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Orange OR30 30-watt 1-channel Tube Amplifier Head - Orange

30W Tube Guitar Amplifier Head with 1 Channel, 3-band EQ, Cross-line Presence, Bright Switch, Secondary Footswitchable Volume, Effects Loop, and Power Scaling - Orange
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Item ID: OR30H
Orange OR30 30-watt 1-channel Tube Amplifier Head - Orange
Price:$2,299 and 00 cents
Special Financing - Ends Aug 2, 2026. $64/month with 36 month financing*

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Orange OR30 30-watt 1-channel Tube Amplifier Head - Orange
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Price:$2,299 and 00 cents
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Ushering in a New Era of Orange Amplification

Orange’s OR30 is a single-channel powerhouse of roaring tube amplifier tone, loaded with a combination of classic features and a plethora of bold new additions to the company’s timeless formula. This head’s distinctive design combines a tube rectifier, cathode bias, and 30 watts of tube-powered punch. The result? A rich blast of classic Orange amplification that goes from clean British-style chime to gooey and compression-heavy overdrive sag with the flick of a Gain knob. You also get a 3-position bright switch, cross-line presence control, and 3-band EQ to tweak your tone to perfection. Finally, while the Orange OR30 is a single-channel amplifier, a secondary footswitchable volume control can instantaneously swap between mild edge-of-breakup rhythms to full-bodied tube saturation, ensuring any lead line or solo will pop.

3-position Bright switch for brilliant bite

A first for any Orange amplifier, the OR30’s bright switch grants you superior top-end shaping capabilities. It’s a seriously versatile tone-shaping tool that takes you from a fine treble boost (left position) to a broad overhaul of your high end (right position), voiced to capture the raw bite and high-octane grit of the classic tube amps of yore. The middle position offers a neutral setting that Sweetwater guitarists particularly ideal when running the OR30 as a pedal platform, giving you a rich and uncolored tone to build upon with your favorite stompboxes. Lastly, you also get an ultra-clean effects loop to optimally integrate your stompboxes.

Powerful projection and versatile power scaling

As any guitarist that’s played through a dimed tube amp can attest, 30 watts is plenty of power for almost any application. However, the OR30 is no typical 30-watt amp. After testing the OR30’s power rating in-house, Orange informed us here at Sweetwater that it routinely hits the same SPL levels of 100W models. Suffice it to say, you’ll never lack volume. However, if you’re looking to turn the volume down, flip the power scaling switch from “Headroom” mode to the 2-watt “Bedroom” mode to achieve searing tube tones without shaking the windows.

Fine-tune your tone to perfection

No matter what type of Orange tone you seek, the Orange OR30 is up to the task with a seriously flexible yet straightforward set of sound-sculpting tools. In addition to the 3-position Bright switch, the OR30 sports a 3-band EQ and a “cross-line” Presence control. What’s so special about that, you ask? Many Presence controls are based on negative feedback, which tends to have a limited tonal impact on lower-volume settings. In comparison, the OR30’s cross-line presence is designed to work consistently across the OR30’s entire output, from whisper-quiet cleans to knobs cranked, full-steam-ahead distortion.

Orange OR30 30-watt 1-channel Tube Amplifier Head Features:

  • Single-channel, British-style amplifier with 30W of roaring tube power
  • Cathode bias design and tube rectifier for a raw, spongy sag when you push the amp into overdrive
  • 3-position Bright switch grants you superior control over your tone’s treble response
  • Cross-line Presence control designed to consistently function at all volume levels
  • Effects loop to cleanly integrate your time-based and modulation effects pedals
  • Secondary volume control that’s activated with a footswitch, allowing for far more dynamic control than a typical 1-channel amplifier
  • Headroom (full 30W power) and Bedroom (2W power) scaling allows you to achieve sweet tube saturation at reasonable volume levels
  • Massive output transformer results in a significantly higher level of perceived clean headroom
  • Astoundingly low noise floor
  • Designed and built in England to the highest standards

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Tech Specs

  • Type: Tube
  • Number of Channels: Single
  • Output Power: 30W/2W
  • Preamp Tubes: 3 x 12AX7, 1 x 12AU7
  • Power Tubes: 4 x EL84 (power), 5AR4 (rectifier)
  • EQ: 3-band EQ, Bright Switch
  • Inputs: 1 x 1/4"
  • Outputs: 1 x 1/4" (16 ohm), 2 x 1/4" (8 ohm)
  • Effects Loop: Yes
  • Footswitch I/O: 1 x 1/4" (boost)
  • Footswitch Included: No
  • Bias Type: Cathode Biased
  • Power Source: Standard IEC AC cable
  • Height: 10.63"
  • Width: 21.65"
  • Depth: 9.45"
  • Weight: 40.34 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: OR30-H-V3

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Reviews

Love this Amp!
I bought this over other Orange Amps because it has presence, a 3-way treble boost, and a bedroom/headroom mode. This amp rocks! Is it as loud as my Marshall 100W amp? No, but it gets close enough to rattle your clothes. My Sweetwater Sales Engineer, Alex Finney, worked with me for months to create the studio environment I wanted, and was there to help guide me through any questions I had. I love this amp and Sweetwater rocks!
Massive Orange sound meets complete tonal flexibility
Orange fan here. I own the Rockerverb 50 Mki, Thunderverb 50, Rocker 30, and have owned a TH30, Rocker 30, Rocker 15 Terror, Tiny Terror 15 combo, Micro Terror, and a 1975 Orange Hustler Twin Reverb. This is better than all of them.

