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adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message external video oral history clifford cooper talks about building an amplifier that would remember sound . interview date august 9 2003 namm national association of music merchants oral history library orange music electronic company ltd type independent company founded 1968 ; 48 years ago 1968 founder clifford cooper headquarters borehamwood hertfordshire england united kingdom key people clifford sydney cooper chairman products amplifiers speaker cabinets owner clifford sydney cooper website www.orangeamps.com orange music electronic company is an english 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 amplifiers . contents 1 history 1.1 1960s 1.2 1970s 1.3 1980s 1.4 1990s 1.4.1 the orange gibson years 1993 1997 1.4.2 1997 1999 1.4.2.1 the second coming of orange 1.4.3 2000s 2 legacy companies 2.1 orange studios 2.2 orange hire 2.3 orange management 2.4 orange records 2.5 orange publishing 2.6 orange agency 3 products 3.1 amplifier chronology 3.1.1 early years 1968 1971 3.1.2 series one 1972 1978 3.1.3 series two 1979 the orange image makeover 3.1.4 orange reissues 1993 1997 the gibson years 3.1.5 millenium orange 1998 present 3.2 speaker cabinets 3.2.1 guitar cabs 3.2.2 bass cabs 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit orange amplifier and cabinet with the distinctive tolex . 1960s edit orange was founded in 1968 by musician and electronics designer clifford cooper of london and opened premises at 3 new compton street in london s west end . initially cooper used only the basement as a professional recording studio the studio featured an ibc mixing console originally owned by joe meek producer of the millionaires . the studio was failing to meet its overheads so on 2 september 1968 the ground floor premises were opened as a music shop where in order to cover wage costs cooper sold his own band equipment . 1 difficulties in obtaining stock meant that the new orange shop at first dealt only in second hand equipment . fortunately many musicians around that time preferred older used or beaten up guitars as they were considered to be of better quality and have more character than the new ones available . the orange shop was the first to cater for this market . the difficulties faced in stocking the shop lead cooper to decide to begin designing orange s own amplifiers and in the late autumn of 1968 huddersfield based company radio craft owned by mat mathias was appointed to produce the first orange branded amplifiers . whilst in london orange shop salesman mick dines became closely involved with the design of orange cabinets . as a touring musician dines understood the rigours equipment was subjected to on the road and was instrumental in ensuring that durability was at the forefront of the design with features such as the basketweave grillecloth and the wooden skids which not only gave strength but improved the sound dramatically by acoustically coupling the cabinet to the stage or wooden floor . it is a common misconception that the earliest orange amplifiers were jointly produced by orange and matamp the brand name that mathias used on his own design of amplifiers . this was not the case . radio craft produced h fi guitar amplifiers which whilst ideal for bass guitar produced a tone far too clean and flat for electric lead guitars . early orange matamp amplifiers were built by radio craft to cooper s design to provide the new generation of guitarists with the sustain they demanded . the front end was modified and cooper changed the chassis from lightweight aluminium to enamelled steel . the orange logo was designed to be clearly visible on stage . when the design was delivered to radio craft mathias suggested that a small matamp logo be added which as a courtesy to mathias cooper agreed to making matamp a model name . the first of the orange matamp amplifiers were 100 watt valve amps and were produced in very small numbers in the rear of tobacconist shop owned by mathias . demand for orange amplifiers grew quickly and radio craft was unable to keep up with orders . it became apparent that larger premises were vital . mathias was unable to finance the move so in 1969 cooper mathias ltd was formed to replace radio craft . cooper s feeling was that a 50 50 partnership would be to the advantage of all parties rather than to simply finance radio craft with the benefit of cheaper overheads in huddersfield than in london . the central plan behind cooper mathias was to increase capacity and productivity to a level at which the service could be offered to other amplifier companies . 