Orange OR120 Matamp Green Tolex
Orange
$2,999.99
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Orange
Orange OR120 Matamp Green Tolex
This is a really fantastic sounding & great condition 1990s Orange OR120 Matamp Guitar Head in Green Tolex. We've reached out to Orange to get information from them on the history & specs on this amp. This seems to come from the 1990s era Orange where they were resurfacing as a company & building amps from leftover parts from the 1970s. The serial number on the chassi dates to 1974 but the faceplate is the 1990s. This amp has been fully serviced & tested! This amp is by all accounts sounding like a great 1974 Orange OR120! The Green Tolex came from the partner ship with Matamp.
Here's some more information from our pal Xander at Orange.
What a find! Here's what I think you're dealing with.
To me, it appears to be a 90s Orange reissue. These, like the original Orange Amps, were manufactured by Matamp. I've attached a little JPG that I've found that points out the cosmetic "tells" between them. Eventually, Orange decided to develop a new line of amps, so the partnership with Matamp was dissolved. Orange went on to design the AD series and the Rockerverb, and became the brand they are today, while Matamp still builds amps the old-fashioned way, using the Green branding and colors both as a tribute to Peter Green and as a wink at their history with Orange. The earliest ones were made using Orange parts - sometimes just taking finished Orange heads and putting Green cosmetics on them. This post on Planet of the Amps shows a prime example of this phenomenon, and the headshell looks a lot like the late 90s and early '00s Green Matamp heads that I have in my personal collection.
There's a lot of interesting history and lore here. That amp was likely built by Matamp for Orange, then eventually turned into a Green and sold to the USA market as part of Matamp's partnership with Electric Amp Innovations. I'd guess that somebody along the way opened up the amp for service, then either misplaced the Green faceplate or just preferred the Orange one. Either way, it's a really cool amp. This article is pretty well-researched and gives a balanced view of the history, in case you or the amp's owner want to go in-depth.
My best guess is that it's one of the strange transitional Matamps from the mid-90s - either from right before or right after Matamp and Cliff Cooper agreed to build a line of reissues of the 70s amps. As I understand it, Matamp's founder passed away and his wife sold the company to a local UK businessman. He was basically buying a workshop and a bunch of half-finished amps and parts from a few brands, including Orange. The 90s reissue line of Orange ORs were made with a combination of leftovers from the 70s and some modern parts here or there (like the faceplates). After that partnership ran its course, Matamp started making Green Amps with the remaining Orange parts they had, and whatever else they had laying around the warehouse. My theory is that your amp is made from mostly 70s parts with a 90s faceplate (at least) and a Green Matamp headshell, but there's no way to know for sure.
I did some searching after my last reply and found this page about dating vintage Oranges. Judging by their information, it looks like you've got a 1974 chassis. You might be able to make a better guess about when the amp was assembled by getting date codes off of the electronics inside; According to this handy graphic below, you've got one of the 90's faceplates, and the green headshell really makes everything mysterious. I'm pretty convinced this is one of the Green Matamps from the late 90s or early 00s built from the parts that Jeff Lewis bought when he purchased Matamp, but it's impossible to know for sure. If only gear could talk!
This is fun. I'll do my best to answer any more questions about this mystery amp.
