The Orange Matamp is an Orange amplifier. Close alternatives include the Soldano SLO and the Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp. It pairs well with the Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra 10 Red and the EarthQuaker Devices White Light.
Orange Matamp
Orange · amplifier
The Orange Matamp is the amplifier behind Peter Green's earliest and most celebrated Fleetwood Mac tone, built by Mat Mathias's Huddersfield company Matamp and sold through Cooper's Orange Music Shop in London, the retail connection that gave the amps their Orange branding before Orange became its own standalone amplifier company. Green toured with as many as six 100-watt Matamp heads and sixteen speaker cabinets at once, and when he described to Mathias how he wanted the amp to sound, he asked for something sweet but not like treacle, more like honey, a description that became something of a founding philosophy for the brand's voicing. Green later moved on to Fender amps including a Dual Showman Reverb, Twin Reverb, and Deluxe Reverb, but the Matamp era remains the amp most identified with his defining early Fleetwood Mac guitar tone.
What stands out
“Fleetwood Mac historians and blues-rock tone chasers treat the Matamp as inseparable from Green's earliest, most influential recorded work, the amp behind the tone that would go on to influence generations of blues guitarists”
— from the community notes
“he asked for something sweet”
— from the listing
“As with any vintage British amp from this era, condition and originality of components vary significantly between surviving units, a real consideration for collectors specifically chasing this exact tone …”
— from the reviews
“Green later moved on to Fender amps including a Dual Showman Reverb, Twin Reverb, and Deluxe Reverb, but the Matamp era remains the amp most identified with his defining early Fleetwood Mac guitar tone”
— from the listing
“The Orange Matamp is the amplifier behind Peter Green's earliest and most celebrated Fleetwood Mac tone, built by Mat Mathias's Huddersfield company Matamp and sold through Cooper's Orange Music Shop in London, the retail connection that ga…”
— from the listing
- sweet
- blues rock
- fleetwood mac guitar tone
- exact tone
- singing
- smooth
- warm
- practice
Good for
- Live
Genres the Orange Matamp is commonly used in
- Blues Rock
- Blues
Pedals that stack with the Orange Matamp
Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra 10 Red
Catalinbread
42% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (warm → bright)
The Sabbra Cadabra's dark, metal-voiced overdrive pushes hard against the Matamp's sweet, singing blues-rock breakup.
Goes in front of the amp
EarthQuaker Devices White Light
EarthQuaker Devices
39% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (warm → bright)
Where this leans warm, EarthQuaker Devices White Light answers back bright
Goes in front of the amp
Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKI
Catalinbread
38% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (warm → bright)
Run Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKI after it and the warm edge settles into something more bright
Goes in front of the amp
Browne Amplification Carbon
Browne Amplification
38% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → warm)
The Matamp's sweet, singing blues-rock breakup gives the Carbon's warm, clean-boosted crunch a real amp voice.
Goes in front of the amp
Vox Valvenergy Copperhead Drive
Vox
37% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → warm)
The Matamp's sweet, singing blues-rock voice gives the Copperhead's transparent British punch somewhere warm to land.
Goes in front of the amp
Xotic Effects SL Drive
Xotic
34% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → warm)
Orange Matamp's warm balances out the bright tone
Goes in front of the amp
Browne Amplification Carbon X
Browne Amplification
32% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → warm)
Orange Matamp's warm balances out the bright tone
Goes in front of the amp
Electronic Audio Experiments Limelight
Electronic Audio Experiments
31% matchfills a frequency gapFills in a frequency range the other side doesn't cover, instead of piling more onto what's already there. (bright → warm)
Where this leans bright, Orange Matamp answers back warm
Goes in front of the amp
Alternatives
Soldano SLO
Soldano
72% similaritySoldano SLO recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp
Friedman
72% similarityFriedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Strymon Iridium
Strymon
72% similarityStrymon Iridium recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Friedman IR-D
Friedman
72% similarityFriedman IR-D recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Marshall JVM Series JVM205H
Marshall
57% similarityShared character: reverb, aggressive playing, warm
Bogner Ecstasy 101B
Bogner
54% similaritySimilar role and voicing
Marshall 1987 50-Watt Plexi
Marshall
53% similarityShared character: sweet, singing, warm
Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head (Multi-watt)
Mesa Boogie
49% similaritySimilar role and voicing
Hughes & Kettner TriAmp MkII Alex Lifeson
Hughes & Kettner
48% similarityShared character: practice, aggressive playing, lead
Yamaha THR5A
Yamaha
47% similarityShared character: practice
Ceriatone Overtone Special
Ceriatone
46% similarityShared character: singing, smooth, lead
Roland JC-120H Jazz Chorus
Roland
45% similarityShared character: reverb
See all alternatives to the Orange Matamp (cheaper + boutique) →
Questions people ask
What are good alternatives to the Orange Matamp?+
The closest matches in character are the Soldano SLO, the Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp, the Strymon Iridium.
What pairs well with the Orange Matamp?+
Strong matches from rig and tone-complementarity evidence: Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra 10 Red, EarthQuaker Devices White Light, Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKI — The Sabbra Cadabra's dark, metal-voiced overdrive pushes hard against the Matamp's sweet, singing blues-rock breakup..