When individuals discuss ditching tubes from their rigs in 2025, that usually means grabbing a digital modeller and going direct. This is smart, actually. Modeling sounds higher than ever, and you’ll match a Quad Cortex in a backpack. Tube heads are giant, heavy and costly to keep up – particularly in case you gig quite a bit. However what if you wish to ditch tubes however don’t wish to go digital? What if you wish to maintain your analogue pedalboard and your stage quantity, however save on weight and tube amp upkeep?

It’s an interesting prospect – and Orange has the newest answer in case you’re on this specific boat, with the expanded Child sequence (sure, bizarre title). Three amps have adopted the intentionally uninteresting, clear 100-watt energy amp that was the Pedal Child – there’s now the Twin Child (with a clear/overdrive channel and a high-gain channel), the Acquire Child (with a clear channel and a high-gain channel) and, on the overview bench at the moment, the Tour Child (with a clear channel and an overdriven channel).

It’s essential to notice that Orange has not invented a very new fashion of amp right here. Bassists are rolling their eyes proper now, as a result of that is half the bass amp market, and on the guitar aspect, there are some (however not many) different manufacturers doing the same factor. Most notable might be Quilter, which has gained a great popularity for its compact, tourable and loud analogue strong state heads. I’ve seen US bands which are recognized amplifier nerds tour the UK with Quilters as a result of, effectively, they sound nice and are simply simpler to maneuver round than 100-watt tube heads.

So Orange doing amps like these makes complete sense – the model has proved it’s a dab-hand at making analogue solid-state heads sound nice (see the popularity the Tremendous Crush 100 has gained amongst people who find themselves usually tube purists) – and the Pedal Child was a dependable and really helpful piece of package. It’s additionally a pure evolution of the mini-lunchboxes just like the Tiny Terror and Micro Darkish, albeit with a hefty bump within the output energy. Might these new Child amps make it easier to downsize your rig?

By way of some unusual windfall, our Tour Child overview unit arrives very shortly after I bought myself a Tremendous Crush 100. It is a pretty helpful counterpoint for the Tour Child – each amps have the identical energy stage, the 100-watt Class A/B energy amp discovered within the Pedal Child – and each amps function circuits which are successfully normal valve amp preamps with JFETs instead of vacuum tubes.

The Tremendous Crush is aiming for extra than simply sound, although – it is usually about vibe, on condition that it’s encased in that orange-tolex’d picket headshell, and is nearly the identical dimension as a Rockerverb 100. The Tour Child, in the meantime, is naked metallic throughout – and compact sufficient to look considerably goofy atop a 4×12. However maybe extra importantly it’s a snug one-handed elevate, and comes with a sturdy, high-quality gigbag. You too can seize an inexpensive package to mount it right into a rack case – that means you’ll be able to both combine it into a bigger do-it-all tour rack, or have it stay inside a 2U rack hardcase for further safety.

Given the touring realities of 2025, with the ability to realistically stroll from the automobile into the venue with a guitar in your again, a pedalboard in a single hand and an entire 100-watt amplifier within the different is a reasonably interesting prospect. And there’s not likely that a lot compromise within the utility options given the dimensions of the factor – there’s nonetheless an results loop, the channels are footswitchable, and there’s additionally a secondary quantity management on the drive channel for a dependable solo increase.

Does the Orange Tour Child 100 sound good?

Now, I’m totally conscious that I’ve form of at all times been a fan of Orange’s factor – I’ve been gigging an OR15 for years, and plenty of the sounds I have a tendency in direction of are explicitly designed to work with an Orange’s crunchy, midrange-forward voicing. So there could also be some a part of my mind that simply clicks with no matter comes out of an Orange amp.

Biases acknowledged – I’m an enormous fan of how the Tour Child sounds. The acquire channel is crunchy, loud, responsive and at no level is it distractingly solid-state. Maybe most significantly, it feels like an Orange amp. Clearly the teachings Orange learnt in making the Tremendous Crush 100 sound so convincingly tube-y have been utilized right here, there’s the entire vocal high quality within the midrange and the unrestrained hairiness within the overdrive that provides an Orange amp its character.

Just like the Tremendous Crush, the Tour Child’s most acquire setting is definitely fairly a bit under complete saturation – there’s the Acquire Child (no, that title isn’t getting any much less bizarre) for that – the good thing about the Tour Child’s crunchier, slighter decrease acquire and better headroom method is that it is a superb pairing with fuzz and drive pedals. Each a Inexperienced Russian Massive Muff and a RAT do what you’d count on when working into the filth channel of the Tour Child: they carry their very own character of filth to the social gathering whereas additionally driving the entrance finish into satisfying, collapsing saturation.

