQ. Classic Orange graphics for every function. No effects loop, but that makes the circuit simpler and more direct. Highly versatile, everything from blues to classic rock to 80's thrash to hardcore. 30 watts in Class A is loud and powerful. This amp has 2 EL34 tubes, and due to the nature of Class A amps, they are self-biasing. No adjustments to bias necessary. This amp is all about simplicity. // 9
Sound: I play a Gibson Explorer (57 Classic pickups) and I run this head through an Orange PPC412. I play in two bands, one is old school metal/southernrock/punk/hardcore/experimental, and my other band is more progressive/experimental/post-hardcore/jazz. The Dirty channel is warm and thick, with a huge midrange and responsive clarity. Old-school poweramp overdrive with some serious punch. I run the EQ flat and the gain at 8. The Natural channel is as simple as it gets, it keeps the identity of your instrument. Extremely clean and responsive. Crank the volume and it gets fat and crunchy with warm EL34 overdrive. // 10
Reliability & Durability: Built like a tank. This amp seems sturdy enough to stand abuse. I would gig without a backup amp. I plan on it. I'll take a set of backup tubes though, just for peace of mind. Since it's Class A all you have to do is crack open the back and change the tubes yourself. No biasing necessary. I haven't had any problems yet, and I honestly don't expect anything major to ever come up. Construction is solid and clean. // 10
Impression: If you're looking for warm, thick, cranked British tone with some huge midrange punch and responsive clarity, this is the amp for you. I've been playing for 5 or 6 years now, and I'm in multiple bands. This amp is solid and handles everything I throw at it. I'll be using it for gigging and recording very very soon. I can't think of anything I don't like about it. Its simple, sounds amazing, and even looks great. I don't see myself playing anything else. // 10
Rocker 30
Reviewed by:
lunchboxattacks, on july 27, 2010 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: € 722
Purchased from: Musicstore.de
Features: Made in England in 2009. This is a 30 watt valve amplifier and was one of the more popular members of the Orange valve line until it was put out of production this year in order to make way for their new Thunder 30 which will be a 30 watt addition to the Thunderverb section of the Orange valve range. The amp is completely no frills. It's got two channels, a clean (called "natural") and dirty. Both channels have a seperate volume and the dirty channel has a gain control. The clean channel has no EQ so the preamp section is pretty much bypassed and it's straight into the dual EL34 power section. The dirty channel has your standard three band EQ and you can Switch between it and the clean using a clean/dirty toggle Switch on the top panel or with a footswitch but that is not supplied. There is also an off/standby/on to be found on the top panel of the amp as well. All in all from what I can gather it's a very simple amp circuit although it lacks an FX loop. It is however a PCB circuit that is made in China, the amp is only assembled in England from what I gather. As far as power, well whenever I've had the amp aimed correctly (tilted back), I've not needed it much beyond two on the dirty channel (gain at 6) and about 7 on the natural channel. Also this amp has one of the sturdiest looking cabinets I've seen in a combo and is housing a nice Vintage 30 speaker. However, because of the lack of FX loop and no supplied footswitch, I'll give this an eight. // 8
Sound: The guitar I use with this amp for gigs is a 2006 Les Paul so it's your typical humbucker guitar. The amp is not noisy by itself but it can become noise from a long pedal chain going into the amp's frontend. There's a good sweep of gain to be found on the amp from cleaner than the clean channel to a wet fuzzy type of gain. Alot of people say stonery/doom in describing the more extreme end of this amp's gain spectrum and I agree but you can roll off your guitars volume and have yourself a nice chunky rhythym sound and then roll it back up if you wanna do some leads. Clean goes from clean and plinky to growly to AC/DC rhythm with feedback on sustained chords. Turned up and in a live situation like a club with alot of bare surfaces, the amp has a sharp sound. Some people don't like the Vintage 30 in the amp, they say it sounds too aggressive and I don't like that aspect of it but it also has a tight bass response and that is something I like alot. I never recommend winding up the gain on any amp in a band situation, though because the sound of your guitar can become lost. One of the great pleasures of this amp and all other valve amps of quality is getting that power section going. So what I do is wind the master volume up on the gain channel and then use the gain knob to achieve the volume I want and if it's too clean, I roll the master back and put up the gain until find the sweet spot where it's crunchy enough for thick rhythm and then use another pedal if I want to boost it for leads. Between the clean/dirty channels plus a tubescreamer type pedal you can cover quite alot of ground. You could, with the right array of guitars go from county to grindcore but that would be an odd gig. It's a workhorse amp and that's what I wanted. // 9
