Vox AC30 website updates

February 2022

26th February (2)

The page on has now been tidied up. Although there is still a good amount of new info to come on this interesting and strange period of AC30 production, that will have to wait for a little while as some new pages on early AC15s (late 1957 to c.1961) are on their way.

The AC15 will be dealt with in terms of circuits and construction first. Cosmetics are naturally a secondary thing. Little will be said initially about "versions" as it is clear that certain features on cabinets dropped in and out of use - sometimes fairly arbitrarily - and there is no point having a "version 5" and "version 6", let's say, if there are larger numbers of amps that are "transitional" between the two.

26th February

Further notes on the new Dallas AC30s. The earliest report in the trade press (with reference to Dallas) of manufacturing actually taking place is from July 1974 - the piece mentioning Tom Jennings posted yesterday. That at any rate is a terminus ante quem.

The same piece, July 1974, is also the first mention of Tom no longer being with "Jennings Electronic Industries" - a highly newsworthy event - so it looks as though that was more or less the moment of his departure from JEI (not 1973 as has been supposed).

Dallas, it should be said, became "Dallas Musical Limited" in January 1974, the new name superceding the old - "Dallas Arbiter". But in the Spring of 1975 the company became "CBS/Dallas Arbiter". All this is naturally in overview. The comings and goings of CBS, Dallas, and Ivor Arbiter were incredibly complex in the first half of the 1970s. Details will need updating and correcting.

Below, the earliest advert placed by Dallas in the music trade press to mention Vox amps - December 1974. Apologies for the so-so pictures.

December 1974.

Detail of the above - "VOX AMPS including the famous AC30".

25th February (2)

July 1972, shortly before the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, the last major show attended by the original incarnation of "Vox Sound Limited". The moving of the offices (and showroom) to Beaconsfield Road in Hastings marked the beginning of the end.

The comment at the end of the piece is interesting: the end of Italian-made AC30s. Some were still being assembled there in the summer of '72 - examples towards the .

A couple of shots of the "Vox Sound Limited" showroom in central London taken in late 1971 can be seen on the updates page of the . In the window one can just make out a perspex AC30.

July 1972

25th February

Thanks to Tor, pictures of serial number 15626, grey panel with integrated Top Boost, probably exported to Norway early on. The amp has now been .

Serial number 15626 TB.

A little more on Dallas. Below, a report published in a music trade journal, July 1974 - Tom Jennings joins "Vox Sound Limited". Tom had left "Jennings Electronic Industries", the company he founded in late 1967, at some point in 1973. Whether he actually did join VSL for a time as managing director needs to be verified from a second source. It may be that the journal was a little hasty in its reporting.

July 1974

At any rate, Dallas certainly put on a show of Vox equipment at the "British Musical Instrument Industries" Fair of July 1974, mounted for the first (and last) time at the Metropole Hotel in Brighton. In 1975 the Fair returned to the Russell Hotel in London.

Brighton, July 1974 - no shot of the stand itself, simply the name - VOX - over the entrance.

Below, a shot of the Dallas factory complex at Shoeburyness in Essex. This was a new build, begun in April 1973 and complete by April 1974. Dallas began moving in in May 1974. Various production lines were set up under the building's many roofs - "Sound City", "Vox Sound Limited", "Hayman guitars", and so on.

Manufacture of new AC30s was evidently put in motion in the summer of '74 - in good time for the BMII Trade Fair (see the last sentence in the item at the top of this entry).

Dallas Musical Industries, Shoeburyness factory, Essex.

23rd February

In 1973 "Vox Sound Limited", the last incarnation of Vox proper, simply fell off the map - there were no mentions of any note in the music trade press; no adverts in the popular music press; and in the monthly digests of available equipment only the gnomic "line being revised", "prices to be announced". The company's difficulties were readily apparent in late 1972 when a half-hearted hope of becoming a "recommended supplier" for schools was expressed in a short notice.

That Vox did some business in 1973 seems clear from surviving amplifiers - but it was evidently very little. To all intents and purposes "Vox Sound Limited" was dead in the water by the beginning of '73.

Then in August 1973, the music trade press carried the report below. Dallas had come to the rescue:

August 1973

Judging by the tone of the piece, Vox was still alive at the time, but only just. Bankruptcy at any rate had not been declared. Quite how long the negotiations took is not known at present.

Dallas's acquisition was in some senses well timed, as certain items of Vox equipment could be shown at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair (late August '73). "Vox Sound Limited" had been in too poor a condition to go to the Frankfurt Fair in February.

