Reflecting on 50 years (2018)

Orange thrived by innovating, not imitating, staying future-focused from Pics Only to OPC while maintaining a proudly psychedelic identity.

Looking back through The Book of Orange and Building the Brand, and recalling the many hours of interviews with Cliff Cooper that shaped both their structure and detail, one theme runs through Orange’s journey, now in its sixth decade. Orange has always prospered when its products — and the inspiration behind them — took risks and broke new ground. By contrast, success was more limited when the company occasionally followed trends.

One little-known fact about Orange’s 50-year history is that the company has actually produced amplifiers continuously. After the Orange Shop closed in 1979, amps continued to be hand-built in very small numbers throughout the 1980s. Cliff refers to this period as the company’s “simmering” years.

Always Looking Forward

It says a lot about the strength of the Orange brand that in the mid-1990s, the Gibson Corporation took the opportunity to manufacture Orange’s classic mid-70s range under licence. Yet this “retro” phase saw only moderate success. Why? Because Orange has never really been a retro brand. Its look may evoke the psychedelic swinging 60s, but ever since the launch of the Pics-Only amplifier in 1971, Orange has been focused on the future.

The world’s first digitally programmable amplifier, the OMEC Digital, which launched in 1975, is proof of that. On the other hand, the Series Two range released in 1979 marked a rare moment of following styling trends, and it didn’t resonate with players in the same way.

What’s New, What’s Next?

Orange’s most pioneering modern achievements began soon after Cliff returned to the business in 1998. At the time, he asked himself and the team two key questions: What’s new? and What’s next? The answers came in the shape of the AD Series. With these award-winning amps and combos, Orange was once again breaking new ground.
Since then, major investment in transformer R&D, the game-changing styling of the Tiny Terror range, and the design of the isobaric bass cabinets all demonstrate the same mindset: Orange is always about what’s next, and about the future of sound on a global stage. Here’s to the next 50 years!