It's time WE ALL ACKNOWLEDGE: the Crate Power Block was SO ahead of it's time...

The sound from the room always sounds better to me than the mic'd sound. Maybe you guys could blend in more room.

Its a power amp,meant to be used with preamp pedals or rack preamp units and digital modelers,apologies for pointing the obvious but this thing is what you need if you want light rig,it barks with clarity and precsence,top end and bottom no matter the cab,like a big p.a. poweramp but for guitar,a really should have two of em fearing orange discontinuing it,addictive sound hahaa this thing is a dream

To me, you guys are the gold standard in Demos (Anderton's in general, not just you two). You guys are quite good at "selling" a product in an unintentional way (usually by how much time spent playing vs talking and the looks on your faces as you do) but I'm confused... you guys seem like smart guys albeit it in a humorous way, but as far as I can tell this is clearly sold as a power amp in a small portable package. You could have a full amp set up with just a large pedalboard man. Just add speakers and stir. I'm not an biased orange fan boy, but they don't try and sell snake oil with this. They are 100% up front with what this is, and clearly it's made for the pre amp pedals for a wider variety of amp tones but at a fraction of the cost to the consumer like me that can't afford/ justify two or three nice tube amps. That's why I came here, to see it ran simply: guitar to pre amp pedal, this and cab. Why would you not use it the way it was designed? What's next "2020 Gibson les Paul custom is not a very good guitar. Overly bulky to use as a hammer and unusable as a emergency flotation device. 4/10 would not recommended". You took the pedal in the name pedal baby way to literal and missed a golden opportunity to sell this, along with demo some pre amp pedals, in an honest way as you normally do. I'm not sure what the deal was here. Yes it's solid state. Tell the guitarist fans of death, prong and static x how bad solid state is and you'll get the "da fug you say man?" look from them. I would love to see another video with this, and the kraken, diezel, orange, and whatever other pre amp pedals you could find.... just saying.

use the Pedal Baby as a pedal board. Velcro your pedals on top

Orange say this amp is Class A/B. You guys might have mentioned that, unlike many of the really small amps, such as the VOX range, Diago and those from EHX, it does not use an external power supply. Mains power connects through a 3 pin IEC socket on the back of the amp. As far as using it on, or under, an effects pedal board is concerned, with any pedal board mounted amp you have to watch out for the radiated hum/switching noise from the amp power supply which can get induced into the signal chain (wah wah inductors can be a particular problem with picking up radiated hum). Which is why most of the small amps designed to mount on the board have those separate and inconvenient power supplies. Incidentally radiated hum from any guitar amp being picked by your guitars pickups can also be a real pain. Field radiation from guitar amps varies quite a bit but reviewers never mention it.

I generally LOVE every video that I see here but this one went way wrong. The pre amps were not dialed in and that was obvious. It was all mids! It was clear that when using the pedals direct to the amp, the pedals were EQ'd as if they were going into an amp with a traditional tone stack. No tweeking was done to the pedals to adjust to quite a different set up. No no no. This made this 100W beast sound like a tin can. Which is not so. The pedal baby rocks!!! Next time, I would learn and experiment with a new ground breaking product before making and posting a video. I have a huge collection of valve amps and love this thing with the sansamp flyrig series. Still, thanks for making the video.

i feel like something on robs board was killing a ton of low end from his tone

5:36 .. the FX loop is in front of the power amp, rob ;) So the chain would be prefx pedals -> preamp Pedal -> postfx pedals -> poweramp.

I own the pedal baby 100 and played an Orange Dual Terror for years (which will be sold now). Playing smooth dreamy delay sounds and doomy fuzz sounds with the pedal baby and it is perfect! Honestly this Andertons video is not doing justice to the amp. I am not even using a tube pre amp pedal, just wether overdrive or fuzz with the volume knob on 2am. The whole band liked it!

