Orange Micro Dark Reviews

Awesome!

The clean sound surprised me. Crystal sound, with the addition of gain, a very responsive dynamic sound is obtained. I didn't really like the sound on a heighgain, but with the pedals it sounds just amazing!

Such good cleans

If this had a 3 band/3knobs equalizer it would be perfect. I have mine running through a 112Vintage and it's great for home practice.

great amp

So great that I bought two. Does metal and rock, but very good clean tones as well. Loud if you want. I tried changing the tubes for "better" ones, but I couldnt tell any difference really. I knew it was small, but surprised it was this tiny. Anyway, really great!

Stellar cleans

Overdrive sounds are nice, stellar clean sounds which makes the Micro Dark a perfect pedal platform with an american flavor. Buffered effect loop, not a common feature at this price. No need to change the tube either.

Quality on a budget

I have this amp running into the Harley Benton vintage 2x12 and it's a fun combo. Mostly play blues and metal and can find sounds I'm happy with for both. For being a small amp it sure puts out a lot of sound. Having an effects loop is a nice little feature. I do find that I need an OD drive pedal though. All that said the amp has excellent build quality for for being dirt cheap, and sounds pretty good. I've already recommend it to a coworker.

Great value

For the price its very good, it was my first decent amp after playing trough a cheap combo.

What i liked was, very light,portable, decent clean ,took pedals well, its surprisingly loud,had plenty of gain but asked for an overdrive to tighten up the sound.

Cons , I wish it had some more eq knobs.

Headphone output is not good.

Orange - check, Micro - check, Dark - check

F*** cleans

If you need high gain and are on a budget this is perfect. Really benefits from an overdrive in front. Otherwise it gets a little muddy on low tunings.

love it

What can anyone say...

Amazing, just amazing.

It's just amazing how much that tiny amp can produce.

It came with a Psvane ecc83 tube from factory, and sounds just killer.

I paired it with an OD to boost the signal and a graphic EQ in the FX loop for more versatility and the results are just perfect.

Totally deserves the credit.

Bof

A l'air d'être d'assez bonne qualité, mais le son n'est pas terrible. Trop "dirty" trop vite.

Excelent!

As a metal guitar player, I must say the distortion is really nice for such a small amp head.

The clean tone is awesome! Plugged all my stuff after a test and I totally recommend it. Excellent purchase.

Pro: Great tone, excellent clean, decent distortion. Compact and light weight

Cons: It is too loud for my house! Everyone wants too kill me.

Superb bit of kit

Hybrid technology in this really works. Tiny size so it sits on my desktop rather than on top of the cab, metal construction but still quite light.

Despite its focus on metal and gain, it’s capable of clean tones, the “shape “control in the middle condition leaves it capable of a good clear tone.

But gain is what this thing does well and boy does it do that well, it just drives and drives to a point that’s way above gig volume before it starts to struggle.

Great into headphones too and the fx loop is brilliant at handling my helix.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this.

Awesome little amp

This is the first amp unit I've had and I'm blown away. It's way smaller than I envisioned it but packs a big punch. Running it through the Harley Benton 2x12 cab it sounds great. Great crunchy distortion, and although there is no clean channel it can has a great near clean tone. The shape knob can get you almost any sound you like. This little amp is loud! Playing pedals through the effects loop sounds good. A second channel/ footswitch would be nice, but may be out of this price range. I have no complaints about this amp and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good, simple rock amp.

A Small Beast

Disclaimer: I am a home noodler, not a live musician or professional of any sort.

I paired this with a Harley Benton 1X12 Vintage speaker and I couldn't be happier.

The amp sounds great clean, but also gets dirty very easily. I'm also running a bunch of pedals in the front, and a reverb and a delay in the effects loop, all of which sound good too.

The case is a sturdy all-metal construction, the controls are very simple and direct with an immediate effect on your sound, as you tweak them. Definitely a happy customer.

Amazing despite its size

Bought this originally for home use with a 1x12 Celestion Greenback, but this is definitely made for more.

Loudness:

If you're wondering if this has enough volume for your bedroom, the answer is clear. YES! Especially if you like to crank the gain. For some it would maybe be too loud with a 12" speaker as you need to reach a certain volume to get a good tone. The volume knob is really sensitive at the first quarter so it's either no volume, or a lot of volume. This is also powerful enough gor gigs, and you can connect it to a 4x12 with no problem.

