The Orange amplifier trademark was established by Clifford Cooper in September of 1968. Cooper started a shop in London, England selling musical instruments, but being a young man and not widely known, he was unable to develop many dealerships within his shop. Cooper decided to build amplifiers himself if he couldn't establish any dealerships with manufacturers. Cooper hired some of the best engineers in the area to build amplifiers, including Mat Mathias, and he acquired some vinyl in the color orange that they started covering the amps in. Instead of naming the company Cooper, he named it after the color the amps sported, and Orange amplifiers was born. Mathias left Orange in 1973 and went on to produce amps under the Matamp, Green, Red, Blue, and White labels (see Matamp).
The success of these amplifiers was partly to do with the oddly colored vinyl, but they were also solid, well-built, good sounding amps. It really didn't take long for Orange amps to take off in the 1970s when solid-state products were being introduced. Solid-state was innovative and new at the time, but users still craved the tube sound and power that tube amps could produce. So, Orange began making PA units that were full of power, along with bass combos, large guitar amps, mixing boards, disco units, & other products. Orange had a full line of products throughout the 1970s.
The dawn of the 1980s signified Orange's demise. Solid-state amps were becoming a useful option and synthesizers became the new fad. Suddenly, Orange didn't have the following they once had and they stopped producing amps circa 1981. There is speculation that amps were produced sporadically during the 1980s, but most people consider 1981 to be the last year of Orange. In 1993, Orange was revived by the original founder, Clifford Cooper. The first amps appeared in 1994 and were reissues of the popular OR80 and OR120 models from the 1970s. In 1995, they released the V12 Combo and Hustler Combo. In 1997, Orange introduced the Oscillatory Transition Return (OTR) model, which was a completely new innovation for Orange. In 2000, Orange introduced a line of solid-state practice amps that are produced in Korea. Orange continues to produce a full line of guitar and bass amps that are produced in England, the U.S., and Korea. For more information, visit Orange's website or contact them directly. Source for Orange history: www.orange-amps.com by Mo Morgan the Media Manager at Orange in 2002.
Amplifiers currently produced in London, England, the U.S., Korea, and China since the mid-1990s. Orange amplfiers were previously produced from circa 1968 to 1981. Distributed in the U.S. by the Orange Musical Electronic Company Limited in Atlanta, GA.