Italian-made Vox Super Continental dual manual organs
1967 to 1970
In progress, June 2025
The front of the new Thomas Organ / Eko (E.M.E.) factory at Montecassiano, photographed in late 1968.
In late 1966, JMI farmed manufacture of the Vox Super Continental organ out to E.M.E. ("Elettronica Musicale Europea"), a joint venture with the Thomas Organ company, which distributed Vox equipment in the USA, and EKO in Italy (led by Oliviero Pigini). Production took place initially at Recanati, a little way south of Ancona, where E.M.E. had three facilities. In late 1968 Thomas and EKO brought a fourth into being at Montecassiano, a short drive to the west. It was officially opened in September '68. JMI, dissolved some months earlier (the cessation of trading announced in April 1968), evidently played no part in the commissioning of the new factory.
E.M.E. produced two types of Super Continental organ, one for sale in the USA, the other for sale in Europe. Those destined for the USA were given Thomas Organ serial number plates (more on that towards the end of the page), the model designated as the V303E ("E" for E.M.E). Organs destined for Europe had serial number plates supplied by Jennings.
Super Continentals produced for use in America had power supplies that operated only at 117 volts. Super Continentals destined for Europe had power supplies that operated - notionally - at 110 and 250 volts.
Italian-made Super Continental serial number 2117.
Below, an organ with a plate supplied by Jennings, operating voltages stated as being 110/250V. No mention is made of manufacture in Italy. Electronics and everything else however are Italian.
Italian-made Super Continental serial number 1774.
Both types of organ had serial numbers in the same sequence, which began at number 0001. Given that final inspection of serial number 0052 took place at the E.M.E. factory in February 1967, it seems unlikely that any standard production units were shipped before the beginning of 1967.
A page on the (relatively few) Super Continentals made by JMI, late 1965 into 1966, has been started here. Serial numbers of the English-made organs began at 5000.
How to distinguish Italian-made Super Continentals from English
A quick and easy way to tell one from the other is by the position and form of mains switch. On English-made Super Continentals, the ON/OFF lamp is inside the body of the switch.
Detail from the JMI promotional photo.
Early English-made Super Continental.
English-made Super Continental II, c. 1967/1968.
On Italian-made Super Continentals, lamp and switch are side by side:
Serial number 0816, inspected at factory in Italy in May 1967.
Promotional photos published by Thomas Organ seem invariably to show Italian-made Super Continentals, below a Mark II from the standee featuring The Monkees:
Detail from the Monkees standee, early 1967.
Italian Super Continentals made for use in the USA (for Thomas Organ).
Thomas designated the model the V303 (then V303E). As mentioned above, Super Continentals made by E.M.E in Recanati were not shipped to the USA before 1967. What follows is for the time being a series of notes:
Thanks to Jim, a shot of the warranty documentation issued by with serial number 0429 by Thomas Organ, no dates present unfortunately.
1) - The Super Continental seems first to appear in Thomas pricelists in July 1966, presumably having been displayed at the NAMM show in Chicago (10th-14th July) and at the company's promotional event at the New York Hilton ten days later. The earliest shop advert that has come to light however is from March 1967 - after that a growing stream of adverts across the USA. Distribution may have been slow (and unexpected) initially.
Billings, Montana, March 1967. "Didn't know it was coming" could of course just be sales patter, but....
2) - To do no more than note for the time being, final inspection of serial number 0816 took place in May 1967; 1017 in August '67; 2309 in July 1968. JMI ceased trading in April 1968.
3) - The Continentals in view from 1967 will for the most part have been Mark Is. A forthcoming page will deal with English-made Mark IIs.
4) - Early runs of Thomas Organ serial number plates contain a spelling mistake - "DARTFORT" for "DARTFORD". This was remedied in a new type of plate brought into use by number 2117, mention of Dartford omitted - see below. Both types of plate were probably made up in Italy - note the presence of a comma rather than a decimal point in "0,125 AMPS".
Italian-made Super Continental serial number 1017.
Italian-made Super Continental serial number 2117.
5) - Whether any were Super Continentals were made in the new E.M.E. factory at Montecassiano (opened in late 1968) is not known at present.
6) - Built-in repeat percussion appears to come in around serial number 3000, the earliest instance definitively known at present being Super Continental number 3074. Did the serial number sequence break off in the high 2000s and restart at 3000?
Detail of serial number 3271.
7) - Only tangentially to do with Thomas, following the final winding up of JMI in the Spring of '68, E.M.E. continued to make Continentals and Super Continentals for the companies that took the "VOX" name forward at Erith (and later Hastings) from 1968 to 1973: "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" (late 1968 to late 1969) and "Vox Sound Limited" (early 1970 to early 1973). These companies are normally identified on the serial number plates of the later organs sold in Europe.