Orange OBC210 mini bass cab

Welcome back Orange to Guitar Interactive's 'Bassment'. Last visit from the company we were treated to the all valve behemoth that was the AD200B MkIII that filled the room with rich tube headroom - and didn't we love it! This time, showing that this company can just as easily turn its attentions to great sounding smaller rigs, we have the new OBC210 Mini cabinet down in the Bassment for interrogation.

This ported (mounted on the rear baffle) cabinet features a birch ply shell wrapped in Orange's signature vinyl with black fixtures and fittings. You do have the option of selecting black vinyl as your colour choice instead, but this is one of the few occasions I feel that sticking with the brand livery goes a long way to standing out from the crowd! Iconic is an over-used word but in Orange's case it certainly applies!

Inside this cabinet, which feels solid and sturdy, are installed two 200 Watt rated Eminence speakers from the American company's Legend range of devices. The cabinet doesn't include a tweeter and therefore can be expected to have a smoother, slightly less toppy tone to it when plugged in to your 'rig' than some. I referred in my video to the sound being more vintage rather than what could be considered a modern 'hi-fi' sound. This is not at all a negative point by the way - not at all and expanding on that comment, I feel that this cabinet would be great paired with an amplifier that is intended to overdrive or, perhaps, in a set-up using distortion pedals. The tone of these speakers in my opinion would suit aggressive drive and also smooth out top end grit.

As for low end representation, the cabinet does a worthy job of creating punch in the lower midrange with support from the port for the lows. Don't forget though, this is just a 2x10 cabinet and very few on the market are able to deliver massive lows. Physics rules! That said, pair this up with another OBC210 (and they are really easy to daisy chain) or even three for a modular 6x10 set up and I feel that it will be Rock-tone smiles all the way!

Weighing in at 19kg, the OBC210 is not a new-wave, super-lean bus travel companion. However, it does have a decent carry handle and it's not a difficult lift by any means. I'd suggest having a pair of these over a single 4x10 if you want to shift things around easily - you'll also have the option of running them vertically (carefully) if you need to get the speakers up by your ears. I wouldn't advocate balancing that previously mentioned valve amp on top in that configuration though! You'd be asking for trouble - best to stick with horizontal stacking for heavy amplifiers.

Overall, this is a cool little cabinet - it does have a distinctive sound which will colour your resultant bass tone heavily, but that's the point. If that smooth top end character and punchy low mids is what you need, you'll like this cabinet.