Vox AC30 - Hunts capacitors

1960-1964

A short note on the Hunts capacitors used in AC30 Twins and Super Twins, principally in the period 1960 to 1964.

An aerial view of the Hunts factory in Earlsfield (near Wimbledon), south London. The works were originally built for the Columbia Gramophone Company.

JMI used Hunts for the electrolytics required for smoothing/filtering DC voltages and for the bias circuit. They are easy to spot, having metallic blue wrappings. One also finds TCC electrolytics (Telegraph Condenser Company) - green outer wrappings or plain metal cans - in the period in view (1960-1964), but these are less common on the whole. TCCs were used more extensively from 1965, however.

WIMAs and Mullards (non-polarised) were generally used in the signal path - i.e. small value capacitors in the tone and vibrato/tremolo circuits.

Typical blue Hunts electrolytics in the power section of an AC30 with a serial number in the low 7000s.

Notes on the date codes can be found here.

Below, the various values of the electrolytics with Hunts prices from the catalogue/pricelist of 1963. Discounts were doubtless available for bulk purchases. These were indicated in the Hunts catalogue of 1965 - but by this time JMI had moved on.

PREAMP

25uf/25v - Hunts code MEW29T - price 2s/6d.

8uf + 8uf/450v - Hunts code KDQ558 (also KNQ558, KB558, JF558) - price 7s/6d.

POWER SECTION

250uf/25v - Hunts code MEF35T - price 4s/6d.

32uf/450v - Hunts code JFQ407T - price 6s/0d.

16uf + 16uf/500v - Hunts code KBQ562 - price 9s/6d.

Notes on the date codes can be found here. Below, the cover and an inner page of the catalogue of 1963 (nineteen pages in all).

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