Vox AC30 website updates
June 2021
30th June
Material on the Vox Continental coming shortly - to be incorporated in the Jennings Organs section of the site. For the time being, a quick shot of one of the best ads that Vox put out in 1963:
28th June
Serial number 6928B: a Super Twin, dimpled vinyl, leather handles, speakers with April 1963 date codes. Thanks to Bill for the pic. and info.
27th June
Thanks to Peter, pics of AC30 Super Reverb Twin serial number 2881 with added Top Boost. Brown grille cloth, grey panel. Probably produced in the third quarter of '64. Not too many pre-slant top AC30SRTs around. Other survivals can be seen on this page.
26th June (2)
Thanks to Marcus, pics of serial number 9195N with added Top Boost - superb condition, probably third quarter of 1963. Chassis assembled by Westrex; Albion transformers. The pots have "DK" date codes = April '63; and the main preamp filter cap has "U" certainly and probably "UE" = May 1963. The original cover survives.
26th June
The page on Thomas / Jennings console organs, 1963 has been updated. Jennings announced that it would be the UK agent for Thomas at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, August 1963. But the deal had probably been done at the NAMM show in Chicage in July. Below, a double-page spread placed in the music trade press, October '63.
25th June (2)
A great Vox ad, placed by Jennings in a Music Trade magazine, May 1963. Both the Cliff Richard Echo unit and AC30 are illustrated in black vinyl, the T60 is an older picture (from November 1962).
Clockwise from top left: Continental organ; Vox Super Ace guitar; Cliff Richard Echo unit; Phantom Bass; Jennings D2 Organ; T60 Bass set; Volume Pedal; AC30 Twin; J10 Univox; Vox Consort guitar.
25th June
Two AC15s to "top and tail" the change from TV front to split front - serial numbers 4177 and 4212. Thanks to Glen and Marc for the info. The speaker in 4177, a Celestion BO24, has the date code 29DL, which either means 29th April 1954, or if the letters are reversed as sometimes happens, 29th November 1959. If 29th April 1954 is the date in view, then the speaker must be a replacement.
Serial number 4177.
Serial number 4212. Speaker a CT3757 or early hammertone T530
24th June
One of a series of Trade Marks taken out by Jennings and announced in the British Music Press - the "Vox Twin 30"
September 1963.
21st June
A selection of images from the catalogue of the British Industries Fair, 1955, are now available here. The Jennings Organ Company had Stand A.18 in the National Hall at Olympia.
The advert placed by Jennings in the catalogue.
20th June (2)
A new page has been started on Jennings Organs 1963, for the moment, simply the Thomas side of things.
20th June
Super Twin serial number 5219N, probably ready for sale in Spring 1962. Its covering was originally beige, later painted black.
19th June (2)
Recently sold in the UK (by Houlgate and Gardiner, auctioneers), an early 1962 chassis assembled by Westrex, now in a later cabinet. The chassis has Albion transformers, a rectangular trimmer for the Vib/Trem, and the phantom hole for the rectifier valve.
19th June
Strong links were first forged between the Thomas Organ Company and Jennings in the late summer of 1963 when Jennings took on the distribution of Thomas organs in the UK. The arrangement was announced at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair in August, and separately in the music industry press in September.
Initial discussion between Tom Jennings and Joe Benaron, president of Thomas, is likely to have taken place at the NAMM Show in Chicago in July (see below, entry for 13th June). Jennings was the sole representative there of the British musical equipment manufacturing industry.
Two things flowed from the arrangement: - Jennings further scaled down its own production of console organs; and in the late summer of 1964, Thomas agreed to distribute Jennings equipment (Vox) in the USA - the "Million Dollar Deal". To anyone who knew that Jennings distributed Thomas equipment, this cannot have been too much of a surprise.
Jennings went great guns on Thomas, offering 13 of the company's organs by November 1964, along with various accessories and teaching aids. The organs offered in the earlier part of 1964 can be seen on this page (which is still building).
