"Orange moved production to Bexleyheth in Kent, UK in 1973. The shop was just down the road from the Rotosound facility, and it was the company's first production line. Factory Manager Mick Dines says, ""We employed local people in Bexleyheath to assemble the amplifiers - the output being about one amp per worker a day."" The new shop marked a larger scale operation, with the ability to load a forty-foot container headed to America. Pictured: Steve, John, Barry, Mary, Mick, Margot, Jan, Viv, Hillary (hidden), Olive, Pete, Chris, Michael, John, and Bob."
"This behemoth cabinet was likely the world's first 24x12"" guitar cabinet. To the chagrin of roadies everywhere, Cliff Cooper recounts their early goals, ""We originally had the idea of building the biggest speaker cabinet in the world. We built two guitar cabinets that were 24x12"". We also built at 10x15"" bass cab."" These mammoth units were also an early part of Orange's high-impact trade show flair, which continues to this day in their amp-wall setups at NAMM and Musikmesse."
"Perhaps not surprisingly, the Custom Reverb Twin was intended to compete with the Fender Twin Reverb. The competitively-priced Orange featured a Hammond spring reverb, tremolo circuit, and Master Volume. The amp was available in 50- or 100-watt versions and came with a footswitch. "
"Orange was among the first musical instrument companies to employ comic strips in their advertisements. In this comic, Orange's design team develops the graphics for the front panel so that they are universally recognizable, even to aliens shredding in far away lands."
"Following the moderate success of Orange Studios, Cooper launched Orange Records as an outlet for the talented bands who came to record without a label. This single, ""I Want to Live"" was from John Miles' band The Influence. Cooper's promotion of the label and its artists helped him build contacts in the music business. ""Even now we get lots of requests to re-release those early records,"" says Cooper. ""Probably one day I willи"""
"After designing the crest, Orange used their comic advertising format to explain the symbols, and take some good-humored swipes at rival amp companies. This comic was scanned from an advertisement in ""Beat Instrumental."" The artist was Brian Engel, the same artists who painted the psychedelic art on the front of the Orange Shop."
"This 1969 ad celebrated the debut of the record label with its two artists, John Miles' The Influence and Contrast, a duo featuring Roger and Christine Jeffrey."
"Cliff Cooper chose Mat Mathias' Radio Craft repair business to manufacture their amps. The first samples Cliff said were too clean for electric lead guitar, so Cooper and crew modified them and changed the chassis to enameled steel. Mat assembled the first amps in the back of his shop, and added the Matmp logo to the bold Orange logo supplied by Cooper."
"In the early days, Orange branched into every music-related industry possible, starting with these Orange DJ Consoles. They also produced guitar and bass strings, microphones, drums, and stroboscopes."
"The Crest art was designed to project a larger business than they were at the time, hence the phrase, ""Voice of the World."" Cooper decided to design their own crest. He recounts, ""Crests and coats of arms are very British, heraldic and expensive looking - everything I wanted our amps to be."""
"In 2011, Orange released ""The Book of Orange,"" a 2-part flip-book featuring the history of the company, a listing of the company's models, the building of the brand, and beautiful photography of the artists who use the amps. Here, Orange has allowed us to excerpt some historical imagery and details to give you a glimpse into the early days of Orange."
"The Orange Shop opened in 1968 as a music store built to cover the expenses of the Orange music studio. It sold second-hand amplifiers, as the major amp companies wouldn't sell to the store. In 1969, Orange began producing their own amps to sell out of the store. The store was painted bright orange, to the chagrin of nearby shop owners, but naturally attracted plenty of attention from passers-by. The Orange Shop closed unexpectedly in 1978 when the road was under surprise demolition. Cooper was bought out for ё100,000, which facilitated their move to a larger shop in Kent."
"Before Orange was Orange, founder Cliff Cooper produced gear under the name Cooper Technical Industries (CTI). One of the products bearing this moniker is 1966's Pixy MkV, a miniature transistor amplifier built on a tag board with an earpiece that sold for just under ё2. The Mk V wasn't the fifth of anything, as Cooper recalls, ""There weren't any earlier ones but I figured Mk V was a good starting point."" He ran his very first ad in ""Melody Maker"" magazine."
