Hands-On Review: Orange Terror Stamp

While running amok around the halls of NAMM 2020, you get plenty of opportunities to give brand new gear a try. And today, we had that opportunity with the brand new Orange Terror Stamp footswitch amplifier. This little 20W amp packs a pretty great punch right off the bat, and we were absolutely blown away by the vast tone it provided. The amplifier was announced by the company just yesterday, before NAMM 2020 opened its doors, so we were quite thrilled to have the opportunity to try it for ourselves.

Design

The Orange Terror Stamp amplifier looks similar to other Orange products. With an all-white base, mixed with orange and black highlights, this little amplifier’s visuals definitely pop. Aside from that, all of its input and output connections lie on the back of the unit, which makes it very easy to navigate, especially if it’s being used to send to a cabinet onstage.

Features

Where the Terror Stamp truly shines is in its tone. As soon as we had the opportunity to plug a guitar in and hear its power through the headphones provided, it gave us a firm introduction. With the gain knob cranked all the way up, the Terror Stamp delivers a raging roar that was unmistakeably an Orange tone.

The knobs are very smooth, and we found that the two separate volume controls provided a really handy way to switch between quieter and louder signals which could be especially helpful when transitioning mid-song on stage. Although, we also found that between values 0-1 the volume level is almost too low. That said, as soon as you crank it to 2 and beyond, there’s a small spot where the volume increases massively in a very fine turn of the hand. It could be difficult at first for a player to find that sweet spot between too quiet and too loud.

The shape knob just to the left of the amp gain, in short, essentially worked as a low pass filter. When set at ten, the amplifier delivers a lot of bite to your signal, to make the guitar really cut through. And as you gradually turn it to approach zero, you start to lose those higher frequencies, and get a tone that reminded us a lot of Dan Auerbach’s guitar sound in the Black Keys’ song “Tighten Up.”

Of course, there’s only so much testing we can truly do on a showroom floor, especially through headphones — so we’ll have to wait and see how the Terror Stamp performs in the real world.

Value

Perhaps the biggest draw overall to the Orange Terror Stamp is the bang for your buck. Set at a mere $200 MSRP, guitar players can now access a small amplifier that can be controlled with the foot, as either a primary, or backup amplifier when gigging out. We have all run into times where gear stops working properly at a time we need it to most. So, with a Terror Stamp ready in your back pocket, you now would have a device you can pull out, and trust to still give a really strong sound. And for the low price it is, we can guarantee it to be well worth the money. You can get the Orange Terror Stamp for yourself straight from Guitar Center.