1970s edit the factory in cowcliffe near huddersfield was opened in early 1970 . mathias would drive from huddersfield with a small number of completed amplifier chassis which would be fitted into sleeves boxed and despatched from the orange shop in london . at this time business in london was moving very rapidly however the situation in huddersfield was much slower . whilst visiting the factory for a production meeting cooper was struck by the slow pace of production . large numbers of back orders meant that production at cowcliffe was failing to keep up with demand and the low number of units being produced caused the operation to be non cost effective and not covering its overheads . the decision was taken to end orange s relationship with matamp . cooper and mathias remained on friendly terms despite the split with cooper describing mathias as a real gentleman for whom i have always had nothing but the greatest admiration . after the decision to cease production in huddersfield cooper located premises in a derelict shop on the corner of neil s yard and short s gardens in the covent garden area of london . this move was to increase productivity and to provide more room for cabinet making amp testing and storage with cabinets being produced on the ground floor and amplifiers in the basement . in 1971 whilst driving in london cooper noticed the new road signs being introduced into the uk used graphic symbols rather than words and asked the design team to come up with a set of custom symbols that would clearly show what the control was for and would make sense to users who may not be familiar with english . it was in 1972 that john james orange s research and development engineer designed what would become one of the world s most iconic amplifiers the graphic valve amplifier . nicknamed simply pics only which was a reference to the unique front graphic panels . early models of the pics only were known as plexis because they had a plastic reverse printed perspex panel secured on an orange steel backplate fixed to the chassis . with later models the front panel was not plastic but silk screen printed metal plates . the pics only was the start of the new sound now associated with orange and has remained the influence for the design and sound of orange amplifiers . with demand for orange amplifiers still increasing it was necessary to once again seek larger premises and locate a proper factory facility . in 1973 production was moved to 17 upland road bexleyheath in kent . there a proper production line was possible and resulted in a marked increase in the number of amplifiers and cabinets being completed an average of one amp per worker per day . this more industrial approach meant that amplifiers and cabinets could be lined up 20 30 units at a time and completed sequentially . this period saw distribution of orange products in the usa for the first time . it was also in 1973 that the pics only was redesigned . as well as some electronic modifications the front panel was amended resulting in the graphic 120 pics & text amplifier which was launched in 1974 . in 1975 orange launched the custom reverb twin mkii which was introduced to compete directly with the fender twin reverb similarly priced this amp featured a hammond spring reverb a tremolo and a master volume . it was initially available only as a 50 watt but the success of this model as a versatile studio amplifier led to a 100 watt version being produced . unusually this model featured black with silver fleck speaker cloth rather than the iconic basketweave grille cloth . the orange brand was well established as a manufacturer of valve amps by the mid 70s but cooper was keen to diversify the orange product range and include solid state amplifiers for the first time omec which stands for orange music electronic company was formed . cooper engaged designer peter hamilton with the brief to design a computerised amp . the only way to achieve this was with the use of ssi and msi small and medium scale logic chips . at the time there was a stark choice largely due to cost between ttl transistor transistor logic which consumed a large amount of power but was readily available and well proven or a new technology from rca called cos mos which was low power consumption but prone to static damage . at the time cos mos was considered too risky to use . interestingly that technology led to today s cmos microcontrollers with built in static protection low power consumption and millions of transistors on a single chip . hamilton s design was known as the omec digital programmable amplifier and was the world s first digitally programmable amplifier . real dsp was not readily available until the mid 1990s so the omec digital was effectively a digitally controlled analogue amplifier . a drawback to using ttl became apparent quite quickly as the programmable memory took almost an amp at 5 watts so any settings were lost as soon as the amplifier was turned off . a back up battery was added in the event of a brief power cut but these would only last approximately one hour . ultimately the omec digital amplifier proved to be innovative but ahead of its time and would require a huge amount of investment to make it financially viable . whilst the programmable computerised amplifier was perhaps released a decade too soon orange continued to produce solid state amplifiers with the denim clad jimmy bean amp being released in 1976 . the low cost but high quality integrated circuit chips used in the omec allowed for a wealth of innovative signal processing technology to be adapted to other amplifiers and when coupled with a proven power amp design led