"In 1977, OMEC introduced an entire line of 150-watt transistor instrument and public address amplifiers. The line of budget amplifiers included (left) a 150-watt instrument amp with 5-band graphic EQ and built-in Reverb, Phase, and Boost effects and 2x12"" cabinet ; (middle) a 150-watt instrument amp with 5-band graphic EQ and 1x15"" Bass Reflex Horn cabinet; and (right) a 150-watt, 4-channel PA amp with 5-band graphic EQ and 2x12"" PA cabinets. The solid-state amps bridged the gap between affordable offerings and Orange's higher-end valve amps."
"The Jimmy Bean solid-state amplifier was also developed under the OMEC division, and was styled after blue jeans with denim covering, an engraved brass ""jean label"" name plate, and leather panels. The amp had two channels with tremolo and switchable sustain circuits. Says Cliff Cooper, ""I'll never understand why the Jimmy Bean didn't do well. The stack looked great and the amp was portable and very versatile."" Faring better was the Jimmy Bean Voice Box, used by Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, and John Miles. "
"Orange's goliath stacks at outdoor festivals garnered loads of early press coverage. Stacked within these beastly setups were the previously pictured 24x12"" guitar cabs and 10X15"" bass cabs."
"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."" "
"Cliff Cooper took advantage of the dune buggy trend of the '60s and '70s and built four kit buggies powered by Volkswagen Beetle engines. He sold three, and all of the buyers kept the orange logo on the car. The eye-catching vehicles proved to be engaging advertising, expanding the company's brand awareness around London. Here, the Orange Shop staff happily pose: Robin, Cliff, Rocky, Ed, and Veronica."
"This Orange Guitar was one of only six produced, and was built by American luthier Randy Curlee. ""To date we have only been able to trace one of them,"" says Cooper, ""which is owned and still used by John Miles. These guitars were beautifully made and sounded great. I wish I'd kept one for myself."""
"In the early days of the company, founder Cliff Cooper slept in a small room in the back of the Orange Shop. Here, he says, ""I used to live and sleep in that back office using a Vox column speaker cab plastic cover as a sleeping bag!"" In this photo, he stands with an early version of the Orange ""Voice of the World"" tree artwork. The tree ended up as part of the iconic crest."
The cramped interior of the Orange Shop added to the shop's vibe.
"The Custom Reverb Twin amps had two channels: Normal and Brilliant. Each had hi- and lo-gain in puts and Bass, Treble, and Volume controls. The Brilliant channel also had a Middle control. The Depth control adjusted the intensity of reverb, while the tremolo was controlled by Speed and Depth knobs."
"Orange Studios attracted artists from Brian WIlson to Stevie Wonder, Robin Gibb, Mickie Most, John Miles, Paul Anka, and heavy metal bands. Many of Orange's engineers became world-class producers and engineers, including Steve Churchyard, who came on as an 18-year-old trainee and went on to work at Sir George Martin's AIR studios and work with just about everybody."
Also in the Pics-Only era was the four-channel PA 120 and Slave 120 Graphics.
"Circa 1972 Orange amps are referred to as ""Pics Only"" as they feature only the hieroglyphs and no text on the controls. These amps had the Baxandall EQ first in the circuitry, then Gain, then the phase inverter. Adds Adrian Emsley, ""What's more, the DC-coupled 'concertina' phase inverter used in the first Orange amps was changed to a capacitor-coupled version in the 'Pics Only' models."" This capacitor-coupled type of phase inverter drives the output valves harder, and this creates a more overdriven and crunchy sound. In this way, the Pics Only was the start of the new sound that everybody associates with Orange."""
"Launched in 1975 as Orange's solid state division, OMEC stood for ""Orange Music Electronic Company."" OMEC produced the world's first digitally programmable amplifier, which enabled musicians to key in four different, pre-set, instantly recallable sounds. The amps's power rating was 150 watts into 4 ohms. Cliff Cooper recalls, ""We spent a lot of time and money developing this revolutionary digital amp, and it still really upsets me to recall how we never really got the chance to market it properly."" Bank managers in the UK at the time were not quick to lend money, and the inability to borrow capital spelled the end of the Digital Programmable Amplifier. The pictured amp is the only known one in existence. Photo kindly provided by the owner, Billy Claire."
To read more from The Book of Orange, check out our exclusive excerpt!
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