Why are orange amps so expensive?

Answer 1

Before I say anything else, by "Orange" I'm going to assume you mean their top of the line tube products: IE the OR100, Rockerverb, AD series, etc, and not the little Crush practice amps.

In that case, the question isn't what makes orange amps in particular expensive, but tube amplifiers in general- The Oranges are actually fairly reasonably priced for a 100-watt tube head, and if it's out of your price range you probably can't afford a proper tube amp in the first place.

That said, the problem lies in components. Tube amplification is very old technology compared to solid state transistors, and many of the parts aren't readily available for purchase. Many times, an amp manufacturer has to have components custom-ordered or found and reproduced from very limited stock. Using high quality, limited stock electronics has a nasty tendency to drive the price through the roof.

So is it worth cheaping out on a tube amp? Probably not. A lot of times cheaper tube amplifiers cut so many corners that you may as well be using the ever cheaper solid state transistor technology, or even a modeling amp. This is evident in Marshall's MA and DSL series amplifiers: They're marketed as budget tube heads, but end up sounding like crap because the components are flimsy, not wired properly, the pots are crackly and inefficient and they have poor quality control.

My advice? Stick with solid state amps until you can afford a high-quality amp. If you cheap out, you're probably not going to know the difference anyway.