Russell Hotel Trade Fair, late August 1973. A rough shot showing Vox in a sort of mix and match display. One can make out a perspex AC30 in the foreground, and production amps further back, along with some pedals.

22nd February (2)

A great shot of the two 15" Celestion T1109s in an Expanded Frequency AC30 ("AC30EX", sometimes the "AC30X"). Note the chipboard (particle board) baffle, typical of cabinets made for JMI by Gla-Rev.

The amp in question is likely to be a late one, assembled at some point in the second half of 1964, and perhaps not sold for some time after that. By August 1964 the Expanded Frequency AC30 had been dropped from formal pricelists. The latest pricelist in which it figures was an update sheet printed for "Musicland" around Spring '64.

More coming of the Expanded Frequency amps soon.

Serial number unknown. Celestion first sprayed its speakers silver for JMI in Spring '64.

Detail of an update, Spring '64, to the standing "Musicland" pricelist issued in late 1963.

Detail of the JMI pricelist printed in August 1964. No sign of the Expanded Frequency AC30.

22nd February

A detail of a pic. printed by Jim Elyea - Dick Denney at the Frankfurt Trade Fair, February 1965, not alas 1964, as a large box AC50 and AC100 SDL (among other things) are present at left in the full view. In the middlle background, a perspex AC30 and perspex Vox Continental organ. Shots of the organ at other fairs have yet to come to light.

Frankfurt Trade Fair, Feb. 1965.

21st February (2)

American valve and transistor equivalents for Vox amps, from a series of bulletins issued to Thomas Organ dealers.

Issued on 6th December, 1965.

21st February

On the 7th January 1970, "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" formally came to an end, having struggled for the better part of 1969. Although its order books were healthy, there was simply not enough capital to meet running costs. The piece below, published in a music trade paper on 24th January, gives a small glimpse of what followed.

"Dallas Arbiter" was in fact fairly short-lived, becoming "Dallas Musical Limited" in 1972, then "Dallas Arbiter" again (in Spring 1975). Reg Clark sailed through, having taken the whole of the VSEL sales team to Dallas in January 1970. Indeed, it was probably Reg who recommended that Dallas take on Vox at that point. On Dallas and Vox in 1974 and 1975, .

Unfortunately, nothing came of it, and Vox was bought (for £100,000) by Michael Birch, whose principal claim to fame was as owner of a company that made sunglasses - some biographical details here.

Music trade newspaper, 24th January, 1970.

20th February (2)

Pictures from 2005 of an early "Dallas Musical Limited" AC30 - 1974 - serial number (and other details) unfortunately difficult to make out due to their smallness. Ebay at this time crunched any picture supplied down to 400x300 pixels.

Horizontal logo as in the "Bell Musical Instruments" advert (entry for 19th Feb. below) and the late JMI AC30 in the previous post, though that has a gold-coloured logo. The one above is silver-coloured, as used by "Vox Sound Limited" from 1970-1973.

20th February

Old pictures from the early days of ebay - a further instance of a JMI AC30 with the horizontal logo as used on solid state amps - see the note for 17th Feb., below.

Serial number unknown. The Woden output transformer and choke have the date code "DX" = April 1966. The mains transformer is uncoded but is rubber-stamped "KC" and "4".

19th February

The page on AC30s under "Dallas Musical Limited" and early "Dallas Arbiter" has now been . It will be necessary in due course to split it up into a group of pages as there is a huge amount to add. But it seemed worth posting it as it stands as a stop-gap.

In the new circuit, drawn up in June 1974, the GZ34 rectifier valve is replaced by silicon diodes - to squeeze as much power as possible from the amp (and to reduce the cost of production).

Detail from the "Dallas Musical Limited" catalogue of 1974.

18th February (2)

A page coming soon on the Dallas Musical Industries and early Dallas Arbiter AC30s, 1974 and 1975.

18th February

The text of a JMI promotional flyer for the new AC30 Super Twin, Top Boost circuit, and Phantom guitar, late 1961, probably coinciding with or shortly after the introduction of the new copper panels.

The Top Boost circuit was initially promoted by JMI as being "stereophonic" - in the loosest possible way of course. See .

17th February

Just to record that AC30 Super Twin serial number 5600, the highest number encountered so far, has come to light in Germany. Nothing is known of the chassis, but it presumably has a number in the 25000s (the new sequence). The speaker cabinet bears (from factory) the rectangular VOX logo found on JMI's solid state amps.

