Crush Bass 100

The loudest and largest amp in the new line, and designed with gigging squarely in mind, the CB100 is a particleboard box standing 550mm high, 510mm wide and 355mm deep. It weighs 24.25kg (53lbs), which isn’t bad for a traditionally appointed 100-watt analogue unit, and features side-mounted, recessed steel handles.

The front vista is dominated by a black cloth grille, bearing the iconic maker’s badge and `coat of arms’, which protects the custom 15-inch speaker behind. Orange tells us the speaker has better cone excursion (it moves further from its resting position) for improved bottom-end response, and chunkier magnets. The cabinet is also ported for even greater boom.

The control panel bears the familiar quirky graphic representations of the controls, which include three oversized black knobs – one volume and two for Orange’s overdrive feature: gain for the amount of spite and blend for how much of it you hear. Four smaller dials make up the EQ section, with bass (+/-15dB @75Hz) and treble (+/-20dB @5kHz) flanking middle (+/-15dB) and a frequency sweep that runs clockwise from 300Hz to 2.7kHz, although the control isn’t labelled. Orange also includes a switchable chromatic tuner,  which engages without muting your out-front sound.

Effects loop and blend footswitch (not supplied) jack sockets are located at the back. The control panel houses a headphone jack socket that utilises Orange’s CabSim circuit (which emulates speaker-cabinet response), XLR balanced out with a ground/lift switch and an audio in mini jack socket for plugging in a phone or tablet.

In use

On plugging in and after utilising the efficient onboard tuner, the sound is clean and clear across the neck, with a definite feeling of underlying body and width – a great base sound for bass playing. Dialling in some bass EQ injects a warm thud into proceedings without blurring note detail, and increasing the treble unearths a raspy edge and biting attack without the snappy click you get from a horn.

These practical variations are enlivened by the midrange section: on the clockwise side of the frequency dial, boosting the level writes a tonal story of increased body with a darker hue and thud that’s a tad mushy at the extremes, but tightens up towards centre position. Notes come into sharper focus on the clockwise side, accruing a slightly nasal quality that hints at the tell-tale `burpy’ attack. So, there are plenty of practical variations, plus you can add subtle buzz or full-on fiery distorted fare with a few simple tweaks to the blend and gain controls.