Orange Amps

File:Orangeamps logo.png

Corporate logo of Orange Music Electronic Company

Orange amplifier and cabinet with the distinctive tolex

Orange Music Electronic Company is an English electric guitar and P.A. amplifier manufacturing company, famous for its distinctive bright orange Tolex-like covering on amplifier heads and speaker cabinets. Orange also manufactures amplifiers for bass guitar, speaker cabinets for instrument amplifiers and combination amplifiers.

History

Orange was founded in 1968 by Clifford Cooper of London. Orange amps and P.A. were made by Clifford Cooper. Orange started as a recording studio which featured an IBC mixing console originally owned by Joe Meek, as he was recorded by him in the mid-60s with his band The Millionaires.

In autumn 1968, Cliff placed an order with Huddersfield-based Matamp (named after founder Mat Mathias) to make some 100-watt`valve amps for Orange to Cliffs design. The manufacturing plant in the United States signifies that only the US-distributed Oranges cabinets are made in the States; currently, valve amps are manufactured in England, Korea and China.

Orange amplifiers are primarily mid to low-gain valve (or vacuum tube in North America) amp heads, designed to be coupled with a matching speaker cabinet. Their most popular guitar amplifiers were the OR120, usually referred to as the "pics only" model for its use of pictures instead of text to indicate each knob's function, and the later OD120 overdrive model which was equipped with a master volume control. Most guitar amps were based on output circuitry which used the EL34 tubes popular among British manufacturers like Marshall Amplifiers and Hiwatt, and were available in the separate amp head and speaker cabinet format.

In the 1970s, Orange also made 'hybrid' PA amps that coupled a solid state mixer stage with a tube (valve) power stage. In recent years, Orange has also produced guitar combo amps (speaker and amplifier in one assembly), as well as amplifiers for bass guitar and other audio products.

In the late 90's and early 00's, Orange also made a range of very successful all-tube combos, such as the AD 15/12 and the AD 30R. The AD 15/12, a Class A, single speaker, 15 watt model, is now out of production and highly sought after.

Orange introduced the Solid State Crush series in 2001 and in 2004 they introduced the new Rocker series. This series consists of five different amp models. These are the Rocker 30, which features a classic British rock sound, 2x EL34 power tubes working in Class A and today being the only amp available as a 1x12 combo. The Rockerverb uses similar circuitry, but has an extra gain stage and much more modern voicing. They also feature a reverb. The Rockerverb comes as a 50 watt head (featuring 4x 6V6 power tubes) and a 100 watt head (featuring 4x EL34 power tubes, but these can be switched to 6L6 or 6550 power tubes). In 2006 Orange introduced two new amps- the small and portable Tiny Terror, which has received big popularity for its ease of use, good tone and low price and the Thunderverb 200, which is a guitar/ bass amp with 200 watts of power (6 x 6550 power tubes) and an inbuilt attenuator, aimed more at modern sounds. Orange also revealed a smaller version, the Thunderverb 50, which has a 50 watt output.

In 2008 Orange released a re-make of the 'Pics only' head. There were 40 of the custom shop OR50's to be released, each with a different circuit and girls name instead of a serial number. There is also a non-custom shop version of the OR50 which is in full sale, and not limited amounts.

In 2009, Orange unveiled the Dual Terror at the NAMM Convention in Anaheim, Ca. It has all the same components as the Tiny Terror Head, but now includes a new channel called the Fat channel, which has an output of 30 watts, switchable to 15 watts by cutting power from 4 to 2 output valves.

Current Amplification

Thunderverb series

Orange's all-valve "flagship" amp heads, for use with electric guitar or electric bass, manufactured in Britain.

• Thunderverb 200
• Thunderverb 50

Rocker Series

Orange's "Modern-sounding" all-valve amp range, manufactured in Britain, introduced in 2004.

• Rocker 30 Head
  • Rocker 30 Combo

Rockerverb Series

Larger versions of the Rocker series, with reverb effects.

• Rockerverb 100 Head
• Rockerverb 50 Head
  • Rockerverb 50 Combo

AD Series

Orange's take on a more vintage sound, supposedly modeled after Vox's famous AC30. All AD series amps are all-valve amps, and are manufactured in Britain.

• AD30 Twin Channel Head
  • AD30 Twin Channel Combo
  • AD5 Combo

Tiny Terror

Simple stripped-down all-valve amps switchable between operating in 7 Watts class A or 15 Watts class A. The Tiny Terror has considerably more gain available than the vintage Orange amplifiers, despite only being a four-valve (2 x ECC83, 2 x EL84) circuit.

• Tiny Terror
  • Tiny Terror Combo
    • Dual Terror
      • Tiny Terror HardWired Edition (full hand-wired and sold with a leather bag for transport)

Speaker Cabinets

Orange cabs for distribution in the USA are built in the USA, others are manufactured in Britain, except the 1 x 12, which is manufactured in china.

• 1 x 12 - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (60 Watts)
• 2 x 12 - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (120 Watts)
• 4 x 12 - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (240 Watts)
• 4 x 12 HP - Celestion G12K-100 (400 Watts)
• 4 x 12 AD (Andy Dunlop Signature Sloped Front Cab) - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (240 Watts)

Crush series

Orange's range of solid state "practice" combos. Unlike the rest of the Orange line, these amps are not made in England.

• Crush 10
• Crush 15
• Crush 15 Reverb
• Crush 30 Reverb
• Micro Crush (1 watt output)

Crush Bass series

Solid state "practice" combo amplifiers for bass guitar, made outside Britain.

• Crush 20 Bass
• Crush 35 Bass

Bass Range

Orange's range of Bass Amplifiers and Speaker Cabinets.

• AD200B Head
• 4 x 10 Speaker Cab
• 1 x 15 Speaker Cab

OR Series

oranges remake of the 'pics only' amplifier

• OR50 40th Anniversary Custom Shop (Only 40 made)
• OR50 Non-Custom shop

Orange Custom Shop

Orange custom shop design and build Point to Point Hand wired valve amplification.

• Retro 50 Head
• AD50 Head
• OR50 Head

Notable Orange users

• Joe Perry and Brad Whitford of Aerosmith
• Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath
• Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac
• Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
• Noel Gallagher of Oasis
• Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age
• Tim Sult of Clutch
• Carlos Santana
• Frank Zappa
• Jim Root of Slipknot
• Matt Sharp during his time with Weezer
• Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top

External links

• Orange Amps.com - manufacturers website