Book of Orange Review

The Book of Orange Review

By Pappy

I love Orange amplifiers.  They’re a unique company that has developed a sound that people crave, a look that people like, and a history that is interesting.  And through it all they seemed to be a amplifier company that was more in tune with the modern players.  Marshall and Fender always seemed more about the business and concerned with the bottom line where Orange seemed to be more about pleasing the people and doing whatever they wanted.  They wanted to release an amp that featured pictures instead of words for the controls.  Done.  They wanted to make a crest for the company.  They did it.

Along the way they picked up fans and have never seemed too popular.  You see famous artists through the years playing their Orange amps from Jimmy Page to Mastodon, but I really feel like I see less Orange amps when I’m out and about compare to other brands.  The scarcity of them may be appealing.  It might also be the fact that there are far less Orange players than, say, Fender or Marshall players. 

In short, they seem like a small company, but a company that has survived for a long time and has the kind of great stories that only comes from sticking around for a while.  And they released this history in a way befitting Orange.  It’s a huge book, hardcover and wrapped in a soft cloth like crushed velvet.  It also features two books inside.  They don’t take place one after the other like you would expect where you move forward as if it were a new chapter in a novel.  Oh no.  Both sides of the book feature a beginning and they meet in the middle.  It’s called a flip book, because you have to flip it to get the spine on the correct side to start reading. 

On one side you get the history of the brand Orange called “Building the Brand”.  From the beginning of the company it documents the twists, turns, and obstacles that came by in a way that isn’t too serious or detailed.  This could be considered a crash course in Orange’s company history and it features some fantastic stories, my favorite being when their store was raided by the feds for some crazy reason because they were making too big of an imprint in the market.

Flip the book over and you get “The Book of Orange” which details the technical aspects, modifications, improvements, etc. on Orange amps to get them where they are today.  It features photographic examples of amplifiers through the years, the different logos, even a detailed list of pictures used and what they mean.

Both books feature a light feel when it comes to the writing.  Nothing is too serious, but there’s still some meat to it.  You WILL learn about Orange and in the end, I walked away happy.  I love learning about company histories, especially in a way that doesn’t take a month to cover but still gives me a good chunk of valuable information, not the Cliffs Notes that can be surmised in a couple of paragraphs.

You can buy it from the British Orange shop for about 30 British pounds if you are in the UK or the US Orange shop for about $50.00.  If you’re a fan of Orange, know someone who is a fan of Orange or you just want to get a cool coffee table book that can deliver some good guitar history to you in fun-to-read segments, this book is for you.

Check it out.

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