17th June
Copied over from the Vox AC100 website, a short account of the Jennings display at the "British Musical Instrument Industries" Fair at the Russell Hotel, late August, 1962.
The items picked out for mention are principally transistor-based, the amplifiers presumably being the T60 and its derivative, the T30 (a sort of transistor AC30). The T60 was still in development in early November, however.
It is interesting to see that three models of transistor organ were shown - doubtless the Continental and two others - variant types of Continental or different designs? Perhaps most striking though is the electronic guitar tuner, perhaps the earliest of its kind anywhere.
These is no mention of the AC30, a tried and tested "product" and therefore not really newsworthy in 1962.
14th June
A new page has been begun on early Jennings amplifiers (1952-1957), five models, all likely to have been designed and developed by Derek Underdown. From 1950 to early 1952 Jennings distributed units made by "Westbourne Sound Equipment" (WSE).
Only one Jennings-made amplifier is known to survive from the years 1952-1957.
13th June (2)
"Record Retailer and Music Industry News", 25th July, 1963, records that Jennings was the only British musical instrument manufacturer to attend the NAMM show in Chicago. JMI exhibited a "full range of electronic equipment". It is not known at present whether any orders for AC30s, or for that matter guitars and organs, were taken during the show.
"Record Retailer and Music Industry News", 25th July, 1963.
13th June
At least one batch of AC30 TBs with serial numbers in the 19000s had logos positioned high, fitted at factory in that way as close inspection of serial no. 19820 shows - no holes or evidence of adhesion elsewhere.
Whether this positioning was a sort of emulation of the position of the logos on the AC30s issued to The Shadows in March 1961 is not known. Thanks to Gigi for the pictures and info.
Detail of two of The Shadows' AC30s on stage, Hackney Wick Boy's Club, 14th March, 1962. Picture: Getty Images.
Serial number 19810.
Serial number 19820.
Serial number unknown.
11th June
An AC30, serial number probably in the 11000s, exported to Sweden early on - voltage selector blanked off and further internal fuses added to bring the amp into line with local electrical legislation.
Note the (unusual) textured aluminium of the preamp upright. Chassis assembled by Burndept, a Bass model to judge by the blue splash of paint at right. One of the pots has the date code "KK" = October 1963. The main TCC preamp filter cap has "IDI" = 38th week of '63; one of the blue Hunts cathode bypass caps has "TNI" = 47th week of '63.
10th June
Further updates to the AC30 pages coming shortly. For the time being, a few more pics of serial number 8243, with three different type of transformer: Albion mains, Woden choke, and unknown output.
Notes of the valves used in the Jennings Organ 50 Watt power section have been added on this page. One of the questions that surrounds the early circuit diagrams is the date at which production of the EL34 began in Blackburn. The sheets as we have them give EL34s rather than EL33s or EL37s. Pasquale Russo ("Guide to the EL34/6CA7) thought Blackburn started in 1957, though he may have revised this in the most recent edition of his guide.
At any rate, early organ power sections will have had large-bottle "hipped" EL33 or EL37 power valves; units made after 1957, the EL34. Below, the power section of an early "Model A" organ with large-bottle valves.
Picture from Derek Underdown's album, thanks to Toni Standing.
7th June
The Mullard sheets - characteristic curves and so on - relating to the EF86 have been set up provisionally on this page. The EF86 was the first valve in the preamp of the AC30/4, 1960-1961. The sheets relating to the ECC82, ECC83 and EL84 will follow.
It seems that Mullard "Audio Valve" booklets are fairly scarce these days, so it may take some time to track one down containing a section on the GZ34. A set of Philips sheets (compiled from three sources 1954-1956) is currently avaliable here, however.
