AMP WARS EP 1 ORANGE OVERDRIVE OR80 VS SOUND CITY 50

[@zedxxx9]

Terrific demo. Love "The Amp Show" idea and hope you will make it a series. This was really well done and informative, thanks!

[@Soobysounds]

That Sound City sounds killer! (as long as the treble isn't up too high) Great video. This is what grown ups do when they're not chained to cubicles.

[@moustachio334]

Sound City needs Fane speakers. Celestions are too pesky whereas the Fane is flatter in the mids which makes them sound fuller and deeper. Speakers are 80% of an amp’s tone.

[@philtron1969]

I'm glad to see some love for the Sound City 50. I bought one in the '90s from Black Market Music in SanFran while on the road with Tracy Bonham. I played it (loud!) through a Marshall 4x12" and it sounded great. Think early Cheap Trick. Though, because there is so much range in the bass and treble knobs, it took a while to get it dialed in properly. Once it was there though. Look out!

[@backspin6698]

That was some good sounding amps. More of this please.

[@pepe10296]

Really digging Dave's knowledge here and the generous sharing. Miss these series, hope there's more to come.

[@satchmodog2]

I own a bunch of Orange amps and love them dearly, but that Sound City is the effin bomb. The Orange was far more articulate, but that sound city had the tone. I'd love to hear it through a set of 12s

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

Sound City amps are seriously underrated. Interesting that they mentioned the similarities to Hiwatt given that they were designed by the same person. I believe the original Hilite-branded models are the mk IV design with certain features such as the absurdly sensitive EQ either stripped out, or reengineered. It's a shame that the 120 mk IV I have is just sat collecting dust because I don't have any practical reason to own a cabinet powerful enough to withstand it.

[@CyberChrist]

Isn't pissing off your neighbours practical reason enough ?

[@snackweight]

Check out Hi-Tone if you want something as close as possible to the Hylite era amps with more ear friendly power sections.

[@eryckcrypton6412]

@Casanova Funkenstein - Yes that's right, they were made in the Hylight Factory just like the late 60s/early to mid 70s Hiwatts were. ... and they are pretty much the same amp as the Hiwatt DR series, or extremely similar.

[@Pierre-de-Standing]

I used to work at Sound City testing the amps as they came off the production line up until about 1974. The circuitry in the tone section was completely different on the 50s to the 120s. Later on they had the SMF amps which had output transformers that were very different with twin taps on the valve side. SMF stood for sounds mucking farvellous. The SMF bass amp was about the cleanest you could get before solid state came along.

[@stringtheoryguitars4952]

@@Pierre-de-Standing Wow... I have so many questions LOL

[@sski]

I owned 2 of those Sound City 50 R heads back in the 80''s, as well as a 100 watt version. I wish I still had them.

[@rome8180]

I've been watching your videos for a year and just now stumbled on this particular series. I love it and hope to see more.

[@elonmush4793]

Bet the Orange really cuts through a mix. But that Sound City has just a lovely sound. Like a blend of Vox and Marshall. Aggressive chime, is that a thing?

[@RoccoPezzin]

loved that 50 R, it really sounds awesome

[@dinger7608]

Rick, this is a great episode. Serious stuff. No blabla. Feel like being the third person in the room. Direct address. Really nice player. Helping attitude. All questions answered. Btw: Bought new my OR 120 plus 4x12 in 1977. A keeper for shure.

[@billyhughes9776]

Both amps sound great -- but that Sound City is the joint. Gorgeous tone and so dynamic. Woulda like mor.e of the Orange mixed it but keep up the The Amp Show. Dig it

[@jeffsmiley3213]

Excellent video!! A video series on this topic would be much appreciated !! A lot of people forget that amps are just as historically important as the guitars and players. I never comment on videos, but with tones that epic, I had to.

[@RickBeato]

That is what I thought too Jeff. Document the history of Sound as well as Musical Styles.

[@bjhale542]

Sound city! Sounding PHENOMENAL here. So glad Fryette looked into bringing this back to the people. This amp Rick has here is a real Gem from the past. I've never had the pleasure to play or listen to one solo. This has been great. That Vox in episode 2 is Stellar too...especially with the strat. I'm in Atlanta with a Bogner Helios should you ever want to showcase in your amp wars. It is an incredible delight. Cheers!

[@sonictemple2925]

Awesome video. I have a Matamp GT120 and it is by far my favorite amp I’ve ever owned. My band had a Sound City B100 which was amazing. The combo of the 2 was beautiful, but crazy loud.

[@rickjones641]

I had a 100watt Sound City that I found sat at the back of a second-hand shop in the UK in the late 90's and bought for a song. I hadn't heard of the company, but I bought it for pennies, took it home and found that under the hood was massive transformers, point-to-point wiring and some old-school tubes. The speaker cab had Fanes in it and the whole thing was so powerful I never found a venue where I could push it into drive without being too loud. It was actually great with an acoustic with a slightly microphonic Sunrise magnetic pickup in it and I used that at the front of a band for a few years. Great amps.

