I’m an Orange guy, CR120 took the cake for me. Biggest surprise was how good the Katana sounds.

dave's playing makes me wanna grab my guitar instantly

The CR120 gets my vote, definitely more articulation and original sound to me. But it was splitting hairs between the MG and the CR

One thing that I want to add. When I was briefly a professional guitarist, I preferred using two different amps and combining their sounds. It always gave the best clarity when playing lead because one amp was always undistorted. The other amp was switched between overdrive and clean.

Marshall has the goods. Sounds like it would sit best in a mix and has that beautiful “grit and clarity” combination

To me the CR120 was ahead of the others for both sounds. It surprises me because I own a Super Crush 100. 😮

The katana sounded the most level across the frequency spectrum, to me. Where the others had scoops, humps that give them their own character. I thinks that's it's beauty, designed to be made to work. by all players, in all styles. It'd be interesting if the Kat could be deep edited to do the others.

Mg and Cr distortion are very similar. They are the best for me!😎👍🏻

I found the clean tone of the MG so much better than all the rest, for some reason it just hit me in the feelings more. Don't really know how to explain it

Cr120 still the leader of the pack 🔥

Here's what I heard (through good speakers): By far prefer the Boss Katana in clean AND distortion to any of the others. Second was the Super Crush for clean and CR120 for distortion. Sub Zero was far to muddy for me and the Marshall was heading a little that way too.

The Orange CR120 sounded the best to me.

The Crush 120 was my favorite.

For me the winner was the CR120. I was very surprised it. The Katana and MG where on par for me. The Subzero was too woolly for my tastes. Great idea for a video Dave. Also KZfaq for some reason has stopped suggesting your videos for me, despite being subscribed for years. Good to see your videos back in my feed again 😊

I prefer the orange super crush, most clear an articulate, on both clean and dirty.

For my taste I think the Boss Katana and the Marshall MG has the best clean sound. With a distortion pedal pushing the front end it was harder to decide which I liked better. They all sounded different but good. Still, I think I preferred the Boss Katana and the Orange CS the best.

The thumbnail reads "My 5 Favourite Amps Back To Back - I Was Shocked At The..." and I was a little sad that it didn't read "electricity bill" instead of "Difference" when I watched the video. Prime opportunity for a good pun there.

It's a tie between the 2 Oranges for me. I just love that tone.

I liked the Cr 120, katana is pretty amazing too considering it also has effects built in.

After comparing all... before listening to your conclusions... I definitely liked the cr120 for both clean AND distortion. The mg was a close 2nd only for distortion for me...

Cr120 was my favorite. I’m happy I have one. I love mine. I just need 2 more speakers for my 4x12.

I used to own a CR but ended up getting rid of it because I play almost exclusively with humbuckers and whenever I plugged into it it just always sounded too dark to my ears. Even cranking the treble didn’t solve the problem and just ended up in harsh, high-end frequencies that were not pleasing to the ear. The SC on the other hand is much brighter than the CR with a tighter bottom end. I fee like if someone mostly uses single coils, the CR is a better match, for humbuckers, Id go with the SC. Great video as usually Dave, thanks for all the work you put into these.

All the amps had great tones - the Marshall and the C120 were my main preferred ones - but what impressed me more was that melody from the clean tones. Sick!!! 🤜🏽✊🤛🏻

My favourite was the CR120 followed closely by the Katana!

Excellent playing sir!

Man, that chord progression on the clean setting. Beautiful!!

Clean wise my favorite was the MG I could really recognize the details in its tonality. The video really made me realize how special it is !! I had the MG for 7 years now such a good amp, bought it listening to your advices well that is one or the best decision I ever made. Solo part I préférée thé CR120 , I think there is more definition ans room in it Thank you very much for this quality content, I'm back playing more and it feels good❤

I’ve read through the comments just to see and it’s amazing to see all of the different opinions of what people like when it comes to sound. I’m going to have to say for me the Boss katana wins this for me. But the interesting thing about this test is that no one is wrong. It’s just purely a preference 🎸 🔥

Orange CR sounds so good. I‘ve been playing for 3 yrs now and thinking about my next amp after my current Katana MK2 50W, leaning towards orange tbh

I liked them in this order, Clean, Boss Katana, Cr120, Super Crush, MG, Sub Zero. Overdriven, Boss Katana, Cr120, MG, Super Crush, Sub Zero. The Katana IMO is a good all rounder. The Orange amps are classically great too, but personally I’ve never liked the MG range much. There are many other Marshall’s I prefer.

