List Price: $199.00
Sale Price: $149.00
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- Volume, Tone and Gain controlSingle channel hybridTube preamp with solid state power ampAux input for MP3 or CD20W1 12AX7
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I'll start off by saying that I'm a proud owner of:Gibson ES125 Acoustic/Electric
Pono MSD-E
Blackheart BH5H
Blackheart BH110
A Weber Vintage Series 10A125 (10 inch, 8 ohm, 30 watts) in an open back, solid pine cabinet
A Jensen Mod 10-50 (10 inch, 4ohm, 50 watts)
All tube Fender Tweed Champ
Now that you know the gear I have, what I can play through an amp, and what I can plug an amp head into, I'll sum up my review with this:
What you get out of this amp is completely dependent on your speaker cab, the cables you use, and how clean your power is. Got good gear? This little amp will sound great.
The Details
The amp itself is tiny. I have an Electro-Harmonix pedal that's bigger than this amp! Still, it packs a punch. With the gain at about 1/3 up and the volume at half, I get great clean tone and enough volume for a small venue. Crank the gain up more and it gets louder and more distorted as you go. Yes, this little amp will go from Jazz & Country to Rock & Metal with a twist of a dial.
The line in and headphones jacks are a nice touch that none of my other amps have. If you want to quietly play along with some tunes, you can. Practice time just got better for your neighbors.
The one lone tube in the Micro Terror is the pre-amp tube. Mine came stock with a JJ Tubes 12AX7. I understand that's standard. A JJ is nice, but it will *not* warm up this little hybrid enough for you to get even a whiff of tube tone. Dig out an old Phillips, RCA, Sylvania, or GE to get this guy to sound a bit like its big brother. I had an old GE made in Great Britain lying around and popped it in my Micro Terror: warmed it right up; cleaned up a bunch of high-end tinniness.
Still, compared to my two-tube BH5H or my all tube Champ, this guy does sound more solid state than anything. BUT, compared to a buddy's Roland and solid state Ampeg, it's downright mellow.
No effects loop means that your time-based effects (reverb, echo, chorus) can get noisy. So, if you like pedals, stock up on 9 volt batteries to avoid power adapter noise add in.
Speaking of power adapters: a previous reviewer is right. The external power brick for this guy seems fragile. I'm not a fan of the thin line from the brick to the amp. It's holding up, but one round with my cat and I'll be looking for a new power supply.
The Rub
Annoyance #1: One cheap cable anywhere in the mix will result in annoying HISS even at low volumes. I found that out quickly. So, get a proper speaker cable and a high end instrument cable or you will hate this amp. I'm running it with a GLS 12 gauge speaker cable and a Planet Waves American Stage instrument cable both available here at Amazon or any good guitar shop.
Annoyance #2: This is a 20 watt amp, right? WELL... if you don't run a 4ohm speaker, you won't get all 20 watts. The Micro Terror self-adjusts to the power needed to drive your speaker by stepping down output. (Yes yes... don't quote physics to me.) At 8ohms, I still get good volume. But at 16ohms (like my BH110) it sounds like a 5 or 7 watt amp. That said, I'm actually a fan of the tone I get with my 8ohm Weber in its pine cab. The 8 inch Jensen speaker in my Champ, while nice, can't put out the low notes like I'd prefer and the Jensen Mod 10-50 is TOO clean. But the Weber 10A125 sounds fantastic to my ears; even with the loss in volume.
Annoyance #3: The Micro Terror is so small and so light, it'll tumble right to the floor if anyone kicks your chord. Unlike a nice 20 pound amp, the chord won't pull out. So: BE CAREFUL.
Mitigation for Annoyance #3: The all steel chassis can handle a tumble from three feet up onto hardwood floors... though, it will gouge your floor.
And then there's the standard annoyance that comes with owning any guitar amplifier: if the power is noisy or ungrounded, you will wind up with hiss no matter what. I always carry a Monster HTS 350 and run my amp through it; that REALLY helps in cleaning up signal noise. (If you don't have one, get one. The 300 & 350 are cheap and they work.)
The Summary
After all that, I can still say: I love this little amp! I've gigged with it and it sings well. Plus, the added gag of tiny ukulele + tiny amp always draws a laugh... until I crank the dial over and shred some faces.
For the price, you can likely afford to pick up $40 worth of guitar/speaker chords and wind up with a healthy rig. And, for the price, this is a solid 4 star amp. I know I'm happy.
Buy Orange Amplifiers Micro Terror MT20 20W Hybrid Guitar Amp Head (Standard) Now
I got one after reading reviews and hearing YouTube demos. Very cool and, yes, very tiny. I use it into with 212 Celestion cab and the level of volume you can get is unbelievable. I haven't confirmed it, but I'd risk saying it's powerful enough to gig with a full band if you can deal with people laughing about how tiny and cute it is. There is some noise when it's cranked, but that's kind of to be expected. The best part is that it sounds almost as good as an all-tube amp and it's only a fraction of the cost. Glad I took the plunge.Read Best Reviews of Orange Amplifiers Micro Terror MT20 20W Hybrid Guitar Amp Head (Standard) Here
This thing is a great sounding amp and NOT a toy. I have a tiny terror and this thing is very close. I play it out of a vox t112tv cab, that i use for my tiny terror and it sounds great. Its a great practice amp. ive got the 8'' orange speaker cab on the way. so i cant speak for it yet. ive heard they can push a 412 with no trouble. this amp takes pedals well to and this amp smokes the crush amps, so if you got the little extra $. i would go with this. killer tone from orange and its cool as hell.Want Orange Amplifiers Micro Terror MT20 20W Hybrid Guitar Amp Head (Standard) Discount?
Recently built a 2x12 celestion cabinet. My first non combo amp setup. I also had never played tubes before. Did some research and came across this little lunchbox sized amp. I personally was looking for an amp that had a good clean channel. I get all my effects and gain threw my pedalboard so I was not concerned with a high gain amp with a million knobs and buttons. This amp was ecactly what I needed. The tube preamp definately comes threw when cranked. For only 20watts RMS its loud! I have never been past 12 o clock. hooked up to my 2x12 inch 100 watt cab it holds its own to say a Crate/Marshall solidstate 100 watt half stacks. I am very pleased. For $150 your not going to find a better tube hybrid. I highly recomend checking out the rest of the Orange Terror amps. There is a big price jump to fully tube but this will definately give you a good taste of Tube vs solid sound. Dont expect to get all your tone with just the amp. If your looking for metal type gain this will simply highlight what your feeding into it. Its eather Clean and crisp or edgy crunch with this amp. And the tone knob does a good job at eq and shape. I havent jammed with drummer yet but Id feel comfortable gigging a small club venue with this. Before I thought my Line 6 spyder 2 was all I would ever need. Now that I understand the difference older tube technology cane make to your tone Ill never play a solid state unless I must. This amp is tiny but dont let it fool ya. It sounds great threw a 8 inch practice box but you unleash its potential threw a full cab. I also highly recomend a BBE Sonic Maximizer pedal. It will add that punch you wont know how you ever did without. A sonic max will make a descent amp sound like a high end Marshall, and a great amp sound like a Mesa Boogie. It acts like a comp/eq/sustain/drive pedal and makes a clean signal crisp and a dirty one not so abysmal.
I've been using it as a second amp, running it off of an AB-Y switch from my pedal board. My main amp is a Dr Z M12 + JBL-E120 (1x12) which I can set crystal clean and then switch to (or add in) the Terror for saturated lead sounds, which I currently have paired with an Alnico Blue (1x12). This makes it possible to have a setup where the speaker matches the amp head in a footprint similar to any 2x12 combo.
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