Reliability & Durability: The amp is built like a tank and it's a great thing. It also weighs about 55 pounds so lugging it up stairs can be a bit of a pain. With *any* amp you can never be sure if it will go kaput so bring a second amp/floor pod/DI box just in case. A neat feature of this amp is that the power valves do not need to be re-biased everytime you put a new set in so you don't have to lug it down to the guitar shop and pay a technician to do so. In the handfull of gigs I have played with this amp so far, it's given me no trouble (touch wood). It's gotten a bit hot but that's normal. // 10
Impression: It's a versitile amp and will give you enough oomph to be heard in most bands unmiked. What I like about the amp is the simplicity of it. Somebody once said that all an amp needs is a volume and tone and this amp is nearer to that philosophy than my previous amps. I would rather have an amp that is simple and has a high build quality than a mass produced modeller with two dozen knobs and switches but then only has about two settings that you find work for you. If it were stolen of lost, I would like another one but they would be harder to find because they are no longer in production so it would be on EBay I suppose. Wish it had a reverb and/or an FX loop but then again I'm not a big FX guy so it's all good. Recommended. // 9
Rocker 30
Reviewed by:
bartdevil_metal, on august 07, 2009 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 499
Purchased from: Music Warehouse, Colchester
Features: Rocker 30 Head
>Output: 30w (RMS) Class A
>Channels: 2 Channel (Dirty/Clean)
>Valves: Preamp - 3 x ECC83, Output 2 x EL34
>Speaker: 1 x 16ohms, 2 x 8ohms
>Dimensions: (W x H x D) 55 x 25.5 x 24cm
>Weight: 15kg
Musician Background
I play several different styles, most notably Funk, Rock and Metal. With my band I play a crossover Funk Metal genre and some rock, while on my own I dabble in Blues, Jazz and some Progressive/Post. I gig relatively regularly, and use the Rocker as my primary amp on the stage and in the studio. I've been playing approximately 5 years, and have owned the Rocker for about 18 months. I'm out of the honeymoon period.
Amp Versatility
As I've said, I play quite a plethora of different styles, and I have to say that for such a simple amp, the Rocker holds up extremely well against my ever changing sound requirements.
The lack of an FX Loop is what Hurt me when I bought this amp. After searching for a way around it, I was recommended a technique called reamping by a couple of UG'ers. It's quite technical but a quick overview: Reamping is where you use an attentuator or load box to add a dummy load to connect the head to. You then send the signal out of the load box or attenuator line out into a second power amp, which then amplifies the signal up again to power the speakers. The advantage to this is that you can crank the amp up as loud as you want and get all the good tone, while limiting it with the second power amp and playing physically as quietly as you like. Another advantages is that you have an FX Loop of sorts because you can connect FX in between the load box and second power amp where the signal is line level (not speaker power). So my signal chain goes like this:
To be honest, this is quite a complex setup just to get an effects loop, but the added bonus of being able to crank at low volumes makes it worth it. The features on this amp aren't all that impressive compared to others out there; I just prefer the no-nonsense attitude of Orange, sans the lack of an FX Loop. // 7
Sound: This amp is as simple as it can get on the clean channel; one volume knob does all the adjustment you're going to get. It's voiced as a nice dark jazzy sort of clean that begins to break up at around half way on the volume, which is at about gigging volume for me. I get The Feeling that the clean channel brings out the character of your guitar a lot more than other amps I have owned/used, and is dependent on a decent set of pickups to get the tone you are after. I use my Rocker with two guitars, my Jackson DK2M and my Jackson J6 Custom Build, which use Bareknuckle Pickups, the Miracle Man and Nailbomb set respectively. My DK2M is wired for coil split, and with this engaged I can draw some convincing John Mayer tones from the amp, and although not a perfect tonal match by any stretch of the imagination, it is a GOOD tone to use with Mayer-type stuff. I can also get some convincing twangy country cleans and even some Jazzy cleans due to the dark voicing of this amplifier. Crank the clean volume and you get a surprising amount of gain, enough to play the heavy-ish blues rock styles such as Mooney Suzuki and Bonamassa's lighter stuff. All pure power valve overdrive as well
I should note that it is largely due to reamping that I can crank the clean channel, it is deafeningly loud otherwise.
