If you have been knocking around the idea of getting a decent practice amp that delivers portability and quality along with a reasonable price, then the Orange Crush 20 RT might be for you. Coming in at just under $200.00 the Orange Crush 20 RT is worth a look. Let’s dive into this Orange Crush 20 RT review to learn more about it!
The Specs
- Dimensions: 15” x 13” x 8”.
- Weight: 8 lbs.
- Twin Channel Design with High Gain Preamp, 3 Band EQ and Reverb.
- 20 Watts of Power to Custom 8” Voice of the World Speaker.
- Top: Instrument Input, Clean Volume – Dirty Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Dirty Volume, Channel Select Switch, Aux In, Headphone out.
- Bottom: Chromatic Tuner (Integrated), Reverb.
- Rear: Footswitch Jack.
Visual Features – The Look
It is Orange. It is Square. It is Neo Retro.
The Feel
A lot of quality engineering and components are packed into this little unit. It is rock solid and durable, built to last.
The Sound
We are all in the technology boat together and that means, barring nuclear war or a major asteroid impact, tubes will remain a niche market that serves the well-to-do dilletantes and the demanding artistic and talented purists alike. In fact, either destructive scenario may send everyone back to playing the lute if their radiation burns or roving desperate cannibal hordes allow. But cheer up, mass destruction really isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, say in the next year or so, which means you can concentrate on honing your musical gift.
Now that vacuum tubes and global devastation are occupying your mind, it is a good time to mull over the Orange Crush 20RT and the all analogue signal path it generates using solid state. That’s right, the very type of circuitry that will fry the moment the first nuclear blast sends out the first EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse). But do not worry about that or, if you can’t stop worrying about it investigate building a Faraday cage in your garage.
By engineering the Orange Crush 20RT to simulate the liveliness of a tube driven amp, Orange Crush has seriously upped the game. And, if the competition is serious, they will up theirs. Regardless, however you like to practice, you can retrieve sounds out of this amp that are remarkably faithful to the tube driven units. Of course, digital can only replicate analog within a certain margin of fidelity; but for this price this amp delivers the goods.
The Sound Features: Clear, Dirty, Distorted
So, we like the all analogue sound path well enough, of course we do. Why wouldn’t we? This is the Orange Crush 20RT, best in class for this sort of thing. But there is more to the unit than this. The Crush 20RT comes with an incredibly on point 3 band EQ. What this means is that you have control over your sound, this amp works for you and it does what you pay it to do very well. Imaging blending a variety of tones to make your own sound palette; that is what you can do with this.
Furthermore, there is a lot of talk out there about detailed saturation, versatility and exceptional richness when it comes to describing some of the impressions that the 20 RT delivers. All these adjectives our vague and devoid of meaning unless tied to something concrete. It is like me saying, “I have chiseled abs.” What does that mean? Do I? Does anyone care? I have no idea what that means. I do. And I care
But more to the point, any artist worth their salt is not sold on ethereal flowery prose unless it is backed up by something tangible…and flowery. But we are talking about the manipulation of sound by way of metaphors that employ terms masterpiece painting. What does this even mean? Who knows, but by expanding the very successful Crush Pro amp series, Orange Crush is helping even the most forlorn member of club rock and roll to get just a little better. And doesn’t that just make everything worthwhile?
We think so. Because the 20 RT encourages the player to belt out a stunning array of tones in a level of clarity that is, well, hands down clear. That ultra-clear clarity is essential to sound should by now be clear. The high gain preamp is at the clarity core thanks to the highest quality components that mimic, as we have mentioned, the performance of tube amps (which may or may not come back into general use because of a global catastrophe). But wait, there is more than just clarity – there is not clarity sound as well.
Think of a clean, rich stream of Pinot Noire flowing over onyx black volcanic rock scoured smooth from eons of Pinot Noire flowing over those same onyx black volcanic rocks. Rich, clean, beautiful, dreamy – now you get the picture. But it is the wrong picture because you are visualizing clear sound through a wine intoxicated stupor. Sober up!
