Orange Music Electronic Company

Orange Music Electronic Company

Founded	1968 (1968)
Founder(s)	Clifford Cooper
Products	Amplifiers, speaker cabinets
Website	orangeamps.com

Orange amplifier and cabinet with the distinctive tolex.

Orange Music Electronic Company is a British electric guitar and public address amplifier manufacturing company, famous for its distinctive sound and 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 (combo) amplifiers.

History

Orange was founded in 1968 by Clifford Cooper of London, and started as a recording studio. The studio featured an IBC mixing console originally owned by Joe Meek of The Millionaires.

In autumn 1968, Cliff placed an order with the Huddersfield-based company Matamp (named after founder Mat Mathias) to make some 100-watt valve amps for Orange to Cooper's 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 and China.

Orange amplifiers are primarily mid to low-gain valve/vacuum tube 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 Orange guitar amps were based on output circuitry which used EL34 tubes (as did other popular British amp makers, 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 2010, Orange updated the Rockerverb series to Rockerverb MkII's, which feature a new midrange control knob on the clean channel (previously a 2-band hi/lo only), a more transparent effects loop, and improved reverb. The Rockerverbs are now manufactured standard with EL34's and have more diverse tube-switching options, including the option to use 6V6's and KT88's.

In 2006 Orange introduced two new amps- the small and portable Tiny Terror, which has received big popularity for its ease of use, excellent 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 girl's name instead of a serial number. There is also a non-custom shop version of the OR50, the OR50H, which was also a series limited to 2008, though produced in greater quantities than that of the custom OR50 series. The OR50H also featured an additional control knob (pre-amp volume).

In 2009, Orange unveiled the two channel Dual Terror at the NAMM Convention in Anaheim, Ca. The first "Tiny Terror" channel features the same circuitry as the Tiny Terror amp. The second "Fat" channel has a similar sound but with more gain and a more prominent low end. The Dual Terror features 30 watts of power delivered by four 12AX7 preamp tubes and four EL-84 power tubes. The amp is switchable down to 15 watts and 7 watts via a half/full power switch on the front of the amp and a 4 power tube/ 2 power tube switch on the back. The Dual Terror is also physically larger than the Tiny Terror.

Orange Studios

Before Orange Amps, there was Orange Studios. Cliff Cooper built the studio with his friend Brian Hatt over the course of the summer, hand-cutting, stripping, and soldering every wire. "Our basement studio had a great vibe," Cooper recounts, "It was very large and, as nobody lived or worked on either side, volume wasn't an issue. Most bands preferred to come in for night sessions." Link to image/source

Current amplification

Power pop/punk band Magnapop play with stacks of Orange amps in 2011

Thunder series

• Thunder 30

All Valve 30w EL84 based head and 1x12 combo, due for release September 2010, Chinese made to reduce costs, these now feature an effects loop and 7/15/30w power switching.

Thunderverb series

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

• Thunderverb 200
  • Notable users include: Every Time I Die bassist Josh Newton, Norma Jean, Doomriders, Lostprophets, Underoath, Between the Buried and Me, Say Anything, From First to Last and many more.
• Thunderverb 50
  • Notable users: Down

Rocker Series

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

• Rocker 30 Head
  • Notable users include: American Low Life guitarist Austin Hall, Bon Jovi's Tyler Hayden, Aiden guitarist Angel Ibarra, The Used guitarist Quinn Allman, Lion Peg guitarist Patrick Shipp, Underoath, and Say Anything.

Rockerverb Series

Incorrectly assumed to be similar to the Rocker series, the Rockerverb series is Orange's most modern sounding and highest gain offering, and features a tube driven effects loop and a spring reverb. MkII versions are now available, these add a middle control to the clean channel, and have a more transparent effects loop.

• Rockerverb 100 Head
  • Notable users include: Jack's Mannequin, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Four Year Strong, From First To Last, Switchfoot, Alkaline Trio, Monte Pittman and The Starting Line
• Rockerverb 50 Head
  • Notable users include: Four Year Strong
• Rockerverb 50 Combo
  • Notable users include: Say Anything

AD Series

Orange's take on a more vintage sound. Incorrectly compared to the Vox AC30. All AD series amps are all-valve amps, and are manufactured in Britain.

• AD30 Twin Channel Head
  • Notable users include: Prince, Say Anything, Hot Water Music, and The Starting Line.
• AD30 Twin Channel Combo
  • Notable users include: Say Anything, Switchfoot, and Sparta
• AD5 Combo
  • Notable user: Dr. David Alan Scot (sessions musician).

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
  • Notable users include: Death Cab For Cutie
• Tiny Terror Combo
• Tiny Terror HardWired Edition (full hand-wired and sold with a leather bag for transport)
• Dual Terror (Two channels, Tiny Terror and Fat)
• Dark Terror (Higher gain preamp and a black rather than white case)

Speaker Cabinets

Orange cabs for distribution in the USA are built in the USA, others are manufactured in Britain, except the 1 x 12 2x12ob and 4 X 10, which is manufactured in china.

• 1 x 12 - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (60 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)
• 2 x 12 - Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (120 Watts)
• 2 x 12ob - (Open Backed 2x12, smaller than closed back) Celestion G12 Vintage 30 (120 Watts)
• 4 x 10 - Celestion G10N-40

Crush series

Orange's range of solid-state "practice" combos. The Crush, Crush Bass, and Crush PiX series are manufactured in China.

• Crush 10
• Crush 15
• Crush 15 Reverb
• Crush 20L
• Crush 20LD
• Crush 30 Reverb
• Micro Crush (3 watt output)
• Stereo Micro Crush

Crush PiX series

Orange's newest range of solid-state "practice" combos.

• Micro Crush PiX
• Crush PiX CR12L
• Crush PiX CR20L
• Crush PiX CR20LDX
• Crush PiX CR35LDX

Crush Bass series

solid-state "practice" combo amplifiers for bass guitar.

• Crush 20 Bass
• Crush 35 Bass

Bass Range

Orange's range of Bass Amplifiers and Speaker Cabinets.

• AD200B Head (A.K.A. the AD200) is marketed as one of the most simple bass heads on the market today. It has a passive, 3-band EQ as well as input gain and volume controls. The low knob on the EQ is set to attenuate low frequencies as it is turned counter clockwise on the order of around 120 Hz, but will attenuate frequencies up to 500 Hz as it is adjusted. The mid control sets attenuation in the region of 500-1k, and the high control sets attenuation for frequencies above 1k According to Orange amp tech, Will Loftin.
  • Notable users Include Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano, American Low Life bassist Heath Robertson, The Forecast bassist Shannon Burns, Doomriders, Sparta, The Red Chord, Converge bassist Nate Newton, Madonna, Weezer, and Kate Voegle's bassist.
• Terror Bass 500 has the same 12AX7 valve pre-amp that the AD200B has. Also, the Terror Bass does not require rebiasing when replacing tubes.
• Terror Bass 100 (as TB500 but with a 1000W power amp section)
• 4 x 10 Speaker Cab
• 1 x 15 Speaker Cab
• 8 x 10 Speaker Cab

OR Series

Orange's 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

External links

• Official website
• Interview with Adrian Emsley of Orange Amplification on The Bone Reader