2 PICS ONLY

Demand for Orange amps ramped up quickly and, in early 1970, production shifted to a larger facility in the Huddersfield area with subcontractors HH Electronics and Howells Radio helping with the workload. Within a year, however, manufacturing had relocated home to the West End. And there it stayed until 1973 when Orange escalated to assembly-line production at its new factory in Bexleyheath, Kent.

Designed in 1971, the EL34-powered ‘Pics Only’ GRO100 and GRO50 amps were launched in 1972. Boasting crunchy overdriven tones, they were the genesis of the ‘Orange sound’, becoming the benchmark for all future Orange amp designs. They had a different circuit than previously and they introduced Orange’s unique six-position FAC midrange tone switch. Later named the OR100, OR80 and OR120, these‘Pics Only’amps were rejigged in 1973 to include text on the control panel. The later ‘Pics & Text’ amps launched in 1974, comprising the classic OR120 and OR80 models.