Loopy Demos

The Orange O Tone 40 nails that perfect pedal platform sweet spot in a surprisingly compact solid-state combo. Orange designed this one specifically as a clean amp that stays pristine until you crank it past 1 o’clock—which is already loud enough to get you fired from most gigs. It’s essentially a blank canvas with 40 watts of Class A/B power pushing a 12” Voice of the World speaker, giving you serious headroom for whatever dirt boxes you want to throw at it.

What makes this thing special is how it balances Orange’s characteristic midrange clonk with a more scooped, Fender-like voicing. The onboard JFET bias tremolo is genuinely useful—not just a throwaway feature—delivering that bouncy, warm valve-style wobble you’d expect from a vintage amp. The digital reverb sounds convincingly springy without cluttering your signal, and both effects are footswitchable. The fully buffered effects loop means your time-based pedals stay pristine, while the headphone output includes a built-in cab sim for silent practice.

I’ve been impressed by how this amp takes everything from subtle overdrives to massive Big Muffs without feeling compressed or losing low-end punch. At 25 pounds, it’s lighter than most tube amps with similar headroom, making it ideal for rehearsals and smaller gigs where you need clean tone that cuts through the mix. The single-channel simplicity means you’re relying on pedals for gain, but that’s exactly the point—this is an amp that gets out of your way and lets your effects shine.

The O Tone 40 isn’t trying to be a Swiss Army knife. It’s a focused tool that does one thing exceptionally well: providing a solid foundation for pedal-driven tones. If you’re tired of fighting your amp’s preamp section or need something that travels easier than a Twin Reverb but hits just as hard, this Orange deserves serious consideration.

Signal Chain

• Fidelity Guitars Stellarosa Lite II with Lollar Firebird pickups (bridge pickup)
• O Tone 40
• Two Notes Torpedo Captor X8* with a Fender-style voiced 1x12 cab IR OR the headphone output from the amp (cab sim built-in) OR close mic’ing the amp with a Shure SM57 – indicated in preset name
• A bit of room-like reverb from the Valhalla Vintage Verb plugin

Links

• If you are in the US, grab one from Sweetwater*
• Folks from the EU, try one from Thomann* with their hassle-free 30-day Money-Back Guarantee
• Get detailed specs on Orange's website

*Affiliate link: Buy something and support Loopy Demos at no extra cost to you!

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