Backwards Guitars & Gypsy Rainbows: Jimi's Unique Strat Setup

For all we know, Jimi Hendrix may have been from another planet; there was no one like him before, and hasn't been anyone like him since. While many guitarists have unique tones, I reckon that Jimi's playing technique might be the most recognizable of all, with his quirky double-string bends, unique chord-melody style, and incredible use of the whammy bar and volume knob with his fuzz pedals. By all accounts, particularly that of Eric Clapton in his autobiography, Jimi was an unassuming genius, possessing the technical ability of someone who practiced incessantly, yet never acted like it was a big deal at all; it was just something that flowed so naturally, it seemed effortless, almost embarrassing him. Of course, that coy shyness disappeared when he went on stage, and a larger-than-life flamboyance as bold as his love for music exploded like a supernova, enrapturing anyone in sight.

I'd always chalked up the tangible aspects of Jimi's technique to his large hands, as he was described by many as having the hands of a basketball player; I need two fingers for some of those double-string bends that he did with just one, and the thumb-over-the-top chording style is crucial to many of his tunes as well. Aside from stretching a bit, we can't enlarge our hands, but after doing a bit of research, a few things jumped out at me that I felt were worthy of mention here, and hope they help others as much as they've helped me.

The most obvious difference between Hendrix and everyone else is the trademark righty-Strat-turned-upside-down; he may have done this out of necessity at first, as lefty instruments were incredibly rare at the time, but even later on when he could afford to custom order a lefty from Fender, he chose not to. Restringing a Strat and flipping it over has some residual effects which certainly played into Jimi's signature sound, as i'm certain he and equipment tech Roger Mayer understood.

Standard Strat headstock (left), reversed headstock (right)

First, and foremost in my opinion, is the string tension; with the headstock now reversed, the low E (actually Eb) is now the longest string, giving it a slightly looser feel, while the tension tightens gradually as we move higher up, string by string. Contrary to how it sounds, this actually allows for easier bending on the two highest strings, as they don't have to be bent as far to reach a half or whole step in pitch now. Combine this with tuning an already light set of strings down a half step, and Jimi could bend to Mars and back for days.

To begin talking about string gauge, we have to understand a few basic concepts: plain steel strings generate a stronger magnetic output than nickel-wound strings, and in the early days of electric guitar, a typical set of strings included a wound G. As Fender fretboards were curved at a radius of 7.25", the pickup pole pieces were set to compensate for this, with the G and D poles raised highest, and the low A and E following the radius curve downward. The treble side didn't follow this pattern though, as both pole pieces were lowered almost flush to compensate for the stronger magnetic field of the plain strings, with the B slightly lower than the high E to make up for the difference in thickness. Now, take everything I just said and flip it around; Jimi didn't reverse the pickup orientation when he restrung his Strats, so the pole pieces for the higher strings are now underneath the lower strings, and vice versa, providing a weaker magnetic field on the bass side and slightly stronger output on the treble side. 

Pickup polepieces on a standard Strat (left), compared to the reversed pickups of a Hendrix Strat (right).

As lighter string sets with plain unwound Gs became popular (originally by guitarists using two high-Es for both B and E strings, and shifting the rest of the set down by one, as Jimi did initially), the plain Gs combined with the raised pole pieces to create G-heavy imbalances in pickup output. Enter Roger Mayer, who believed that the electrical output of the strings could be determined by squaring the diameter of each string and matching them accordingly. In a Guitar World interview, Mayer stated that "Many times people use a set of strings that are completely imbalanced and they just don't sound that good. Most people would say a .010 to .013 is the correct jump. And the .015 is much better for the G than a .017. An .015 squares out at .225 and .017 is .289. So you're going to get 28 percent more output just with a two-pound different in string size." (as I'm no physics engineer or mathematician, I'll take his word for it, just as Jimi did). The lighter G surely helped in dealing with the raised pole pieces, and Jimi's string set was .010, .013, .015, .026, .032 and .038, according to Mayer (also a popular Fender set in the late 60s).

Maybe most importantly, the slant of the bridge pickup is now 1/2" away from the bridge on the treble side, allowing those higher strings to bloom a touch more, while picking up the bass strings 1/2" closer to the bridge for a brighter, more biting tone. Combine this with the flipped pole pieces, and you've got a whole new world to explore in this position, resulting in tighter, clearer bass notes and warmer, fuller highs. Seymour Duncan has recently offered a loaded Hendrix "Voodoo" pickguard (no relation), covering both of these important pickup variations.

