was primarily designed
for treble and presence,
so rolling off completely
seriously muffles and
darkens the sound. It’s nice
if that’s your thing, but I
prefer a bright tone so I
pointed that baby mostly at
2:00 for this review.
It’s ironic that Orange
based its color off the
fruit, because the tone
of most Orange products
reminds me of peanut
butter, with fat low-end
and roaring midrange.
With the Getaway Driver
purposefully aping the
company’s Rockerverb
line, my slow increase in
gain went from jangling
Texas blues to righteous
rock. Even through my
humble practice amp, my
humbucker-equipped Strat
sounded very happy.
What I was really
interested in though
was the headphone amp
and cabinet simulation
possibilities the Getaway
Driver offered. A part of
music history I’ve always
loved is the Rockman line of
headphone amps produced
by Boston’s Tom Scholz
that made its way onto
countless rock records in
the ‘80s, even regaling (that
is to say, boring) guests in
my home with the Soloist
version I won on eBay
years ago. It’s great to see
Orange offering something
new for the guitarist on the
go. sounded good running
into my laptop, using my
Sansamp Paradriver as a
DI box. Clipping is always
a serious issue for me
recording digitally, but
the Getaway Driver still
sounded raucous even with
the volume backed off.
I decided to go for as pure
a sound as I could, so I
just plugged the Strat into
the main input and the
headphones into the cab
sim jack, with no buffering
or mixing. To my delight, I
got a signal even with the
pedal turned off, meaning
an A/B sound was totally
possible with this setup.
The pedal sounded just
as good engaged, even
letting off some hum like a
proper practice amp would.
My Jazz Bass sounded just
as good, though unlike
the guitar I didn’t get
much of a signal with the
pedal disengaged (small
potatoes though). I ended
up plopping the Getaway
Driver at the end of my full
pedalboard like an actual
amp and cycling through
different effect combos for
fun. The bluesy tone even Great tone, solid chassis,
tons of extra features (even
for a three knob overdrive),
and able to play/record on
the go.
WHAT WE LIKE
CONCERNS
None! When you realize the
full breadth of the pedal’s
capabilities, even the
$155 price tag feels like a
steal. Invest in the Orange
Getaway Driver and you
won’t regret it.
ToneReport.com
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