[@jonkomatsu8192]

Wow, excellent '70s-style tones! British Rawk at its best. Great idea and video, more puh-leeze. Vox/ Beatles, Marshalls, and Fender California-style tones next. Really digging the Sound City, since I tutored myself on guitar listening to The Who's "Live At Leeds".

[@Garythefireman66]

Great video. Amazing how different each amp sounds.

[@SteveNewbrough-Guitar]

Yes. Please make more of these.

[@charleswilson9654]

Excellent detailed video and both you and Dave know the idiosyncrasies of amps. Best comparison I've seen - much appreciated.

[@danielkrause7914]

Cool series! Really love the sound of the Orange for that classic rock stuff. I have a Sound City 50+ myself. It's a little different compared to the 50r, but a great amp. Got an old Hiwatt 4x12" with the original Fanes to go with it.

[@sonicweaver]

F'N FANTASTIC Rick!!! Great player and awesome recording allowed us to really hear the character of each amp and the differences between. Please do more of these shootout style vids. Might consider doing some studio gear too...would love to see this format type of comparison of pres, mics, compressors etc.

[@garylink6673]

Great job Gentlemen!!! Your channels diversity is highly informative especially for folks who don’t even know about great brands like Sound City etc;

[@RC32Smiths01]

Great new series on the rise my man! I've see the Orange amp around on KZbin and in real life, and they sound amazing!

[@guydouglas6094]

The sound city sounds so good in the 4 x 10 cab. And so versatile with tones. I love that Orange amp - so 70's hard rock Brit sounding. Greetings from Downunder, east coast Australia. Love you passion and story telling. Keep up the incredible good work. Guy P

[@BillyMuircroft]

That Sound City Amp is incredible! keep these videos coming.

[@housewithnonamestudios6269]

The Sound City sounds incredible. It reminds the Traynor YBA1 a lot. A bright, loud versatile amp with amazing build quality.

[@lordviewer7305]

this comparison is fantastic! one of the best, vintage Orange, Sound City and Hi Watt amps have always been so enigmatic to me. They sound very good and their matching cabinets are also special.-

[@ronaldothomejunior3702]

Orange: Jimmy Page Sound City: Billy Gibbons That's It Rick! Thanks!

[@albertpratt4999]

Wow the versatility of the Sound City 50R is amazing, especially patching the channels together wow, love the tones.

[@Auen73]

Love your channel Rick.......Stellar content & presentation......Excellent job capturing/recording these rare birds🤙......Sounds FAB!

[@gd3339]

I was waiting for this, grazie ragazzi

[@gpeterson999]

Great video guys. Enjoyed it. Orange Overdrive was my first amp. I downloaded all your Kemper profiles for it.

[@stringli69]

great video great series idea!! i really loved the Orange tones!! also looking forward for that mini jubillee that i saw lying around at the back of a previous video!!!

[@PhilHeesen]

Very excited about the Amp Wars series!

[@sussudioscott9383]

This is a great Episode, would love to see more soon!

[@DavidRFIT]

Another great video and great series idea. :)

[@jasonblachowski]

Great video guys. Would love to see more of these.

[@TheZombie4u]

What a great video!! Super treat! Many thanks!

[@jlopez47]

Yes, please. Make this a series!

[@marcuszc3172]

Id love "the amp show" .. some comparisons between tubes and solid state would also be great. When choose what ..ect

[@tehshins]

That was a great video Rick, awesome tones and I especially loved seeing how you have your setup with the cab/mic'ing room, etc. I'd love to see a proper studio tour video sometime with how you have things setup :) Keep up the great work!

[@seanzolnazak4307]

This is rad as Rick, need more content like this!

[@MrGuitarist9891]

Great video! Thanks for posting!

[@mrjljjl]

When dave shows up you know your about to get broadsided with a plethora of hardware information. Wish I could apprentice somewhere in my town. Big corporations ruin alot of things they touch.

[@rockpebble100]

Great video, Rick. The Sound City sounded great especially rolling on/off the volume to bring in the raunch. The Orange has fantastic dynamics, the gain was filthy!.

[@AlienPizzaZombie]

Classic rock tone heaven from both amps wow. That’s REAL TONE right there, but man, that Sound City is just amazing

[@Neboviews]

Always wanted to hear that Sound City...very sweet...thanks again ~

[@vmat1000]

Goes to show how one can't believe every thing they read. I loved Fliegler's Amps book but wondered about his take on Sound City amps, saying how some were lets say, not great (""...i saw a full stack out side of a studio. I didn't stop"). This 50R sounds amazing. No wonder GP did a feature on the ressurected brand, head and combo. 30 watt combo, Pick Award!! Orange,,,fave pic of Peter Green used for Gary Moore's 'Blues For Greeny' (well, uncropped version) had an Orange rig behind him. ha, nuff said :) Great vid, guys !!!