Standard Strat bridge pickup (left), Hendrix Strat bridge pickup (right)

Another factor that gets little discussion yet is extremely important (in my opinion) is that of the electronics cavity now being on the bass side of the instrument, as opposed to it's usual orientation on the treble side. That massive hollow cutout may not typically effect the higher strings much, but on the bass side, the heavier Eb and Ab would certainly resonate more in that space, especially combined with their now-longer scale length from bridge to tuning peg, resulting in an increase of harmonic overtone resonance and an almost semi-hollow quality. Of course, the only way to simulate this would be to take a lefty Strat and flip it righty, or find the 1997 Hendrix "Mirror" Strat, which did not sell particularly well and was discontinued after one year. 

A point can be made about the neck pocket now making more of a connection on the treble side rather than the bass side; I believe this may be a slight detriment, if anything, as the bass strings might benefit more from the extra wood contact and resonance, but ultimately the heel joint itself is the most critical point of transference in a bolt-on instrument, and that remains the same. 

The not-so-popular Fender Hendrix "Mirror" Strat, which may have gotten everything right in the first place.

Lastly, a quick look at Jimi's tremolo and bridge setup... he routinely used 4 or 5 springs to keep the bridge pulled back as tightly as possible against the body, with no room to pull "up" on the bar at all, and a lot of tension to fight when diving downward. The bar itself was bent at such an angle that he could pick the strings while easily manipulating it, leading to some very cool vibrato effects like the very end of "Machine Gun" from Band of Gypsys. After trying the left-handed tremolo on an SRV signature Strat, I completely understand how having the bar on the top of the bridge can lend itself to some creative playing ideas while picking, but can be hazardous to long-sleeve shirts, also. 

Stories vary about Jimi's string height, from Jeff Beck's claim that it was the highest action he'd ever seen and barely playable by anyone else, to super-slinky and low on his Woodstock Strat, to medium-low and comfortable on the last Strat he ever played... as this is more personal preference than anything else, i'd aim for high enough action for clean fretting and avoiding whammy fret-flap (aside from the most extreme of divebombs), while not killing your hands otherwise. Getting the action just right so you can catch two strings in a bend is my personal setup, and for my fingers, that's about 5/64" at the 12th fret.

5 springs and a mouthful of strings

Personally, I've tried a reverse headstock neck on a Strat, and agree that the feel is quite different, although I haven't tried the customized string gauges or flipped the pickups yet. The newer Fender Jimi Hendrix Strat, modeled after his '68 Olympic white Woodstock guitar, combines the reverse headstock with flipped pickups (I kinda wish they had flipped the tremolo too), and i'm curious to try one soon. Recently, Jeff Beck has adopted the reverse headstock on his Strats for the same reasons of string tension and feel, sighting his reignited love of Hendrix as the inspiration. The reality is, none of us have Jimi's hands, mind, or soul, the most crucial elements of his sound... but that doesn't mean we can't try to capture everything else.

Peace.

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A Brief History of Fuzz

In July of 1947, a "weather ballon" crashed on farmland near Roswell, New Mexico. By the end of that year, the transistor was invented, a revolutionary device unlike anything before it, made of a strange crystal substance called "Germanium", sparking a period of exponential technological advancement and paving the way for the semiconductor and microprocessor industries we know today. Coincidence? Conspiracy theorists like myself think not. But I digress...

Fine, you tell me where Third Stone From The Sun came from...

No, aliens did not bring us the first fuzz tone pedal (although it would've made a great sequel to Crossroads if Jimi Hendrix sold his soul to E.T. for a Fuzz Face), but as the Germanium transistor began replacing vacuum tubes in gain stage circuits, the smaller size, lower voltage, and cheaper price opened up a whole new world to electronics enthusiasts, beginning with transistor radio kits in the mid '50s. Manufacturers such as GE, Mullard, and Phillips published "cookbooks" of basic circuits utilizing their products in an effort to sell more units (somewhere, I have one of these original books, given to me by my college audio engineering professor). The guitar world owes a great deal of gratitude to these simple hobbyist guides, and would hear the results a decade later.

Although there are prior instances of accidentally (or intentionally) overdriving guitars on recordings throughout the 1950s, there are two competitors for the first use of a fuzz (please bear with me on the timeline, as many of these events occurred near simultaneously); in 1960, producer Lee Hazelwood, known for his work with rockabilly guitarist Duane Eddy, had his own standalone fuzz box built by a radio engineer in Phoenix, and it was used on Sanford Clark's song Go On Home by guitarist Al Casey. Depending on exactly when Hazelwood had this box commissioned, and no one seems to know, it may have predated all others.

