Whilst vintage Orange amps aren’t what we are currently focusing on, if you are looking for one, then let us know. We do see them coming up in Auctions, and we would always be happy to secure the amp of your dreams.
Matamps, unfortunately ,come up even less than Orange amps due to the smaller scale of operation. We were very fortunate to have the one we did, and yes, it was an absolute beauty (and extremely loud).
We are definitely keen to do some work with some of the modern Orange amps, and add them to our roster of ‘blueprinted’ amps, so again, if you are interested in a getting your hands on a modern Orange, then let us know.
Matamp & Orange Amps
Matamp came to existence from a previous company, RadioCraft, which was formed by a German refugee Mat Mathias in Yorkshire, northern England in the mid '40s. In the 60’s, Mathias starting building amps for local bands and built a reputation for great sounding, sturdy amps.
In 1968, Cliff Cooper, who owned a music shop in London, approached Mathias, asking him to begin building amps under the name of Cooper's shop: Orange. The result was the near-legendary Orange Matamp, used by Peter Green (reputedly featuring on "Albatross"), Paul Kossoff, Jimmy Page, Wishbone Ash, and a host of other '70s guitar heroes.
The partnership between Cooper and Mathias ended in the early '70s, as Mathias’ strict adherence to quality meant he felt he couldn’t provide the number of amps Cooper wanted to keep up with the increasing demand. Orange moved their production line down to London and Mathias continued building amps under the Matamp brand.
Orange amps lost ground in the 80’s and 90’s whilst passing through a number of owners. However, after buying back the company in 2000, and bringing in Ade as the designer, Orange began it’s climb back up to it’s current position as a leading manafacture of guitar amplifiers.
Matamp also carries on and still produces very high quality and well engineered amps wich are known for their deep, rich tones and insane amounts of power. Matamps have a dedicated following, particualy in the Doom and Stoner music scenes.
Whilst vintage Orange amps sometimes come up for sale or auction, they are usually at a pretty high price point as they are known to be fantastic amps. Typically the resale price (after auction, transport, servicing costs etc) would be around .