Orange Amps goes a shade of Deep Purple for the Glenn Hughes Crush Bass 50 signature combo

Orange Amplification has released a limited edition signature bass amp for Deep Purple legend Glenn Hughes. Appropriately deviating from the traditional orange Tolex color scheme, the Glenn Hughes Crush Bass 50 arrives in a regal shade of purple.

Hughes has been an Orange ambassador for over a decade now, and he is somewhere between chuffed and delighted at how his new combo looks and sounds, noting that it is good enough to record.

“You can go in the studio, take that bass combo and make your album with something like that,“ said Hughes. “It’s truly outstanding. It’s gritty, it’s punchy: sustain is so important and it's certainly got all that.“

Orange had recording in mind when it put the Crush Bass 50 together. Taking design inspiration from Orange’s flagship AD200 and OB1, the 50-watt bass combo is all analog and has a ported cabinet.

Orange Crush Bass 50 Glenn Hughes

(Image credit: Orange Amplification)

The Glenn Hughes Crush Bass 50 has an active 3-band EQ with parametric mids control, a buffered effects loop, onboard tuner and footswitchable blend and gain controls for dialing in the required amount of thump. 

But this being 2021 it has an emulated output based on Orange's OBC bass speaker cabinets, which can add some life and depth to your headphone practice or be sent direct for recording. There's also an auxiliary input, too.

Putting the royal seal of approval on Hughes' signature amp is a silver-colored plaque. We'd expect nothing else. Yet, the blue-blooded genealogy of this Crush Bass 50 aside, this is very much a bass amp for the people. It's portable, easy-to-use and best of all affordable, shipping for $299/£249.

Preorder now or for more details pop over to Orange Amplification and tell 'em Glenn sent you. “Orange all the way – it’s the future,“ said Hughes. “It’s the way to go, you heard it from me!“

Orange Crush Bass 50 Glenn Hughes

(Image credit: Orange Amplification)

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.