Orange Crush 3 mini amp - too much OD!

[rockymtnguitar]

Hey all... I have an Orange Crush 3 mini amp laying around unused. The clean channel is only ok and the OD is virtually unusable. Way too much hiss and noise. Volume between the two channel is off - the OD is MUCH louder.

I'm willing to tinker with it.

Does anyone have a 4" speaker recommendation for it?

Are there any LED-type mods (like the Pathfinder 10/15 amps have) to help tame the overdrive? I hate to see this thing laying around and I haven't been able to sell it one Craigslist.

Finally, what is the impact of a mismatch on speaker ohms? An amp for an 8ohm speaker if a 4ohm speaker is installed?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Finck]

I haven't found the schematic, but if the amp uses diode clipping, sure you can exchange them by LED's, put additional diodes in series with the originals, place a small cap in parallel with the bastards, or any other similar trick.

About the impedance mismatch, if an SS amp is designed for 8 ohms and you install a 4 ohm speaker, there is a chance of blow the circuit. There is no problem with the opposite, except by a loss of power, probably unnoticeable in terms of volume perception.

 

[radiocaster]

What I would do is put an external speaker out on it. Orange did that on the newer version of it.

The distortion sounds pretty bad on all those small amps. Sounds better with a pedal.

I guess you can also try the Visaton speaker swap so many people have done on Gretas. I never did that on mine, so I can't say I recommend it.

 

[rockymtnguitar]

The external speaker is a good idea (I've also seen an AUX in, so while I'm in there...). I also am tempted by that Visaton speaker (For $15 including shipping). I've seen a lot of discussion of other amp mods but almost nothing on this one.

I'm not at all familiar with "diode clipping" or LEDs - very much in the beginner learning phase here. Can you give me more info, Finck?

Granted, it's a tiny practice amp that is what it is, but hey - tinkering and improvements are fun! And I want to make it usable.

Anyone have additional ideas on getting less hum and OD out of it?

 

[rockymtnguitar]

So I did some experimenting - major hiss immediately upon using my 1Spot power supply. The hiss drops in volume when I touch the strings (used a Tele and a LP to test). No hiss on battery, amp is silent when I'm not playing. I've attached a pic of the power supply specs vs the amp. I believe everything is good there? I hate using battery, but I do know it's an option. A ground issue with the 1Spot?

I can get some taming of the OD with tone/volume, obviously, but I'd really like to smooth it out.

 

[rockymtnguitar]

So for whatever it is worth, I'm switching the speaker to the 4" Visaton like mentioned above (the Greta thread on that change is really positive). I'm going to grab a 2nd speaker for a CBA project, too. I'm also trying to find a 2nd power supply to mess with to see if I can figure out the extra noise when plugged in.

 

[bythhcpeke]

So for whatever it is worth, I'm switching the speaker to the 4" Visaton like mentioned above (the Greta thread on that change is really positive). I'm going to grab a 2nd speaker for a CBA project, too. I'm also trying to find a 2nd power supply to mess with to see if I can figure out the extra noise when plugged in.

Did you switch the 4 inch speaker? how did it go? What is the Visaton model? thanks