Orange Super Crush 100 Review (tested in-person)

If amps were political parties, Orange would be the independents. 

Or the moderates. I get them mixed up, but you get what I mean.

You never know quite what they're gonna do or which way they're going to swing. What exactly are Orange Amps? Are they metal, hard rock, classic rock, blues? It's hard to tell until you get your hands on one.

We did and got to test all sides of the Super Crush 100, from one end of the tone spectrum to the other. 

This amp is priced firmly on middle ground in the guitar amp market plane. It's certainly not expensive, in keeping with the typical pricing of solid state amps. Yet it sounds better than it costs, and keeps up its tone quality on all settings. It can do clean, subtle, blues, or heavy - just about anything you want.

We'll cover the details in our full Orange Super Crush 100 review.

Compare to similar amps

In this section you can compare the Super Crush 100 to several other amplifiers in the same price range. If you want to compare more amps, you can do so using the search option below the table.

Orange Super Crush 100 Price Guide

This is a price guide that allows you to compare retail for the Orange Super Crush 100 from multiple vendors. We've included the combo version of the Super Crush as well. Note that Amazon is excluded from the alert tool and price history graph. Also note that those two tools follow the lowest price among listed retailers.

Pricing from Multiple Vendors (updates automatically)

Amazon Pricing

Price Alert Tool (excludes Amazon)

Price History (excludes Amazon)

IDEAL FOR: Direct recording, practice, gigging, small to medium sized venues, church, versatile style repertoires, and most skill levels

Tone Quality and Style

Overall, the accent of the Super Crush leans modern. It's aggressive and emphatic, and doesn't hold back sustain while producing a wide and punchy low end. At the same time it really gives off the sparkling quality, a descriptor that some would also use for VOX or Marshall amps. 

This sparkle is helped a lot by the on-board reverb, which is excellent. I'm surprised this amp doesn't get more credit for that. 

Overall, this amp has a ton of application and a wide range of sounds.

Whether you're using a ton of distortion or none at all, you won't have much to complain about.

We've linked to Bonedo's demo below - as always, thank you Bonedo - though note the additional gear he's using and that this is the combo version of the Super Crush 100 with a built-in speaker. 

Keep in mind that the entire guitar rig will have an impact on how an amp sounds, so play close attention to what Bonedo uses here. He lists it all in the video.

Clean tones

Cleans are really bluesy with a trim sparkle, which comes out clearer with a single coil electric (Strat, Tele, etc.). It sounds more lead-ish, almost like you would get from the high end of a Marshall. As mentioned, we'd like to have a mid control on the clean channel, but that probably matters less without a high gain setting.

Distorted Tones

Orange doesn't give off the metal vibe, but the dirty channel can get you there, especially with a dual humbucker electric. A PRS or Les Paul will do the trick. There's a lot of sustain and a lot of punch, which kind of reminded me of the Boss HM-2w. But unlike the HM-2w distortion pedal, the Super Crush can be dialed back to a faint breakup. Solid state amps often have a wide gain purview, and the Super Crush 100 pushes the two extremes even further out.

Controls, EQ, and Flexibility

For all this tone variety, the controls on the Super Crush are dead simple. You have a front panel switch to select between the clean and dirty channel (I'd recommend adding a footswitch) and the following controls:

Clean channel controls

• Treble
• Bass
• Volume

Dirty channel controls

• Volume
• Bass
• Mids
• Treble
• Gain

Master controls

• Volume
• Reverb

On the dirty channel you can get a more subtle breakup by rolling up the volume and then capping it lower from the master level. But if you want the heavy distortion I was talking about, use the gain control and just run it up. As mentioned, the reverb is especially good, though its controls are one-dimensional. That's not unusual for an amp-driven reverb, but with it sounding so good it would be cool to have more room to play with it.

Head VS Combo Version

First:

Note that this review applies to both the head and combo versions of this amp. The head is what we tested, but this all applies to the combo as well.

The difference in pricing between combos and amp heads are often significant. Wattage also seems to jack up pricing a lot. With the Super Crush head and combo, both - in this case - are 100 watts, and the combo version is retailing at $200 above the head version.

Pricing is always subject to change, so check the updated numbers in the above pricing tables.

A single Celestion G12H-150 speaker is installed in the cab, though like the head version, you still have a DI option that allows you to bypass the speaker and record or send the signal to a mixer or interface.

You can save some money with the head version, but you'll need some form of a speaker cab if you want to hear it in a live room.

Otherwise you'll just be using the DI.

Price and Value

I would consider the Super Crush 100 a high intermediate level amplifier. It's a great value for the price, especially if you already have a speaker cab or don't need one, and can get the head for a $200 discount over the combo. It manages to give you a generous measure of flexibility with a limited control scheme, and most of what we want from an i/o standpoint. Again, pricing could change, but Orange could charge more for this amp and I'd still be pretty happy with the value.

Best style fit

You've probably gathered by now that the Orange Super Crush 100 can pretty much do it all.

It's particularly strong on high-end cleans, but you don't really need to split hairs on the other tones this amp can produce, because they're all very good. I'd be okay with it in a metal or light blues context.

Any situation where you need a good balance of cleans and distortion can be handled by the Super Crush.

There's no reason to limit this amp by style.

I should note: Players that rely heavily on pedalboards will enjoy this amp, just because it will take care of the basics and let your pedals do the rest.

Conclusion

Orange does a lot here without giving off a cheap, or jack of all trades vibe. The Super Crush not a modeling amp, nor is it overly digitized. It just provides a reliable baseline tone for whatever style of music you want to play.

If you have questions about our Orange Super Crush 100 review, or our review process, please feel free to reach out via the comments section below.

I'll help as much as I can.

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