Orange Crush 20RT Settings Guide
The Orange Crush 20RT is a solid-state 20-watt combo with Orange's characteristic warm crunch, built-in reverb, and a CabSim output for silent practice. Deceivingly simple controls pack a wide tonal range.
The best Orange Crush 20RT settings start with: Gain at 4/10, Volume at 3/10, Shape at 5/10, Reverb at 3/10. Adjust from there based on your amp, guitar, and room volume. For Blues: Gain 4/10, Volume 4/10, Shape 4/10, Reverb 4/10.
⚡ Start Here — Recommended Settings
| Control | Starting Position | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Gain | 4/10 | Clean → Full Crunch |
| Volume | 3/10 | Silent → Loud |
| Shape | 5/10 | Bright → Scooped |
| Reverb | 3/10 | Dry → Drenched |
These are universal starting points. Adjust based on your amp, guitar, and room. Scroll down for genre-specific settings and artist-documented positions.
What Each Control Does
Recommended Starting Settings
Safe starting positions for any style. Adjust from here based on your amp and room.
All values on a 0–10 scale. These are starting points — fine-tune by ear.
Settings by Genre
Gain at 4 keeps the amp on the edge of natural breakup. Shape at 4 (slightly bright) lets single-note bends cut through. Add a mild overdrive pedal in front for push rather than cranking the gain.
Gain at 6 produces natural Orange crunch. Shape at 5 (flat) keeps the midrange — do not scoop mids for rock rhythm. The Crush 20RT doesn't do high-gain metal, but this setting gets you into AC/DC-style hard rock territory.
The Crush 20RT is not designed for modern high-gain metal. Gain at 8 with Shape at 7 (scooped mids) produces classic hard rock crunch — fine for Black Sabbath or AC/DC but not Mesa Boogie territory. For heavier tones, add a distortion pedal (DS-1, ProCo RAT) in front of a lower Gain setting.
Gain at 2 with higher Volume gives the cleanest tone possible while getting usable bedroom volume. Shape at 6 warms up the low end for chords. Higher Reverb adds richness to fingerpicked clean playing.
Artist Settings
Documented settings used by professional guitarists on this unit.
Jimmy Page used Orange Amplification in the early Led Zeppelin era (Orange OR80). The Crush 20RT captures a fraction of that character at a practice-amp scale. Gain at 7, Shape flat — the Page crunch is amp-driven, not scooped.
Tom Morello has used Orange amps onstage. His clean-to-crunch approach means moderate Gain (6) with a tight Shape (5). His tone manipulation comes from pedals and technique rather than the amp settings — keep amp settings moderate and let your effects do the work.
Tips & Common Mistakes
- The Shape knob is an active mid-cut circuit, not a standard bass/mid/treble EQ. Treating it like a bass or treble control causes confusion — think of it as a tonal colour knob: left=bright and present, right=warm and scooped.
- At bedroom volumes (Volume 1–3), the speaker doesn't fully open up. If tone sounds thin, try Volume 4+ with the Power attenuator off, or use the headphone output with CabSim for a fuller sound at low volume.
- The reverb tail continues after a note — for clean arpeggiated playing, turn Reverb up to 6–7 for studio-style ambience that fills the space between notes.
- Pair with an overdrive pedal (Ibanez TS9, Boss BD-2) set to low gain and high volume in front of the amp. This boosts the input and adds natural harmonic richness without the amp's own gain becoming harsh.
- The headphone/line output with CabSim engaged is genuinely useful for silent recording or late-night practice. Run it directly into a DAW interface at line level for a basic but workable DI guitar sound.
- Stacking a fuzz (Big Muff, Fuzz Face) in front at Gain 2–3 produces an interesting texture — the low amp gain cleans up the fuzz slightly and adds natural amp character behind it.
FAQ
Orange Crush 20RT — Common Questions
Best starting settings for Orange Crush 20RT: Gain at 4/10, Volume at 3/10, Shape at 5/10, Reverb at 3/10. Adjust from there based on your guitar, room, and playing style.
For Blues: Gain 4/10, Volume 4/10, Shape 4/10, Reverb 4/10. Gain at 4 keeps the amp on the edge of natural breakup. Shape at 4 (slightly bright) lets single-note bends cut through. Add a mild overdrive pedal in front for push rather than cranking the gain.
For Classic Rock: Gain 6/10, Volume 4/10, Shape 5/10, Reverb 2/10. Gain at 6 produces natural Orange crunch. Shape at 5 (flat) keeps the midrange — do not scoop mids for rock rhythm. The Crush 20RT doesn't do high-gain metal, but this setting gets you into AC/DC-style hard rock territory.
Gain: Single gain stage. Below 4: clean and clear. 5–7: natural amp crunch. Above 8: saturated Orange grit. No separate clean/drive channels. (Clean to Full Crunch). Volume: Master output level. At bedroom volumes, the tone is tighter; at higher volumes the speaker introduces natural warmth and sag. (Silent to Loud). Shape: Active single-knob EQ. Low values (0–4) add treble presence and air. High values (6–10) scoop the mids and boost bass — the 'mid-scoop' useful for heavier rock. Centre (5) is flat. (Bright to Scooped). CabSim: Headphone/line-out cabinet simulation. Engages when headphones or a cable is connected to the Headphone socket. Bypasses the speaker in headphone mode. (Off to Engaged). Reverb: Spring-style digital reverb. Adds space to clean and low-gain tones. Shorter tails (2–4) on crunch prevent wash; longer tails (6–8) for ambient clean playing. (Dry to Drenched)
The Shape knob is an active mid-cut circuit, not a standard bass/mid/treble EQ. Treating it like a bass or treble control causes confusion — think of it as a tonal colour knob: left=bright and present, right=warm and scooped. At bedroom volumes (Volume 1–3), the speaker doesn't fully open up. If tone sounds thin, try Volume 4+ with the Power attenuator off, or use the headphone output with CabSim for a fuller sound at low volume. The reverb tail continues after a note — for clean arpeggiated playing, turn Reverb up to 6–7 for studio-style ambience that fills the space between notes. Pair with an overdrive pedal (Ibanez TS9, Boss BD-2) set to low gain and high volume in front of the amp. This boosts the input and adds natural harmonic richness without the amp's own gain becoming harsh. The headphone/line output with CabSim engaged is genuinely useful for silent recording or late-night practice. Run it directly into a DAW interface at line level for a basic but workable DI guitar sound. Stacking a fuzz (Big Muff, Fuzz Face) in front at Gain 2–3 produces an interesting texture — the low amp gain cleans up the fuzz slightly and adds natural amp character behind it.
Jimmy Page settings: Gain 7/10, Volume 4/10, Shape 5/10, Reverb 2/10. Jimmy Page used Orange Amplification in the early Led Zeppelin era (Orange OR80). The Crush 20RT captures a fraction of that character at a practice-amp scale. Gain at 7, Shape flat — the Page crunch is amp-driven, not scooped.