Forthcoming: a selection of documents, some not available elsewhere on the web, relating to the Vox Continental transistor organ - early years, 1962-1964.

The Continental was first unveiled at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair in August 1962 - see this page on the Vox AC100 website. Three models / versions were presented.

The best sources of information on the Continental on the web are, as ever, Combo Organ Heaven and Ron Lebar's Alpha Entek site.

An overview of Vox volume pedals (including those supplied with the Continental) can be found here.

1962

Below, the earliest promotional item for a Vox Continental organ that has come to light so far - an advert prepared for the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, late August 1962 (at which the organ was revealed to the public for the first time). The drawing is likely to have been based in part on a photo of an existing build - standard JMI practice. Note the keyboard - black and white keys not yet reversed. At this point the Continental will still have been in prototype form.

The transistor amplifier "with sixty watt capacity" mentioned at the end of the blurb was the Vox T60.

August 1962, for the music trade only in this print.

Patents

On the 12th December 1962, JMI applied for two Trade Marks for the "Vox Continental", one in "Class 15" (for musical instruments); the other "Class 9", a category encompassing items intended for a variety of applications: photographic, cinematographic, sound recording, wireless (radio), and so on. "Trade Marks" solely concern the name. "Registered Design" covered outward appearance; "Patents" covered physical/electro-mechanical features.

The process was a three-fold one: application (12th December, 1962); publication; and finally registration - formal legal approval of the name. Applications in the case of Vox did not always coincide precisely with the beginning of production.

30th October, 1963. Publication, Class 15.

27th May, 1964. Publication, Class 9.

Trade press, November 1963, reporting the success of application 842778. Trade Mark 786138 is the name "Vox", applied for on 15th January 1959 and granted on the 7th October.

Below, a plaque inside a Continental from mid 1963 currently in the UK. The patent design, the work of Les Hills and Robert Whittington for JMI, was applied for in December 1955. The application number is actually 34717/55 = 3471755. The patent document is 807883 (see below).

Patent applied-for plaque.

Detail of the document header.

The patent relates to a new type of switch contact for Jennings console organ keyboards - conductive rubber contacts in the blocks to suppress noise of switching and to add an element of pressure sensitivity to the keys.

One patent was expressly mentioned in the literature however - for the harmonic drawbars, a design that also went back to the 1950s:

Detail from a four-page fold-out manual printed in February 1963.

Notes on the design of the Continental's drawbars, for which "World Patents" were asserted, can be found on this page. The relevant application numbers for the drawbars are: 886591, 34054/57.

Mainstream adverts and appearances

Below, two early adverts for the Continental in the popular music press - "Melody Maker" magazine, 8th and 22nd December. On the 8th, the blurb states that Jennings supplies organs to various bands - The Tornados, Eric Delaney, Sounds Incorporated, John Barry - though it does not explicity say that the Continental itself has been supplied. The price quoted is 225 guineas. This increased to 250 guineas in 1963.

On the 22nd, however, it is noted that the organ appears in a film - "Just For Fun", starring Helen Shapiro and the Three Monarchs, and so on. Again, there is no explicit mention that the Continental has been issued individually to the groups named.

The film was released in 1963, filming having begun at Twickenham Studios on 19th Nov. '62. Below, a trailer. The Continental can be seen in the clip of The Tornados at around 1 minute 10 secs. If a better version can be found, it will be incorporated below.

The Tornados - a screengrab from a higher resolution clip from the film.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 8th December, 1962.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 22nd December, 1962.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 22nd December, 1962.

Circuit diagrams

There are five main sheets - OS/027 (Dividers); OS/028 (Power section); OS/029 (Vibrato); and OS/030 (Drawbars). OS/030 has an analogue in OOS/036. OS/014, a sheet for the Continental power section, is probably from the "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" period (mid 1968 to late 1969).

By 1965, various assembly sheets had been drawn up, T0/037 to TO/049. The contents of some sheets in this range are known, others not.

OS/012, drawn in February 1962, was a reverb unit for organs - presumably at this date all valve and probably unsuited to use with the Continental.

The information panel of OS/028, issued on the 28th February 1963, with dated changes.

