Micro Dark 20-watt Hybrid Head Review

Impressive Little Amp

I've been using this as a bedside amp with the Orange 8 inch cabinet for a while and I've been happy with it. You can get everything from a decent clean to fuzz out of the amp with no additional pedals. Recently I took it to a rehearsal space and hooked it up to Mesa 4x12 as a joke. My friend that plays through a Sunn amp laughed when he saw it. I let him try it out first with… read more everything set at noon. He played the first chord and we all just stopped, turned our heads and looked back at the amp and cabinet. It was very loud. Not a ton of low end, but it sounded pretty good. My friend kept playing through it having a good time for a while then he said he was going to switch over to his Sunn amp and fuzz pedal, because the micro dark didn't have the right sound. I turned the gain and tone almost all the way to the right and volume to about the 3 o'clock position and told him to try it again. He played a chord then stopped and turned his head back to the amp and cabinet and said, "what the hell. I can't believe that little thing is driving that 4x12 that well.". He played the Micro Dark for about an hour more afterward. We were all impressed. It's a great little bedroom practice amp, and amazingly can drive 4x12 cabinet in a pinch

---

Cancel Comment

This thing is an absolute monster

I am currently running the Micro Dark as a tube preamp through a Boss Katana Artist 100 (1x12). I'm basically using the Orange tube preamp and running it into the power amp section of the katana (effects return), so I can utilize all of the built in Boss fx programmed in the Katana. It's honestly a perfect and incredibly versatile setup. The Orange Micro Dark is an absolute behemoth… read more in a laughably tiny package. The tone is very, very hairy/wooly, very British. It borders on full-on fuzz when the gain is cranked, and there is gain for DAYS. The "shape" knob functions differently that I am used to, as it's bit very clear exactly how it shapes the sound, it's not just some simple filter or mids-scooper. The tone of this is very grindy and sludgy with the gain maxed, if you want it to "djent", use an overdrive pedal as a boost in front, then it'll give you the thickest, crunchiest and tightest palm mutes you can imagine. This also has incredibly good cleans, and can totally sound vintage and very warm with the right settings. Yes it's meant to be a metal heads dream come true, but don't underestimate this as a one trick pony, it can do any genre of rock. My active seven string schecter sounds more brutal than ever through this, as it has immense bottom end and seems to be made for downtuning, but my Gibson Les Paul sounds incredible as well, super warm and resonates in all the right frequencies, even the single coil tones of a Fender Strat sound amazing through this. If you're considering it, it's easily the best tube head with an FX loop you can purchase at this price. Shockingly amazing

---

Cancel Comment

So good that...

So good that I gave my first one to a friend that helped me record tracks, and have now bought another one for myself. These little amps kick it! I plug in an 1x8" cab for bedroom practice, and use cab sim out for recording. I also have the all-tube Dark Terror, it's a masterpiece, but this is almost perfect in itself. Much better tone to me, than the Micro Terror (white case) version.… read more Anyway, do yourself a favor and get one of these, do yourself another favor and get it from Sweetwater... The best instrument group in the world. You'll be glad that you did both.

---

Cancel Comment

Micro dark + orange 1x12 cabinet.

very good quality sound.

---

Cancel Comment

Overachiever

This lil guy is great. I am pushing a 10" Eminence British speaker in a custom cab and it sounds great. Low noise and lots of volume from such a wee little thing. Very glad I bought this one. Also have to throw a thank you to Mac Hatton, my sales rep. He puts in a lot of effort to make sure I get the right stuff even though I am not one for big ticket items. Definitely speak to… read more Mac if you need anything.

---

Cancel Comment