The Beginning
and the AC30
Vox has a heritage that no other music company can boast. Throughout the 1960’s it was one of the greatest innovators of music technology and the name Vox was associated with many top and new artists of the decade such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Shadows. Over fifty years later, after six changes of ownership, it is still surviving in what has become one of the worlds most competitive markets. Now there is a whole new generation of Vox users, many because of their aspirations and respect for the many artists who rely on Vox for their sound. So here is a brief overview of the history of Vox and how it became one of the best-know amplifier brand.
February 28th 1917 - Thomas Walter Jennings was born in Hackney, London.
1941
Tom Jennings receives a medical discharge from the Royal Engineers during World War II and takes a job with a munitions plant, Vickers in Kent. Here he meets Dick Denney, another amateur musician who played guitar and also had keen interest in radio and electronics.
1944
An accomplished accordion player, Tom Jennings opens up a part-time business trading in second hand instruments, mainly accordions.
1945
World War II ends.
At the end of the war Jennings and Denney went their separate ways and Jennings made his business a full-time occupation.
1946
Tom Jennings acquired his first commercial premises and an office at 119 Dartford Road, Dartford, Kent. The business started to import accordions for sale along side other musical items.
Late 1940's
Jennings produces an electronic single voice keyboard\organ type instrument called the Univox. This eventually went on to sell well and provided funds for Jennings to expand.
1951
Tom Jennings forms The Jennings Organ Company.
1956
Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” hits UK charts.
With the Rock-n-Roll revolution underway, Jennings started to modify the amplifier section from his electronic organs for the electric guitar. But with limited success, the project was shelved.
Meanwhile, convalescing after a serious illness, Dick Denney had continued to experiment with guitars and amplification and had made a 15-watt unit with a 12-inch speaker. This had an effective sound for guitar and later a tremolo unit was added.
After building a couple of these amplifiers, a colleague took one into Tom Jennings’ shop and days later Tom Jennings was offering Dick Denney a job.
1957
The first appearance of the VOX name on a guitar amplifier – the AC2/30.
After Dick Denney took up the position of chief engineer, Jennings Musical Instruments (JMI) was incorporated with Tom Jennings and his wife as directors.
Jan 1958
JMI produce a 15-watt guitar amplifier under the brand name VOX. It was called the AC15 as is was an amplifier and speaker combined with 15 watts output.
1958
Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire”reaches #1.
Tom Jennings leased shop premises at 100 Charing Cross Road, London with a view to sell Fender guitars and eventually Vox amplifiers. With the Rock-n-Roll scene becoming stronger, Cliff Richard’s backing band, The Shadows, acquire AC15s and people started to notice the clean guitar sound. Soon, other new artists were using the Vox AC15, Bert Weedon, The checkmates with singer Emile Ford, The Migil Five and the Joe Loss Band.
Late 1958
Vox produce the AC4 and the AC10. The AC4 was a 4-watt practice amplifier with an 8-inch speaker. The AC10 was a 10-watt cut down AC15 with a 10-inch speaker.
With the arrival of the 60-Watt Fender Twin amplifier from the USA and bigger venues being used for performances, there was now a need for a louder Vox amplifier. Reluctant to use two AC15s in tandem, it was suggested to "twin" an AC15. Finding that the EL84 valve used in the AC15 gave superior result to the more powerful EL34 valve, it was decided to use four EL84 valves instead of just two EL34s which was more usual for amplifiers with around a 50 Watt output. The mains transformer and rectifier valve were upgraded in the power supply and a bigger 30 watt output transformer used. A single Goodmans Audiom 80 speaker was fitted. The results were not ideal for the guitar and reluctantly the size of the amplifier was increased to accommodate two 15 watt Goodmans speakers. The earlier problems were now gone and the AC30 was born. Officially the AC30/4 because it had four inputs, two for the normal channel and two for the Vib/Trem channel or “Vibravox” channel, as it was known.
Late 1959
Bill Haley & His Comets end their groundbreaking association with Decca Records, signing with Warner Brothers Records.
The Shadows take delivery of three AC30s. Not totally satisfied with the results of either the Goodmans Audiom or Celestion G12 speakers, a new speaker was developed by Celestion using an alnico magnet and painted blue, it became known as the Vox "Blue" speaker and became instrumental in the Vox sound and its success.
July 1960
The Shadows reach number one with their first instrumental, Apache. With the sound of the AC30 clearly noticeable, Vox's name was soon to become known as the best of British amplifiers.
Late 1960
The Beatles make their debut in Hamburg, Germany. The band at the time included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.
The AC30 was revised. By using the more reliable ECC83 (12AX7) valve in the pre-amp stage a third channel was added. This was the “Brilliant” channel and had its own pair of inputs increasing the total number of inputs to six. This new model was renamed the AC30/6. There was a slight difference in sound noticed by some players who felt that the AC30/6 did not have the same clarity, so in 1961 a extra piece of circuitry that could be added to an AC30 was offered by Vox as an option to new and existing AC30s. This unit was the “Brilliance” unit and was in the Vox catalogue as the “Top Boost” unit. It added an extra panel on the back with a bass and treble control for the Brilliance channel.
The story seen here is just the concise highlights of Vox's colourful history. For the full story you
are recommended to obtain a copy of the
"The Vox Story" written by AC30 designer
Dick Denney and Vox engineer Dave Peterson.
Published by:
The Bold Strummer Ltd., P.O. Box 2037,
20 Turkey Circle, Westport, CT 06880, USA.
This book is available from the Vox Showroom website's retail area.
| READ MORE STORIES... | |
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The story of VOX. As seen in the November, 2007 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine (2MB PDF) |
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The VOX story. As seen in the October, 2007 issue of Guitar Player magazine (2.3MB PDF) |