Gear Review: Orange 4-Stroke Bass Amp and OCB410 Cabinet
The latest amp offering from Orange, 4-Stroke 300W Bass Amp paired with their OCB410 Bass Cabinet is a sweet combination bassist wanting an all analog Class A/B amp for both clean sounding or bit of edge. This a rock bassist rig without a doubt, but it really delivers on versatility.
The 4-Stroke has a different pre-amp than its’ OBC series predecessor with a wide ranged 4-band parametric EQ with 18db of cut-boost. The foot-switchable compression adds plenty of meat on demand to your signal and a knob large enough to hit with a beer bottle from across the room. Clever icons are supplied above all knobs incase you’re not feelin’ like dealin’ with the written language. As advertised, this amp’s tone does indeed remain consistent as the volume is turned up and it is not a one trick amp.
Funky punchy clean stuff sounded as good as the grittier classic rock tinged tones with some EQ and compression work. I was very happy with the flat setting as a starting point, and from there it was easy to shape in whatever direction I wished. If you’re not used to parametric EQ’s you may have a slight learning curve to deal with but it’s a cinch once you spend some time on it. My guess is if you’re looking at amps in this class, you’ve got your EQ chops.
This amp can be run without a speaker load, which is nice for recording purposes. It has line-level and balanced outputs along with two parallel speaker outputs with a 4-ohm minimum. This is a straight forward amp that is a solid starting point for great tone. If you want more power, there is a 500W model, but the 300W head is pretty mighty.
The OBC 410 Cab was tight, punchy, focused and compact. It can handle 600W RMS of power at 8ohms, for this review, I only had the 300W head so I didn’t get to max it to see how it fared with higher wattage, but it sounded great. This cabinet behaved like any comparable quality 410, and I think for a rock rig, adding the OBC115 would be a real bonus for the lower end. The Eminence speakers and defeat-able horn are as you’d expect: sweet. It’s built to last with 18mm birch plywood construction. It’s a heavy little 91 lb. 4sq ft. box, though, so I’d suggest bringing your favorite dolly to the gig.
Orange 4-Stroke 300-Watt Bass Amp Specs:
| Type: | Class A/B Solid State Rackmountable Head: |
| Eq: | Active 4-Band Parametric EQ Section |
| Compressor: | Footswitchable Class A Compression |
| Outputs: | Balanced & Line Outputs with 2 X Parallel Speakon Speaker Outputs |
| Front Panel Controls: | Input (-6Db Pad) / Treble (550-5500Hz) / High Mid (250-2500Hz) / Low Mid (80-800Hz) / Bass (40-400Hz) / Compression Level / Volume / Footswitch Input / Power |
| Rear Panel: | Speaker Outputs / Line out & Balanced Di Output (Post-Eq and Volume) |
| Finish: | 2U White Steel Chassis |
| Speaker Outputs: | 2 X Speakon (Parallel). 4-Ohm Minimum Total Load |
| Power: | 300W @ 4 Ohms |
| Unboxed Dimensions: | 48.2 w × 10 h × 26.5Cm d (18.97 × 3.93 × 10.43″) |
| Unboxed Weight: | 9.45Kg (20.83 Lb) |
Orange OBC410 Bass Cabinet Specs:
| Construction: | 18MM High Density Birch Ply, Skid Design Feet |
| Inputs: | 2 X Parallel ¼″ and Speakon Input Jacks |
| Controls: | Horn Attenuator |
| Power Handling: | 600 Watts |
| Speakers: | 4 X Eminence Beta 10A, 1 X High Quality HF Horn |
| Impedance: | 8 Ohm |
| Unboxed Dimensions: | 64 w X 62 h X 45.5Cm d (25.2 X 24.41 X 17.91″) |
