The Vox AC30 Super Transonic - the T60 in a different guise

This page is a version of the one originally posted on the .

Vox enters the space age. Although it is sometimes said that Vox Transonics were never used in a live environment, reports from Peter Jay (of the Jaywalkers), and the pictures below of Jamie and the Raiders and The Fontanas, indicate otherwise.

For JMI, 1962 was the year of the transistor. The Transonic - or the "AC30 Super Transonic" to give it its full name - was a 30 watt amplifier "combo" primarily designed for guitar, first unveiled at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair in August 1962 - see on the Vox AC100 website - along with the T60 bass amplifier and the Vox Continental organ, with which it shares a logo.

A huge amount of thought went into the new designs, the most successful perhaps being the Continental organ. But it should be said that the T60 remained in production through to 1968. It was not a bad amplifier in spite of all that is said by those who found it difficult.

Early Vox Transonic

JMI advert of March 1963. Jet Harris had taken delivery of an early pre-production T60 in the autumn of 1962. Later amplifier sections and speaker cabinets were covered in black vinyl.

In terms of electronics, the amplifier section of the Transonic is largely a modified T60, feeding a 16ohm load in the form of 2x12" speakers in their striking closed-back cabinet. The intention was to provide something new and different, not to replace the AC30. Not even the fully-fledged transistor amps of 1967 could do that.

Production did not get going, however, until the last few months of '62. Prototypes were reported as still being in engineering in November. Few are likely to have come to market before 1963 therefore.

Below, the earliest dated "real-world" (rather than studio or trade show) picture of the Transonic that has come to light so far - the Laurie Jay Combo presented as endorsers of Jennings guitars and amplifiers - matching black Phantoms and a Transonic with integrated tremolo. Jennings was surpassingly good at getting its equipment into the hands of bands featured in TV programmes.

October 1962. By early 1963 Jay had defected to Rose-Morris and Ampeg.

Early Vox Transonic

Report in the music trade press, November 1962. The amplifier section of the Transonic was of course a modified T60.

Vox Transonic - AC30 Super Transonic - in a JMI advert of early 1963

Detail from Vox publicity material, mid 1963.

Vox Transonic - AC30 Super Transonic - in a JMI advert of early 1963

The two tweeters on the transverse bar were balanced by the counterweight at right.

A publicity shot - airbrushed - but perhaps earlier than above. Photo thanks to Kieron Campbell.

A flyer probably from early Spring 1963 illustrating the T60 bass (someitmes called the "Transonic" bass") and the Transonic itself:

The sheet came from "Rose & Son" music shop, possibly in Brighton.

Note that by late 1963 there were two versions of the Transonic: one with Volume, Treble, and Bass (three controls); the other additionally with Tremolo (four controls in total). The JMI circuit diagram for the tremolo (designated as "vibrato" but actually tremolo) is OS/041, dated 10th February, 1964.

Melody Maker magazine, 12th October, 1963

Detail from a JMI advert in "Melody Maker" magazine, 2nd February 1963 - the AC30 Super Transonic at 150 guineas = £157 10 shillings (as below).

Detail from a JMI pricelist, late 1963. The AC30 Super Transonic at £157 and 10 shillings; or 24 instalments of £6 19 shillings and 6 pence following a deposit of £15 and 15 shillings.

To come, descriptive details from Kieron Campbell of the Transonic he once owned and some shots of a surviving amplifier section belonging to Steve Walsh.

Kieron Campbell's recollections of his Transonic

"I owned one in the 60s, it was a 30w transistor amp feeding two 12” speakers with two high frequency units on the top bar."

"The speaker cab [closed rather than semi-open back] was oatmeal on the front with a thick white band around it, but the main unit was Vox Continental orange like the head unit. The whole thing sat on the floor there wasn’t any legs, I fitted four screw In legs on mine. All the fittings and head unit fitted in a big orange coloured box same as the one that came with the Vox Continental organ."

"[The tweeters] on mine they were in a metallic blue finish with a black cast metal counter weight on the other end of the bar."

"... the three spacers: two beneath the amp unit and one on top were round pyramids with holes through the centre for the bar, black in colour."

"... there was a label on the back [of the amplifier section] with the relevant info and output which was 30w."

"I’m pretty certain that the speaker load was 16ohms but it definitely stated 30w output on the label. Another oddity with it: I was nearly electrocuted because the mains cable which fitted into the head unit had pins and I had not unplugged it from the mains, luckily my mate saved the day and yanked it out of my hand before I could touch it."

Thanks to Kieron for kind permission to include his recollections here. Note that the case is only briefly described in the JMI advert further up this page.

Surviving Transonics

Serial numbers beginning at 1000, prefixed on the plate by "TS" (Transonic). Chassis numbers are part of the Vox T60 amplifier section sequence (the T60 was known as the "Transonic Bass" early on) also beginning at 1000.

Serial number 1016 - currently in the USA

Recorded by Jim Elyea, p. 529.

Serial number 1024 - currently in the UK

  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, general view
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, rear
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, detail mains connector
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, Woden transformer
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, Burndept chassis number
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, hole for mast
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, hole for mast
  • Vox AC30 Transonic amplifier, serial number plate

Thanks to Steve Walsh, pictures of a Transonic amplifier section, one of only two known to survive at present. TS-30, number 1024. The Woden tranformer has the date code "LT" = December 1962. One of the Hunts capacitors has "HYH" = 20th week of 1962. The chassis was assembled by Burndept, chassis number 1093, the sequence beginning at 1000 .

Bands with Transonics

The Jaywalkers with an early Vox Transonic

"Beat Monthly" magazine, May 1963. Picture often reproduced but without the date and source, both important. The Jaywalkers had two Transonics that were used live. Both disintegrated alas.

The Jaywalkers with an early Vox Transonic

August 1963. The Jaywalkers fully transistorised.

The Jaywalkers with an early Vox Transonic

The Jaywalkers on stage, summer 1963, one of the amps later returned to Dartford Road in pieces.

Early Vox Transonic

Note that the logo of the Transonic was borrowed from the early Vox Continental organs. In the picture above, Roger Mabey of "The Saxons" with a version 1 Continental from 1962.

amie and the Raiders with a Vox Transonic amplifier

Jamie and the Raiders, posed shot.

amie and the Raiders with a Vox Transonic amplifier

Jamie and the Raiders live. Pictures

The Fontanas with an early Vox Transonic amplifier

The Fontanas, a Wakefield band. Picture .

Vox Transonic amplifier

Screen-grab from . "SOR" is "Sale or Return".