I'm a valve amp person but I do like this especially from a reliability point of view. In my experience a little compression at the end of the chain brings it closer to the feel of a valve amp... a little squish is always good! It'd be a great option if you want to do a wet/dry set-up with a separate cab though. :)

Nice of Rob to roll out of bed and straight to the video room to do reviews for us.

It’s safe to say that if you don’t like the sound of the Pedal Baby, you actually don’t like the sound of your pedals. This thing sounds amazing with just a simple MXR micro amp pedal to sweeten up the neutral clean of the amplifier. After that, your pedals will sound the best they possibly can. These two guys didn’t give it enough time, and the “uninspired guy” wasn’t even trying

The point of this amp is impedance compatibility with guitar cabinets that are likely to be shared at a venue, which will most likely be 8 or 16 ohms. This amp will produce full power into an 8 ohm cabinet and 75 watts into a 16 ohm cabinet. Class D amps will only produce full power into 4 ohm cabinets.

It could work with a Multi-Fx pedal - like a Headrush, GT-1000 etc - something with amp simulation and use the Pedal Baby as the power amp - easier than doing the 4 cable method to by-pass an amps pre-amp...

i think it's meant to be a loudenser i really appreciate that you acknowledge that y'all aren't the market for this

I highly doubt that this amp sounds that bad. Something funky going on with this demo...

What about through a multi effect pedal board that has amp models with pre amps like the Boss gt-100 or other higher end ones like. Helix etc..into this power amp?? Would not that be more the idea for this?

Well, this amp isn't going to break up, so if your pedals are set to boost heavily, like with the output turned up but the gain set low, it's just going to be a louder sterile tone. That is why the Captain sounds better here, he normally wants a total clean amp where Rob uses them set up edge of breakup. I wish they had spent more time adjusting the pedals than fiddling with pre-amps.

I'm kind of disappointed with this video and especially the comments section; like, this amp is specifically meant to do a certain job, and then they just... didn't use it like that. I could see this being a fab amp, but when it's specifically designed to amplify the sound of your pedals without putting in any of its own sound, and then you complain about the sound... Like buds, if it sounds like shit, that's because your pedals by themselves sound like shit. This thing begs for an amp modeling pedal in front of it, you can't just treat it like a normal tube amp lads. And for everyone in the comments saying "just get a tube amp/Katana/etc!!!", that's not the point. As for the price, or whether it's better to get a class D power amp instead, that's up to the buyer. It'd just be nice if the buyer was given the proper information instead of an alienating review because you didn't bother to find out how it works.

I've never seen two people try so hard not to crap all over a product with their review. I hope Orange paid them well to maintain such restraint on reviewing how much they really hate this thing.

You could go back 10-12 years in time, and voila: Crate already did this with the Powerblock. It sold like candy and still was discontinued. Maybe it wasn't reliable, mine sits on my shelf with a probably broken power section that can't be fixed. All it does is shuts down the breaker in my house :D

Next big thing...? Quilter has been dominating this price point for a few years now, its just that major brands such as Boss and Orange are jumping on it now! And at that price Id still have my 101 mini head! Compact and great sounding!

I can think of a lot of ways to use this amp! 1. It would be awesome to use two of these as stereo amps. You could take your normal amp, take the fx loop out, split the signal, go into stereo effects and into two of these, and use them as a wet/dry/wet setup. I would probably go with this for myself. 2. You could also use a low wattage amplifier that you like, take the fx loop out, split it, and use one of these as a louder power amp, you would keep your tone almost the same, just louder. 3. You can also use two of these as a stereo setup for a nice acoustic guitar rig. 4. You can get something like a small modelling amp like a Helix or Boss GT and just carry that, this amp, and a small 1x12 cabinet with you (if you can find one with a speaker that can handle that much power). I mean, it's a 100 W power amp that is cheap, robust, small-ish, and loud. I think it's great, but that is just my opinion.

I think the editor who edits these videos never gets the credit he deserves.