16th February (2)

A new page has been set up on the - the "Vox AC30 Super Transonic" to give it its full name - ported over from T60 website and incorporating pictures of a surviving amplifier section, courtesy of Steve Walsh, and a first-hand description of a amplifier/speaker cabinet/tweeters set by Kieron Campbell (recently posted on FB).

Detail from JMI publicity material, early 1963.

16th February

A rough-print picture from a music trade journal of the "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" display at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, August 1969. To the right of the pillar of heaven - solid state amps almost to the cornice - a perspex AC30. Another (of unknown date) has apparently turned up in Germany recently in company with a perspex Selmer Thunderbird.

Associated Musical Instrument Industries Trade Fair, Russell Hotel, London, August 1969. Further material on the Vox display can be found on the Vox Supreme website.

15th February

Just to signal an update to the page on Woden transformers. It looks as though the benches responsible at Burndept for assembling AC30 Trebles (1964, serial numbers in the 11000s) were charged, *at some point*, with using up the remaining stocks of older Wodens - a short list has been . Where there are six, more clearly to follow.

It should be stressed though that this for the time being is provisional. Although no AC30 Normal or Bass with a serial number in the 11000s has yet come to light with Wodens from 1963, one never knows.....

14th February (2)

In 1968, a new AC30 chassis numbering sequence was begun, presumably at the request of JMI, beginning at 25000. Chassis number 25139 is Super Twin serial number 5596; chassis number 25251 is now in a box from 1965.

The old sequence of chassis numbers, begun by Burndept in autumn 1962, ended somewhere around 14500.

Super Twin, serial number 5596; chassis 25139. Woden transformers with February and March 1968 date codes.

Chassis number 25151. Wodens with 1968 date codes; Mullard mustard capacitors with 1967 and 1968 codes.

The initiation of this new sequence may have been devised for accounting purposes. In December 1967, Royston Industries, the umbrella company that held controlling interests in JMI, Burndept, and Heslop and Co. (which made cabinets for JMI) failed. The official receiver was called in. JMI and Burndept continued trading, but under much reduced circumstances. At the end of April 1968, JMI finally came to an end. Its stock for the most part was bought in by the new venture set up by Reg Clark and Cyril Windiate to take the "Vox" name forward - "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" (from June 1968).

Indications are therefore that at least 151 AC30s were produced by JMI in 1968. Whether these were actually sold by JMI is unknown at the moment. It is possible that many passed to VSEL to be sold in the second half of the year.

14th February

A new page on has now been set up, as ever to be augmented and adjusted as new info comes to hand. Its chief purpose for the moment is to bring together raw data that is currently dispersed across various sections of the site.

To give some context to Wodens in AC30s, below a picture of an early AC80/100 with its set of original Wodens: date codes "LU" (mains) and "MU" (output and choke) = November and December 1963. New batches were ordered in late summer 1964.

This amp, still in excellent working order, was owned and used at one time (1965-1966) by the bassist of a major band.

13th February (2)

Thanks to Jan, pictures of serial number 8860N, imported early on to Denmark, . Serial number 8959 also went to Denmark early on.

AC30 serial number 8860N.

13th February

A quick and slighty murky shot in this winter light of the reverse of the JMI flyer from 1959. At top, the single speaker AC/30 and AC/10, various JMI accessories below.

AC15 flyer, reverse, 1959, perhaps early in the year.

11th February

A good set of pictures of serial number 7626N, produced early in the last third of 1963, now added . The owner, a really nice chap, is looking to sell. If you are interested please drop a line to the site "contact" email and I will put you in touch with him.

Serial number 7626N.

10th February

The front of the JMI flyer for the AC15 issued in 1959. There were four versions of this sheet, early 1958 to early 1960, in much the same format, but on different types of paper and with different sets of Vox users and accessories (pictured on the reverse). The version below may be the second in the series. The paper is extremely thin, almost like tissue paper.

1959, perhaps early in the year, rather than late 1959/early 1960 as suggested below.

8th February

A Jennings entertainment organ brochure from 1959 - the Model DS was new in late 1958. The was a Jennings Organ Company innovation devised by Derek Underdown and Geoff Harris. The patent was granted in 1960.

Note the size of the supplementary tone cabinets - 4 1/2 feet tall. But these were considerably smaller than the earlier type of cabinet, which was much the same size as a Model D organ.