Meanwhile, in Nashville, Marty Robbins recorded his hit Don't Worry in 1960, on which bassist Grady Martin played through a broken channel of the Langevin tube mixing board, resulting in an overdriven bass solo that recording engineer Glen Snoddy loved and refused to fix. This eventually led Snoddy to create his own fuzztone prototype, a three-transistor circuit utilizing Germanium 2N270s which he brought to the attention of the Gibson guitar company in 1962. This prototype became the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1, the world's first commercially available fuzz pedal.

A Maestro Fuzz-Tone ad by Gibson, and an original FZ-1 unit with attached instrument cable.

Inspired by Grady Martin's bass tone, another fuzz box was made in California by musician and electronics tech Orville "Red" Rhodes, a simple transistor circuit housed in a metal box with level knob and on/off switch. While never going into production, a few of these "Rhodes" fuzz tones were built for friends, including Nokie Edwards and Billy Strange of The Ventures, who used it on "2,000 Pound Bee" in 1962, the first known use of a fuzz tone on a rock'n'roll record.

Across the pond, Vox design engineer Dick Denney claims to have prototyped a simple 2-transistor fuzz circuit in 1962, based on transistor cookbook circuits and likely inspired by those American recordings and/or the Maestro unit, but as the Maestro was not selling much in America at the time, Vox did not pursue the production of this design yet. A couple years later, in 1964, English electronic tech Roger Mayer was approached by a young session guitarist named James Patrick "Jimmy" Page to build him something that would capture the sound of The Ventures' fuzz guitar, before anything of the sort was available for sale in London. Mayer's original pedal was rumored to be similar to the FZ-1 circuit (although he claims to have never seen one in person), but used Mullard Germanium transistors as well as several other components more easily available in the UK, giving a richer tone with more sustain than the Maestro. Page is rumored to have used this unique pedal for the next few years, both on session recordings and later with the Yardbirds.

Back in the States, Gibson produced 5,000 FZ-1 units in it's first production run of 1962, initially marketed as a way to imitate the sound of a baritone sax or trombone with a bass guitar, with extremely disappointing sales. So disappointing that in 1963, only three units were made, followed by zero in '64. The pedal was viewed as nothing more than a novelty by most, until Keith Richards stepped on one in 1965 to simulate a horn section playing the melody of the Stones' new song, "Satisfaction". Keith originally envisioned an arrangement closer to how Otis Redding would eventually record the tune and never intended the fuzz guitar version to be released, but the scratch track worked so well, it remained, and modern music would never be the same.

A 1965 Maestro FZ-1A, reissued by popular demand.

Suddenly, everyone wanted a fuzz; Maestro reissued the original Fuzz-Tone as the FZ-1A in America. As the unit was expensive to import and difficult to obtain in England, design engineers in the West End music shops got busy. The most notable was Gary Hurst, employee of the Macari's Musical Exchange on Denmark Street; Upon the request of Vic Flick (creator of the James Bond theme) for more sustain out of the Maestro unit, Hurst swapped out the original transistors for Mullard OC75s, adjusted the bias voltage for a smoother, less harsh tone, built it into a wooden wedge-shaped enclosure, and named it the Tone Bender. The original models, now known as the Tone Bender MkI, were used by Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, and Mick Ronson, amongst others. Hurst formed Sola Sound Ltd. with Larry Macari, and the first run of metal-enclosed Tone Benders were produced for sale exclusively at the Musical Exchange.

 Tone Bender wooden-box prototype (left), and a 1st-run production model (right)

By 1966, everyone had a hand in the fuzz game; the Mosrite Fuzz-rite and Sam Ash Astrotone were fellow American responses to the Maestro, and Vox finally jumped in with the V816 Distortion Booster, a two-transistor unit based on Denney's earlier prototype that plugged directly into the output jack of the guitar itself. There was also a two-transistor Tone Bender pedal under the Vox name, licensed from Hurst and manufactured in Italy, with curious circuit origins; Denney says it's his original 2-transistor design, while Hurst has both laid claim to and denied designing a 2-tranny circuit in separate instances. Either way, this model became known as the Tone Bender Mk1.5, although there was no labeled designation at the time. The circuit was also virtually identical to that of another London-based manufacturer, Ivor Arbiter and Arbiter Music, whose Face line of effects pedals were based on the look of a round mic stand base, and included the Treble & Bass Face, Trem Face, and of course, the Fuzz Face.

