In the beginning

To most in London, the second of September 1968 was nothing more than a blustery day. Little did they know that, in a dingy basement shop in Old Compton Street, the first legendary British guitar amplifier was being created!

Orange was founded by Mr. Clifford Cooper, who remains at the helm to this day. A quiet and reserved man, and certainly not one for the megastar lifestyle, Cooper is probably the last man you would expect to be behind such a highly-acclaimed musical company. With just £300 borrowed from his father and armed with the enthusiasm of a young man of the time, Cooper had set up the shop selling a variety of musical instruments.

Because of his age and low-profile establishment, the majority of the large manufacturers of the time were more than a little reluctant to accept Cooper as a dealer. So, if he couldn't buy them in, the most logical thing was to build them in-house. With a background in electrical engineering himself, he engaged a team of the best design engineers around who set about creating all-valve amplifiers just when the fine and well-established valve technology was being overtaken by transistor-based contraptions. This new wave of amplifiers were cheaper to produce, but could never capture the magical warmth and colour of the old valve setups.

Cooper had acquired a quantity of an orange-coloured vinyl, the material used to cover the wooden shell of amplifiers and cabinets, and it wasn't long before the shop was proudly displaying the very first amplifiers to carry the now famous livery. With that, Orange Amplification was born.



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