Hello Dave, As always, you did a great job here. I can only comment on the Boss/Roland side of things here... In regards to modern Boss/Roland amps, I vote that a Katana is the “best” overall amp when considering price/tone/features for anyone who doesn’t yet own an amp, or for someone looking to move from more traditional tube amps to something modern. I always recommend that my new students who don’t yet own an amp go get a Katana 50 or 100 to start. It’s also a great introduction to tweaking settings, as well as learning about various functions with the computer through Tone Studio. Years ago, I’d recommend a Peavy Classic 30 for the new players, but the Katana offers so much more, with so little downside, I have completely gone to it as my main recommendation. And again, for anyone who is used to playing very straightforward tube amps, but want to try something modern, I can’t think of anything better than the Katana combos, especially considering the price. That said, for someone who is more used to amp tweaking and modern tech, I would move to the Katana Artist MK II because it offers enough feature upgrades that it could be the last amp someone needs, at least until a new version that is “better enough” to justify an upgrade comes out. But since the Artist series are considerably more expensive (especially a head/2x12 setup), I would not recommend it to beginners, nor to people looking to get their feet wet with the newer tech. For pure tone chasers that want to go with Boss/Roland, I still believe that the Nextone Special is the way to go. I have yet to find a solid state amp that can emulate tube amps the way it can - especially in the power section. I’ve been able to achieve tones on mine that almost make me want to just sell off all of my high end or vintage amps...almost anyway. So for those that want to build a more complex system, incorporating pedals along the 4 Cable Method, and using the amp as the core of their setup, while trying to achieve the pest possible solid state tone (but still a simple device that looks like a guitar amp), I think that the Nextone Special is the best choice currently available.

CR120 and Katana did it form me. The interesting thing for me is, that you seemed to use the dirty channel on the CR120 for the clean tones ;-). Thanks to you, I'm a proud owner of the CR120 and love it to bits. Thank you Dave, great playing and demo as always.

The SubZero sounded bad and muffled on both examples.

I liked the mg and cr120 most in both examples. Somehow just they feel more soulful to me

Nice to see a pic of Rory in the background.

The CR120/SC sounded really good haha, the Subzero was set a lot darker so harder to tell but man, those Oranges sound really nice to me :D. The Oranges have a similar character but different presence like you said, and thats why I like them both! Knowing how particular you are with your tone I guess i am surprised with how different they are heh. Nice video Dave

I liked the Super Crush on both settings. It was clearer in a way that let the sound of the guitar come through, even in the distortion setting.

It's between the two Oranges for me (a surprise as I've never been that keen previously) - possibly leaning toward the SC. Both had nice transparency (apologies for the buzzword) and a distinct character. It's easy to see why the Katana is so popular, as it'll do pretty much anything you ask of it without complaining, but for me, that versatility comes with a slightly anonymous character - though I freely acknowledge how subjective these things can be. Nice test!

Got amps? Wow nice collection. Now that's a kitchen. You're really cookin!

MG and 120, I liked the way you made the sub zero talk. I love your videos this one was fun!

Wow, there was subtle differences until you plugged in the Orange Super Crush. But they all sound awesome. That Orange SC is what I’m looking for.