A 1966 Arbiter ad featuring the Fuzz Face, and a vintage Fuzz Face pedal

The Arbiter Electronics Ltd. Fuzz Face was made incredibly popular by one James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, who began using the pedal in late '66 to overdrive his already-cranked Marshall Super Lead amps. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was also a fan of the Fuzz Face, using it heavily throughout the late 60s and early 70s on both recordings and live. These early designs, using now-coveted NKT-275 Germanium transistors, varied greatly with guitar output level and pickup impedance, and players like Hendrix and Gilmour preferred Stratocasters for this very reason, cranking the knobs on the pedal and using the guitar's volume and tone controls to vary from clean to over-the-top dirty and all shades in between (the Fuzz Face-Strat combo is just about the perfect pairing, as tonemeisters Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson later discovered as well). Depending on where and when it was purchased, a Fuzz Face could be labeled "Arbiter England", "Dallas-Arbiter", "Dallas Music Industries Ltd.", "CBS/Arbiter Ltd.", or even "Sound City", after the shop owned by Arbiter in London's West End. Nowadays, Jim Dunlop has reissued several versions of the Fuzz Face, including later silicon transistor circuits.

It's important to note at this time that Germanium crystal transistors are incredibly inconsistent, with leakage, voltage, and temperature fluctuations a constant issue. Meticulous designers like Gary Hurst and Roger Mayer would measure the hFE gain of each unit, accounting for leakage and ideal voltage, using the appropriate bias resistors, and still sort through a hundred pieces just to find maybe 30 choice units. Many guitarists even preferred to use 9-volt batteries that were nearly dead, rather than fresh, for a warmer tone. When manufacturers such as Arbiter and Vox began mass producing these designs, that attention to detail was lost, and quality suffered. By the end of the 60's, most designers and manufacturers had switched to the newer and more consistent silicon transistors with great result, although there is nothing quite like a carefully selected and properly tuned Germanium fuzz, in my humble opinion.

A Macari's Musical Exchange ad for the Tone Bender MkII (top), original Tone Bender MkII & Marshall Supa Fuzz units (middle left), two versions of the Vox Tone Bender (middle right), and a sextet of MkIII models (bottom).

Later in '66, Gary Hurst refined his three-transistor design further in the Tone Bender Professional MkII, still manufactured by Sola Sound as well as licensed to other companies in the form of the Marshall Supa Fuzz and again as the Vox Tone Bender. This OC75 (sometimes OC81D) design became one of the most popular and widely-used fuzz circuits in England, due to it's thick, smooth yet expressive sound, incredibly intense at full guitar volume but capable of a similar range as the Fuzz Face when backed down. Being used by Jimmy Page on the first Led Zeppelin album and Jeff Beck on Truth (in the form of a Supa Fuzz) didn't hurt it's legacy, either; the MkII was the pinnacle of Germanium transistor circuits, as it was a bit more user-friendly than the Fuzz Face and less finicky with guitar pickup impedance matching (Page used it with his Tele, Beck with his Les Paul, two instruments not known to be as friendly with a Fuzz Face as a Strat).

Further revisions of the Tone Bender evolved in the 1968 MkIII and '70 MkIV models under the new Sola Sound Colorsound brand, now featuring tone controls and brightly-colored metal enclosures, while Gary Hurst became less and less involved with the company at this point. These fuzz circuits could also be found licensed as the Rotosound Fuzz Box, Park Fuzz Sound, and Vox Tone Bender (yet again). The Colorsound brand was widely popular, although these would be the last of the "vintage" Hurst 3-transistor circuits, and would never eclipse the legacy of the Professional MkII.

Some guitarist doing yoga alongside his original Vox wah, Octavio, & Fuzz Face pedals (Univibe hidden far right).

An original Roger Mayer Octavio (left), a Tycobrahe Octavia (center), and a Mayer Axis Fuzz (right)

1967 also brought us the landmark fuzz tone masterpiece Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, featuring both the Arbiter Fuzz Face and the new Roger Mayer-designed Octavio pedal, the first pedal to produce an upper-octave harmonic ghosting effect in addition to fuzz by utilizing full-wave rectification circuitry (listen to the "Purple Haze" guitar solo for an example of this). Originally using a small transformer to achieve this, the circuit was later altered to use transistors and diodes for the effect. The design was allegedly copied and reproduced in the U.S. as the Tycobrahe Octavia, one of the rarest pedals ever made, with much debate as to it's exact origin; it could have been an employee of Mayer's that went rogue, or a broken Octavio that Jimi dropped off locally to be fixed and never returned to pick up. The original Octavio has recently been reissued by Jim Dunlop, along with the Fuzz Face and Jimi's other favorite effects. Roger Mayer also has a full line of pedals based on his original 60s designs.

