3 Monkeys Orangutan Jr Review

Best known for its scorching mid sized models like the Grease Monkey and Orangutan, 3 Monkeys was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2007 as a three-way partnership between amp designer Ossie Ahsen, Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, and Aerosmith guitar and amp tech Greg Howard. The new Orangutan Jr. cuts the tube complement of its big brother's four-6V6 output stage in half to deliver 15 watts, while retaining the meaty overall sonic signature. Hand wired like the bigger amps, and made from top-notch components, the Orangutan Jr. also apes 3 Monkeys' house style with its hip trapezoidal cab and space-age retro styling, all in a superbly compact format.

If the basic description of the Orangutan Jr. has you thinking "tweed Deluxe", probe a little further before you check the box and move on. It does have a cathode-biased output stage like that '50s classic, and uses a cathodyne (a.k.a. split-phase) phase inverter too (for a predisposition toward raw, throaty tones), but the Treble and Bass controls give you significantly more EQ ability than most '50s tweedies, and the inclusion of tube-powered spring reverb, a Master Volume, and a footswitchable boost (which bypasses the Bass pot to fatten up the signal) ups the amp's versatility significantly. Workmanship is extremely tidy inside and out, and the entire package exudes a hip, original, and high-quality vibe. It's a superbly easy 30-lb load that's petite enough to sling on the front seat of your Fiat 500. 

Fired up, the Orangutan Jr. offered a surprising amount of headroom with a Stratocaster, staying clean and crisp, yet thick and dynamic right up to about 2 o'clock on the dial. It really only started to grind a few ticks past that level, it's a loud 15 watts, too, and the Master really helped to rein it in for home and studio use. Setting Master levels south of around 11 o'clock rendered the amp's front-end overdrive just a tad buzzy (as so many such master volume controls will do), but it was handy for judicious attenuation. The Boost didn't induce faster breakup within the first half of the Volume's range, but mainly made it louder and fuller. Since it knocks the Bass control out of circuit, it's also a portly boost at that, but worked great to beef up my rock'n'roll riffs, which is mainly what it's there for. 

Even a Les Paul didn't bring on much crunch with the amp's Volume shy of high noon, and then it segued gradually to a thick, meaty crunch that remained impressively articulate for a dual 6V5 amp. One of the biggest surprises, though--for me, at least--was what a great little jazz and clean-with-soul amp this thing proved itself to be, which was particularly apparent with Volume around 11 o'clock and the LP's neck pickup selected. Warm, rich, and dynamic, yet with a sweet, tactile bite when you dig in, I was feeling some vintage Ampeg tones here, and enjoying them a lot. 

The reverb worked well enough, although it was a hair dark and distant compared to some other standard on-amp reverbs; a useful addition, nonetheless, and it doesn't bury your note, even when wound up pretty high. All in all, the Orangutan Jr. is a great sounding little amp, with a surprising bounty of gusto and unexpected versatility.