I more or less A/B amps for a living. Ended up with a '69 50 WATT Plexi and an original '62 AC30 as my main go-to amps (other than esoteric converted/modified USA PA heads, like stacked input gain Bogen amps or the occasional Electravox LB-40 tube rectifier Plexi types from Australia ❤ which absolutely kill ). The Katana did surprisingly well on cleans, for me this was sweeter than the Orange amps, but lost character once it came to the pedal distortion - may just be an EQ mismatch!? The Subzero had the sweetest gain sound. Real sweet tone and lost the sharpness of the others to provide something actually musical (the goal here!). The Orange 120 probably hit the best balance of middle ground if you were looking for a one amp fix (although I would use the two mentioned together with an A/B switch if you were seriously going for the best possible tone). The Marshall got the job done, but doesn't really do anything outstanding in the recording playback for me - I'm sure it sounds great in person, which is a whole 'nuther story of course! Speakers make a huge difference. For me, a quad of Celestion Golds would give you a very accurate map of the different amp tones (they are a fierce match for Old Fender amps peeps - Ted Weber put me onto that one years ago, got me using old '70s Greenbacks with Blackface amps! - Insane) or to get the earth shaking a little, perhaps a couple of vintage EV12L and a couple of old late 60's Celestion alnicos - unless you can find the early 70's reissues which have more bass - would hit all the bass, mids and sweet top end you could ever dream of. When I hear your playing style Dave, I must admit your amp/speaker and pedal choices often upset me a little, as I believe they don't do justice to how great a blues/rock man you truly are! You have a very sweet Glimorish zone that really hits the sweet spot for many of us, that I have especially noticed in your live gigging and to bring the most out of that direction, I'm guessing an old '76 Big Muff and an early Memory man (yup, that ugly one with the mains lead from '78 ish i.e. exactly what Gilmore used in the classic era) going into an early, say 1970-76 JMP 50 where later is more headroom and earlier is sweeter breakup, would fit like a glove. Well, hope you're not offended. You did say, "let me know what you think" so I did. But on my bucket list is to see you get out of the current toys and back into a decent, warm 50 WATT vintage tube amp, perhaps with an old '70-'72 Celestion G12H bass cone 014 straight cab (did Hendrix know anything !??) and discover some old vintage Germanium sweetness for that Strat. Think early original MXR script logo distortion or an early Ross distortion (the one with OUTPUT written on it) i.e. '70's toys if the old Big Muff idea is a little too in your face for the party 🎉. Sure, we just spent about £5-20k+ depending who you asked, but you are a £million player on the right day and I feel your playing has at this stage evolved a heck of a lot further than your gear choices; which is a nice problem to have. Keep honing the craftsmanship on guitar and just know that different amplifier/speaker and pedal gear can release a monster player from the hidden corners of your life ❤️ with just as much impact as an original '62 Strat can! 😉👍 Your one of the very few guitarists I bother listening to these days, as I love blues rock. Let's just say they can easily be counted on one hand these days! God Bless 🕊️ man

They are all good!! The player makes de difference. They are just different and have to be used and adjusted to where you want to take them. Good idea Dave. Gracias

I liked the Katana and the CR120. The MG was nice but my two picks were clearer and authoritive without sounding too sterile. I agree that the Subzero was very dark.

Nice video Dave!!! Here are my five: Hot Rod Deluxe George Benson, AC30, Carvin BelAir Tweed, Orange Crush 120, Boss Katana 100 Head.

Dave I like the sound of the CR 120 and Boss catana both are very present and very clear both great amps.

I came to this realisation recently too. The amp itself definitely has it's own voice once you start stacking pedals onto it even if the clean tone sounds fairly neutral on its own. My Marshall Origin and DSL20 have a very different sound using my pedal board. I think people tend to assume the pedal board does pretty much all the lifting so there's no point having different amps but it's just not the case. I use my Origin for most of the main parts on my recordings because it's so dynamic and less gainy and then I use my DSL20 for beefing up rhythm sections because it just gives me such different sound.

Marshall for me. Best balanced sound with depth and sizzle. Boss was good but sounded a bit artificial to me. Love the Orange CR120 - nice and earthy. I like the sub-zero more than the super crush but it's the Marshall for me. They were all very good but I would choose the Marshall with the CR120 as a close second. Great demo that kept the variables out and I was listening to this through decent hi-fi speakers and not a mobile phone! On a second listen, the sub-zero is boomy and bassy here and the super crush has more clarity and bite. Marshall still the winner for me. 🙂

I've never liked Orange amps, but I dig the way CR120 sounds here vs the other amps.

Speaking of solid-state, have you ever heard of a brand called “Beckemer”? They were a line of SS amps built in Montreal, Canada in the 1990s. They were basically a re-branded Marshall with similar EQ design, 2 seperate channels, effects loops, footswitchable and real built-in spring reverb. I still have a 50-watt combo from back in the day and it sounds amazing. I’ve A/B’d it with several modern SS amps and it’s won every time. I’m not sure if any of em ever made it to the UK but you can find them from Canadian dealers online for dirt-cheap these days (heads and combos). Anyways, if you ever get a chance to pick one up I highly reccommend them, I think you’d really enjoy playing through one. 👍

For the clean-ish sound: The Boss Katana. For the full-on dirt: The Orange Super Crush. But, that's through the Internet, with all that that entails... I'd be interrested to hear what one of your Tone Master Fenders would sound like in comparison. I, finally(!) got mine just a couple of days ago, a Twin. It's the blond tolex one with the Celestion cream back Neo's. Haven't had an opportunity to try it out at unattenuated volume yet (which is what I've ran my "normal" twin at in a band setting for the last ten years), but so far, it's shaping up to be a stellar amplifier(!). I will get to test it at that on our next rehearsal, though, this coming Thursday. And I absolutely LOVE the reduced weight of the thing. 15 kilograms, this thing weighs. The other one sits at 30... And being in my fifties now (I'm 51) and not having the strongest back to begin with, that is a huge(!) pluss. I also love all the attenuation steps on it. Makes it VERY versatile. I'll most probably never need another amp again...

can't speak to the other's as I do not own them but I cna say that I love my Marshall MG and my orange CR120 to solid and amazing rigs hands down in my opinion as well. Cheers from the U.S.A. Dave!