1963

Below a selection of adverts for the Continental, the first put out in advance of the Frankfurt Trade Fair of February '63, the one from June '63 in advance of the Russell Hotel Trade Fair in August.

Music trade magazine, January 1963.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 16th March, 1963. The Continental is 250 guineas.

Detail from the ad above - users of the Continental by March 1963.

The Overlanders

A couple of great details from pictures taken by Harry Hammond - Al Saxon of the "Overlanders" at a very early "square top" Vox Continental organ with perspex music stand, probably early 1963. The key features, setting this organ apart from later square tops, are: (1) lid latches on the front edge; (2) the plain case, no silver "string" inset at the edges; (3) the absence of any "Vox Continental" plaque; (4) the absence of white piping on the front lip of the orange top; (5) the "diving boot" volume pedal (see this page); (6) the two jack sockets on the underside of the organ - one a pass-through for the pedal.

As production proceeded, the elements noted above were adjusted/updated - some separately, others together. Fitting out of the first 60 or so organs, all done by hand, could be quite variable.

Sounds Incorporated (see below), probably took delivery of their Continental a month or two after the Overlanders received theirs.

Later in production the lid catches on the front edge were moved to the sides, necessitating the manufacture of stands with shorter horizontal bars. Most of the adverts through to 1964 show the early arrangement (re-using early drawings and photographs).

April 1963: a demonstration by Jennings, presumably of the new Vox Continental in its various versions. The "Electronic Organ Constructor's Society" (of which JMI was a member) still exists. The event is likely to have taken place in the Great Hall of the Northern Polytechnic - now London Metropolitan University.

April 1963.

"Beat Instrumental" magazine, May 1963 - an expanded version of the ad placed in "Melody Maker".

A quick shot of one of the best ads that Vox put out in 1963 (June).

A report of the Jennings display at the NAMM show in Chicago, July 1963 - a full range of electronic equipment including the Continental organ. A slightly bendy pic. (apologies) from a bulky collection of music trade journals, August 1963.

A detail of the original studio shot of the Vox Continental embodied in the piece above, hand-written legend at foot. JMI often supplied journals with original photos. The image was used in adverts through to 1964 in a variety of forms - masked; as a "cut-out" on a plain white background (with and without text overlay); on coloured backgrounds (catalogues and brochures); and as the basis for new graphical (ie. hand-drawn) art work.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 12th October, 1963 - a Continental in the Jennings shop on Charing Cross Road.

"Melody Maker", 2nd November, 1963.

Detail of the Continental used by "Sounds Incorporated" in the film "Live it Up", released 29th November 1963, presumably filmed in the autumn. Sounds Inc. are mentioned in relation to the Continental that appears in the film "Just For Fun", late December 1962 (see above), but it is not known whether the group actually had one of their own at that point. At any rate, note that the power socket and jack socket in the picture above are on the underside of the organ. At least one early Continental survives with this configuration. Normally the two sockets would be where the serial number plate is.

Publicity photo of Roger Mabey of "The Saxons", 1963. Image from David St John's website.

1964

Local Dartford press, 3rd January, 1964 - some interesting Jennings prizes in the "Write a Song for Joe Brown" competition: a Vox Continental organ for the winner; and for third prize, probably a Vox PA amplifier and microphone.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 4th January, 1964 - a second-hand Continental in the Jennings shop for £250 with hire purchase terms.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 18th January, 1964 - a new Continenal, cash price as March 1963.

Published on the 23rd January, 1964, a shot of a local Scarborough band with a "square top" Vox Continental - i.e. early type, with perspex music stand - in very light grey or perhaps even coloured vinyl.

The blurb states that the boys had done their shopping in Leeds - doubtless at R.S. Kitchen, an important Vox dealer in the first years of the 1960s. The (full) price of the Continental is proudly given - 260 guineas.

"Beat Instrumental" magazine no. 9, January 1964.

