"We work closely with the IK engineers and programmers to ensure the quality and accuracy of the sound. There is a lot of software out there that purports to give the Orange sound but it isn't actually approved by us. With IK we can sit down together and nail the real Orange sound. It's good working with IK – we feel as if we are all part of one team, which we think is very important."
We were given the unique opportunity to spend some time with Cliff and Charlie Cooper at the Orange factory and offices just north west of London.
Cliff founded Orange in 1968 and has gone on to become one of the world's leading and most respected manufacturers of amplifiers and speakers for guitarists.
Over the years they have been associated with an enviable roster of artists and bands, including Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Page, James Brown, Gary Moore, AC/DC, BB King, Marc Bolan, U2, The Beach Boys, right up to contemporary artists such as The Scissor Sisters, Limp Bizkit, Mastodon, Slipknot, Oasis, Prince and the list just goes on and on. Many of these artists can be seen in the recently released "Book of Orange" which illustrates every Orange amp and cabinet ever made and tells its story.
We spoke to Cliff and Charlie about the origins of the company, their philosophy in designing their amps and, of course, why Orange joined with IK to create the AmpliTube Custom Shop models of their most famous gear:
1) Many music gear manufacturers use the name of their founder as the company name, so we are interested to hear where the name Orange comes from?
"Oh that's pretty easy, the simple answer is - Orange is my favourite colour! And, touch wood, it's been very lucky for me, too"
2) When most people hear the name Orange, they think of high-quality guitar amps and speakers with a particular construction quality and sound. What do you think it is about the Orange brand that evokes this sense of quality and attention to detail?
"We've never skimped on the quality of the components used in our amplifiers. Adrian, who heads up our design team, always says: "Everything has to be bullet-proof", so he over-rates the capacitors and resistors etc, so that everything has a very high tolerance.
I think that this is the main reason why our amps have always been very reliable. The amp cabs and speaker enclosures use thicker resonating birch plywood and more durable materials, which is why I think you can see so many vintage Orange amps that are in such good condition. We also use our own specially developed advanced transformer design, which has between 5 and 8 secondary windings on the output transformer instead of the usual 3. They are expensive to produce but worth every penny. I believe this gives us the edge over other amps."
3) How would you describe the signature Orange sound and, would you agree there is an 'Orange' sound?
"Yes – it sounds Orange! In fact it does have a distinctive sound. When we work on new models, we always have this foremost in mind, to make sure that they all retain the family sound. It's a very round sound and rich in harmonics, which is exactly what guitarists want."
4) Orange products have been available for over 40 years, what would you say are the main elements that make people keep coming back for more?
"I think reliability is very important, plus the sound of course! For example if an amp blows up on stage you may not want to trust using it again!"
5) One of the most popular Orange models in the IK AmpliTube Custom Shop is the OR-120 which models one of your earliest amps, the OR120, which was also known as the 'Pics only' amp. What made it such a success then -and keeps amp aficionados still trying to obtain them today?
"When we introduced this model, guitarists were looking for a more aggressive sound, so we changed our circuitry to reflect this and used the 'pics' to help illustrate what the control knobs all did. This amp was the first one to offer the basic Orange sound and it is mirrored in all our amps to this very day."
6) Last year you launched the Orange OPC which uniquely combines a computer, AmpliTube modelling software, an amplifier and speaker into a combo style cabinet. How did you come up with this concept?
Charlie, who designed the OPC, now comments:
"A lot of my friends at university had issues when recording audio, I figured it made sense to build a computer but to do it right - optimise and configure everything (the PC hardware/software/even speakers) to work well together in a small but expandable case and only supply it with premium software - we're talking about software used in professional recording studios, which is where AmpliTube 3 comes in, it's by far my favourite for emulating amplifier tone."
7) We were excited to hear OPC and AmpliTube being used to break the Guinness World Record. Tell us a bit more.
"We announced the new Orange OPC at the 2011 CES show in Vegas followed by the NAMM show in LA. We figured having Brazilian virtuoso guitarist Tiago Della Vega break his own Guinness World Record for the world's fastest guitar player would prove that on the Orange OPC [running AmpliTube 3] latency just isn't an issue anymore. He did just that!"
8) In designing an amplifier what qualities do you prize the most?
Cliff: "Everything - a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The shape of the final sound is of paramount importance. When you look at the physical design, layout is very important; all the components need to be laid out to avoid noise, buzzing and even more importantly, to ensure serviceability. Everything must be tidy and the electronic components, the knobs, switches and controls must be of the best quality available."
9) Looking back over the past 40+ years, who are the guitarists you are most proud of working with, and what made them special to you?
"Oh I love guitarists – just so many great ones! I suppose when we started it was Peter Green with Fleetwood Mac and in the early days, he was one of my favourites and one of our earliest big-name users. There are so many greats, too many to mention. Even Stevie Wonder would play his keyboards through our amps. He really liked the sound and I felt very proud about that."
10) Orange are known as innovators, is this what inspired you to work with IK Multimedia in modelling your amplifiers?
Cliff: "There are a lot of software companies unofficially modelling the sound of our amps, but it made sense, if you want to accurately model the Orange sound, to work with a company who had the technical expertise to be able to do it properly. We work closely with the IK engineers and programmers to ensure the quality and accuracy of the sound. There is a lot of software out there that purports to give the Orange sound but it isn't actually approved by us. With IK we can sit down together and nail the real Orange sound.
We find that a lot of people who use the Orange amps in AmpliTube then decide they like that sound and buy the real thing. And also it's good working with IK – we feel as if we are all part of one team, which we think is very important"
11) What is it that you particularly like about the Orange emulations in AmpliTube Custom Shop?
"IK's DSM modeling (Dynamic Saturation Modeling) makes it feel like you are playing through a real amp, you get that 'kick back' when you play which makes it more than just a computer simulation, it has the dynamic feel of a real guitar amp. Another thing we like is that apart from the playability is that on the screen, all the models actually look like Orange amps, so you get the exact same look and feel as the real thing."
Following our discussions, Cliff and Charlie gave us a guided tour of the factory, introduced us to the design team and showed us around the massive warehouse stacked with Orange gear ready to be shipped out. It was a fascinating tour and we are extremely grateful to Cliff, Charlie and the Orange team for giving us their valuable time and insights into what makes Orange what they are today.