Interview with Alex from Orange Amplifiers

Here is an Interview with the one and only Orange Amps. If you have any questions Comment away and they would feel free to answer any!



Thanks to Craigslist, I began working at Orange as an intern in the winter of 2005. Fresh out of college with a degree in history, I didn’t want to get a real job yet (which would require me to get rid of my piercings and shoulder-length hair). Some of my duties included grabbing lunch for the office, picking up heavy objects, and cold-calling dealers to remind them that Orange is a real company with actual products they can purchase. It’s funny to think that only 7 years ago Orange was almost unheard of in the USA.

After about six months as an intern my (now) wife and I traveled to Europe for a month and Orange was unable to rehire me upon my return. Literally the next day I became the “Executive Vice President” of a start-up web development company that outsourced to a team of about 40 employees in the Ukraine. That job lasted exactly 365 days and ended when the Russian mafia members we had paid to protect our Ukrainian operation decided they’d rather throw bricks through our windows and threaten our employees rather than actually protect us.

During the year I was gone from Orange we underwent some major changes, including a restructuring that saw the team reduced to only (4) employees. I was rehired in an Inside Sales position, once again cold-calling dealers and performing various customer service activities, one of which included answering the phone and forwarding calls to our Artist Relations rep. I witnessed a lot of calls from very well-known musicians fall on deaf ears during that time. It greatly upset me and so when our AR rep was let-go I knew I needed to speak-up and request the position. I was given the job and that has since evolved into my current title of “Marketing Manager,” which includes marketing for Orange on a global basis, as well as heading up US artist relations.


I had to pause when I read this question and really think it through. Almost every guitar amplifier manufacturer does at least one thing really well. We’ve all got our own unique tone that we strive to perfect. For Orange, that tone is “classic British crunch.” For the money, no one does it better.

Don’t get me wrong. Our amps are capable of more than just crunch. But when developing new products we always try to maintain a solid crunch as the base tone.

Also, Orange is striving to become an industry-leading innovator in tube technology. We have a 45 year history of “industry firsts”. That list includes the world’s first programmable digital guitar amplifier, the first “lunchbox” amps (Tiny Terror), and DIVO technology, which is an add-on to tube amps that performs real-time tests to keep your tubes running at their best. At Winter NAMM 2013 we’ll be launching a product that will absolutely revolutionize tube technology for the masses.


For hanging around the house and non-full band rehearsals: Micro Terror (MT20) Guitar Amp

For the guitarist ready to go pro: Rockerverb 50 MKII. My favorite all-around UK-built guitar amp chock full of every imaginable tone.

BUT, if you can only get one piece of Orange gear that is guaranteed to improve your tone, buy any one of our speaker cabinets. Cabs are one of our highest selling products worldwide. I have a ton of artists switching over every week. Take your current guitar amp, whatever it may be, and run it through an Orange cab. Your amp’s tone will become immediately richer, thicker, and more expressive. Our cabs allow the player to really hear and understand their amp’s tone.


If I said that “my love of music” inspired me then I’d be horrible at my job. People like that don’t last in this industry. I have to be inspired by my love of customer service. I have to take pride in my business skills and my ability to offer support to the thousands of artists with whom I work. It wouldn’t be enough that I liked, or was inspired by, the music. Nowadays artists have to be on the road 300+ days a year just so they can afford a new pair of those Tom’s sandal-shoe things and their daily meal at Taco Bell. There’s a million of those bands, all of them trying to break-through the noise and rise to the top, so I have to be inspired by their efforts and reward them as best I can using all of my acquired skills and knowledge.

Giveaways. Lots and lots of giveaways. Obviously we do print ads supporting new product releases and demo videos that we put on YouTube. We also attend concerts and capture gear interviews with artists to put out on the web. But for the money, there’s very few ways to reach consumers that are as cost-effective and wide-reaching as a giveaway, especially if you partner with a major artist to help with promotion. I recently gave away a Signature #4 Jim Root Terror Head and 212 Cab signed by Jim Root (Slipknot, Stonesour). I opened the contest up to the entire world and in less than a month I had expanded our email list by 80,000 registrants. Almost a quarter of those came solely from Slipknot posting a link on Facebook. Those numbers represent a CPI (Cost Per Impression) of less than $.0001.

Also, I stay VERY active on social media, in particular Facebook. The conversations we have there tell me a lot about our consumers. You can’t hide from them so you might as well step up and interact with them, hear what they have to say, and take as much of it as you can to heart. This is a form of advertising. However, if you do it well, it doesn’t come off as advertising. It’s just an open conversation where Orange receives inspiration and vice-versa with our customers.

Thanks for the opportunity gents! I look forward to seeing more interviews from my industry colleagues!

Thank you so much for the time you put into writing this! It means alot!