Orange Music Electronic Company
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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.
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[edit] 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 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, Korea 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 such as Marshall 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, 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 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.
[edit] Current Amplification
[edit] 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, and many more.
- Thunderverb 50
[edit] Rocker Series
Orange's "Modern-sounding" all-valve amp range, manufactured in Britain, introduced in 2004.
- Rocker 30 Head
-Notable users of this include American Low Life guitarist Austin Hall as well as Aiden guitarist Angel Ibarra.
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- Rocker 30 Combo
Dan Woolston from notable New Zealand band "Atlanta Fall" also uses one.
[edit] Rockerverb Series
Larger versions of the Rocker series, with reverb effects.
- Rockerverb 100 Head
- Rockerverb 50 Head
- Rockerverb 50 Combo
[edit] 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
- AD30 Twin Channel Combo
- AD5 Combo
[edit] 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
- Tiny Terror HardWired Edition (full hand-wired and sold with a leather bag for transport)
- Tiny Terror Combo
- Dual Terror
[edit] 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)
[edit] Crush series
Orange's range of solid state "practice" combos. These amps are not made in England.
- Crush 10
- Crush 15
- Crush 15 Reverb
- Crush 30 Reverb
- Micro Crush (3 watt output)
[edit] Crush Bass series
Solid state "practice" combo amplifiers for bass guitar, made outside Britain.
- Crush 20 Bass
- Crush 35 Bass
[edit] Bass Range
Orange's range of Bass Amplifiers and Speaker Cabinets.
- AD200B Head (A.KA. the AD200)
- The Orange AD200B head 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, and Converge bassist Nate Newton.
- 4 x 10 Speaker Cab
- 1 x 15 Speaker Cab
[edit] OR Series
Orange's remake of the 'pics only' amplifier
- OR50 40th Anniversary Custom Shop (Only 40 made)
- OR50 Non-Custom shop
[edit] Orange Custom Shop
Orange custom shop design and build Point to Point Hand wired valve amplification.
- Retro 50 Head
- AD50 Head
- OR50 Head