It is louder than any 30 watt amp I've ever heard. It's louder than the Rocker 30, which i would also describe as "very loud." With all of the knobs set to noon on both amps, the OR30 is louder than my RV50 on the dirty channel.

With the bright switch disengaged, it has a standard OR-range-ish sound. However, the addition of the presence switch allows a lot more top-end clarity. With the bright switch engaged to the left, it's slightly more bright. But if you go the way to the right, it seems like a totally different voicing, especially for the cleaner, lower gain settings.

The interaction between the bright switch and the presence knob is clever. The bright switch has a bigger effect at lower volumes and less of an effect as you turn up the gain whereby the distortion begins to naturally add bass. And this is right when the presence knob kicks in! Although it does have an effect at low volumes and low gain, it has a much bigger effect as the volume and gain go up, allowing you to effectively brighten up the tone even with tons of gain.

I can't get my other Oranges to sound like that.

As you would expect from an all-tube amp, the dynamics are phenomenal. Using the bridge humbucker of my strat, with the gain at 11, it can get a nice low-to-mid level of distortion with my guitar volume at 10, and by the time I roll back to 5, it's totally clean. You don't need two channels. It's the best distortion tone you'll ever hear, and it has a really bright but not thin clean tone, too. Or you can get a typically Orange dark tone, or a beefy midrange tone, or a modern scooped distortion tone. Literally every sound. All the sounds.

The second foot-switchable volume is better than a boost pedal because it's literally a duplicate volume that you can set differently than the main volume. You can even set it as a volume cut. The 2-watt mode is a great option but it's too quiet to play out with. The 7-watt mode on my TH30, for comparison, was very loud. This time bedroom mode actually means bedroom mode, for better or for worse.

It's very heavy. Unlike other Orange amps with black piping, the piping is gold as is the hardware on the handles. The transformer is enormous. Made in England. Cathode biased which means this non-amp-tech can replace the power tubes without having to bias anything. This is perfect.
1 year review
I love this amp. The iron is huge and so is the tone; even with the EL84's. I run the eq with the treble at 1 o'clock, mids at 11:45 and bass at 11. Presence towards 1 o'clock. Gain 1 to 2 o'clock and bright switch to the right (full on). AIC tones easily. Not flubby at all. SD-1 or TS9 with gain down & level up will tighten things up nicely. Takes my modulation, delay and reverb pedals well; and no problems at all with the effects loop. It's really easy to dial in a good, thick dirty tone and then use the guitar volume knob to clean up. It cleans up nicely; I've had my SD-1 on and guitar volume down and it still cleaned up. Gain 11 o'clock and under is break up to clean and somewhat chimey. Could be a good pedal platform like this. 2 watt mode is great for late night 80db with the volume at 9 o'clock and still sounds great, really great with the gain at 1:30. Good bedroom amp at 2 watts. 30 watt mode, I don't need to go over 11 - 11:30 with the volume to get really loud. Only downside with this amp is that it's single channel and it's gain sounds so good that I don't want to do it edge of breakup with pedals for all the gain. I want to go with the amp distorion and use the guitar volume to clean up and an overdrive pedal to tighten it up; but this way it works and it works really well. Shout out to Kris Eckman for his support at Sweetwater and always taking care of me.
Music background: hobbyist and occasional sit in
Great Amp, Not great tubes
I bought this amp from Sweetwater a year ago. Sweetwater is awesome, my criticism of the amp has nothing to do with Sweetwater. I played the amp for a decent amount of time and I noticed that the treble / high end was painful. I tried several guitars with single coils and humbuckers and the only thing that made it tolerable was turning the treble incredibly low. Even then, I was unimpressed with the sound. Ice picks + metallic clang that sounded horrible. The power tubes can be seen through the back were JJs which seemed to be fine, but when I got the cover off the back, and the caps off the 12AX7 tubes, the problem emerged. (FYI: just turn the cover caps clockwise or counter clockwise, there are two little tabs on the sides that when they line up with corresponding slots, the spring will pop it off the tube. You do not need to pull up, just slowly twist them and they will pop off). Orange put in a lower end JJ in the stage 1/2 slot and cheap Psvane tubes in all the other slots. Not only that, but all the tubes are 12AX7 (the FX loop is supposed to be a 12AU7), so Orange put the wrong tube in one of the slots. Mistakes happen, but if they got one of the tubes wrong, it's not hard to conclude that the tubes they put in are probably whatever trash they have lying around. Inexcusable for an amp of this cost and name. I got new Telefunken Black Diamond for Stage 1/2 and the phase inverter tubes. Got JJ high performance gold tips for the other two (one 12AX7 for stage 3 and one 12AU7 for the FX loop). It sounded like a different amp with the new tubes, and I am quite happy with it now. (I was considering selling it off prior to the tube change). If you are considering the amp, I suggest budgeting for a tube upgrade for those gainstage tubes. That's probably good advice for any mass produced amp, but it was absolutely required for the Or30 that I got. 5 stars for the amp but -1 star for the awful tubes that came stock.