Orange Amps CUSTOM SHOP 50W-30W A CLASS

Historical Context and Positioning in the Range

This head is inspired by British amps from the late 1960s, a period that shaped modern rock tone: simple circuits, large transformers, and a direct interaction between playing, the guitar, and the power stage. The Custom Shop series concentrates the brand's expertise with a "no compromise" approach: meticulous assembly, point-to-point wiring, and component selection. The result clearly positions itself above production series, for musicians seeking an expressive and durable tube head with a very organic feel.

Who This Amp Is For

This head is designed for the intermediate to professional guitarist who wants a characterful tube amp capable of performing in rehearsals and especially on stage, while remaining relevant in the studio thanks to its high touch sensitivity. Its single channel suits both "plug and play" enthusiasts and those who sculpt their tone via guitar volume, picking, and a pedalboard. It excels in rock, classic rock, blues rock, hard rock, stoner, and indie, and can also deliver very beautiful bright cleans in Class A for more airy textures.

Features and Innovations

The concept is deliberately straightforward: a single channel, one gain stage, and a full EQ to cover a wide spectrum, from dynamic clean to tight crunch, up to dense British saturation when pushed. The operating selector allows switching from 50W in Class A/B (more headroom and tighter saturation) to 30W in Class A (more immediate attack, more pronounced natural compression, and increased brightness). The Presence / HF Drive control acts as a fine-tuning tool: ideal for adapting the amp to a very bright guitar, a reverberant room, or conversely to bring out the bite of a riff in the mix. The speaker outputs offer simple and robust connection options, with a particularly coherent pairing on a PPC family 4x12 cabinet.

The Sound

Fully tube-driven, with EL34 power tubes, this head delivers a typically British grain: present mids, snappy upper mids, and a firm low end when paired with the right cabinet. In Class A, you get bright cleans, a sense of proximity, and musical compression that "sticks" to the playing, perfect for expressive arpeggios and subtle crunches. In Class A/B, the amp gains power reserve and impact, with sharper, rock-oriented saturation, very effective for rhythms and leads. The point-to-point wiring enhances the immediacy: the amp responds finely to nuances, guitar volume knob, and attack variations, making it an ideal base for a pedal chain (overdrive, fuzz, boost, delay).

Technical specifications

Category	Guitar amp head	Category	Amplifier
Technology	Tubes	Number of channels	1
Amp tubes	2 x EL34	EQ	3 channels
Pre-amp tubes	2 x 12AX7	Color	Orange
Cabinet impedance (Ω)	16 Ω	Power output	50 W

Power	50 Watts all-tube (Class A/B) or 30 Watts (Class A)	Settings	Gain, Presence (attenuator), Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume
Type	all-tube guitar head	Speaker Outputs	1 x 16 Ohms
Wiring	point-to-point (no printed circuit board)	Origin	England
Channels	1	Dimensions (cm)	55 x 27 x 24
Preamp	2 x 12AX7	Weight	18.5 kg
Power Stage	2 x EL34