Painting the Orange Shop (1968)

Orange Amps began in 1968 with a bright Soho shop, second-hand gear, and the launch of original British-made amplifiers.

Cliff Cooper, Founder and CEO of Orange Amps, remembers:

“When we opened the shop, we painted it inside and out in a really bright shade of orange. Even from a distance, you couldn’t help but notice it: the shop front had this luminous, powerful aura. But nearby shop owners weren’t impressed, and the council told me to repaint it to its original dark brown. I refused. After a back and forth of letters, the council eventually let it go. I think they figured it wasn’t worth the fuss, as the building was due for demolition anyway.”

From Studio to Shop Floor

“We opened the ground-floor premises as a music shop on 2nd September 1968. The basement studio wasn’t covering its overheads, so I sold my band’s Vox gear through the shop to make payroll. It sold that same day, and just like that, we were in music retail.

“At the time, the big distributors—Marshall, Gibson, Fender—wouldn’t supply us, even when I offered to pay upfront. So we sold second-hand guitars and amps instead. Then, at the start of 1969, we began making our own amplifiers. That same year, Vox went into liquidation, creating a space in the market. With my background in electronics, we moved fast, and naturally, the new amps were called Orange. That’s how it all started.

“The shop was incredibly cramped. In this photo (taken after a Customs & Excise visit – more on that in another post), you can just about see the staircase to the basement studio on the right.”