Principally each fuzz pedal I put in entrance of this factor was an absolute pleasure to play. Issues compress and collapse a extremely pleasing approach, and for my cash that’s the side of a tube-driven amp that’s essential to seize in case you’re an Orange. It’s very easy to dial in every thing from razor-sharp tight chugs to towering partitions of doom with only a single drive pedal – and because of the presence management, any solid-state fizz that does seem is shortly dialled out.

Transferring onto the clear channel – with out the compressor engaged, it’s dry as a bone, with solely a really fundamental two-band EQ to distinguish it from plugging into the consequences return. There’s principally countless headroom right here, so in case your whole sound is your pedalboard, that is the place you’ll wish to be.

For a extra fascinating clear sound, I have interaction that VCA compressor – it’s fascinating to see that included right here, because it’s clearly extra of a standard inclusion on bass amps. But it surely makes complete sense; how usually is the reply to “how do I make my clear sound much less boring?” principally simply “get a compressor pedal”?

The compressor sounds very on when engaged, with a number of squish and restoration – pretty much as good at accentuating funky, fast-picked stuff as it’s for including curiosity to extra spacious enjoying. It’s additionally useful for whenever you change channels, because it retains the overall stage of maintain not less than comparable – relatively than having it fall fully off a cliff upon going clear.

The one factor that’s lacking, actually, is any on-board reverb, which the Tremendous Crush 100 does have. I’m conscious that I’m asking quite a bit to be packed into such a small amplifier, however for some gamers only a contact of reverb is all they want from the time-based division – so having on-board reverb may imply having to run cables to the consequences loop, and discovering a reverb pedal you want.

Who’s the Tour Child for?

The Tour Child is refreshingly unapologetic about being made to be gigged usually, loud and laborious. It goes past its supremely chuckable dimension – the choice for footswitchable channel switching and a grasp quantity increase will probably be helpful for a lot of, and that in-built compressor may kick that beaten-up dyna-comp off your board in case you have been simply utilizing it for cleans.

The included gigbag is nice, too – it most likely wouldn’t make it easier to if the factor fell out of the automobile on the motorway, nevertheless it offers good safety for the entrance panel and allows you to carry the amp, the ability lead and a speaker cable multi function hand. If you happen to play small-to-medium gigs on the common, the portability, pedal-friendliness, vary of quantity and total rugged, no-nonsense method ought to all converse for themselves.

If you happen to’re after a house amplifier, nonetheless, that is seemingly not it. One results of its gig-forward method is that there’s no grasp quantity, simply the channel volumes. That is at most a gentle annoyance on stage – however at house, it makes it very tough to get an affordable quantity going. From 1.5 and 1.6 on the dial the channel volumes go from whisper-quiet to eardrum-blasting. In a pinch you might improvise a grasp quantity by placing one thing just like the JHS Little Black Field (or DIY equal) into the consequences loop in case you wanted to – however hey, on the finish of the day this can be a 100-watt amp with the phrase “tour” in its title.

The direct output doesn’t have the analogue cupboard simulation that the Tremendous Crush’s does. On paper that is inconvenient, because it means to get a great direct sound you’ll need to run the amp into some form of cupboard sim. In actuality, nonetheless, that is nice information – that analogue cab sim from the Tremendous Crush 100 is principally the one a part of that amp that’s unequivocally dangerous, and it couldn’t be turned off. So whereas the shortage of a grasp quantity may complicate your efforts to play the amp at house, you’ll be able to at all times run the direct out into both an audio interface or a {hardware} cupboard sim in case you do wish to use it as extra of a desktop amp.

It’s also value noting simply how reasonably priced the Tour Child is, too – £459 will not be actually that a lot cash given how a lot the factor can do. The unique Pedal Child was a terrific piece of package, nevertheless it was laborious to get too enthusiastic about it – no matter you set into it, it made it very loud. However the Tour Child’s breadth of sounds and talent to principally simply slot into your rig instead of a ‘full’ amplifier? That’s much more intriguing.

Tour Child 100 alternate options

After all, there are the 2 different amps within the new Child vary if the Tour Child preamp configuration doesn’t attraction. There’s additionally the usual Pedal Child ($439/£279) if you have already got your preamp coated with one thing like a UAFX amp pedal or analogue preamp. If you happen to like Orange’s entire method, are much less apprehensive about area and need one thing in the identical tonal ballpark because the Child vary, the Tremendous Crush will get you there.

If you happen to fancy one thing a little bit totally different, tonally, Quilter’s amp vary is a little bit pricier – however amps just like the Tone Block 202 ($719) and OverDrive 202 ($699) are very well-regarded and simply as transportable because the Tour Child. And if you wish to maintain all of it on the board, there are alternatives just like the Seymour Duncan PowerStage ($399/£399) for clear, pedalboard energy amp, or Blackstar’s Amped vary (from $520/£399) for extra of an “amp head on the ground” method.