Three speaker
outputs
Serial effects loop
Welcome to the Terror Dome
At times, I was amazed at just how well
the Dark Terror captured the quintessential Orange tone—especially at extremely
distorted levels. With a 1978 Gibson Les
Paul Custom and a Emperor 4x12 cabinet,
the Dark Terror ripped and snarled with
every downstroke and triplet I threw its
way. The wide, expansive gain voicing that
Orange is famous for is there in full force,
with loose but massive lows, a rich midrange, and slightly fuzzy highs. It was hard
not to think of the churning, thick tones
from High on Fire’s The Art of Self Defense
and Celtic Frost’s Into the Pandemonium—
albums defined by a distinct and unique
midrange grind that the Dark Terror delivers in quantity. The tone was even more
focused when I hooked up an Epiphone
Valve Jr. 1x12 cabinet, which tightened up
the low end, smoothed out the highs, and
made it easier for single-note lines to sit
comfortably alongside heavy riffing.
The massive amount of gain on tap can
also be one of the Dark Terror’s downsides
when it’s turned up too high. With Gain
above 3 o’clock, I had to drop the Shape
control a bit to de-fuzz the high end. And
in doing so, it often seemed the amp’s
midrange went away with the offending
highs. With just 15 watts on tap, the power
section is easily distorted, so it took some
effort to find the proper balance between
knob settings and a pick attack that
wouldn’t drive the front end too hard for
rhythm work.
If you’re hoping to coax any sort of truly
clean tones out of the Dark Terror, you’ll
probably be disappointed. While I was able
to get some decent clean-ish tones by rolling
my guitar’s volume knob down and setting
the amp’s Gain control lower, they retained
a tinge of overdrive that was impossible to
dial out if I played with anything more than
the lightest pick attack. Attempts to do so,
however, led to some very cool tones, revealing the amp’s dynamic range and pick sensitivity at lower gain levels.
Switching to a 1978 Greco EC-700 Les
Paul copy—which has pickups more in the
PAF range—I was able to squeeze out some
really great-sounding southern rock rhythm
tones, à la Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps.”
The dynamics and overtones that I got with
the Volume control low and the Gain control halfway up were almost more impressive than the amp’s fully cranked tones.
satisfy even the most discerning stoner-metal
enthusiast. And if your bag is modern hard
rock with a dash of those characteristic fuzzy
Orange highs and mids, the Dark Terror
might just scare you silly.
Rating:
Buy If...
you seek fantastically massive over-
drive tones in a miniscule package.
Skip If...
you absolutely must have
sparkling cleans.
Orange Amps
Street $649
orangeamps.com
or use a mobile device to watch a
video review of the amp at
CLICKHere…
The Verdict
Orange’s Dark Terror builds something
relatively massive on top of the Tiny Terror’s
rock-solid foundation. That’s not the whole
story, however. There may not be much to
speak of in the way of clean tone, but if
you’re adept at using your guitar’s onboard
controls, the low-gain tones and dynamics
are stellar. On the whole, the tones are classic Orange and infused with enough gain to
