New Guitar Amp Doubles as Low-Profile PC

Musician by day, gamer by night

From Orange Amplifiers: The OPC, a “fully fledged” computer that also doubles as an amp. Like any other amp, Orange’s creation accepts audio via its 1/4” TRS jack, and knobs to control volume, balance, treble, and bass (no, none of them go up to 11 unfortunately). 

Visually, the OPC looks like any other guitar amp. Plug in a keyboard, mouse, and display however, and you’ll find that this amp runs Windows Home Premium 64-bit. As a computer, the OPC has a big advantage out of the box. It’s directly connected to amp-worthy speaker hardware, meaning no other computer has louder integrated speakers.

The PC itself is no slouch, with a default configuration featuring 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, “Intel chips” (reportedly a Core 2 Duo), and an integrated GeForce 9300. Those looking to game after jams can opt for a dedicated ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB of memory.

Other computer-like trappings of the OPC include its 8 USB 2.0 ports, VGA and DVI out, and an antenna for the integrated Wi-Fi hardware. Orange plans to bundle audio software with each unit, allowing users to record directly from instruments and morph audio output via modeling. Both computers and amps get really hot on their own, but Orange says the OPC’s cooling system will make sure everything’s cool.

The OPC looks good, hopefully sounds great, and best of all, isn’t a concept. Orange Amplifiers promises a June 2010 release, with the price to be “announced shortly”. Stay tuned (pun intended)!

Orange Launches its New PC Division With the Introduction of The OPC