Later in '67, Mayer would design the silicon-transistor UFO-shaped Axis Fuzz (see? my conspiracy theory might be valid!), as inconsistency in Fuzz Face components and build quality often led to Jimi sorting through a dozen units in order to find one or two that met his standards. Arbiter would respond with their own silicon Fuzz Face in a blue-grey enclosure, also used by David Gilmour along with the original Germanium model.

Three Super-Fuzz pedals, an original '68 Univox (left), a '70s Univox and Ibanez Standard Fuzz (right) 

Japan jumped into the fuzz scene in 1968 with the Univox Super-Fuzz, a silicon-transistor design manufactured by Shin-Ei incorporating similar qualities of both the Tone Bender and Octavia, as it provided a thick, rich fuzz tone with the additional upper octave harmonic. This became Pete Townshend's fuzz of choice throughout the next decade, including the infamous Live At Leeds album, and is currently favored by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Later in the 1970s, the Super-Fuzz circuit was licensed to Ibanez and rebranded as the Standard Fuzz. 

Around this same time, the Fender Blender and Ampeg Scrambler octave-fuzzes also came onto the scene as their respective manufacturers' first forays into the fuzz world. Although not very popular at the time, both developed strong cult followings and were later reissued.

Two early Muffs, the first "triangle" version (left), and the "Ram's head" 2nd version (right).

The shift to silicon transistor circuits paved the way for America's next massive contribution in the form of Mike Matthews' Big Muff in 1969. Manufactured by Matthews' Electro-Harmonix brand, this 4-transistor circuit was the biggest, thickest-sounding fuzz to date, and ushered in a new era of tone. David Gilmour became a Big Muff aficionado in the mid-70s and lasting for the rest of his career, using many of the various circuit revisions (particularly the v2 "Ram's Head" model) both in studio and concert, including their epic The Wall album and tour (the "Comfortably Numb" solo is pure Muff). Hendrix is rumored to have purchased one of the first models before his death, and Carlos Santana used one throughout the 70s. Muffs saw a resurgence in the early '90s by alternative groups like the Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, and Dinosaur Jr., and again in recent years by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and Jack White. 

An original fuzz-covered fOXX Tone machine (left), and fOXX Fuzz&Wa&Volume pedal (right)

Timeless designs like these rarely go out of style, and the Big Muff quickly influenced it's competitors, the most notable of which was the fOXX Tone Machine in 1971, a purple fuzzy velour-covered 4-transistor fuzz with a switchable upper octave that was much stronger and (in my opinion) more usable than the Octavia or Super-Fuzz as a stand-alone octave effect. The Tone Machine was and still is a big favorite of ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, and has also been used by Adrian Belew and Peter Frampton over the years. The same octave fuzz circuit can also be found in the fOXX Fuzz&Wa&Volume Machine pedal, including (you guessed it) wah and volume with a treadle foot controler. Justin Chancellor, bassist of the prog-metal group Tool, uses one of these original pedals in his massive rig, along with a Tone Bender MkIII. 

Three silicon Tone Benders: a Supa, a Fuzz, and a Jumbo.

Sola Sound/Colorsound also responded to the Big Muff with the silicon 4-transistor Supa Tone Bender in 1973, as used by Steve Hackett of Genesis. The same circuit would also be labeled as the Tone Bender Fuzz, and a simplified variation as the Jumbo Tone Bender in 1975. Aside from the Tone Bender name, these were purely Muff clones and beared no relation to the classic Gary Hurst Tone Bender circuits.

My friend Kurt Martin's Experience pedal; he was smart enough to grab an original.

Although the fOXX company didn't last very long, the Tone Machine inspired the Prescription Electronics Experience pedal of the early '90s, one of the first true boutique pedals of the modern era, hand-built and custom painted (each pedal was unique), featuring a separate footswitch for the octave effect as a much-needed improvement over the original toggle switch of the fOXX. The Experience also featured a Swell circuit to simulate Jimi's backward guitar, based on the rare Boss SG-1 Slow Gear pedal of the 80s (I'm still kicking myself for not purchasing an Experience pedal in 1994 when I first tried one at a Sam Ash store). The custom one-of-a-kind psychedelic paint jobs were gone by the end of the 90s, replaced by solid-colored enclosures to increase production. Prescription Electronics eventually went out of business, but not before paving the way for other boutique builders such as Fulltone, Z.Vex, Menatone, and many others.

