Vox AC30 website updates
September 2022
29th September
Recently sold, AC30 Twin serial number 6121N, early 1963. Original beige vinyl and probably the original Celestion blues, the left hand one having been taken out at some time and put back in at 90 degrees to the norm. The two end handles are replacements.
Serial number 6121N
28th September
A small point in the scheme of things: the Continental used in February 1965 for the pilot episode of "Where the Action Is" at some stage had its logo blanked off. The same was done for the organ used by The Standells on the Munster show in March.
February 1965.
The Standells, March 1965, a different organ. Note the four screws/bolts holding the panel in place at right. The case has lost its domical feet.
In the broadcast film of "Where the Action Is" the logo is not covered, however, and it can clearly be seen, albeit fleetingly, in a few frames in this clip on youtube - thanks to CM for the link.
February 1965, photo taken on set.
It is perhaps worth saying that in April 1965 the only American band acknowledged by Thomas Organ as featuring Vox equipment was "The Standells" - no Raiders, no Sir Douglas Quintet.
"Vox Teen Beat" magazine, no. 1, April 1965, effectively a modified JMI list, which continues after the picture, and includes bands/performers that many British teenagers would probably never have heard of. But a number were good customers, in particular "The Joystrings", the band of the Salvation Army, based in Kent. They ordered among other things a modified T60 to serve as an organ amplifier - more on that another time.
27th September (2)
Good original pictures of the Raiders on Leo Carillo State Beach in February 1965 are held by Getty Images. The Getty captions say the scenes were taped on the 13th February.
27th September
Copied over from the Vox AC100 website, a still of Paul Revere and the Raiders from the pilot episode of "Where the Action Is", printed in "Vox Teen Beat" magazine, no. 2. The band mimed in front of an AC30, AC50 Foundation Bass, and Continental organ in two segments. IMDB indicates that the pilot was taped on Leo Carillo State Beach (Malibu) in February 1965. Presumably it aired on national television soon after. The first episode of the main series was broadcast on 28th June '65 - see this page. Wikipedia unfortunately has its dates slightly askew.
The pilot is likely to have been the first time a general teenage TV audience in the USA saw an American band with Vox equipment. A smudgy digital copy of the show can be seen on youtube.
Malibu, February 1965. See the entry above, 27th September (2), for a link to the original photographs.
The text that appears in the magazine to the picture's left.
26th September
Picking up from one of last week's entries, a short synopsis of dates of sale currently known:
12028T: Manchester, 27th May 1964.
17180: place unknown, January 1965.
17505T: Liverpool, late January 1965.
22789TB: final inspection at the West Street Works, 8th December 1967; Norfolk Islands (South Pacific), paid for 24th June 1968.
Other dates of sale are also known from sales slips now separated from their original amplifier. All lack any mention of serial number unfortunately (so far at any rate).
There is also "negative" evidence in the shape of a photo taken in January 1967 at the West Street Works showing much earlier AC30 Super Twins still in their boxes - at the head of this page. It is worth saying that the Works was badly affected by fire three times in 1965: twice in the first half of year followed by a larger and more extensive blaze in December. Stock was cleared out to other buildings owned by Royston and Burndept in Erith. If items were stored in order, however loose, that will have been massively disrupted.
25th September
A small batch of new entries added to the pages for serial numbers in the 9000s and 10000s, some plain text, some illustrated. Pictures for the plain text entries will be added in due course.
24th September (2)
Below, the roster of users of Vox organs on The Monkees standee. Most were staples of Thomas promotional material in 1966/1967 - the Vox Teen Beat newspapers, flyers, magazine adverts and the like. Perhaps the most striking from an English standpoint is Petula Clark. A picture of her band with a Continental, taken in Germany c. 1964, has recently come to light - held by Getty Images.
24th September
Little seen these days, a Thomas Organ standee ("counter stand") from late 1966 for the Vox organ range, featuring The Monkees. Thomas offered these to dealers in pairs ($1.50 each). Largish numbers are likely to have been made, ordered by shop owners from the Thomas sales promotion lists, and sadly disposed of once they had served their purpose.
One of a pair from a Thomas dealer in North Carolina - thanks to Jim and Martin. The other also survives. They measure 19 1/2" x 15", slightly smaller than the JMI Dave Clark Five standee.
23rd September
Super Twin serial number 2525, classed as "Normal" voicing on its plate, but actually a Westrex-made Treble chassis - further pictures on this page. It may be that the person who stamped the plate simply missed the designation in the preamp - hard to know for sure.
