Vox Piano Pick-Up and Vibrato Control Unit

1958

Below, the images of the Vox piano pick-up (microphone) and vibrato control unit presented in the Vox amplifiers and accessories flyer of spring 1958, the amplifiers in view (at this time) being the AC2/30 and G1/10 (illustrated above these accessories on the flyer). The devices evidently stemmed from work on the Univox and organ range.

The piano mic it should be said was still available from JMI in April 1967! - price: £7 and 7 shillings.

As Glen Lambert has indicated, certain early AC1/15 and single speaker AC/30 chassis were evidently built - perhaps as "special" orders - with a view to connecting in such units. See the "Type 3" AC/30 chassis .

First version of the control unit.

"Manchester Evening News", 7th November, 1958.

In the notice above, "Knight" is Alfred ("Alfie") Knight, an important figure in the piano-making world of the 1950s. Alfie and Tom were the only representatives of the British musical instrument manufacturing industry at the NAMM show in 1963. Cranes had been signed up as a dealer - initially for Jennings organs - by Tom in the mid 1950s.

1959 and 1960

1959 and 1960: updated versions, illustrated in the Vox amplifiers and accessories flyer issued in late 1959, and briefly outlined in an advert placed in the music trade press in May 1960.

Detail from a Vox flyer, 1959.

May 1960.

Made by Microfisa and given a JMI transfer.

Surviving units

Several versions of the piano mic survive, the one below probably from 1963 (or thereabouts):