The Drive channel is more adjustable, featuring a 3 band EQ, Gain and volume controls. This is the real workhouse of the amplifier, being able to go from twangy funk (the Drive channel does overlap with the clean channel; It is almost possible to get a slightly brighter clean tone out of the Drive channel) to thrash metal through the whole turn of the gain dial. When you get to the heavier styles such as thrash you should not be deceived; I'm not talking about the Master of Puppets heavy scooped style but the sound of Kill 'Em All, of Slayer and Early Megadeth. This baby is 80's thrash all the way through when the gain is up there. I have found that (reamped again) the volume sweet spot is around half way up, although the amp opens out nicely when it gets past about 8 o'clock. After 1 o'clock and I find that the added gain from the power valves makes it a bit boomy and hard to handle. I should also note that normally set up, half way up on the volume of the Drive channel would deafen you during prolonged use. No volume issues here.
The EQ is a strange beast on the Rocker; I find it hard to get a tone I don't like out of it. I literally tried one day because I was bored. I tried completely scooped (B:10, M:0, T:10) and It still sounded pretty good, I tried maxed out treble (B:0, M:0, T:10) and the essence of the tone was still there. You have probably heard Orange compared with Marshall tonally, and I will say that while in essence that is true you need to think about whether you prefer the bark of a Marshall or the growl of an Orange when choosing between them. Orange are considerably darker. Another thing I have found is that while the R30 has a very middy voicing, they still love the mids to be cranked on the EQ. It is very hard to make one of these sound boxy or too nasaly sounding.
Limitations
>It can get a bit noisy with the gain cranked and a boost engaged, but that's to be expected.
>It CANNOT do heavy metal, death metal, nu-metal. // 9
Reliability & Durability: Even players who say that Orange aren't there cup of tea tonally would agree that they are built to last. As I said earlier I have had this amp for 18 months and literally nothing has gone wrong with it, and I even turned it on without a load attached a couple of times by accident (blush). It's solidly built and I would (and have!) used it on a gig without a backup time and time again. I haven't even changed out the valves yet, but I will soon. // 10
Impression: Like I said, I play many different styles and the Orange stands up to 90% of them. I've played through a lot of different amps, and I own a Peavey Valveking, Marshall VS8080 and a Roland Cube in addition to this. This amp is actually louder than the VK! I love my other amps, but it beats them all in almost every category (the heavier styles category is dominated by the Marshall and I don't see that changing haha).
I wish it had an FX Loop like it's bigger brother, but my favourite feature is it's simplicity and ease of use. Antithesis huh? If it were stolen I think I would probably save for it's bigger brother ('Verb 50), but I could never be sure.