I did expect it as the amps will all have different tone circuits. It'd be interesting to hear the pedals through the fx loops or power amp in of all the heads. I liked the MG most because you played the most enthusiastically through it...just a few more diddly dums 😊

They all sound good Dave, I really like the CR120, then Katana, MG, and so on...

The two oranges for me, the super crush sounded great on the neck pickup both cleans and dirty. That's Dave's sound for me 🫡

Loved the Marshall first. Then the CR a close second, and Super Crush third. I'm meh on Katana even though I own one.

CR120 consistently sounded the best. Clarity of the Katana but with a little extra charm.

Liked the Marshall best, but the Katana can be very useful if you need to cut through the mix more. Also the Katana can be infinitely tweaked, so it also gets way more points for versatility: you'll just have to be willing to put in the time to finetune it to your personal preferences.

I didn't expect to like the katana the most, that was very interesting!

For me the katana head and the MG won on all accounts for me, but there's no surprise there given I love both of those anyways haha

A lot of love for the Orange sound in here. My top amp all time is the TV200.

Thanks for the demo sir . Orange sounded best through my tv speakers but could be unfair due to the matching cab . Subzero was the worst. katana pretty good

MG the best clean for me!… looking forward to seeing you guys (Trio) soon!👍🙂🎸

Kat for the cleans, Marshall for distortion, and CR overall I’d say - great video as as always Dave

love the Katana and both Oranges :)

Marshall for clean and Orange super crush for distortion. For me sound most articulated... 😉Greatings from Belgium.

That Katana does it all IMHO.

Dave, An interesting exercise indeed! Good idea! Apart from the SubZero, which I didn't rate, the differences in the other amps were small. Personally, I thought that the Oranges and the Marshall were a cut above the rest. Would your average pub audience notice the tonal nuances? I doubt it. Keep up the great work! Malcolm.

In a live setting, the Katana and CR120 have the right frequencies to cut through the mix and sound epic. But in the bedroom and isolated, the super crush was outstanding. Sub Zero had a nice distortion sound and sustain but just too whooley to play with a band in a live setting. The MG is marmite, for me it has too much gain and fizz but If you like that sort of thing then great. So all in all, I'd have / got the katana :) But all 5 are great in their own way. Don't get rid of them!!! :D

The "BOSS" 1st and 1st ... Choose "whatever" after that ! (and you KNOW I'm a Blues Jnr. DooD ! 🤠...

Dave number one😎👍🏻

I have the Subzero along with several other rigs. Kemper, Tonex, Spark Amp, Blackstar, Orange to name a few. IMO there is no better amp to play at home at low volumes. It sings beautifully. Great reverb and boost. Just gorgeous. And so f*kkin' cheap. Thanks for recommending originally Dave. I've had days of fun on it.

Katana and Orange sounded best to me..followed by.the MG... SubZero sounds like a blanket wrapped around the cab...

The Katana was definitely the brightest and the Sub-Zero the darkest. Going straight from the Katana to the Sub-Zero sounded almost like someone threw a blanket over the amp, though they both sound good depending on what sound is needed. The MG, CR120, and SC100 sounded the most similar being somewhere in-between. To me it sounded like the CR120 was like the MG with slightly more break up, which I liked, and then the SC100 was just a tad brighter than the CR120. For my favorite, I'll have to go with the CR120 since it seemed to be a nice medium between the Katana and Sub-Zero and I liked the bit of extra break-up over the MG... though I might be a bit biased since my main amp is a CR60. 😅I'm really curious about that Sub-Zero amp now, though. I didn't think you could get much darker than an Orange amp and it sounded significantly darker.

This makes me miss my CR120. That was a great amp.

I prefered the CR in both clean and distorted. That was a surprise, I was sure I was gonna go for katana all day long. Something about that amp that is interesting to me, and if I knew what it was I would be working at a top amp company and not flipping burgers at McDonalds. PS: I got promoted, I now sweep the floors at McDonalds . Not officially, they keep chasing me saying you don't work here, stop it - but it's something to do at the weekend.