One question naturally arising is how Jack Jennings's team at Dartford Road was able to spot a Westrex-made AC30 with bass voicing. Jack, Tom's brother, ran the Dispatch Department (overseeing the stamping of plates, the keeping of log books and registers, and so on). So far as can be judged, Westrex did not ink-stamp its bass chassis "Westrex Bass".
Now and again, however, Westrex did tool-stamp its Top Boost chassis "T. B.", even though there was really no need. The extra controls on the control panel will have made the type of chassis in view immediately obvious.
AC30 Super Twin serial number 2525, "Westrex Treble", signed off by "DP", who generally initialled Westrex-made amps on their underside (power section).
22nd September
At present the lowest serial number for a Treble-voiced AC30 Super Twin that has come to light is 2569T. By the 2600s Super Twin Trebles start becoming relatively plentiful, corresponding with what happens in relation to AC30 Twins in the 11000s.
Although AC30 Twin chassis were normally assembled by Burndept and those for Super Twins by Westrex, there seems no reason to believe, for the time being at any rate, that AC30 Super Twin Trebles were put into production by Westrex substantially later than those made by Burndept.
AC30 Super Twin serial number 2569.
21st September
Thanks to Robert Valentine, who worked for JMI from 1959 to 1964, some details from a photo taken in 115 Dartford Road in late July 1964. The occasion: the visit of The Barron Knights, who went away with a pair of LS40 PA speaker columns; new AC30s; and two AC50 Foundation Bass sets. The AC50 amplifier sections were diamond-input small-box.
On the far bench, AC30 Super Twin amplifier sections being made ready for use. On the near bench, a variety of cabinets being finished off. Note to the right of the AC30 Twin, a Goodmans Midax horn for a large-box AC50 speaker cabinet.
In the case of the Twin, evidently the last thing to be fitted (where cosmetics are concerned) was the "VOX" logo. Serial number and ID plates were attached later.
An AC30 chassis about to go into its wooden case.
A Goodmans Midax horn for a large-box AC50 speaker cabinet.
Picking up from the detail above, a pair of T1088s from an early large-box AC50 speaker cab - date code "17FJ" = 17th June 1964.
A pair of T1088s from an early large-box AC50 speaker cab, 17th June 1964.
19th September
A shot of one of the surviving JMI standees for the Vox Continental, along with a photo of one at the stage edge, Vox Battle of the Bands, Hollywood Palladium, April 1965.
Two Vox Continental standees are known at present to exist certainly, a third probable (in the USA). They measure 21" x 15".
The board hinges (along the edge of the blue panel) in such a way that it will stand on its own.
A detail from a picture of "The Regents" on stage, Hollywood Palladium, April 1965.
JMI produced four standees in this general format: for the Continental; the Echo Reverb; guitar strings (as endorsed by The Shadows); and the "Jumping Beatles" (also seen in photos taken at the Palladium in April '65.
JMI's list of users of the Continental is interesting. Of the 23 names of bands/performers listed under the Dave Clark Five's, photos of only 9 with Continentals have turned up so far: Sounds Incorporated; Lonnie Donegan; Emile Ford; The Tornados; The Echos; The Gamblers; The Castaways; The Trebletones; and Mike Cotton.
But other known users are altogether absent: The Overlanders (1963), The Saxons (1963), The Animals (1963/1964), to name just three.
18th September (2)
A useful point of reference: AC30 serial number 17505B, purchased new in late January 1965, first hire purchase instalment due on 1st February.
Sold by The Music Locker earlier this year. Originally sold by Frank Hessy in Liverpool. The latest visible component date code in the amp is on the Mullard mustard capacitors - "B/64" = second quarter of 1964.
Serial number 17180 was also purchased new in January 1965. There were plenty of AC30s to go round in early 1965 - probably too many.
18th September
Thanks to Darren, pictures of AC30 Twin serial number 17530 T, late 1964 or early 1965 - dome voltage selector but still brown grille cloth.
Serial number 17530T
The dome voltage selector was introduced towards the end of 1964 only on AC30s with grey panels. There is no such thing as a copper panel amp with a dome selector.
17th September (2)
The link in the entry below is now fixed.
17th September
A page has been begun on the Vox Continental in America. Its main focus at present is exports to the USA following the "Million Dollar Deal" of late August 1964.
It should perhaps be said that the general public will have had seen a Continental and its name plate a good deal earlier though - two performanes by the Dave Clark Five on the Ed Sullivan Show, 8th and 15th March, 1964. As ever amplifiers (if they were indeed used) are hidden from view. But almost as a gift to JMI, the camera zooms in twice on Mike Smith's Continental. Anyone with a half decent TV picture will have been able to read the logo easily enough. Unfortunately the clip on youtube is pretty smudgy, so a screengrab will have to wait.
