Orange Amplifiers

Introduction

Welcome to our fantastic Focus On section, where we take a closer look at the top brands in the music industry and their ranges. Find out more about these heavyweight manufacturers, where they've come from, what they produce and just what makes them so special.

Orange Guides

Orange Amplifiers

History

The Orange Music Electronic Company was founded in London by Cliff Cooper in 1968. Today they are a world recognised manufacturer of amplifiers and cabinets for guitar and bass. Currently Orange Valve Amplifiers and cabinets are manufactured in England, Korea and China whilst a separate manufacturing plant in the US caters for products distributed there.

Immediately recognisable because of the amplifier and cabinets bright orange Tolex covering, Orange amplifiers became very popular in the late 60s and early seventies before loosing their way in the 1980s. The company became resurgent again in the 1990s and today are more popular than ever before thanks to celebrity guitarist endorsees such as Jimmy Page, Noel Gallagher and David Gilmour.

Differentiators

Orange Amplifiers fit predominantly into the mid-priced market, although they do have products which are both high end and entry-level. Most of the Orange Amplifiers are valve amps which can either be matched to Orange Cabs or are presented in a Combo format. One of Orange's most successful series that was first released in the 1990s is the AD 15/12 and the AD 30R all valve amplifier. This model is now obsolete, but has become much sought after by guitarists everywhere as the AD30R was a true class A amplifier admired for its sonic qualities.

Orange released the Solid State Crush series in 2001 and three years later in 2004 they introduced the Rocker series. Th Orange Rocker series consists of five different amp models which include the Rocker 30 which features a classic British rock sound, 2x EL34 power stage valves working in a Class A configuration and is still their only amp available as a 1x12 combo.

The Rockerverb uses similar circuitry, but has an extra gain stage and a more contemporary voicing along with reverb. The Rockerverb comes as a 50 watt head (featuring 4x 6V6 power stage valves) however these can be switched to 6L6 or 6550 power valves in preference).

In 2006 Orange introduced two new amps. The small and portable Tiny Terror, which has received acclaim for its ease of use, tone and competitive price. The other is the Thunderverb 200, which is a guitar/ bass amp with 200 watts of power (6 x 6550 power stage valves) and an inbuilt attenuator, and is used for a more contemporary sound. Orange also recently revealed a smaller version, the Thunderverb 50 which has a 50 watt output.

Orange Today

In 2008 Orange released their 40th Anniversary range of amplifiers and cabinets along with a special hand made batch of amp heads numbering only 20 in total. Each one was designed and built in their US custom shop labs and uses exclusive components unique to that particular amplifier, thus making each one uniquely different. Each amplifier was given a girl's name and will undoubtedly become collector's items
in the future.

In the meantime, expect Orange to continue building high quality guitar
and bass amplifiers and cabinets and enhancing their credible image
even further within the musical retail market.