Documents - the Vox AC30/6 and the Super Twins
1962
Continued from the previous page. The AC30/4 is gone, and we have the "new series" AC30/6 (post "List of Changes") in various formats: the twin Normal and Bass, and the Super Twin I and II - by May also the Super Reverb/Twin/I and the Super Reverb/Twin?II.
March 2022 - page in the process of being updated. A couple of items have been moved to the page on 1963 - a catalogue and pricelist ("Choice of the Stars"), and a flyer with prices on its reverse.
"Melody Maker" magazine, 6th January, 1962. The Twin (Normal and Bass) and the standard Super Twin listed here.
Detail from a Selmer advert, 13th January, 1962. The list price of a new AC30 in a JMI pricelist published on the same day (see below) was 100 guineas (£110 and 10 shillings). What does "late model" in the Selmer ad signify? - a copper panel amp? - "post-LOC" rather than "pre-LOC" circuit? - intriguing. Copper panel amps were still new in January '62, only around four months old, so a reduction of £20 and 10s from standard list price probably indicates something else - a late black panel amp in reasonable condition?
As for the first amp at £75 - an early "pre-LOC" model? - or perhaps another black panel AC30 from later 1961 priced in line with its condition? At any rate, that amp was £35 and 10s cheaper - a substantial amount - than a new one.
Detail from a JMI pricelist, 13th January, 1962.
"Melody Maker" magazine, 12th May, 1962. The first mention in these small ads of the Super Twins with reverb. Prices, where comparable, are the same as those in the list above, 6th January, 1962.
"Melody Maker" magazine, 25th May, 1962.
Below, an interesting glimpse of Jennings's early export drives. The Frankfurt Trade Fair of 1962 had just taken place when Andrew Cameron wrote to the Board of Trade. Frankfurt 1963 was the first continental Fair attended by JMI.
Note that the sales push had to be paused to allow production to catch up. 1962 was an important year for JMI. Burndept and Triumph Electronics were brought in as contractors to push the assembly of amplifiers forward; new transistor lines were in design (these shown for the first time at the Russell Hotel in August); and Tom had grand plans for the redevelopment and expansion of 115-119 Dartford Road, the idea being to bring production as far as possible "in-house", removing the need to contract further work out to the likes of Westrex, Burndept, and Triumph. Unfortunately, for Tom's plans the deal with Royston Industries in early 1963 was a necessary evil - and something that became a significant flaw in the company's make up, not at first perhaps, but certainly from 1964.
Music trade journal, April 1962.
Board of Trade journal, March 1962.
Music trade journal, June 1962. Tom's plans to extend the factory at Dartford Road. The need for capital led him ultimately to Royston Industries, which took a controlling interest in JMI in January 1963. From that point on the die was cast.
Gamlin Pianos, Cardiff - the full range of thirteen Vox amplifiers available. Twelve are listed in the pricelist of May 1962 (above), the thirteen will have been the T60 Bass, shown for the first time at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair in August.
"South Wales Echo", 19th October, 1962.
"Melody Maker" magazine, 27th October, 1962. The Shadows with their third set of AC30s.
"Melody Maker" magazine, 3rd November, 1962. The Shadows again.
A detail from Jim Marshall's shop pricelist published in The "Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush Gazette and Post", 13th December 1962. Based on the Uxbridge Road in Hanwell, Jim had become a Vox dealer in the late summer of '62. His prices are naturally a margin above those advertised by the Jennings shop: AC30 Twin at £115 and 10 shillings, in the Jennings shop 100 guineas (£105).
The first Vox amps Marshall is recorded as selling (in July) were an "AC2/T brand new", an AC/15, and an AC30 Twin. The AC2 had become the AC4 in late 1961, so his unit even though "brand new" must have been a year old.
13th December, 1962.
Two adverts for the new Vox Continental organ can be found on this page (along with further material relating to the organ).