Below, however, two grabs from a clip of the band performing "Bits and Pieces" on "Top of the Pops" in the UK, February or early March 1964 - Mike Smith still with his first Continental (as used at the Tottenham Royal). The organ taken to the US for the Sullivan show was new.
The clip of "Bits and Pieces" was broadcast on "Top of the Pops" on the 19th and 26th of February, and the 4th, 11th and 18th of March.
16th September (2)
To be added to the sequence below, a picture of the Hal Morris Music Mart, Lansing, Illinois, published in the "Hammond Times", 13th April, 1965, in the background a Vox AC50 Foundation Bass and T60 Bass.
On the rear wall a copy of the first Thomas Organ Vox catalogue - "The Million Dollar Sound" - is pinned up along with various promotional photos.
13th April, 1965. Thomas distributed the newly imported Vox equipment from two centres: Chicago (service centre warehouse in Evanston) and Sepulveda, California. Hal will have received his from Chicago.
16th September
The Vox Continental exported to the USA - early securely dated sightings, 1964 and 1965. This is really just to make a start. The sequence of items below will probably have to be re-jigged as further instances arise:
(1) The Disc Jockey Carnival, Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona, 25th-31st December 1964, used by one of Bob Harris's demonstration bands.
Picture from "Vox Teen Beat" magazine no. 1, issued in California in April, 1965, page 4.
(2) "The Standells" - Munster show, aired 18th March, 1965. The band apparently did not have any Vox equipment in January.
Vox Continental logo taped off.
(3) "The Standells" again, with a different Continental and an AC30, at the recording of an episode of Shindig, 24th March, 1965.
Picture from "Vox Teen Beat" magazine no. 1, issued in California in April '65. The organ is not the one seen earlier in the month.
(4) Vox Battle of the Bands, San Mateo Fairgrounds and Hollywood Palladium, late March to 16th April 1965. Below, Captain Beefheart, winners of the competition on stage at the Palladium. The Thomas Organ Vox Division provided at least two Continentals.
16th April, 1965. At front of stage, two JMI standees: the Dave Clark Five and Continental organ, and the Jumping Beatles. Three examples of the former are known, one to be pictured soon.
(4) The "Sir Douglas Quintet", the other US band signed up early on by Marv Kaiser, General Sales Manager of the Vox Division of Thomas Organ - their Continental certainly by 12th June 1965. Early promotional photos showing the band with a Continental were probably taken in March '65 but are undated unfortunately - or at least not capable of being securely dated at present.
The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana, 12th June, 1965. The picture of the band is a print from a Thomas Organ promitional photo probably taken in March.
15th September
A further Celestion T1088 that pre-dates the entry for the model in the Celestion register, this one from 21st May 1964. It is to be hoped that an example from April eventually comes to light - which would go a good way towards bearing out the report made to Jim Elyea.
A page on the T1088 in AC30s will be started soon as a sort of parallel to the one on the AC100 website.
Celestion T1088 silver alnico, date code "21EJ" = 21st May 1964. The model is registered for the first time in the Celestion log-book on 27th May, a further instance of official record lagging behind production.
It is interesting to note in the picture below of the store at the West Street Works, Erith, early 1965, that the boxes of AC30 Super Twin amplifier sections (at left) appear to be stacked on their own, ie. with no corresponding speaker cabinet box.
The pairing up of an amplifier and cabinet for sale is therefore likely in some - if not many - cases to have been a fairly random thing. The rule of thumb that "speakers generally have the latest date codes" is really only applicable to Twins.
Erith, the Vox West Street Works.
14th September
Thanks to Dan, pictures of one of a pair of Celestion T1088s with the date code "12EJ" - 12th May 1964, the earliest definitively known so far, pre-dating the entry for the model (a revised T530) in the Celestion register - the "T" book" - by a fortnight. The next earliest known from pictures are "20EJ".
The report of one (or a pair) dated 13th April 1964 made by Jim Elyea needs verification (pictures). Some of the info supplied in answers to his questionnaires was evidently incorrect unfortunately - not Jim's fault.
The pair dated 12th May came in AC30 serial number 14334T and are likely to have been original to it.
12th September
Vox Continental serial number plates (early ones with "TC" = Transistor Continental): the change from hand-stamped numbers to machine-stamped occurs somewhere between 225x and 2439.
Is it possible that around 1200 Continentals were built at Dartford Road between late 1963 and early 1965 (the move to Erith)? That seems an extraordinary number - not even remotely likely in fact.
Detail of the plate of Continental TC 2439.