I love how you never read the manuals of products, and you just start guessing everything 😆

Lee trying to say Milkman at 1:29 is gold. Rob is struggling to keep it together

I'd really like it if you guys came back and revisited this using something like the Victory V4 pre-amps or Kingsley Constable. I completely agree this will be the next direction of the industry as you can simply scale up power amps as needed (home vs gig) or swap your pre-amp pedals as needed. A lot of flexibility, not just size/weight/travel.

I want to thank you folks for doing the reviews. Your review directly influenced me buying 4 guitars.

the milkman has a reverb, tremolo and a valve preamp as well as a solid state power amp. once you've bought this, a decent reverb, tremolo and preamp you might as well have bought the milkman. if thats the market this is aimed at they've missed the mark by a long way

I think Orange Amps was kinda hoping you would buy the Pedal Baby and also their Orange Bax Bangeetar Preamp/EQ pedal. If your a Orange fan just buy the Orange Crush Pro 120 head if you can not afford their tube heads.

Though I'm sure you can get great tones from the Pedal Baby, I think an amp that emulated the power section of traditional tube amps would be more desirable for most players, with such artifacts as bias and sag, and make them adjustable with switches or pots.

I think where this would be a killer addition would be for something digital like a helix or a hx stomp. Turn of cab sim, and run it into this and I think you'd have a winning solution.

I think a Fryette Power Station for a bit more dough might be a better choice and more flexible. Love mine.

I appreciate the honesty. I look forward to the follow up with the Orange representative.

Not to brag but I am valve at my tone heart loving my Mesa /Boogie 295 poweramp with 12 tubes. A mix of 4 EL34, 4 6L6 and 4 12ax7. Just got it for my Mesa/Boogie Quad preamp with 8 12ax7 tubes. It might be old 1990 and heavy but the tones!

I can see this being for someone who has a micro terror and either a 2x12 or 4x12, and wants to go louder. Only if the micro terror has a preamp out.

What about the bluguitar amp1?

Lots of people missing the point, this is designed almost entirely for touring and playing gigs; helluva lot easier to travel and show up at venues with one of these and a preamp pedal emulating a $3000 amp than it is to travel with a $3000 amp.

The Seymour Duncan PowerStage 170 is a 170w power amp with a basic 3 band eq that has a small footprint to fit directly on your pedal board.

So It's a Crate Powerblock just 10 years later?

A little confusing, is the input instrument or line level, or is it both ?

Maybe a comparison between this and the Mooer Tube Engine or Baby Bomb

I see this as a great backup to your tube amp. I have had power tubes go on me a few time and then your dead in the water. This is a gig saver

Really shows how most pedals were made to blend with the amp’s tone, they should have made a clean superloud tube power amp with shit tons of harmonics, THAT would have sounded cool

Ouch I dunno, that base clean tone sounds a tad bright. May get a little brittle if you run something like a ds1 or dirt box with a more brighter and presence type of tonality. Some of the darker overdrive pedals might work a little better though, I.e. fulldrive mosfet 2, sample fusion deluxe, paisley deluxe etc?

Well you've got the Blug Amp1 that has been around for quite some time, and as a pedalboard amplifier it really beats the s*** out of most any other product of that range. 1st, it's built as a PEDAL ... yeah ! You can switch it WITH YOUR FEET. 2nd, it's got most every feature one would expect from any standard modern amp (loop section, 3 stages of gain, etc... etc...). 3rd, although the power section is solid state, it's driven by a tube preamp. And finally it PUNCHES 100 freaking Watts of true loud power (meaning it's deafening loud, if you're not careful). As it is really FLAT, it suits perfectly on a pedalboard which is destined to get inside a flightcase (rigid or not) without issue whatsoever. I'm not sponsored by Blug at all, and that "Blug Amp1" has also a couple of CONS so to speak (just as any other standard amplifier), but it really sounds "VALVEY" (nice natural compression when overdriven, etc..., thanks to the tube preamp which is always active), it's really deafening loud and works perfectly in a stage situation (even a big stage), AND IT SOUNDS REALLY REALLY GOOD, which is the main thing in the end.

