By the end of 1971 after the split of the two companies, Orange was already building their own amplifiers. They started building them in late 1970 at a small facility called Shorts Gardens in London but still sub contracting to Matamp as well. Orange was also sub contracting to HH Electronics and Howell’s Radio during this time period. They were helping Matamp to keep up with production on the ORST50 and OR100s. These amps built by HH and Howell’s would be sent to Matamp for inspection before being sent to Orange in London. About 100 fifty watt amps and 400 hundred watt amps where outsourced to HH and Howell’s Radio. So a total of about 500 Orange | Matamp amplifiers were not actually build by Matamp in Huddersfield.

The first guitar amplifier models Orange designed without Matamp were the GRO50/100 and ORS50/100. From what I’ve seen the GRO50/100 models look to be built by Matamp. The ORS50/100 along with the PA120/SL120 look to be the first amps built by Orange. The ORS50/100s are probably the rarest models to come by as they were produced for a very short period of time and to a very high quality. After the small run of ORS50/100s Orange released the more popular OR80/120.  Most of these early amplifiers from late 1970-1972 featured a Pics Only Plexi panel. The sound and design are truly amazing. I personally love this era of amplifiers and cabinets. The only down side to these amplifiers is how fragile the Plexi panels are. We have reproduced our own panels to repair some of our personal amplifiers and I hope to soon be able to offer these to others in need of a replacement. 

Orange also started to build combo amplifiers which were a big success for them. The combos were a 2x12” design using a pair of Celestion G12H-30 or Fane 12” speakers and would normally be fitted with a OR50/OR80 chassis. Although, this isn’t always the case. We have seen anything from a GRO100 to a Overdrive 120 in combo form. You need to be careful with these if you are going to turn them up loud. The power they output is far greater than the speakers wattage rating and can easily blow the speakers or damage the amplifier. I suggest finding a more suitable pair of speakers to drop into the combo if you have one of these 100/120 versions and are going to push it hard. Hang onto the original speakers though, those are worth some money. Orange also had a Custom Reverb Twin amplifier to compete with fender at the time that came in a head or combo form.

The first Orange cabinets had a Orange Voice of The World logo and quickly following that was the more traditional two piece design with the Orange badge underneath the crest badge. Orange then redesigned the amplifier panels to the more commonly known metal Pics and Text design. I have also seen some Pics Only OR120 amplifiers with a metal panel. There are a lot of transitional amps built during this time period. 

In 1973, Orange moved to the Bexleyheath factory in Kent where they were able to further increase production. Orange really expanded there range producing and rebranding a lot of different equipment during the 70s. It’s really impressive the variety of gear they offered. Microphones, Drums Kits, Guitars, DJ Consoles, PA equipment, the list goes on and on. You could even buy an Orange Dune Buggy. By 1975 they offered a solid state brand called Jimmy Bean as well as the OMEC digital programmable amplifier series. 1976 introduced the Overdrive 80/120 which featured a master volume. 

Sadly, in 1978 The Orange Shop in London had to close down. This was due to building contractors deciding to tear down some of the shops on New Compton Street. Orange was unfortunately one of them. Although the store front closed, this didn’t stop them from continuing production at the Bexleyheath Factory in Kent.