ORANGE AMP
The serial numbers on Orange amps have known a few different numbering
systems.
Matamp Oranges
| Orange Matamp | OR100?? | 005 | Sept 1969 |
| Orange Matamp | OR100?? | 119 | Jan 1970 |
Orange Graphic - pics only
The first amps that Orange made were called "Graphic".
A typical style element of these amps was the front that had only pictures to
describe the controls. They also have a Frequency Analyzing Control. This is a
kind of mid tone control by a six position switch.
| GRO50 pix only | GRO50 | 151 | |||
| GRO100 pix only | GRO100 | 449 | |||
| GRO100 pix only | GRO100 | 568 (cab OA3010) | |||
| ORS100 pix only | |||||
| OR120 pix only | OR120 | 120387 | 1972 | ||
| OR120 pix only | OR120 | 120578 (cab OA3421) | |||
| OR120 pix only, preamp tubes on pcb | OR120 | 120596 (cab OA3421) | |||
| OR120 pix only, preamp tubes on pcb | OR120 | 4229 (cab OA7390) | ??? | ||
| OR80 pix only, preamp tubes on pcb | OR80 | 80039(cab OA2453) | speakers Dec '72 | ||
| OR80 pix only | OR80 | 80211 (cab OA3191) | speakers March '72 |
Orange Graphic - pics and text '70s
Thanks to forum member Orange at plexipalace.com there's finally some clarity in
the Oarnge serial numbers. Apparently in 1973 all amps started with 10xxx. This
numbering was incremented yearly until 1979. The theory is verified by
Inspection tags, speaker date codes and capacitor date codes.
| 10000-11000 | 1973 | OR120 pix and text | OR120 | 10005 (cab OA3824) | |
| 1973 | OR80 pix and text | OR80 | 10966 (cab 4556) | ||
| GRO100 pix and text | GRO100 | 703 (cab 4617) | |||
| 11000-12000 | 1974 | ||||
| 12000-13000 | 1975 | OR120 pix and text | OR120 | 12842 (cab 61838) | |
| 13000-14000 | 1976 | OR80 Reverb | OR80R | 13839 (cab 62089) | |
| 1976 | OR120SL Overdrive mod with 3 12ax7s | OR120SL | 13969 (cab 62501) | ||
| 14000-15000 | 1977 | OR80 Overdrive Reverb | OR80R | 14010 (cab 62192) | speakers date from oct '77 |
| 15000-16000 | 1978 | OR80 Overdrive | OR80 | 15583 (cab 63699) | inspection tag inside dates from 6/7/1978 |
| 1978 | OR80 Overdrive | OR80m ?? | 15681 (cab OA2134) | ||
| 16000-17000 | 1979 | Overdrive Series II | OR112M | 16218 | inspection tag inside dates from 9/7/79 |
| 1979 | Superbass | 112SB | 16315 |
Hustler
| Hustler 125 | 125 | 1274 (cab 63050) | speakers date from 19 dec 1977 |
| Hustler 125 | 125 | 1261 | Inspection tag: 16/1/78 |
Orange Graphic - pics and text '90s reissue ;-)
| OR80 pix and text | OR80 | 712 | <1995? |
| OD120 | OR120 | 1219 | 1996 |
| OTR80 | OR80 | 1621 | 2002 |
How to date amps?
- It seems that some Orange amps have inspection tags on the inside that have
the inspection date. This is of course of very good way to date your amp.
- by parts: several parts in a guitar amp have dates. The most obvious part to
have clear date codes are the speakers in combo amps, since they are always made
by specialized firms and need to have some kind of identification including a
date code.
Dating Celestion speakers
Dating Eminence speakers
Some brands of pots have date codes and maybe even the transformer serials can
provide dating info.