Rocker 30
Reviewed by:
thrashmetal888, on november 12, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: murphy's music
Features: I think this amp was made in 2007-08 not too sure. I play heavy metal (mostly of the 80s) it's great but I'd like it to have a bit more gain, but that's nothing a good OD pedal can't fix! It has two channels clean and dirty. It is pretty basic two volumes, clean volume and dirty volume and hi, low, and mid knobs. I use this amp at my house and at small gigs it's good for both although definitely sounds better cranked as do all tube amps. // 8
Sound: I use a Ibanez RG550 reissue, I'm not sure what the pick ups are but they are 2 humbuckers and a single in the middle. It suits my style(80's metal) pretty well, although sometimes I need to use a tubescreamer or a OD pedal. It isn't noisy at all says clear at high levels. Although, this amp is definitely geared towards classic rock and blues. The clean channel is great and does get some dirt on it at very high levels but for the most part says very pristine clean. // 9
Reliability & Durability: I'd gig without a back up. I haven't changed the tubes since I got it since I hardly play very loud besides Live shows. I take really great care of it also. It seems to be built like a tank, it is very heavy I'm not too sure why but this thing weighs a ton. // 10
Impression: It was a present so I can't complain, when I tweak it right I get the tones I'm looking for. I'd say it's a pretty versatile amp and takes well to pedals and all that. The only thing it can't do well is death metal(Br00t4ls) on it's own. // 9
i just played on at me local music store with a 27 tele reissue, a squire strat and a jackson loaded wit passive emgs and the amp sounded amazing on every guitar. the way it responded to control adjustments was great! it is pretty expensive tho.
i just played on at me local music store with a 27 tele reissue, a squire strat and a jackson loaded wit passive emgs and the amp sounded amazing on every guitar. the way it responded to control adjustments was great! it is pretty expensive tho.
lol i want a 27 tele hehehe.
jammer-91 wrote:
I think it looks gay and is a rip off... VOX valvetronics is better
yeah, it totally rips all of the other bright orange amps off doesnt it?
I think it looks gay and is a rip off... VOX valvetronics is better
yes the vox amps are great but they can still not beat a full tube am thats not possible in any kind of way!! Orange is the new Marshall. While Marshal lost it's quality and just kept their name Orange is still making really good amps. Please keep your stupid comments about homosexual people to yourself they don't make you sound cool at all much more like a little 6 year old kid. thank you
I think it looks gay and is a rip off... VOX valvetronics is better
yes the vox amps are great but they can still not beat a full tube am thats not possible in any kind of way!! Orange is the new Marshall. While Marshal lost it's quality and just kept their name Orange is still making really good amps. Please keep your stupid comments about homosexual people to yourself they don't make you sound cool at all much more like a little 6 year old kid. thank you
Let's see here...could somebody please PM me and tell me why tube amps are so much better than combos?
I have a Spider and it sounds really digital sometimes, and when two notes don't either make a power chord or fall into a scale...the distortion is an epic fail.
Thanks for anyone who wants to help correct my noobish ways.
It's not a case of tube vs combo, the rocker 30 is a tube combo. If you don't like the digital sound of your spider get something with tubes (or valves as we say in the uk) avoid hybrids that are part solid state and part valve.
I went for the rocker 30 head so i can switch cabs, also my practice studio has cabs in the rooms so i just have to stroll in with a head and a guitar.
generally i've found you don't need any eq for the natural channel, it is well voiced, you only need eq if you've bought a shit guitar, or the wrong one for the sort of sound you want.
yes the amp will sound great for gn'r and ac/dc but u might need a booster pedal for the high gain stuff allthough i get a good metallica type tone from mine but i am using active emgs on my guitar which drive the tube quite hard.
LINE6 SPIDERVALVE BLOWS ORANGE , & BY THE WAY ORANGE IS THE UGLYIEST AMP OUT THERE
You must need 3 things.
1. A hearing AID
2. Glasses
3. A Life
Oranges are the best made amps out there in my opinion. Line 6 suck with amps i know because i have one (bought it without testing). So everyone who thinks VOX OR LINE 6 Beat these Go get the 3 things i mentioned above. Thanks
Anyways this amps clean sound is amazing. thats what i love about orange. mix this amp with a boss blues driver and itll sing like an angel.
LINE6 SPIDERVALVE BLOWS ORANGE , & BY THE WAY ORANGE IS THE UGLYIEST AMP OUT THERE
Lol, work on spelling, and you just like line 6 because you get a lot of effects, so get ready to realize that's not what it's all about because you won't get anywhere in guitar.
I think it looks gay and is a rip off... VOX valvetronics is better
Completely disagree. Valvetronics is trying to make out that its the best of valve and solid state when its not. Its a poor compromise of both. The valves arent effective but make it cost more than a solid state. Go for one or the other, not a hybrid
Guys, hungry trolls are hungry. They're probably 13 year old slipknot fans with B.C Rich's and Spider III's.
