Orange Crush Pro CR60C Guitar Amp Review – A Serious Amp for Serious Players

Controls:
Features:
Performance:
Value:

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In this review, we are looking at the Orange CR60C amplifier from the impressive Crush Pro range. Built with working musicians in mind, this amp is a combination of portability and power. We are stepping out of the budget zone here, but at under $500 for an Orange amp with a gig-worthy 60 watts of power, it might be a bargain in the making. Let's check it out.

Features

Firstly, despite being an Orange, if you want to rock out in a slightly more modest fashion (shame on you…), this amp is available in a rather sophisticated black cover as well as the traditional iconic orange finish.

Even though it’s a solid-state amp, the CR60C has an all-analog signal path, which will deliver a lively and responsive feel, encouraging guitarists to play more naturally. We’re all for that!

It has the same two channels as the rest of the Orange Crush range – clean and dirty with a lovely high-gain preamp. This high-gain preamp design delivers exceptional clarity wherever the player decides to take it.

As mentioned, this is a Crush Pro model. The feature that makes it a Pro model in particular is the addition of the buffered effects loop. This is perfect for a guitarist with a lot of effects pedals, as this low-impedance loop will let you patch them between the amp’s input/output sections without degrading the tone.

The built-in digital reverb warms up your sound, and it all comes through the custom 12” Voice of the World speaker that's just screaming to be put to work.

Controls

You’ll find all the controls for this model on the top panel. It’s quite a standard lineup, with volume, bass, middle, and treble controls for both the clean and dirty channels. Having EQ controls individually for each channel allows the player to be incredibly specific with their tone, so it’s a very nice touch, even at this price range. Finishing up the controls are the master volume dial, channel switch, and reverb control.

Performance

This amp weighs around 44lbs, so it's not quite practice amp weight, but it's still portable enough for guitarists who play a lot of club gigs.

The high-gain preamp delivers whatever you need – warm and slightly dark cleans, biting crunch, screaming distortion, and everything in between. The clarity of tone really highlights the attention to detail in manufacturing this little monster.
Being able to patch in as many pedals as you like between the amp’s input/output sections without losing quality means you don't have to be timid with your effects, and the consistency in your tone is just awesome.

With some amps, you crank it up and think, ‘Ok… it's had enough’, but with the CR60C, the speaker almost dares you to push it further. However, it’s just as impressive at lower volumes, so playing around the house is not out of the question.

Conclusion

Let's get the obvious out of the way – it's an Orange amp, so everything is high-quality and it is built to last. It's easy to take the buffered effects loop for granted because it's so good, but it's the result of some incredibly precise work by Orange. This amp really does it all and does it well. If you are a working musician or starting to gig for the first time, you really can't go wrong.

For more info about the Orange Crush Pro CR60C Guitar Amp, click here.
For more guitar amplifiers under $500, click here.