Shades of the fabled original Mesa Boogie Cab Clone video.

i have that marshall mini double stack in the background and with all the controls turned all the way up with a strat i can get a petty cool sound out of it.

Isn't Vox MV smaller, has pre+power, seems to sound better, cheaper, and is "valved" (which compensate the lower Wattage), so a much better deal?

I own the Milkman "The Amp" and it is absolutely glorious.

Victory needs to make a valve version of this

I am reminded of Billy Howerdel's rig from APC, where the goal was to create a "naked amp", as to let his rack gear presets shine.

blugutar did that 4 years ago with amp1. great 100w amp

So as someone who uses the JHS Color Box preamp on their board this seems like a good option

This isn’t particularly new, I used to have a rocktron velocity 120 (before it got nicked) didn’t have any eq controls but you had presence and 60w per channel stereo or 120w mono. Pretty sure it was so old class d didn’t really exist but can’t find it documented. I’d like to see someone do this but using nutubes or 12ax7s to emulate a valve power amp. Might be interesting and a good solution to stick between a modeller and a cab.

Maybe try a graphic eq pedal into the front end? That doesn't seem too far fetched right?

Talked to Orange. You need a preamp for this contraption. They should call it a Preamp Baby.

The addition of the preamp pedal really helped the tone. I think that's the way to go for these kinds of amps in a box. Plus, you guys didn't really adjust the EQ knobs much, it would've been useful to hear what difference those made.

what about testing it against the little Seymour Duncan power amp behind you on the shelf?

please do more blindfold test vids

I just want to say I don't think a power amp is super necessary, but rather it's for people who have like 6 gain stage pedals, 3 eq pedals, a couple fuzzed, maybe a univibe, whatever other finicky pedals may need to be left without amp gain/eq pushing it too hard or wrong, I personally find a lot of the time when I go through my amp there's too much gain to use with the pedal combinations I might want but into my computer through a di box it sounds less muddy/flappy/whatever problem sound you could have.

What's the point? You could buy a good affordable 00amp with a decent clean and fx loop and use your pedalboard as well.

I feel like this is old news to be fair. Crate did this with the PowerBlock nearly a decade and a half ago, and that was smaller even than this Orange example.

Full credit to you gents for working very hard to try to make this thing sound good. It did not. Interesting concept tho and maybe you should do a challenge/revisit of it: "Can anyone get a great tone out of this?"

Very nice sound in the video mics and what not.

Might as well buy a cheap solid state combo, free cab and speaker?

Bluguitar Amp1was one of the first pedalboard amps. There are more: quilter, mooer, seymour duncan, ehx, dv mark, hotone etc. Milkman in 2018 while other products are here many years earlier.

Are the EXH Caliber pedal format power amps still available? Would love to see/hear a shoot-out type comparison between these and similar products.

you could use a Joyo Bantamp, since you don't need to hook it up to a cab. run it through the fx send of the joyo, and that way you replace the 20w class D solidstate poweramp with this 100w class AB

For 299 i would go for a Quilter.

These types of amps weren't made to replace your tube amp. They're for situations when using your tube amp is more trouble than it's worth. Like fly in gigs and one off shows. You wouldn't necessarily record with it but you could definitely get through a show with one. Will say the tone is lacking but I find that in most orange amps personally.

I've never heard either of these guys sound this bad. It's like the tones I was getting from my original Peavey crap solid state amp I got back in 1982. I think the speaker was like 8".

Where is the class a,b,d comparison? Does it sound well coming from an axe fx? Does my search stop here or is there something else affordable for post axe fx?

So I feel like this was designed to have a pod or a vox or marshall pedal right before the amp. I think even a pocket pod with a well engineered tone and the speaker emulation turned off might sound good with it even. I would likely also try it with a Tech 21 British or a leeds pedal.

