Guitar Amps Our Top 10: How to Choose Your First Guitar Amp The Ultimate Beginner's Guide
Buying your first guitar amp? Find the best affordable amps for beginners, from tube to solid-state and modeling.
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Orange Amplification
Clifford Cooper opened a music shop in London in 1968 and started designing his own amplifiers after struggling to get reliable stock from the usual suppliers — the "Pics Only" amps that followed, with graphic symbols instead of text on the control panel, became the brand's early signature. Production stopped in 1979 after Gibson took control of the company; Cooper bought it back in 1997 and relaunched it the following year with the AD30, re-establishing Orange as an independent maker of valve amps. It's stayed independent and UK-based since, headquartered in Borehamwood and instantly recognisable by its orange covering. New combo and head releases, and the odd artist collaboration, are what we cover most. Here's what we've written.
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Guitar Amps Our Top 10: How to Choose Your First Guitar Amp The Ultimate Beginner's Guide
Buying your first guitar amp? Find the best affordable amps for beginners, from tube to solid-state and modeling.
Founded1968
Based inBorehamwood, England
FounderClifford Cooper
Articles here21
Makes
- Amplifiers
- Speaker cabinets
- Effects pedals
Known for
- Rockerverb
- OR15
- Terror series
- Crush
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Orange Amplification FAQ4 questions
Why are Orange amps orange?
The covering is the brand. Cliff Cooper founded the company in London in 1968 and the bright orange Tolex-style covering on the heads and cabinets has been the identifying feature ever since — along with the picture-language control markings instead of words on many models.
What are Orange amps known for sounding like?
A thick, midrange-heavy overdrive that sits well under bass and drums, which is why the brand is closely associated with stoner, doom and heavy rock. That said the clean channels on the Rockerverb and OR series are well regarded in their own right, and the current range is broader than the reputation suggests.
Are Orange amps made in England?
Orange is an English company based in Borehamwood, and the higher-end valve models are built in the UK. The lower-priced ranges, including Crush, are manufactured overseas. As with most amplifier brands the model, not the badge, tells you where it was assembled.
What is the Orange Terror series?
A family of very small heads — Tiny Terror, Dark Terror, Rocker series and the bass Terror models — that put valve output stages into lunchbox-sized enclosures. The Tiny Terror is widely credited with starting the compact-valve-head trend the rest of the industry followed.