Each of these designers and manufacturers could warrant a blog of their very own, and many do exist, but for the sake of brevity, I've kept this timeline limited to the more poignant and influential models throughout the 60s and 70s. While there are many other incredible pedals out there, most are derived from and owe a debt of gratitude to the models featured here. A few current manufacturers make excellent modern interpretations of the classics in addition to the Jim Dunlop reissues, particularly Analogman in the US and D*A*M in the UK. I've got one of each, an Analogman Sun Face with 2SB Germanium transistors that sounds like pure Hendrix heaven, and a D*A*M Tone Bender Professional MkII that can wake the Gods like the hammer of Thor when cranked. Gabriel Currie of Echopark also makes a great Germanium fuzz, the F-1, reminiscent of the original Maestro and Mosrite Fuzzrite designs, but with it's own unique character and incredible interaction with guitar volume. Most importantly, the original designs that helped shape modern music are still alive and well in these great products.

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Psychedelic Citrus: The Story of Orange Amplifiers

What was the best way to draw attention to your music shop during the cultural explosion of Swinging London in 1968? Paint it the most vivid, psychedelic shade of orange possible, and allow guitar luminaries like Peter Green, Paul Kossoff, and Jimmy Page to hang out.

The original Orange shop in London's West End

Clifford Cooper was a guitarist, amateur electronic engineer, and aspiring record producer, with plans to build a recording studio in an empty, neglected storefront at 3 New Compton Road in London's West End, not far from Carnaby Street fashions or the Denmark Street music shops. The studio itself would be in the basement, for soundproofing reasons, leaving the empty storefront to serve as a hangout. With little funds to spare on advertising, Cooper figured the best way to turn heads would be to paint his shop the brightest, most vivid shade of his favorite color possible, interior as well as exterior, and Orange Recording Studio was created. This drew the ire of his neighbors, attracting both the type of customers he desired and other businesses reviled.

While Cooper had acquired some basic recording equipment and experience from his time in the band The Millionaires, having recorded with British legend Joe Meek, the studio business was a tough one, especially with the competition he was up against in London at the time, and struggled to make rent in those first few months. He soon turned that storefront into a retail shop by placing his band's old Vox PA system in the window; it sold that very day, and the first used gear shop in London was born, creating a swapmeet atmosphere for local musicians that favored the odd and quirky to the shiny and new. Cooper attempted to carry popular lines of new gear, but manufacturers and distributors didn't take his business seriously, as he and his employees preferred t-shirts and jeans to the jackets and ties of the Denmark street shops. At first a stumbling block, necessity would prove to be the mother of invention.

The Orange crew doing some mobile advertising (left), and the inside of the shop (right)

One day in October of '68, Peter Green, former guitarist of John Mayall's post-Clapton Bluesbreakers and leader of the new group Fleetwood Mac, was hanging out at the Orange shop with his road manager, and mentioned they needed a full backline for their upcoming U.S. tour. Cooper, seizing an opportunity, offered to supply it... tube heads powerful enough for guitar and bass, speaker cabinets, and reverb units. While Cooper had a bit of electronics knowledge, having built small amplifiers in the past, he needed help to accomplish this, and with only one month before the tour began, he reached out to a friend.

Mat Mathias had been building amps in the back of his wife's retail shop since 1962 under the brand name Matamp, an evolution of his older RadioCraft company started in 1945. The Series 2000, a simple and pure 20-watt head, used a unique bent aluminum chassis that slid into a wooden cabinet like a window frame, and although very limited in quantity, was considered extremely high quality. Cliff Cooper reached out to Mathias about building 100-watt heads for Fleetwood Mac, a combination of Mat's current designs and Cliff's ideas, sub-contracting him to handle the electronics while the wooden cabinets would be built at the Orange shop (and covered in orange tolex, naturally). Mathias agreed, under the condition that the Matamp name be displayed on the front panel, along with the large, bold Orange logo (Cooper insisted on a logo that could be seen easily on a large stage). When Cooper and Mathias asked Peter Green how he'd like these new amps to sound, he replied, "I want it to sound sweet, but not like treacle. Like honey." The design used a pair of high-powered 6550/KT88 tubes to reach the 100-watt goal, while keeping the tone clean and sweet, as per Greeny's desires. They were also some of the first amplifiers to include echo send and return jacks on the front panel, a very primitive passive effects loop. The six prototype heads, sixteen speaker cabinets, and a couple of spring reverb units were completed in just under a month, 28 days to be exact, and Mathias hit the road with Fleetwood, keeping the amps maintained and running smoothly.