I’ve been looking at these intently the past couple weeks. Very tempted to use it for a live rig with just a boss ds2 fed into it as I’ll only be doing rhythm, and if I need cleans the solid state output amp should be enough. Can’t beat a lightweight and robust system for gigging

how would it stand compared to the wampler bravado maybe?

Sounds like my Yamaha G-100 212 II 100 watt solid state amp I bought in 1979. By itself it sounds anemic,... but in a stereo configuration with a good all Class 'A' tube amp and the right blend of the two it can sound magically delicious.

Killer on bass as with guitar as seen on fluff's video,obvious but in case not mentioned,cheers

It is class C that is small. The design has been around along time but was complex to make but it is very efficient. My guess is some one has put a lot of the difficult bits on a chip or two so everyone has jumped on it. The idea is ok...but you must invest in a good preamp to get a good clean tone. A good OD will probably sound very acceptable with it.

4 years later and we're still waiting for some more class A/B options. Maybe even a 50-60 watt option from Orange themselves.

Hey guys... can you compare the Orange Pedal Baby 100 vs Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170...?

I too love that valvey valve sound

This just proves that the perception of tone is always in the hand of the user - and how inspired it makes you feel. Recorded I think that it sounded pretty good, put that in a live or studio mix I doubt anyone would know the difference. However if it doesn’t make you feel inspired to play it may have a negative impact on your playing. I semi pro twice per month and tbh this does seem like a very useful product. I could use it for larger gigs like halls where my 40 watt valve combo doesn’t have enough umph. Or a rehearsal space.

This amp is made with modelers in mind. Fractal, Helix, Kemper, Boss etc...

U can run a micro terror amp.into this with effects in loop and pedal out front no problem

I'm glad Rob found the 'Milkabuhguh' at 1:30 as funny as i did

I don’t know why orange didn’t make this a tube power amp. Hardly anybody is making those anymore they used to make them back in the 80s and 90s those would be perfect for today’s Helix and Kempers. Mesa boogie and Marshall used to make them not sure they do anymore.

Since the Baby Orange is expected to be neutral, perhaps a preamp (AND an amp !) digital emulation should have been used between the pedals and the Baby input ...

Class A/B actually puts out the power it says at 8 and 16 ohms (100watts at 8ohm and 70watts for 16ohm) Class D only puts out actual power at 4ohms

I've been using BIAS HEAD with ICEPOWER(Bang&Olufsen) 700AS1 which I knew when I opened it and looked inside. Kemper and seymour duncan PowerStage700 use the same kind of class D component (probably totally the same thing). Now I'm thinking of using Quad Cortex, and need some powerful power amplifier, reminds me of this product. It's not so expensive, and I guess it's worth trying.

Basically it takes the amp out of the equation and makes it all about your pedals. It's like plugging your pedal board directly into your fx return... Which there's been some videos about not too long ago.

Class T is another super efficient class of solid state amp . I wonder if Ade is playing with them at all?

aren't Clean solid state amps like that best for styles like Jazz etc?

Wouldn't you use a preamp pedal at the end of your chain?

I wondered what this was when orange put their advert up. I am still wondering what it does now. So this basically an expensive class d power amp that for Orange basically counts as a "clean" channel to an a-b pedal set up with a terror. Got ya.

I am wondering how the TC Electronic BAM200 would do as a pedal amp. I know it was intended for totally different purposes, but it might work very well. I especially like that it the power supply is built in.

I think Orange chose classAB because of the way the speakers effect the reactance and and NFB. I'm guessing at least the bassES knob uses a circuit that interacts with speaker damping and NFB.

Plug in a dumble pedal and now you have a dumble amp or plug in a blues breaker pedal and now you have a pushed Marshall amp. That’s the cool thing about these types of products.

I appreciate you guys' honesty in this review. I'm glad there's other reactions other than praise for Orange. Yes, they're a good brand, but it's not like they're exempt of the occasional "yeah, ok" product.