Vox AC30: coloured covers
1961-1965
The Beatles with Syvlie Vartan, Paris, January 1964. Note the coloured AC30 covers at left - maroon/red for the Super Twin head and brown for the speaker cabinet. This amp belonged to one of the acts on the bill (not The Beatles). Picture from Getty Images, colour corrected (as far as possible).
A still from "A Hard Day's Night". In the background, the (black?) covers of one of the early AC50s, white VOX logo in cursive, along with "Precision Sound Equipment".
The very earliest covers for AC30 Twins were made of canvas, and these were still issued periodically alongside the new plastileather ones during the course of 1962. From late 1961 to 1963 - tend not to have a "VOX" logo on them.
Up to 1965 and probably some way beyond, the handle openings are edged in light brown or russet coloured leather. Thereafter, when covers are generally black (colours having been phased out), black leather is used.
A companion page on covers for Vox AC10s can be found here.
Canvas
Detail of a JMI pricelist, May 1960. The AC30 in view is a Twin rather than the single speaker model. The latter was the same size as an AC15.
Serial number 4981, late 1961 / early 1962.
Serial number 5687, autumn 1962. The patterned lining seems surprisingly modern.
Beige AC30, c. 1962, with its original red cover, perhaps canvas though the slight sheen may indicate plastileather. No white piping visible.
Plastileather
GREEN
On the left, serial number 5329 with its original green amplifier cover. On the right, serial number 9979 with a green cover for the speaker cabinet and dark brown for the amp.
A stray green cover for an early AC30/6 Super Twin amplifier section. Heavy, very pliable, "leatherette" ("plasti-leather").
OLIVE GREEN
No details of the amplifier within at present. Could just be an AC15. Block logo so likely to be from later 1963 or 1964. AC50 mark 1 and early T60 covers are known in this colour.
RED
By far the most common. Some covers have evidently darkened slightly, but generally the colour has held good.
Serial number 8243, late 1963.
First half of 1964. Stencilled with VOX in white cursive letters. Brown and black covers are also known with the logo in this form.
Second half of 1964. The cover is redder than these pictures suggest.
Super Twin serial number 2739T
MAROON / BURGUNDY
A stray cover, serial number of its amplifier unknown but probably in the 13000s. The colour rendered above is pretty accurate.
BROWN
Second half of 1964. Plain chocolate brown. LS40 column speakers also in this colour.
Mid 1964. Dark brown with white cursive VOX logo. A set of AC50 mark 1 covers survives in this colour.
Later 1964 / early 1965.
ORANGE
Later 1964. Serial number 14317T.
Probably a good deal earlier than the example above - no leather surrounds to the handles and no piping. Probably for an AC15, but could be from an AC30.
BLACK
Plain black, light-coloured leather handle surrounds.
Plain black, block logo.
1964. A rare example of an AC30 Expanded Frequency cover. Heavy vinyl; VOX logo in small letters.
Slope-sided AC30 Super Twins and Super Reverb Twins
In the USA, the slope sided were often fitted out in later decades with covers originally made for Thomas Organ Vox Buckingham amplifiers. Thomas covers are fairly readily identifiable: those for speaker cabinets normally have slits down the sides to accommodate the hand-wheels of the trolleys. Those for amplifier sections have smooth black edging around the cutout for the handle. JMI covers have brown leather edging, and no slits.
Below, AC30 Super Twin serial number 4817, exported to Europe in late 1965 or early 1966, with its original black plastileathers.