[@KM_1983]

The studio was throwing them away? Or selling? Free stack is a free stack lol

[@julioahora]

Very well made video, Rick. Congrats!

[@thechrisricci]

Episode 1 and I love it already! Rick, your cabinet room looks like the holodeck from Star Trek The Next Generation. Looking forwards to more of this series.

[@cmartinrel]

Loved this video. Would really enjoy more of these!

[@jeremiedunning5963]

Rick that was a bad ass episode man, from Calgary Canada. Love ya bro

[@CA-ml3iv]

Great video I liked Dave's input too.

[@Thrakall]

Oh please make this a regular feature! I had no idea about the Sound City amp. I'm blown away what it can do. Something to keep an eye out for.

[@PaulMcCaffreyfmac]

The Sound City through the Marshall cab sounds absolutely stellar to my old ears. Is this a Sound City that would have had the coloured knobs originally?

[@edphaze6550]

Another great series? Rick you’re killing it bro! Hey, how about some videos about reggae? Or Spaghetti Western film Music? Keep it coming man. Love all your videos.

[@lespaul6550]

Very cool show! I hope you do more of this

[@aristoskarvelas2606]

please make it a regular show! it helps us difine our tone and choose what our next real amp will be! Im thinking of buying a Hiwatt Head Amp..

[@natehine8541]

love this series already

[@thevelointhevale1132]

I've had my 1974 Sound City 120 MkIV for nearly 30 years ... I was singing the praises of Sound City amps LONG before they were on anybodies radar ... nice to see the World finally catching up to what great tone machines these amps are. I've never though of them as a lesser Hiwatt ... they have their own character and personality ... they are certainly in the Hiwatt family. Dave Reeves had his hands in this circuit design .... more so the Sound City 100.

[@garaughty]

I truly love Marshall but... ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh gawd that Orange sound !!!

[@vikingmetaliscool]

That was great. Please keep these coming. Thanks, Rick.

[@kentmains7763]

Breakfast with Beato! Great way to start the day!

[@gil84rs]

The series should be named "Amps You will never own" 😂😂 nice idea though

[@cafesociety8525]

I've got the same sound city I picked it up in 1999 aged 15 for £70 (circa $110) along with a marshall 1966a cab for £110 ($150) from a second hand music store in a tiny town that was going out of business. It was seen as an ok buy back then... oh how things change.

[@devonull8784]

20 years ago I was at a garage sale in a city 20 miles north of Seattle. I asked about the guitar head on the ground, the woman said it didn't work. I had $17 total in my pocket and I offered it to her. I took home a Sound City 120 mark IV that just needed a resistor to ground the power supply circuit. Fifty cent resistor. This monster is stadium loud, I'm convinced it would break my house windows if I ever really tried. You feel like Pete Townsend when you play it, like you should do big windmill chords and let them ring for 4 measures.

[@gil84rs]

@@devonull8784 That's a great story!

[@jamesstonehouse3448]

Orange is great, I'm building a low wattage clone of an OR120, but the sound city sounded amazing! Really nailed those classic tones and even with the treble up it didn't sound ice-picky like a Marshall.

[@moonkef]

Lovely tones there guys!

[@BellsCuriosityShop]

A Sound City 50 Plus is my main amp. Has been for approx 20 years. I bought a Carlsbro TC which had been modified with a Marshall Bluesbreaker preamp which I thought would have been more like a Bassman. I tried it for one gig and was told by the vocalists to turn down despite the volume less than usual on the SC, so I guess they didn't prefer the sound (which was heavier in the kids I thought). Your video has reassured me that the SC is the better amp. I play bass more these days, but the amp was best for guitar with my SG with P90 than my Gordon Smith Gypsy (a British-made LP-style).

[@sleggarri]

Keep this series going!

[@mysticmoose]

more of these pls :)

[@vacuumelite2065]

I have just bought a '70's Sound City 50 plus. This is very helpful. Thank you guys. :-) :-)

[@renleblanc2993]

Great soundings and great playing!

[@MFKR696]

Fun fact: Cranked tube amps *do* sound better, but they're not designed to be cranked *all the way* up. Doing so is the quickest way to burn the output capacitors out. When using an attenuator or playing live, 3/4 is the most I'm willing to push it. It still amazes me how few people mention this these days. With all the people recording with iso cabs and attenuators these days, you'd think it would be mentioned more often.