An original Matamp 2000 atop an early OR100 

After the tour, production began on a full lineup of Orange/Matamp designs. Mathias realized while traveling with the band that they'd have to switch from the aluminium chassis to steel in order to withstand the rigors of the road, and while he was busy building the amps, Cliff Cooper was making friends with everyone on the London scene. From '69-'72, three amplifier models, along with a spring reverb unit, slave amp (a 100-watt solid-state power amp), and 4x12" cabinets were manufactured; the OR100, derived from the original 100-watt prototypes but now using four EL34 power tubes for a more popular dirty tone, the ORST 50-watt "student" head, and the OR200 bass head using four 6550/KT88s, competing on every level with Marshall, Hiwatt, and other British amp makers of the day. The oversized speaker cabinets used Celestion "Greenback" G12M and G12H speakers, and sounded as huge as they looked.

A rare Matamp-branded reverb unit (possibly reboxed), atop an early OR100 

Peter Green (left) and Danny Kirwan (right) of Fleetwood Mac, with Orange heads and reverb units on top.

Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash with his Orange amps

Peter Green, along with fellow Fleetwood Mac members Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer, and John McVie, were still the most prominent Orange endorsers, with Andy Powell and Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash sporting an Orange backline, and Paul Kossoff of Free using them occasionally to great result, as seen here. Jimmy Page would become one of the most well-known Orange players beginning in 1971, using Orange heads along with his Marshalls throughout the '70s and still to this day. An OR200, one of two built for Page and seen on The Song Remains the Same, was found in a garage in New Jersey, where it literally served as a rat's nest for years. It was cleaned up and sold on Ebay in 2009 by our local music store, the Rutherford Music Exchange, for $30,000.00 U.S. to an anonymous collector. The front panel engraving and Union Jack were added later by Orange after a factory modification (note the depth of both the oversized head and speaker cab).

"Custom Built For Jimmy Page" OR200, as displayed at Rutherford Music Exchange, 2009,
and seen at Madison Square Garden, 1973 (above left)

Although never official endorsers, Black Sabbath filmed one of the first and most iconic music videos ever using a full Orange backline, creating a cult-like Orange following among Sabbath-inspired stoner rock bands for decades to come, including Sleep, The Sword, and Wolfmother.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid video, my personal introduction to both metal & Orange.

The Orange "Voice of the World" crest

Along with the success of their amplifiers, the Orange Shop became even more popular, as Cooper began importing Fender and Gibson guitars from America, providing Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash with the first of his trademark Gibson Flying Vs. It's notable that Eric Clapton purchased a very rare lefty Stratocaster in Olympic white finish at the Orange shop on September 17th, 1970, which he planned to present as a gift to Jimi Hendrix later that night; he never did meet with Jimi, though, and Hendrix passed away in the morning of the very next day.

Following the same entrepreneurial spirit that started the Orange company, Cliff Cooper began making deals with many venues and production companies, and his brilliant marketing led to Orange becoming the official backline provider for the BBC's outdoor events, as well as festivals like Reading, Isle of Wight, and even the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, leading to the company slogan "Voice of the World" and a Coat-of-Arms-style crest logo. By the end of '72, Orange was outselling Marshall in Europe (there's even a rumor that Marshall began producing more orange-covered amps than just the usual custom orders in an effort to compete), but Mat Mathias' expanded amp factory could not keep up with demand, as many backorders accumulated. Mathias insisted on maintaining his meticulous, painstakingly high production standards at the sake of quantity, but Cooper wanted more cost-effective production methods and higher numbers. The two amicably dissolved their working relationship, with Cooper calling Mathias "A real gentleman for whom I have always had nothing but the greatest admiration." Mathias would bring back the Matamp brand and continue building handmade amps until his death in 1989, while the company has carried on under various owners since.

