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Documents - the AC/30

Also the AC10, AC1/15, portable Vibravox, the new Vox Echo unit, and new guitars

1959

The material gathered on this page relates principally to the Vox AC/30, released for sale in the summer of 1959. Also encompassed in the ads below are the portable Vibravox unit, various accessories, new guitars, and normally three other amplifiers, sometimes referenced solely in terms of price - the AC10 without vibrato (27 or 29 guineas), the AC10 *with* vibrato (39 guineas); and the AC1/15 (59 guineas). The AC/30, the top of the range, was initially offered in two forms in June 1959: *without* vibrato (62 guineas), and with (70 guineas). The version without vibrato does not seem to have been mentioned again however.

Material relating to organs, which were heavily advertised by Jennings - "The Jennings Organ Company" - in the late 1950s, will be incorporated selectively. A "documents" page for 1957 will be available soon. The page on 1958 can be found here.

Film

Colin Hicks, brother of Tommy Steele and mentioned as a Vox user in September 1958, with AC1/15s in the film "Europa di notte", released in early 1959, the various sequences having been filmed in London, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Madrid, in 1958. This is probably the earliest appearance of Vox amplifiers on film.

Below, some screengrabs from a performance by "The Vipers" at the international show "Europa macht Musik", broadcast from Berlin on New Year's Eve, 1959/1960 - see the IMDB and this listings page. The aspect ratio has been corrected. In view, perhaps two AC15s, though the one on the left does seem to be a touch larger (a single speaker AC/30?). "The Vipers" had been users of Vox amplifiers since September 1958 at the latest.

Below, the second of four versions of the AC15 flyer issued by JMI from early 1958 to early 1960. This version - from the summer of 1959 - is almost-tissue paper thin.

A slightly murky shot of the reverse. The AC/30 and AC/10, various accessories below.

February 1959. The AC1/15 at 59 guineas.

March 1959.

June 1959. The AC2/30 is still available and explicitly named.

June 1959. Still the AC2/30 at 62 and 70 guineas, as above.

Detail of the above.

July 1959. The AC/30 is now available with built-in vibrato.

Detail of the above.

September 1959.

December 1959. The superior sound of Jennings accordion amplifiers, the AC1/15 again pictured.

TV Today

24th September 1959.

Melody Maker Magazine

During the course of 1959 Jennings placed relatively few adverts in "Melody Maker". All but two (not included here) appear in the last quarter of the year.