Tone:

The tones on this thing is amazing, even compared to the more expensive amps. Even though it's a hybrid it sounds like an all-valve. Honestly, most people wouldn't even hear the difference.

It's versitile too. Grab a stratocaster and dial it in for the good old rock tones, or switch to a humbucker and crank the gain for some killer doom metal tones.

It works great with gain/booster pedals, but for myself I see no use in it, as the gain already is badass. I put a reverb/delay, and maybe a looper pedal in the effects loop, and I'm good to go.

Size:

I just have to point out, this thing is ridiculous small. It's smaller than a six pack of 0.5L cans. Traveling with this is the last of your worries.

Cons with this amp:

Only 1 channel:

This can be a problem if you like to switch between clean and dirty mid-song. To do this you must either use your guitars volume knob, or use gain pedals instead of amp gain.

No aux in:

Can make it harder to practice with backing tracks, but if this bothers you I must inform you that yes, you can work around this by using the buffered effects loop. although you might need some extra gear for it. Do a quick google search ;)

Shape instead of tone knob:

Not a huge problem, but this knob acts a bit different than the normal tone knobs. I like it, and I usually just leave it around the 1-2 o'clock position as I find that to be the sweet spot. If this really annoys you, you might want to add an equalizer.

The headphone output sucks:

Even though it got a 4x12 cab sim, I can't say it sounds any good. On the other side, I've never seen an amp with a good headphone out, so compared to them.. Maybe it's not that bad. Just don't have high hopes.

In the end i would say it's a fantastic amp where you really get what you pay for. There aren't many extra functions on this, but that's probably why it's so cheap. I would highly recomend it if you're looking for the good Orange tones at a low price.

Well made serious amp

Bought this Micro Dark as a bedroom alternative for my bigger Dual Terror. The micro dark at bedroom levels sounds amazing, but it goes seriously loud and still sounds good with my Orange PPC112 cab. The effectsloop works really well and sounds good with some reverb. The headphone out is usable but not very good, it is nice to have. All in all a great simple and affordable amplifier!

My first tube amp head

Enjoying it very much!

The Shape control doing it job, though do not cutting the middle completely.

Must have amp for home/studio

A very nice portable hybrid amp with a very good sound, going from rock to metal, this little thing rocks!!!!!!!!!!!! Even with this portable amp you'll have to be carefull not to disturb your neighbors. This amp is a keeper for live. And the sound is really great. Especially if your on a "low" budget, you can't go wrong with this amp, value for money, for sure!!!!!!!

Exactly what the name suggest

Since I am on a work travel for 3 months I wanted an small affordable hybrid amplifier and stumbled upon this lunchbox sized beast. It turns out it is perfect! So far I've used it with headphones but I can't wait to plug it to my cabin at home!

Incredible tasty chugging tones for the size and warm clean sounds generated by the lamp pre-amp stage. All this in a fun-sized packet that manages to produce 20W !!!

Compared to my Vox VT50 that own, I find the distortion on this much better straight out of the box.

The only thing I felt missing was a second channel and a foot-switch as it becomes difficult if you your tracks have mixed clean and dirty sections. Otherwise, highly recommended!

wow

I always wanted a tube amp, but they are a bit too expensive for me and most importantly, they are simply too loud for a bedroom.

so after reading and watching videos regarding this head, I thought I was making the right decision by going with this head, due to its solide state power section.

(keep in mind I only play in my bedroom)

the cleans: you'd expect them to be just okay, well actually, they are very good. I was pleasantly surprised with them.

the crunch is very good as well, nothing to complain about.

when you start to push the gain and get into metal territory, things can get a little too loud, to the point where i have to keep the volume of both guitar and amp to 2.

However, the distorted sound is amazing, even at low volumes.

do I regret buying this? absolutely not, the sounds it offers are wonderful.

the only con I can find is the lack of a 3 band eq, replaced by the shape knob.

if you want to upgrade from SS but not really fond of tube amps, this is the perfect compromise

Best smallest amp ever!

I have used a bunch of small amps but this one seriously made me get back into tube amplification!