5th February

A JMI advert placed in a music trade journal, November 1959 - Model A, C, D1, D2, DS, H, and G organs. At the foot of the page a note that the company's organs were on display in the basement of the shop at 100 Charing Cross Road (this by September 1959). The basement had been the Jennings "London Accordion Centre" from 1956. The only organ not displayed was the gargantuan Model G as it was too large for the stairs down.

Music trade press, November 1959.

4th February

Details of the AC2/30 illustrated in the first version of the late 1950s flyer for the AC/15 - probably from early 1958. Note the large VOX letters, also seen on other AC2/30s but arranged diagonally in the upper panel, and the stylised foliage background of the panel itself. This amp apparently had two bronze "Jennings" labels - one underneath the VOX logo and one on the side.

Further illustrations and photos of AC2/30s can be found , and in the .

Detail from the reverse of a flyer for the AC/15, early 1958.

Detail from the reverse of a flyer for the AC/15, early 1958.

3rd February

A detail of a paragraph relating to the AC/15 in the JMI flyer from late 1959 / early 1960 illustrated also in part yesterday. Note that the Vibravox is described as "patented". Although searches in the old Patent Office records have so far revealed nothing relevant, it may be that "patented" is used loosely - as a sort of short-hand - for the design's being registered, which is what is asserted in an older advert. If anything comes to light, it will be posted here.

Late 1959 / early 1960.

2nd February (3)

Martin Kelly has kindly pointed out that the vibrato switch on the Vibravox unit was pretty much identical in form to one used on certain Jennings Univox keyboards, the only significant difference being the presence of the "OFF" position on the latter. The Vibravox unit, as pictured, had a footswitch.

Late 1959 / early 1960.

Vibrato switch on an early Jennings Univox J6.

2nd February (2)

The Jennings Vibravox unit in 1960 - covered in diamond rexine, the position of its logo arranged differently in the two illustrations. Earlier versions can be seen .

Glen Lambert's page on the implentation of the vibrato circuit, which contains a description of a unit examined in the early 1960s by David Benson, .

Print of a photo taken a little before April 1960.

Illustration in a Vox amplifier and accessories flyer, late 1959 / early 1960.

2nd February

A newsprint picture of Dick Denney, Al Larkins (engineer for the Vox Long Tom Echo unit), and Tony Fiske (Research Liaison Officer), outside 119 Dartford Road, published in December 1964. Inset, the label of an amplifier - perhaps an AC30, who knows - off to Moscow. JMI made a good deal of breaking into the Russian market in 1966 - see this page on the Vox AC100 website. But a certain amount of trade took place well before that.

1st February (2)

A note on the Woden transformers in AC30s, late 1965 / early 1966, serial numbers in the 20000s and 21000s - a sort of snapshot.

In the table below, serial numbers, type of transformer (output, mains, choke), and date code are given. The second letter of the date code is year: "V" = 1964, "W" = 1965, "X" = 1966. The first letter is the month: A-H = January to August, J-M = September to December.

The gold-coloured chokes used in this period in both AC30s and AC100s are un-dated. Only the JMI part number is stamped = 66429.

20269: output "KV" = October 1964.

20523: output "KV" = October 1964; mains "JW" = September 1965.

20750: mains "HW" = August 1965; output and choke "MW" = December 1965.

21019: mains and output "DX" = April 1966.

21086: mains and output "HW" = August 1965; choke "DX" = April 1966.

21098: output "KV" = October 1964; mains "HW" = September 1965; choke = "AX" = January 1966.

21192: mains, output, and choke "DX" = April 1966.

Evidently output transformers from October 1964 (code "KV") were still in store in early 1966. These had been ordered when serial numbers were in the 16000s. The batch was large - no intervening date code before August 1965 ("HW") has come to light.

Insofar as Super Twins are concerned, serial numbers 4744, 4784, 4831, and 4834 all have: mains and choke "KV" = October 1964; choke "AW" = January 1965. By the 5200s, date codes have become "KX"

Super Reverb Twin serial number 5301 has: mains "EW" = May 1965, and choke "HW" = August 1965.

It looks as though the Woden factory was running off batches of different types of transformer for JMI every three months or so generally, and in some instances every month - but not as a rule in March for some reason - the only Woden I can see with a "C" for the month is in a late Super Twin - serial number 5596, choke with "CZ" = March 1968.

1st February

Thanks to Keith, pictures of serial number 20750 have been added - the first instance so far of an AC30 with Woden transformers dated "MW" = December 1965.

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