5th June (3)
Quick shots of a Mullard "Audio Valves" booklet from April 1954, the valves encompassed being the EF86, ECC82, ECC83, EL84, EL37, EZ80, GZ30 and GZ32 [list of rectifiers corrected]. Specificatons are provided along with characteristic curves. Mullard's booklets were updated periodically to include new valves. JMI will have had multiples. In 1954, the large bottle EL37 was the principal valve for higher power audio applications (25W plate dissipation). GZ34s were not put into production at Blackburn until later 1954; EL34s not until 1958.
Pages from the booklet will be included on a forthcoming page (perhaps pages) on AC30 valves.
5th June (2)
Just added to the page on Jennings Organs in 1958, one of the ads for the hire side of the business.
"New Musical Express", 30th October 1958. "Models have recently been supplied to BBC / ITV, The New Eric Delaney Band, Queen's Ice Rink [Bayswater], and featured by Jackie Brown, William Davies, Don Mackay, Jerry Allen, etc".
Eric Delaney's white Jennings D2 can be seen briefly in a clip from the Morecambe and Wise show, early 1960s - available on the Dailymotion site.
5th June
In terms of producing its own Echo and Reverb units, Vox was evidently quite a long way behind the field in the early 1960s. A quick trawl through "New Musical Express", 1960-1962, shows that Selmer had launched its "Truvoice Echo Chamber" (the Echo 400) by March 1961; Bird Amplifiers had a portable "Echo and Reverb" unit by May; and in October there was the Hohner Ampleco, said to be with echo and reverb, but actually only reverb. Production of the Watkins Joker, an all-in-one amplifier that actually did have echo along with reverb, is reckoned not to have been set in train until 1963. None of these units was produced in great numbers.
For JMI, still a relatively small business in the early 1960s (certainly compared to the mighty Selmer), selling Meazzis was probably a good option. What prompted JMI to take the plunge with the "Cliff Richard" Reverb (first advertised May 1962)? The advent of the Fender portable reverb unit in 1961 - JMI had begun to sell and advertise Fender equipment in late 1960. Selmer did not strike a deal with Fender until early winter '62 though.
3rd June
A short note published in "Musical Opinion" magazine, January 1955 - the rationale behind the three Jennings console organs, developed in late 1953 and promoted for the first time at the British Industries Fair, May 1954. The models were the J50, J51 and J52. Further info can be found on these pages.
"Musical Opinion" magazine, January 1955.
2nd June (2)
Pictures of "Vox Sound Limited" AC30 Top Boost Reverb, serial number 25933, printed circuit board, produced c. 1972 in the Birch Stolec factory in Hastings/St Leonards-on-Sea. Note the two rows of plastic vents; the top hat knobs; lack of external voltage selector (re-positioned on the preamp chassis); and the Celestion T2056 alnico speakers - superb units.
2nd June
Gene Vincent with Sounds Incorporated (a Dartford band), "Rock Across the Channel", 14th June, 1961. John St John, the lead guitarist, has a beige AC30 - presumably a black panel AC30/6 - and a Watkins Copicat. The Shadows were also on the bill.
1st June (2)
Some random notes on JMI circuit diagrams for Vox Echos, principally early ones (Meazzis, c. 1960). Sheets were assigned OOS numbers - not "OS" - in a fairly unsystematic way.
OOS-032 Meazzi Model J (Echomatic), sheet undated, Italian handwriting.
OOS-035 Meazzi Factotum Stereo Echomatic 3, dated 9th August 1960. Selmer also sold the Factotum and had its own service sheet, dated 4th October 1961 (Drawing No. 2165).
OOS-034 JMI OOS-035 (Factotum) redrawn, 27th July 1967.
OOS-035 Meazzi Echomatic, drawn 20th May 1960. Said to be for the Echomatic 2. Note that the Echomatic 2 was first advertised in "Melody Maker" magazine in March 1961
1st June
An early ad for the new "Short Tom" tape echo, "Melody Maker", 29th June, 1963. Tape echos were nothing new of course. Charlie Watkins had developed his portable "Copicat" in late 1959 / early 1960. Selmer quickly followed suit with units of its own. Vox was a relatively slow mover in this field.
Updates for October and November 2020.