Antero wrote:What is the relationship between Green Amps, Electric Amps, and Matamps, and why are their websites so fucking circular?
The Matamp 2000 was first made in 1963. I think the dude had been fixing radios since the late 40s.
Cliff Cooper contracted Matamp to make Orange amplifiers, which he sold through his Austin Powersesque storefronts. The amps were part of a larger Orange brand - a recording studio, retail record and music equipment shop, a record label, a publishing company, PR, etc. They had an orange painted promotional dunebuggy with a PA mounted to the rollbar that they would drive around. I think the guy overextended himself and put out a solid state line that was total shit. Orange tanked.
This part might be wrong, but from what I understand Matamp decided to take up the slack left by the dissolution of Orange by producing Red, Black, Blue and Green amps that were similar in appearence to the Oranges. The only difference between the brands was the color. There was a White brand that had a goofy pseudo puffy graffitti logo that was pretty badass. I think those had their own designs. Eventually those Whites got axed and they ended up looking/sounding like all the others.
Matamp was being distributed in the states by Electric. The relationship soured in the late 90s for some reason. Electric started producing their own amp line in the US based on Matamp designs.
The new UK Matamps are fucking batshit. The circuit routing makes Dave Reeves Hiwatts look like something from Montgomery Ward.
