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Vox Amps |
Vox is owned by Korg. Vox amps have been heard on records since the 1950's. When the Beatles invaded the US they used VOX AC100 Head. This amp is believed to be the model used on the first tour of states back in early 60's. The early Beatles amplifier had about 100 watts RMS and had a "Watchdog" load limiter that let the guitarist turn up the volume without overloading the amp. VOX's Tone-X system gave these amps greater tonal range. It also had a 5 button foot switch that let the guitarist select between reverb to distortion, mid range boost, tremolo. The company was started by Tom Jennings in England. The company was originally called "Jenning Musical Instruments" and sold electric organs. In the late 40's they sold a keyboard called the UniVox which came with its own amplifier. This amplifier was the first amp they made. The actual company was formed in 1956 with Dick Denney. They where making organs and amplifier organs at the time. The first guitar amp manufactured by Vox was the AC15 which was a 20watt class A tube amp based on the same designs that both Fender and Marshall used right out of the RCA (Tube) Application Manual. This amp was based on the EL84 (two) power output tube. It had four inputs two of which where called VibraVox channels. VibraVox was VOX’s version of Vibrato/Tremolo and had variable Speed and Depth adjustments and switch to select either Vibrato or Tremolo. The power supply used a lower than normal voltage output which meant that the distortion contained more even harmonics and occurred at lower volume levels. When the amp was turned up the power sag also became present as did the additional harmonics. The AC15 was the start of it all for the Vox amp name. You can tell which ones these are because they have "JMI" on the control panel. These are very collectable because they were made by Jennings (Jennings Musical Instruments). In the late 50's when Rock'n'Roll was starting to take off meant the louder and louder concerts and larger venues. Vox responded with the AC30 which was twice as powerful as the AC15 but used the same open loop circuit design. Both the AC15 and AC30 where introduced as a Combo Amp (amp and head in a single package). Some of the artists who used Vox amps where the Beatles, and Cliff Richard. If you find an original AC30 amp then by all means keep it. It's worth quite a bit more than it originally cost. The re-issue of the AC30 is actually made in the Marshall factory I don't know if Marshall is owned by Korg? I haven't been able to find any information that says it is. It's interesting though. The AC30 came with Bulldog speakers which where actually Celestion G12's with Alnico magnets. Later Vox also offered a two piece unit, head amp and separate speaker cabinet. The electronics where hand wired at the time using point to point wiring. The most recognized group to use the AC30 was the Beatles. In the early 1960's Vox amps that where sold in the US where manufactured by Thomas Organ Company. These amps where transistor based and apparently didn't sell very well because they sounded horrible. This gave Vox amps a bad name in the US. When I was younger I didn't purchase one because of this, and this was in the early 70's - I wish I knew more. These amps weren’t the same amps as the one made in England. The amps in England where also available in different colors with tan vinyl and the reddish brown grill. The grill cloth was unique in that it had an X pattern to it which the same pattern used today. Later Vox added a stand that allowed you to tilt the amp or the speaker cabinet up towards you. In the early 60's they added a Reverb Tank to the AC30 (AC30 Rev) and then modified the EQ section by providing it with more gain which was called the AC30 Top Boost. The Top Boost is one of the more famous of the Vox amps and is considered to be the best sounding. Basically they added two extra ECC83 preamp tubes which gave the amp both a Treble and Bass tone control as well as the Top Boost section (The AC30 only had a tone control). The ECC83 preamp tubes are known to produce more midrange and have a higher output than say a 12AX7. This also helped to create the unique sound of this amp. The next amp in the Vox line was the AC50 which was a much cleaner sounding amp. It would only distort when it was really cranked up. It also had more power than the other amps (60 to 70 watts RMS). This amp used EL34 tubes as opposed to the EL84 tubes used by the 15 and 30 versions. The EL34 is a much more powerful tube and had a different tone than the EL84. The EL84 looks more like the smaller Preamp tubes than it does the EL34. This was the beginning of the more powerful amps becoming more popular. |
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