Hand-stamped plates have two panels: - one for model, one for serial number. Machine-stamped plates have three: - model, serial number, and current/watts. A third panel (for watts consumption) on amplifier serial number plates does not appear until 1966.
The Patent Application - 31494/53 - has yet to be traced in the official records. "53" would normally be the year - so in effect something at the very beginning of Jennings Organs, perhaps relating initially to the J51 for instance. For two patents that were actually granted (and asserted in respect of the Continental), see this page.
11th September (2)
Picking up from the entry below, it does seem likely that there is a direct correlation certainly between the appearance of machine-stamped serial number plates on AC30 Super Twin amplifier sections and the move to Erith.
Remember, the date of manufacture of chassis is only relevant incidentally here; the important moment is the completion of the amplifier as a whole and its readiness for sale - which in some cases might be a number of months after the chassis had been made.
11th September
Just to signal that various new pages have been added to main Jennings Organ Company index page, the most recent being a fairly concise overview of the West Street Works in Erith, occupied by JMI in late 1964.
A page on the assembly of AC30s at Erith is in preparation, though may take a while to complete. One of the questions concerns machine-stamped serial number plates. In the case of AC100s, their appearance corresponds precisely with the start of production in the new building (new to JMI though not newly built). The use of such plates on AC10s also seems to have coincided with the move. Does the appearance of machine-stamped plates on AC30s - beginning with serial numbers in the 13000s for Twins, and 3400s ( not 3500s as initially stated) for Super Twins - signify anything definitive too?
On a different note, a picture below of a Westrex inspection tag on an AC10 chassis from late 1963 / early 1964, along with a tag on an AC30 Super Twin amplifier section from late 1961 / early 1962 (posted last month).
AC10 chassis, components with late 1963 date codes.
AC30 Super Twin amplifier section, late 1961 / early 1962.
10th September
The top floor of the West Street Works, early 1965, the production of Vox Continental organs well underway. The music trade press had announced the readiness of the building (previously occupied by Burndept Electronics) in November 1964. In the second picture, a reasonably good still of a wiring loom cushioned on the bench by a sheet of corrugated cardboard.
Note that the white overalls have "JMI" on their breast pockets.
At the rear, the resistor array (fixed inside the organ at back underneath the generator modules); the key contact assembly in the middle; and the looms connecting one to the other (and eventually to the generators). Painstaking work, but still a good deal more to do towards the completion of a finished organ.
8th September
Screengrabs from a film segment of a Model C console organ at the Erith Works in early 1965 have been set up on this page.
JMI also demonstrated for the cameras the closing and securing of a Continental keyboard. The organ is likely to have had a serial number in the 1400s.
The generators/dividers are protected by a corrugated cardboard sheet.
7th September
Three screengrabs from film segments shot at 115 Dartford Road and the West Street Works in early 1965. The first two are of the testing of a Vox Continental organ in one of the booths at number 115. In early days, amplifiers and organs were tested simply by playing. By mid 1964 it had become the practice to check at least some of the newly-produced equipment by electronic means. This was the case also at Triumph Electronics, which assembled AC50 chassis (among other things) under contract for JMI. Indeed, at Triumph virtually all testing was done with scopes and meters.
The Continental is hooked up to a T60 amplifier and speaker cabinet for testing.
Left to right, Heathkit AG-9U signal generator; multimeter (probably also made/supplied as a kit by Heathkit); oscilloscope.
Below, a shot of the store at Erith (the West Street Works), for the most part AC30 Super Twin amplifier sections and cabinets (at back). In the right foreground chrome stands. Left of middle, indicated with an arrow, Continental organs boxed up; opposite, what appears at first glance to be an old-fashioned writing desk, but on closer inspection a keyboard can be made out, so an organ of some sort, solid panels with diamonds on its sides.
Erith, the Vox West Street Works.
6th September (2)
Thanks to Robert Valentine, who worked for JMI from 1959 to 1964, a detail of a photograph taken at 115 Dartford Road around July 1964 - a Celestion box, probably for a 15" speaker (for a Vox T60 or 2x15" speaker cabinet), on one of the benches. Celestion blues and silvers - T530 and T1088 - are likely to have come in similar outer boxes. Only the inner packaging is known at present - see the picture further below.
Further details from the photo of 115 Dartford Road to come.
Advert for the Celestion stand at the Russell Hotel Audio Fair, early August 1963.
Inner packaging for a T530, date code "17DJ" = 17th April 1964.