We want the not clear, so imaging that same streambed of onyx black volcanic rock being scoured by a heavy flow of Wild Turkey 101. Now your talking! The crispy crunchy blues sound that is now hollowing out the inside of your skull as you careen from one barstool to the next in a cross-eyed haze of bacchanalian excess is exactly the dirty, grubby cigarette ash infested sound that runs in absolute contrast to the clean channel. Feel that? That’s the patrol officer shaking you awake because you passed out at the wheel. You want to play with the Blues? Play with the Orange.
Take it a step further with the optional footswitch and you might quite literally blow your own mind.
The Reverb
“The reflex is a lonely child, who’s waiting by the park
The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover, isn’t that bizarre?
And every little thing the reflex does
Leaves you answered with a question mark”
In one of their many wildly popular songs, Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” seems to foreshadow the Orange 20 RT. Consider how the 20 RT employs digital technology to simulate analog technology and that the reverb feature itself emboldens your creations with a fine affinity for enhanced spaces. That’s the reverb, that is what it does.
But the reverb is not a lonely child and never would be. The Orange Crush 20 RT is built to bring reverb and treble to the front and center. As for finding treasure in the dark, that does not make sense, the unit is bright orange! And you don’t need a lucky clover to improve on your musical prowess, not when you have the Orange Crush 20 RT. Any questions? I did not think so.
In fact, “The Reflex” is an in significant song with incomprehensible lyrics performed by a three-chord band, at best! How did Duran Duran ever get into this article? Well, I guess that’s the question mark.
The Technology
We have already covered the technology, so we will look at it again. This is a solid-state unit designed to accurately mimic a tube driven amp. And tube means vacuum tube, which means old school. This a neo-old school amp; designed for the future with the past firmly in mind. It is the future reaching forward into the past to realize the ultimate clarity in dirty, scuzzy bluesy, metal shreds on the fly as you ricochet between meaning and madness in your musical endeavors.
Are you mad, or are you a genius? Only you know the answer to that question you renegade maverick. And it is time to test just how sublime your madness is, and what better way to do that than to do it on a small unit that won’t draw too much attention (unless you wan it to) and costs under 200 bucks. Genius has never been so affordable – and that is not to say you are cheap. It’s to say that you are thrifty and that you know quality when you see it.
The Setup
The setup is all about you. This unit is portable, reliable and rugged so you can plug it in wherever you happen to be – your grandma’s 90th birthday, wedding receptions, funerals, the first real music gig that your cousin and his band landed, they are all open to you. And who knows maybe, the people there will prefer your sound over the band that was actually hired to play music.
The Getup
You have it in you to practice anytime anywhere, regardless of circumstances. And this unit, the Orange Crush 20 RT is built for tactical and recon activity. Wherever you go you will want to take it with you. So when you hear “getup!” that is your que to shred some fiber, or steel, or whatever.
Go!
It has been said that there is a thin line between ignorance and arrogance. Welcome to the amp that will allow you and only you to erase that line for good! You are sick of that line, you always have been. Ignorance and arrogance are not the same thing, they are just twin ideas about stuff that really has no relevance to anything substantive.
Orange Crush 20 RT Review – Does it Live up to the Hype!!
This is a home use, private use unit. It is not a stage amp, though you may be tempted to us it as one for intimate gatherings. The idea behind the Orange Crush 20 RT is to allow you to stretch your creativity and expertise by providing a high-quality practice amp at an affordable price.
It hits the target niche just right by providing enough features and sound options to be usefully without the overpowering complexity that makes some units as difficult to learn as another instrument.
So, if you have been knocking around the idea of getting a decent practice amp that delivers portability and quality along with a reasonable price, then the Orange Crush 20 RT might be for you. Coming in at just under $200.00 the Orange Crush 20 RT is worth a look.
We hope you enjoyed this Orange Crush 20 RT review! If you’d like to see more amp reviews be sure to check them out on our site!
