Orange Music Electronic Company

Orange Amps is an English manufactuer of guitar and bass amplifiers, noted for their distinctive sound and the bright orange Tolex-like covering of their amp heads and speaker cabinets. The company was founded in London in 1968 by Cliff Cooper, who began building his own amplifiers when vendors refused to supply his West End musical instrument store, Orange Store, due to Cooper's youth and countercultural image. The brand's early amps were used by guitarists such as Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and could be heard on songs like Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", which brought Orange worldwide recognition. The brand's "Pics Only" models—nicknamed for their use of symbols rather than text on their control panels—were released in the early 1970s to much success and established a signature "Orange sound." However, large-scale production of Orange amplifiers ceased in 1978 and Cooper spent the 1980s building and selling amps in limited numbers. After a line of reissue models licensed by Gibson in the early 1990s proved unsuccessful, Cooper regained control of the brand and found new success with the 1998 release of the AD30, with notable fans like Jimmy Page. In 2003, Orange released the Rockerverb series, which has become a favorite amp among heavy metal guitarists.