6th September
Vox Continental serial number 1076, sold on ebay some years ago and serviced by Hammond Hire in North London. A later run "square top" - the serial number sequence beginning in late 1962 at 1000. This one originally had a perspex music stand; note too the roller switches (ON/OFF and Vibrato) with legends engraved on trafolyte panels. In terms of cosmetics, there are naturally features that were brought in during the course of production though - white piping on the front lip of the orange "lid", and silver piping around the case (visible in other photos).
The fifth photo is of the paper sticker applied inside the organ, presumably by Herrburger Brooks, which manufactured Continental keyboard assemblies under contract for Jennings. The order number is "39130"; customer "Jennings"; span of the board "C to C 3.F. (or "B.F." ?)"; date of manufacture of the assembly "24th April 1963"; and the model and colour "Continental BLACK". Herrburger generally also stamped order numbers on the first two keys. "BLACK" is likely to be a reference to the colour of the naturals on the keyboard, not the vinyl of the case, which would have been of no relevance to Herrburger. The date is NOT of the completion of the organ as a whole.
It will have required weeks if not months of work at Dartford Road to wire up and test the various constituent parts supplied by Jennings's contractors. Normally the latest date codes in these early organs are those on the generator/divider assemblies.
Below part of the paper sticker on an earlier Continental - Herrburger order no. 32479 (known from the stamps on the keys) - "Continental organ. BLACK" probably written by the person who wrote on the sticker in serial number 1076. The left-hand side of this one is hidden under the front apron. What may be a "9" can just be made out though - possibly the "9" of "32479". Quite what "SC" (printed on both labels) signifies is not clear at the moment.
A note stuck onto the wooden frame inside the organ.
Close detail of the picture above.
5th September (2)
Front view of the gorgeous Jennings J51 organ - termed the "J51 Streamline" in early promotional material - photo taken by Derek Underdown c. 1954 at Dartford Road. For a detail of the tone circuits, see below (second entry for 3rd Sept.).
To the right of the 24-note pedal board, there is a wooden footswitch block with what seem to be lamps to indicate actuation. This prefigures by well over ten years the prototype footswitch for the Vox Conqueror displayed by JMI in August 1966, and the footswitches designed by Thomas Organ for its range of solid state amps.
Model J51 "Streamline" Jennings orgam, photographed c. 1954. Thanks to Toni Standing and Martin Kelly for the pic.
5th September
Just to say that links to pages on the Jennings AC40 and the Jennings (JEI) V30, both on the Vox AC100 website, have been added to the sitemap. The AC40 was produced and sold by "Jennings Electronic Industries" - Tom's post-JMI company - from 1970-1973; and the JEI V30 from 1973-1975.
From the standpoint of electronics the AC40 is a close copy of the AC30 - not surprising perhaps, as Dick Denney was Tom's right-hand man at JEI. As for the "40" watts, nothing more than a good marketing line. The V30 is really a new design all round, though there are naturally some points of contact with the AC30.
4th September
A note in the music trade press, April 1963, shortly after the first Frankfurt Trade Fair (Musikmesse) attended by Jennings. Perhaps some hyperbole at this point, a normal thing in reports following fairs, but a few months later the race to keep up with orders really had begun in earnest.
Music trade press, April 1963.
3rd September (2)
A detail of a picture of a Jennings Model J51 organ taken at 115 Dartford Road by Derek Underdown c. 1954 - thanks to Toni Standing, Derek's daughter, and Martin Kelly. In view, part of the voicing assembly (stops, footings, and so on). It is interesting to see the range of components used: - white Erie capacitors; what look to be Egen potentiometers; Radiospares capacitors (the larger electrolytics); Hunts caps (smaller electrolytics); and black WIMA Tropydur signal / coupling caps.
The earliest advert for WIMAs to have emerged so far in journals published in the UK comes from September 1957. It may be that Derek ordered the capacitors directly from Germany. At any rate, it is clear that Jennings organs of the mid 1950s contained pretty much the same types of electronic components that were used to construct JMI amplifiers a few years later.
Detail of a Jennings Organ Company J51, photograph taken c. 1954.
3rd September
A correction to the entry for 27th August (2). The "Model A" organ was in fact a member of Jennings's new V-series organ range, first advertised along with the "Model C" in February 1956. The sheet below therefore gives the relevant arrays of resistors and capacitors for its generators.
February 1956. First advert for the new "V-series".
Jennings Organ Company, service manual, detail of the schedule of capacitors and resistors in the V-series organ generators.
1st September
Thanks to David, a detail of the two expression pedals and the locating connectors of the 30-note pedal board of the Model A organ from 1956. Underneath, the "Jennings Organ Company" schema for the pedal contact assemblies.
Updates for October and November 2020.