Orange Little Bass Thing

The Little Bass thing is a 500 watt RMS at 4 Ω Class D amp. It weighs about 3 kg and has a build in compressor that is footswitchable (which I will get to later). I pair it with an 8 Ω OBC112 cab that weighs about 12 kg.

There are a couple of reasons why I picked this amp.

-It is relatively simple, just a 3 band EQ with sweepable mids, a volume knob and a knob for the compressor. I always get a bit seasick when I look at amps with too many buttons. Some people might love it, I am more of a plug and play kinda guy. That might also explain my love for the Precision bass.

-It is light, powerful and scalable. I can easily add a second 8 Ω cab to make use of the full 500 watt. I had an Orange Crush 100 and I really loved that amp. However, at 24 kg with a 15 inch speaker, carrying it up and down the stairs and to my car became a bit of a hassle. Not a dealbreaker but this is a nice alternative.

-Following with my plug and play mantra, having the compressor already in the amp is a great idea (to me). I don’t need much more than this 80% of the time.

The good: It has a great clean sound, full and warm and the EQ makes it possible to shape your tone quite a bit. The amp and cab work great with my basses, a Jazz sounds like a Jazz, a P like a P. Within a few minutes I had a great tone for reggae dialed in, a few twists of a few knobs later and I was in solid rock territory. It serves my styles of music quite well but since the cab lacks a tweeter, it might not be crisp and clear enough for some. I also like the compressor. Turning it up does cause quite an increase in volume. And speaking of volume, this thing is loud enough as it is. If I ever plan on removing some walls in my house, I can always add a second cab and I’ll be done in about .2 of a nanosecond.

The bad: Because the knobs are notched (is that the word? What I mean is, they have about 20 clicks instead of a seamless turn) it is a bit difficult to play at a low volume. It is either too soft or too loud to use as a practice amp. Some fiddling with the EQ fixes this, but you can’t rely on just the volume knob. Although the compressor can be turned on and off using a footswitch, the volume increase when you switch it on is quite extreme after the 8 or 9 o’ clock setting. So the footswitch is only useful when you go from no to just a tad of compressing. Anything above that and the difference becomes too large (IMHO).

The ugly: Well, maybe Orange isn’t for everyone. They do make the cab in black as well, if that is what you prefer.

3kg weight is NOT a light weight in Class D bass head amp but if it sounds like ClassAB, It's reasonable. It sounds reminds me 80-90's dinosaurs. Thunder like loud, little bit power amp saturation.
Compressor, perfect. Powerful and sweet. Don't need any other additional pedal. Warm enhance and smooth opto compressing gives both rich low-end and punch.
Preamp-EQ simulates tube well. Basically warm like tube, but mid frequency knob make this amp really versatile. From beefy low mid to modern crispy high mid.

I had a combo that just wasn’t holding up during practice or small gigs, so I went for a 2x10 with the Orange Little Bass Thing.

All my drive and distortion comes from pedals, so I was looking for something more neutral but not sterile, and the Little Bass Thing is just perfect for that. It takes my Microtubes and MXR 80+ amazingly well.

I find it really easy to dial in, and I especially like the step knob, as I can have the knobs in the same place for every practice.

The only thing is that the Little Bass Thing is LOUD. Great for recording (compressor shines), but since there isn’t a preamp volume knob (only the pad), I found myself needing to reduce the volume through the FX loop with another pedal to tame the volume going into the cabinet.

Really loving it so far. It has its own character and takes pedals really well.

The compressor is also really good, it can be subtle or get into that gritty/squashed zone.

The EQ works really well too, especially the parametric mids. Really handy for fixing problem frequencies and adjusting for different rooms/acoustics.

Happy with it so far!