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For 2025, Orange has expanded on its compact Pedal Baby introduced a few years back with a new trio – the Dual Baby, Gain Baby, and Tour Baby. All 100-watt amps with solid-state Class A/B output stages, Jfet preamp stages (another form of solid-state), and two footswitchable channels, they’re housed in 12″ x 3.25″ x 7.5″ metal boxes and weigh a little under eight pounds. While offering individual modus operandi, they share several features – buffered effects loop, dual speaker outs, and XLR DI out.
The Dual Baby 100’s two channels each carry controls for Gain, Volume, Presence, Bass, Middle, and Treble. Channel A – voiced to emulate the Orange Rockerverb – adds a Tubby switch to boost lows, while Channel B – voiced for gritty clean-to-crunch tones – has a Tight switch to liven its sound at lower gain levels. Split into a more classic rhythm/lead dichotomy, the Gain Baby 100 has a simpler Clean channel with just Volume, Bass, and Treble, and Comp, tapping a built-in VCA compressor. Its Dirty channel piles on Gain, Volume, Presence, Bass, Middle, and Treble, plus FS Volume (footswitchable for a second output level/solo), and Tight switch. The Tour Baby 100 carries the exact same controls in its Clean and Dirty channels, minus the Tight switch, though it’s voiced to more-classic overdrive tones versus the contemporary high-gain of the Gain Baby.
Tested with an ES-355 and Telecaster into 1×12″ and 2×12″ cabs, each revealed some overlap in sonics, but with several distinct personality traits. We ultimately preferred the Gain Baby overall, with the Tour Baby a close second. The pair’s similar Clean channels benefit immensely from the built-in Comp, which adds swell, depth, and dynamics to the Dual’s otherwise rather linear and solid-state-sounding Channel A. And while the Gain’s Dirty Channel dishes out sizzle and saturation aplenty with Tight engaged, its up position delivered an expressive, full-bodied overdrive with typically mid-rich Orange leanings that yielded our favorite playing tones of the entire trio, with Tour Baby’s Dirty (Tight up) a close second.
Ultimately, there’s a lot to like in each. And while they might not knock more-exalted all-tube models off their perch, the Baby range represents a big bundle of power and tone at a reasonable price. – Dave Hunter
This article originally appeared in VG’s March 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