Nothin wrong with Slipknot. Admittedly that guy was being a little shit, but don't diss a great band, please. On subject, I'm really looking to get one of these
My bad, pressed a button without noticing and my comment got published
As I was saying, I had a Marshall JCM 800 before buying the R30 and I loved the tone of the JCM but i had to turn it up a lot to get that magical tone so I sold it and now that is not a problem...with the R30 you can a good tone without having to turn the volume up a lot...my recommendation....go try it!
It seems like a lot of people here have a real bias against any amp that isn't tube. I use a 20 year old solid state Marshall Lead 100 Mosfet 100 watt head. You know what I've done in the way of maintenance in the 16 years I've owned it? Wiped it off. I, personally, don't want an amp that needs to be 90 decibels to sound good, and I don't want my sound to be "warm". I like high gain with a lot of bite. Good sound comes from the player. Don't let equipment dictate what you think you're capable of. A JCM sounds like another JCM- that doesn't appeal to me at all. As a consumer culture, we're often blinded by the endorsements and dogmatic practices of the artists we admire. If we, as musicians, are supposed to create something that others will admire, shouldn't we stop worrying about what sounds "acceptable", and start worrying about how original we can be with our instruments? Just my two cents... But Orange amps ARE pretty badassed, in general. But then, I also like my buddys Hartke GT60, which makes everything sound like Monster Magnet. Go play your guitars!
Ahhhhh I've got my eye on this one, a nice classy amp that can take anything that is put it's way, good stock speaker and just a generally good pedigree. Come Jan by the latest it will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine. Or as Angelica Pickles might say, "I want it, I want it, I want it!!!!!"
I've just put a deposit on one of these in the Limited Edition White. I'm so excited about it!
I tried playing the Vox AC15 CC1X too, but it was just was far too bright in my opinion. The tone that the Orange produces is phenomenal, and you get so much more for your money than with Vox. You should choose your kit with your ears... and mine tell me that this is definitely the amp for me.
This is a terrific amp, perhaps only let down by it's lack of an FX loop and lacking a bit in clean headroom. However, while absolutely pristine clean is not that feasible, it's still perfectly easy to get a nice round clean tone at high volume with the guitar's volume rolled off a notch or three with a bit of hair when you dig in. The overdrive? Thick, responsive, articulate and organic are the sorts of words that come to mind. This amp is definately loud enough to handle your average pub gigged unmiked, even with a loud drummer. In fact, in all likelyhood, you will be getting asked to turn down more often than not.
Update : Still think it's a great amp but I must say I think the clean channel fully cranked gives you a better overdrive type tone than the dirty channel. It just has more clarity. I did this last week and I faced my amp against the wall to make the volume level bearable (also emphasising the bass frequencies but not so much that it resulted in a muddy tone). On the other hand, the dirty channel gives you a better (more sparkly) clean tone so it's actually kind of backwards. However, with that said, the dirty channel still earns it's stripes in the last quarter of the gain dial.
It really depends upon the volume you're gonna have it at, the output of your pickups and the heaviness of your touch. I can gig with it and coax a clean tone out of it but for others that may not be so possible.
lol some people have no idea what sarcasm is... some of these posts here are just there to piss of the know it alls here.. if you ask me marshall is not shit, orange is great nut dont be dissing solid state ams.. dunno if anyone knows but dimebag was using solid state randalls for the longest time..
We've detected that you are using Ad Blocking software.
If you hate ads, but love Ultimate Guitar, how about subscribing to Ultimate Guitar's Ad Free Service? If you subscribe to this service, you won't see annoying banner ads, pop-up ads, text-link ads or video ads and will be helping to support your favorite site at the same time.
As you know, we provide you with a lot of great, free content like news, reviews, interviews, tabs and chords, but you see, ads are the way we generate revenue to run UG and pay royalties to the songwriters and music publishers of the songs that are posted here.
reviews (
Was this review helpful to you? 
