The brand's early amps were adopted by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and were used on Stevie Wonder's Superstition, which brought Orange worldwide recognition.

[1] The brand's "Pics Only" models—nicknamed for their use of symbols rather than text on their control panels—were released in the early 1970s to much success and established a signature "Orange sound."

[2] After a line of reissue models licensed by Gibson in the early '90s proved unsuccessful, Cooper regained control of the brand and found new success with the 1998 release of the AD30, with notable fans like Jimmy Page.

Because the studio failed to meet its business costs, on September 2, 1968 the ground floor premises were opened as a music shop.

In late autumn of 1968, Huddersfield based company Radio Craft, owned by Mat Mathias, was appointed to produce the first Orange-branded amplifiers.

Early Orange Matamp amplifiers were built by Radio Craft to Cooper's specification to provide a new generation of guitarists with the sustain they demanded.

The first of the Orange Matamp amplifiers were 100 watt valve amps and were produced in very small numbers in the rear of a tobacconist shop owned by Mathias.

Cooper's feeling was that a 50/50 partnership would be to the advantage of all parties, rather than to simply finance Radio Craft with the benefit of cheaper overheads in Huddersfield than in London.

The central plan behind Cooper Mathias was to increase capacity and productivity to a level at which the service could be offered to other amplifier companies.

Mathias would drive from Huddersfield with a small number of completed amplifier chassis which would be fitted into sleeves, boxed, and despatched from the Orange Shop in London.

Early models of the Pics Only were known as "Plexis" because they had a plastic reverse printed perspex panel secured on an orange steel backplate fixed to the chassis.

There a proper production line was possible, and this resulted in a marked increase in the number of amplifiers and cabinets being completed, an average of one amp per worker per day.

That technology led to today's CMOS microcontrollers with built in static protection, low power consumption, and millions of transistors on a single chip.

A drawback to using TTL became apparent quite quickly as the programmable memory took almost an amp at 5 watts, so any settings were lost as soon as the amplifier was turned off.

Ultimately, the OMEC Digital Amplifier proved to be innovative but ahead of its time and would require a huge amount of investment to make it financially viable.

Throughout the 1980s production of Orange Amplifiers was extremely limited with Cooper continuing to build and sell in small quantities to special order.

Following Mathias' death in 1989, his sons Peter and Richard continued the business until 1992 when the company was sold to amplifier enthusiast Jeff Lewis.

With the brand back under Cooper's control, guitarist and valve amplifier expert, Adrian Emsley was brought in as technical director with the brief to update and refresh the product range.

"Our basement studio had a great vibe," Cooper recounts, "It was very large and, as nobody lived or worked on either side, volume wasn't an issue.

"[6] Orange Hire was created to provide the PA and backline for larger venues and outdoor summer festivals such as Reading and the Isle of Wight.

A fleet of Mercedes 405D vans were converted into state-of-the-art hire vehicles all were radio equipped and had full amp repair facilities fitted.

[4] Orange Management was formed in 1969 signing up artists such as John Miles, Smokie, Nigel Benjamin (ex Mott The Hoople) and his band English Assassin, Cock Sparrer and The Realistics amongst others.

Not limited to musical artists, in 1971 motorcycle stunt rider and model Eddie Kidd was signed to Orange Management.

The "Voice of the World" logo of an Orange tree sitting upon a globe was used for the label with a full colour sleeve; however, with the flower power movement waning, it was decided in the early 1970s to change the look to a black background with gold lettering.

Former Head of Copyright at EMI, Dennis Sinnott was appointed by Cliff Cooper to establish Orange Publishing and over the next five years signed a variety of bands including Cock Sparrer, The Little Roosters, The Tremeloes and Kenny Ball.