An original '73 "Pics Only" head, inspired by English road signs

The next phase for Orange came when R&D engineer John James designed the "Graphic Valve Amplifier", nicknamed simply "Pics Only". The unique faceplate of this model used graphic images to describe the knob functions, inspired by English countryside road signs, and became instantly polarizing for it's quirky new looks. It was also the first Orange amp available in a combo format, a 2x12" with Celestion Greenback speakers. By the end of 1973, production had moved to a larger facility and an extremely efficient assembly line, resulting in 20-30 amps manufactured per day. Orange began exporting to the U.S. for the first time, and the "Pics Only" head was slightly revised, both internally and cosmetically, adding text along with the graphics to avoid confusion (referred to as "Pics & Text"). The model names were also changed to reflect exaggerated output power rather than the original conservative RMS wattage ratings, upping the ante of the OR120 (120 watts) and OR80 (80 watts), again in both head and combo formats (the circuits were essentially the same, and this was mainly done to get a leg up on the competition). The Graphic design amp would become the most popular Orange ever, and the most widely-found of all the vintage models due to increased production and exporting. While some prefer the sound of the original Orange Matamps, there is no denying the influence of the Graphic series in the mid-70s and beyond.

A 1975 "Pics & Text" OR120, the most commonly found model in the U.S. and basis for future style

In 1975, a line of combos and head with Hammond spring reverb and tremolo called the Custom Reverb Twin, aka "Hustler", was designed to compete with the ever-popular Fender Twin Reverb, and combined a pristine clean tone with the fat crunch Orange had become known for, but with a new look of smaller multicolored knobs and a grey speaker grill. 1976 saw the introduction of the Overdrive line, based on the popular Graphics series but featuring a Master Volume control to allow cranked tones at lower volumes, which was becoming increasingly in vogue for amp design everywhere. 

Firmly established by the mid-70's as a premier instrument amplification company, Cooper set his sights on more diverse territory, and began experimenting with mixing boards, DJ equipment, solid state amps, and even digital processing, forming OMEC and developing a digital guitar amp (the first ever of it's kind and years ahead of its time), but never reaching the same heights of success as his early amp lines. By 1979, the original Orange shop was demolished, along with the rest of the storefronts on New Compton street; Orange would lay relatively dormant throughout the 1980s and early '90s, with Cooper building only small numbers of amps on a special order basis. Gibson attempted to revive the Orange name in 1993, but were not successful, and gave the rights back to Cooper in '97. A reawakening was about to begin.

The Orange line, circa 1978, including PA speakers, mixing board, turntables, and of course guitar amps.

An incredible collection of '70s Orange, top row from left: Pics & Text head, 
Overdrive head, Pics & Text, Overdrive in custom cab;
Bottom row: Pics only, Pics only, Orange/Matamp OR120, Pics only;
Front: PA monitor wedge, Custom Reverb Twin "Hustler" 2x12" combo.

1998 would witness a rebirth of the Orange name, with Noel Gallagher of Oasis leading the way, working with Cooper and new technical director Adrian Emsley to combine the best of the early years with the needs of current times. Noel initially used the Overdrive heads of the late '70s, but desired more crunch; this led to the OTR 80 and 120 heads, bearing a striking resemblance to those '70s classics with improved circuitry and quality. The AD series was launched soon after that, featuring Class A electronics and EL84 tubes, and receiving much critical acclaim and success; models included the AD30 head, AD30R 2x12" combo, and AD15 1x12" or 1x10" combo. An EL34-based AD50 head, switchable from 50 watts Class AB to 30 watts Class A, would combine the old with new designs, and the monster 200-watt AD200B bass head, utilizing four 6550/KT88 tubes, payed homage to the original OR200 (my favorite bass amp ever, personally). 

Noel Gallagher with a pair of Orange stacks, circa '98

Jimmy Page and his Orange AD50 heads at the 2007 Celebration Day reunion concert

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta was a dedicated user of the newer Orange line,
with an AD30 early on and a Rockerverb head here.

Orange would follow this rebirth with several successful designs, incorporating channel switching into heads and combos, introducing the Rockerverb series, Tiny Terror mini tube heads and combos, Orange Crush solid-state practice amps, and many variations of its older designs, all with the signature orange tolex that started it all in 1968. Cooper is back to his great marketing tricks, bringing in the endorsees left and right, including Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, John McVie of Fleetwood Mac (again), The Eagles of Death Metal, Devon Allman, harder-edged bands such as Slipknot, Down, Mastodon, the Deftones, and many more. Clifford Cooper's "Voice of the World" mission statement is alive and well, and stage backlines are psychedelic orange once again, everywhere.

The man, the myth, the legend, Clifford Cooper.

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