A detail from the JMI pricelist of early 1964. The Jennings Church Organs are still there, along with three models of Univox, the pedal units, and the Vox Continental. The Thomas section is now the largest though, a consequence of the deal that Tom and Joe Benaron of Thomas struck at the NAMM show in Chicago, July 1963. JMI would be "exclusive" distributors of Thomas organs in the UK. According to Rodney Angell, who worked in the Jennings Organ division from c. 1965-1968, one of the tacit conditions of the arrangement was that JMI had to reduce production of its own console organs.

JMI pricelist, early 1964 - printer's runner has "2/64".

JMI catalogue, mid 1964. Sections bear the printer's runner "2/64" - February 1964, though it is likely that the catalogue as a whole was not released until a few months later. Copies can be seen in photos taken at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, August '64.

Fibreboard case for the legs.

Vox Continental serial number TC1549, made at the Dartford Road works a few months before production was moved to Erith.

Lonnie Donegan at the Dartford Road Works, July 1964, trying out a modified Continental. At right, Charlie Cobbett, JMI's Artists' Loan Officer'. Behind the group, an AC80/100.

The Vox brochure for the Continental, in this form, late summer 1964. Note that "VOX" with ribbed letters does not normally appear in advertisements and other literature until after mid '64. See the ad for the Ivy Benson combo, below. An earlier brochure will be posted soon.

Below, the earliest dated instance (at present) of the new volume pedal, cast for Vox by Schaller. Schaller produced pedals for others too (Dynacord being one). At least three castings were produced for Vox. Early to late - (1) cursive logo with a loop on the "X"; (2) plain cursive logo; and (3) block letter logo.

"Melody Maker" magazine, 1st August, 1964.

A detail showing the Schaller-made pedal.

The JMI newspaper format "Precision in Sound" catalogue, latter half of September 1964. The four types of Continental.

Repeat Percussion

The JMI circuit diagram - OS/063 - was drawn out by Albert Hogben on 7th December 1964 and signed off by Doug McDonald of the R&D team. The earliest advert to mention the effect that has emerged so far is the "Precision in Sound" newspaper-format catalogue issued in September 1964 in the UK and not too much later (though in a slightly different form) in the USA.

There is no mention of the effect in the blue fold-out Continental brochure of 1964.

Detail of the info panel of OS/063, first version.

Detail of the UK version of the "Precision in Sound" newspaper catalogue. The US version omits the Fender guitars and amplifiers offered by JMI in the UK.

OS/063 was adjusted during the course of 1965 for inclusion in the Vox Guitar Organ and Electric Accordion. One of the key feature of both versions of the circuit is the use of interstage transformers - quite unusual.

Detail of the info panel of OS/063, later versiom, for the Vox Continental, Guitar Organ, and the Electric Accordion (released in August 1965).

Roy Castle (a popular entertainer) at Dartford Road, October 1964, to collect a guitar and organ for his stage shows. At right, Charlie Cobbett; young members of JMI staff in white coats, centre. Picture published in a local Dartford newspaper.

JMI pricelist of November 1964 - Jennings and Thomas organs. Continental portable: £262 and 10 shillings is equivalent to 250 guineas.

1965

Below, two screengrabs of the organ department in the Vox Works at Erith from the BBC4 programme on JMI. This section of film is likely to have been shot in early 1965, less likely late 1964. Footage filmed at Dartford Road was first screened on British television on 25th August, 1964. At this point, the Works at Erith were probably - operative word - still being re-fitted for JMI. Their readiness was announced in the trade press in November 1964. The windows in the pictures below are certainly those of the Erith Works.

Note the wooden battens with sturdy dowels - for the wiring looms.

Below, the Continental in the first illustrated catalogue produced by Thomas Organ in the United States, probably late 1964 / early 1965. The drawing is the same as the examples further up this page, but with the music-stand removed. Price was $995.

Detail from the Thomas Organ "Million Dollar Sound" catalogue, late 1964 / early 1965.

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 are present among other things. In the middle background a perspex AC30 and Vox Continental organ. Shots of the organ at other fairs have yet to come to light.

Frankfurt Trade Fair, Feb. 1965.

To coincide with the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, August 1965, a note of the new price of the Continental was issued.

Published August 1965

Back to Jennings Organs, 1963.

Documents relating to Jennings (Vox) guitar amplifiers, 1963.