Orange Rockerverb 50 MKIII - 50-watt 2-channel Tube Head Reviews

Love everything about this amp there is not nothing to dislike whatsoever no matter what style of music you play this ample cover at all I have three orange amps and I love all three of them but the rocker verb is my favorite!

The Rockerverb 50W MKIII is a ripper amp. This gear is top of the line. Cleans are beautiful, breaks up nicely, and completely saturates! This amp has loads of character. Shout out to Derrick Senestraro, he is always helpful.
I could not be more thrilled!

As someone who has skimped on getting an expensive head unit for over a decade because I thought I could supplement a lesser head with pedals, this is the real deal. Monster tone both clean and every which way distorted. The attenuator is a life saver for playing ball busting tones at merely ball tickling volumes. Seriously, the ability to play at midnight during a work week without bothering the rest of the house has been critical to my enjoyment of this amp.

There are multiple videos showcasing the range this distortion channel can pull off and yet somehow this is still understated in its versatility.

This amp arrived quickly from Sweetwater taking four days from time of purchase. Unfortunately, one of the preamp tubes were cracked in transport, not for lack of Sweetwaters packaging, it was packaged in its factory packaging from Orange as well as packaged doubly in a Sweetwater box with air and foam spacers to secure it in place. Sweetwater was more than amenable to getting a new preamp tube my way at no cost to replace the broken one.


All in all, 100% would recommend this amp and Sweetwater to all my friends.

The gain on this thing could rip your face off, the clean channel is chimey like an AC30. I keep the gain a few notches below 12 O'clock and I get a smooth crunch. The attenuator allows me to play at literal bedroom levels with great tone intact. Does it have all the bells and whistles? No, but it's a real Orange from the UK and it completely rocks!

Probably one of the most versatile amps of all time! The clean channel goes from clean country all the way up to hot blues when you crank it up. The attenuator makes it manageable at all volumes. The reverb is very pleasing to my ears, however not on the level of a Fender still it does the job very well. The overdrive takes you from classic rock all the way to old school metal. Not so much modern metal ( but thats ok with me) This is a very classic sounding professional touring amp. I like to run on the 25 watt mode with a little bit of attenuation for maximum tube power! By the way Sweetwater is the ONLY place I will buy online musical gear from

I shopped around for an upgrade from a Marshall JMD:1 head (one of the only Marshall modeling amps) for about a year. I was originally looking for something in the 30-35 watt range so I ignored the Rockerverb because it's advertised as a 50w head, BUT the attenuator and the half-power setting (which aren't highlighted too well in the description) had me sold! The tone of the amp is extremely versatile, dirty channel can get a nice classic/indie rock tone in the low-medium gain (perfect for drum/bass focused songs) crank the gain a little more and you have something worthy of modern progressive and metal! The clean channel is chimey and clear, if you throw and overdrive pedal on it for a little character you have a wonderful bluesy sound. Something I wasn't used to is the pots on each switch: they aren't a smooth, free-spinning pot like other amps. The pots seem to have notched settings, which takes some getting used to, but that's in no way a bad thing, just unusual. I like to go through any and every genre, from twang, to folksy, to alt-rock, to heavy and this bad boy does it all and you can get reasonable home-friendly volumes using the attenuator without sacrificing the tone! Awesome amp, I'd highly recommend it!

I didn't get this through Sweetwater :( I wish I had. I got it by trading a friend for it. Mine is the MKii version, also. I have to say that this amp is the best amp that I have ever played on. Amazing sound, power, and clarity. You can not go wrong with this amp.

Now, I said that I wish that I had bought it through Sweetwater, that is because there is not a greater company out there for musicians to deal with. They stand behind their word, their products, and their prices. I have been a huge Sweetwater fan for some time now.

Do yourself a favor and get this amp, and get it from Sweetwater. Tyler is my guy, and he is a good one.

I purchased one of these, as well as a PPC112 Cab from Sweetwater recently, and so I'll offer this review.

The Rockerverb 50 Mk. III is an instant classic. It's amazing. Every difference between it and the Mk II is a marked (pun intended) improvement. And we all know the Mk. II is a brilliant amp. I have it as a head with a closed back Orange 1x12 cab, and I've already gibed with it.