[@JimijaymesProductions]

Depends on the amp, AC30s and Fender based amps definately dont sound best all the way up, Plexis on the other hand are awesome on 10, of course this does put wear on everything. I run my clean cchannel on my Ceriatone on full for fun but that channel even cranked isnt as loud as the gain channel although I am careful not to play for too long in this configuration.

[@Pierre-de-Standing]

Valve amps don't have capacitors in the output stage. The output valves are connected to the output transformer. Solid state amps may have output capacitors, so these are the ones to be careful with. With valve amps the risk is the output transformer overheating. They will smoke big time and make a really weird smell!

[@matiasdg]

Cool demonstration, thanks for sharing. I do have a minor critique about the wording. I believe "cascading" is used when speaking about a series connection, but Dave was referring to *parallel* connections in the both instances he said it. Great playing. Cheers

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Great vid. I liked both amps, but JUST LOVED THE ORANGE. What a great sound.

[@trashbirdie]

both amps sounds great Rick, Dave's awesome playing doesn't hurt either,

[@MikeIsNexciting]

Awesome video, more of this would be awesome!

[@joserimarroska7888]

Thanks for making this video rick....rock on...huge fan from Philippines

[@saarangnarayan123]

Would be interesting to throw in the Axe Fx in this series somewhere as well!

[@RickBeato]

I will be doing that

[@patrickolivier1]

🤢🤮

[@rolandramirez4557]

Do more of these, real sweet!

[@SPLEclipse]

Nice demo! If you ever do a Q&A, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the idea that people who make and produce music are resistant to learn more about the technical aspects of their gear and the acoustic principles which create the tone that they produce. I don't think I've ever seen a cabinet mic demo that talked about the effects of comb filtering or beamwidth, or one that talked about the natural resonant impedance spike of a speaker and how the related factors can help you decide if it should be in an open-back or sealed cab. There's tons and tons of people out there who are incredibly talented but treat their "sound" as some kind of magic voodoo or rely on outdated or outright incorrect information when describing why they make certain choices with their gear.

[@jeffripplinger]

Sound City - way too thin for me, especially with that 4x10 cabinet (that was designed to be blown up as the matching cab to this head). Even the "bass" channel of the Sound City sounded horribly thin even when played with a 'darker' hum-bucker guitar. I can't even imagine how bright it would be with a Strat on the bridge pickup! Loved the sound of the Orange through the Marshall 4x12 with the Greenbacks. Great video as always Rick!

[@shadyburnike264]

Great segment..more.. more.. more

[@marcoriganelli4421]

I own the Sound City 50 head running into a Marshall cab loaded with the Greenback and sounds lovely.

[@sixthfloormemories1566]

This changed my perspective on Orange amps and got me into Sound City stuff at the same time. For some reason (no good reason) I never really liked Orange amps. That's about to change, methinks!

[@DanielStucy]

Great vid!!! Very informative

[@brentleygoremusic]

Ok yes AMP WARS! Bring em on!

[@royferntorp3575]

I had a 70's Sound City 100 back in the ...errr...70's. Super loud and super treble. never had the volume past '2'.

[@OverDrive_clips]

Yea , me too. Couldn't get it loud enough to distort on its own..too damn loud.

[@bossgodfrey]

This was good, I wouldn't mind seeing more like this.

[@guitarsphere]

Great review!

[@jamesgrobertson8024]

Awesome Dave rocks!!

[@doughitty6348]

Hey Rick just bought a Mesa Boggie TC 50 this week. Awesome amp

[@RisikoAO]

great video, this will be an interesting serie

[@sneifert1968]

Sound City seems very versatile. Diggin' it. Nice job guys

[@mattfromcleveland]

Amp splainin' Sundays with Rick. Would love to see a Champ + Princeton video.

[@jcripp7974]

Im with you. Low watt amps. Im actually tired of hearing that same old brit tone. Boring

[@mcmSEA]

Oh the Sound City just slays it. I had a 100w Sound City stack + 2 4x12 cabs back in the day. That amp was a cop magnet.

[@vf7vico]

great idea, Rick -- the Amp Show!!!

[@ianbrailsford5843]

The original Orange Amps were built for the Denmark Street shop by Matamp of Huddersfield. Orange was a brand rather than a manufacturer as such. Matamo are still about building handwired boutique versions of their designs at very reasonable prices. Well worth checking out.

[@ZeugmaP]

I would love to see a Sunn model T in a future video, I don't know if you have one

[@RickBeato]

You will

[@ZeugmaP]

Sweet :D

[@johnymartin5411]

Sounds like a doom/stoner/sludge amp shoot out lol. Be cool if you guys could do a "sound" on a budget kinda deal. ....for instance I'm trying to get a doom tone out of a 1993 gibson les Paul , probably with an orange micro dark terror and a 2x12 cab . Havnt decided on amp and cab yet . But I dont need to blow any heads off and try to stay small with good tone.