I mean if it has to be a solo state then I’d say the Orange CR120. But for me I have three way tie for one amp for the rest my life. In order 1)Super Lead 100 (plexi) 2)HIWATT DR103 3)Boogie MarkI. Now for combos 1)Marshall Bluesbreaker 2)Boogie DC-10. 3)Fender Twin Reverb modded with an overdrive channel. For a wild card head I’d do a Marshall Super Bass because I can use that for my bass or guitar. Wild Card combo Masco PA-5watt, class A power, one input, one volume knob 1-10, 8inch speaker. Also great for plugin in a green bullet mic Nd blow’n harp!

My favorite is close I am leaning to the CR but I rely liked the MG. The Subzero seemed like a good amp for a background rhythm guitar solo backing a lead.

I was pleasantly surprised by the clean tone on the Katana. Orange Amps have always sounded a bit trebly to me. Loved the Marshalls Distortion tones.

Coming to this as a guitarist myself with ideas of how I like to sound, I definitely had prejudices to bring here, but I could easily decide. 1 MG medium gain (no surprise, I have a couple of other MG models) 2 Katana medium gain ( big surprise, I had to borrow a Katana combo once and disliked it lots) 3 MG High gain. 9 Sub Zero medium gain ( muddy) 10 SubZero high gain (very muddy)

MG and the Katana for clean. The Oranges won the distortion.

I liked the Orange thr best followed by the Marshall.

To me the SubZero sounds the best. Round and clear, clean aswell distorted.

I thought the Katana sounded decent, only in comparison it feels a bit artificial or hollow. The MG sounded better, 2 Oranges sounded the best though they are almost identical?

Its ok Dave to admit you like tube amps. We wont abandon you if you do.

I have a boss katana artist mk2 head its awesome. But older amps i love the Marshall vs100 8100 and the Marshall plexi valve state 8080 that i bought off your friend.

Orange CR120 is my favoured.

I liked the Katana and the Orange CR120. They sound the clearest. The Marshall was a Marshall. The Sub bit muddy. The Super Crush is very close to the CR120. So could it be that what I use Katana 50 and Crush 50.

In clean the boss Katana and the Super Crush are so close !! Finally i prefer the KTN with yout pédal board. But i have to say that i prefered the Super Cruch Combo over the KTN Combo in terms of pure sounding. I have to say that the Marshall is a bit dark and more low but so musically !!! and more on the bridge pickup !! i want it !!! Thank you for the Demo !! i have de Katana 50 Mk1 and planned to just change the HP for a Celestion creamback... but i will check the Marshall first !

The clean setup you had on cr120 came from clean or dirty channel (as it is possible to set the dirty to sound quite clean, but crunchy, as well)? What channel are you using with your pedals on it? Thanks.

This was cool hearing the amps back to back. I liked the Marshall and Katana the most. Didn't like the sub zero, it sounded way too dark. Maybe it performs well at low temperatures :-)

Ok for the Distortion The Katana again had the most single note clarity and the CR120 was next those are my two favorite. Sorry but the Sub Zero IMO just sounds muddy all the time. Would love, once you pic a favorite or two to borrow a Magnatone from Andertons and hear the back to back difference. Mainly because they just did a video with the Magnatone and another high end amp and were going on about how much different the sound is on an amp in that price category. So it would be interesting to hear them back to back.

I liked the cr120 best, then the marshall and the sc. The ones I liked the least were the subzero and the katana. The cr120 was the most intelligible, most focused tone.

I like the SC100, seems to have a bit beefier mid/high, especially in distortion mode.

All subjective, but CR120 pips the others for me, I really liked the clarity and tone. Although there’s not a huge difference between that, the SC, Marshall and Boss - the SubZero has a totally different character.

Katana wins. Fatality! Tbh, the SubZero was the only one I didn’t really dig, bc of the dark tone. The Super Crush suits my tastes most, but the versatility of the Katana is why I own one. It can get strikingly close to the others with some patient eq’ing.

FOR ME DAVE THE MARSHALL, WAS THE BEST THEN THE ORANGE ,THEN THE SUBZERO, THE OTHERS WERE SO CLOSE, NOW THEN WHAT STRINGS WERE ON THE AXE,M.

The Katana is cleaner on the clean tones than the others maybe the terror 2nd cleanest. Are those both lower amp amps?

Liked the mg and orange the best

Well the Katana for the won plus with the EQ's the Katana could sound like any other Amp not that there's a need too prove it's greatness best buy so far was my 100w combo