The revoiced clean channel is classic Orange. No mid nob is needed, as the 2-band EQ easily shapes the kids you're looking for. The clean is awesome, btw, and the non-MV format gives you smooth break up the higher it goes - especially in half-power. I like the cleans on the Mk. better than those of the Mk II.

This gain channel is EXACTLY what you're looking at an Orange amp for (except the hidden secret that Oranges have some of the sweetest, full, and chimey cleans of any amps out there...). Gains that are warm and massive, and harmonically rich.

To be frank, there's no setting on either channel of this amplifier that ISN'T three-dimensional, harmonic, and usable. This amp is unbelievably versatile, which is exactly what I needed it to be. It takes pedals really well - ODs, boosts, compressor, etc. The FX loop is a great feature, especially for time-based and reverb junkies (like me lol).

The reverb is very usable. Very. I like it better than that of the Fender spring reverbs. That's what you need to know. Throw a tremolo pedal in front of this thing, and you can achieve vintage blackface. Only better, because it's an Orange lol.

The attenuator is totally awesome. I love this feature. Because it is foot-switchable (not included, but get one!), too, you can, use it as a solo boost (Bam!). Also...I have three young kids, and I managed to dime the gain at full power while they were sleeping a few feet down the hall. All the tone and \m/ you need...with sleeping kids a room away. No joke. That's what you need to know. ;)

Folks, this amp is stunning. It sounds amazing in all applications.

So if you are, like I was, wondering how this amp compares to the Mk II, it does - and then some. IMHO, this amp is likely to be a classic. It's just a great workhorse.

Everything about my Orange Rockerverb 50 valve amp is incredible, simple and user friendly. You get to "go softly or rip off facial parts" just how I like to. For me, "This one goes straight from super clean to nasty leaving "eleven" in the dust." Then it can catch you softly before you fall and hurt your bad dumbfounded self and sing you to sleep too if you like. BTW I have only played it thru an EV 1-12 so far...
I won't be back after plugging into those four Celestion's ;-})

The only thing lacking {4.5 stars} is a balanced line out and better alignment of the graphics where the knobs are. For 1999, come on guys, a little more QC please. Guess I'll try the effects-loop return send to a DI.

PS three way foot switch is from an original Roland JC-50. Works great for attenuator - reverb - channel select.

For a family cash flow issue I was forced to sell my dream amp - a Dual Dark 100. Soon after, I was able to invest in another head and decided on the RV50 to save a little coin and get reverb with it. I was worried that it would never be able to compete with the DD100 in terms of gain on the dirt channel, but I soon learned that it has plenty of gain for my needs. I play mainly hard rock/classic metal and, come to think of it, I rarely had the gain above 6.5 on the DD100. I get all the gain on the RR50 at about 7.5 - still some to spare.

Now, here's where it offers something that the DD100 doesn't - a great clean channel. It's not like I NEVER use clean and the DD100 was very mediocre in that respect. The clean on this head is VERY GOOD...not a Fender clean, more similar to a Vox clean, but it is definitely a great Orange clean.

The only half point deduction on my review is for the reverb - it's just OK, not too great in my opinion. It's not awful, but it's tough to dial in a nice amount and if you twist the knob too much it gets too "springy". I would probably have preferred a good digital reverb.

Summing up, you get a really nice clean with plenty of headroom as well as, of course, that GREAT ORANGE DIRTY tone! It just maintains clarity with gobs of gain. It seems to help a bad guitar sound good and a good guitar sound great. I've had Marshall's, Bogner's, Mesa's, Peavey's, Blackstar's, Egnater's, EVH's - you name the gainy amp and I've probably owned one or more of their products. For the past few years I've owned an Orange and they've become my go-to amp. They're getting to develop quite a following - and with good reason. To my ears, whatever "IT" is - THEY HAVE IT!

Got one from Sweetwater; It died too soon. Sweetwater sent me a new one. It was find for a while, then it too died.
What's the problem? The CRAP tubes that Orange has been using for a while. They're made by PSVANE, and according to
one of the best Amps techs in California, they fail out of the gate, dead on arrival.

The solution? Throw them in the trash and replace them with quality tubes, then the amp will KILL.
I asked Sweetwater if they new about this issue. Haven't gotten an answer yet.