ORI50H Origin 50-watt Tube Head Review

The ULTIMATE in versatility

I've now had the Origin 50 head and matching vertical 2x12 cab for several months. I'm in love with this amp! No matter what Guitar or pedal combinations I use, it never fails to satisfy and, dare I say, exceed my expectations. I've been playing for 30+ years, have over 40 guitars, 16 amps, and several multieffects units, and pedals in my collection. I've experimented with different… read more guitars, effects, and cabinets with the Origin head and I have found that it delivers that amazing tone on all fronts. It's a VERY loud amp, even on the lowest attenuation setting (sounds best when it's cranked up above 50% on Master). Perfect for recording and performance! Each knob has a quite impressive range of shaping capability. The Marshall Origin goes from clean to mean and everything in between. If you find yourself wantin more gain, use a dirt pedal in front - it loves all flavors of boost, overdrive, distortion, and fuzz! I personally like to set it up to just beyond the edge of breakup, with some definite hairiness, and utilize several dirt pedals (Tube Screamer, Soul Food, Friedman BE-OD Deluxe, MXR Slash octave fuzz) for any flavor of cascading gain stages; likewise I can achieve the pushed cleans that I prefer by simply rolling back the volume pot on my Guitar. The Origin 50 is a phenomenal single channel master volume amp that offers amazing versatility way beyond it's budget conscious price point! I can't sing it's praises enough. The switchable effects loop performs flawlessly for added modulation, delay, and reverb or for bypassing the Marshall preamp while adding the EL34 power tube voicing to your favorite modeling gear. It sounds amazing when I plug my guitar into the Orange Terror Stamp and from stamp effects send to Origin return for an all tube Dark Terror voicing! If you want a versatile, all tube workhorse of an amp, the Origin simply can't be beat! If you need something for playing at low volumes, you should look at something else; but if loud and proud is your M.O., I can't recommend anything else over this amazing amp.

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Origin 50

Great sounding amp if you're looking for that classic Clapton woman tone, or any old blues sounds. All the great sounds of a Plexi without the hefty price tag

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Marshall 50 watt Origin

Just what you would expect it to sound like. Stripped down and simplified with only one channel of goodness but comes with a foot switch that activates the high gain or you can pull the gain knob out. I had questioned its quality because of its affordable price but had watched many reviews online and decided to order one and Sweetwater had this on my doorstep the next day! Looking… read more at this as a so called budget amp, it doesn't have corner protectors on the cabinet and these may be made overseas but if you have always wanted that marshal sound, you won't be disappointed! I have hade mine for a number of weeks and discovered this head takes pedals really well and makes a great platform for your pedal board also.

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Loud! Great for metal too!

Great for metal: with a pedal obviously. I have a Mesa Boogie Throttle Box and it boogies. It chugs. Tilt control works nicely: darker sounds from 1~5 and brighter from 5~10. It can get too bright: use the tone and volume knobs on your guitar too. I find I'd rather set it on 50 watts and very low master volume, instead of low watts & more volume: I feel the sound is clearer this… read more way.

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You live, you learn

I purchased An Origin 50 head from Guitar Center, I don't normally deal with Guitar Center but my family always gets me a Guitar Center gift card for my birthday is Christmas and such because it's convenient. I spoke to Guitar Center customer service representative about an open box new amplifier that was discounted because I am on a budget. He said that he would check into it to… read more see if he still has it and email me back. He never did and when I emailed him back he never answered my email. I called back Guitar Center customer service and they let me know that the open box was gone, I was frustrated and the representative said that if I wanted to pay a little more he can get me a brand new one. I was okay with that. The amplifier head showed up 3 weeks later and it was a used demonstration model with dust all over it. I called customer service for Guitar Center back and they told me that they don't have any new ones, and then I asked why was I promised a new one then, he said he don't know why. He also explained that I had 180 days to send it back if I don't want. So I played the amp for two months and fell in love with it. It does everything I wanted to, sounds like an old Plexi it's a monster and takes pedals fantastic. So loving the amp I wanted to send in the registration and look on the back for the registration number and noticed that the date of the amplifier was 2 years and 3 months old. I called customer service bag and they acted like a bunch of idiots. They said that there was nothing they can do about it. So I called my local Guitar Center and I told them about my dilemma they also said that there was nothing they can do about it and I said well then you have to at least send me some new tubes because it's over 2 years old and it was a demonstration model when it was supposed to be new. He said he'll see what he can do and call me back later in the day. He never called me back, I called him back the next day and he said I got your tubes on the counter just come in and get them. I asked him what tubes he had. He said two el34s I asked him what about the preamp tubes and he told me there's nothing he can do about that and if I didn't like it that I can return the amp and cancel the order. I told him I just want a brand new one like I was promised. And he assured me that they will be in on the following 15th. Considering I paid for this on Synchrony Bank Guitar Center card I would have to bring the old amp in ,in order to reorder the brand new one, so now I'm stuck without an amp. So the 15th comes and goes no email, no phone call so I decided to call and they said that they weren't in on the 15th and will be in on the 30th. 30th game again no call no email and I called back and they said will be in on the following 15th. Same thing happened again said the 30th and I told my friend what I was going through with this company call Guitar Center and he said to me, you idiot, why don't you just call Sweetwater. I called Sweetwater and talk to a gentleman named Ryan Thorpe at extension 1307 and he told me that they have them in stock and he can have it shipped the same day. I thought I was going to go see through the same thing but I canceled the Guitar Center order an ordered it through Sweetwater and to my surprise I had the amp in less than 3 days on my doorstep. So to all you people out there stay away from Guitar Center because they simply suck and probably are going out of business. I guess you live and you learn. If you want to make an order for anything that has to do with music you call up Ryan Thorpe and get it done right the first time, he is a master at what he does. Thank you Ryan

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