List of updates / new info. on Vox solid state amps (1967-1972)
Updates for July and August 2017
22nd August
Supreme no. 2371 now registered here. Thanks to Matt for the pictures.
20th August (2)
Conqueror no. 1295 now registered here. Thanks to Chris for the pictures.
20th August
The general page on the solid state Public Address amplifiers has been updated with further notes on the schematics. Further pics of the PA amps will be posted soon.
19th August
A note on the so-called Mark III schematic for the Conqueror, Defiant and Supreme preamp - OS/184. Effectively OS/184 is a late "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" sheet updated with a "Vox Sound Limited" legend, probably added early in the VSL period (ie. late summer 1970).
The same process of renaming can be seen in the schematics for the PA50SS and PA100SS. "Equipment" in the "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" legend was simply rubbed out, leaving "Vox Sound Limited". See the sheets on this page.
The list of changes top left on the OS/184 sheet. C15, C16, and C17 are all signal capacitors in the mid-range-boost circuit. The positions of C15 and C16 were simply swapped in relation to the positions adopted in earlier amps (JMI schematic OS/136).
In fact the only real change was C17 (4th August 1969), from 0.01uf (JMI schematic) to 0.047uf. Nothing of course is said about where C17 was to be positioned. In some mid period VSEL amps it is fantastically difficult to see, being tucked behind another larger capacitor.
The last note (4) in the list above is "Model was Mark II" - dated 11th December 1969. No VSEL "Mark II" sheet has so far come to light, however. Very often only certain sheets survive. But now and again, unexpected copies do surface - as in the case of a schematic for the AC100 incorporating JMI notes up to December 1966 - available here.
At any rate, the VSEL "Mark II" things were the six position mid-range-boost circuit and omission of the standby circuit. In which case, "Mark III" is little more than the "Vox Sound Limited" copy of the late "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" Mark II sheet.
Important to note that the schematics as we have them are: (i) almost always fair copies (or adjusted fair copies) of preliminary sheets that were (ii) drawn up / issued for repairmen, NOT the assembly teams. Across the whole range of JMI amps, one often finds that the nice, neat, homogenised schematics do not take account of actual practice.
Below, OS/184, lower left, the title panel with main legend:
The lower left panel of OS/184, bearing signs of erasure and updating.
12th August (2)
P.P.Arnold and band, Blackpool 1969, with Vox Supreme at right, two indicator lamps on the front.
12th August
Pics of Supreme no. 2528, back in working order, now posted here. Thanks to Chris.
5th August
A picture page now created on a Vox PAR100SS from mid or late 1972 - 100w solid state public address amp with reverb. Its chassis is the same as the one used for the Vox Midas with reverb.
3rd August
Vox Dynamic Bass serial number 2000. Vox Sound Equipment Limited plate handstamped. This suggests that the sequence for all VSEL amps began at 2000 rather than 2001.
Thanks to Russ for the pic.
30th July
The page on the price of Vox Defiants from 1967 to 1972 has now been updated, and its address modified: https://www.voxsupreme.org.uk/vox_defiant_prices.html
29th July (4)
The page on later Vox Conquerors has now been split in two. "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" Conqs are here (serial nos 2001-2380). "Vox Sound Limited" amps are here (serial numbers 2380-2500).
29th July (3)
Defiant serial numbers 2097, 2113 and 2138 (all VSEL) registered on this page. Defiant no. 2491 (VSL) registered here.
29th July (2)
A nice late Conqueror, serial no. 2462, along with its cab. "Vox Sound Limited" on the control panel and the serial number plates. Thanks to Andy for the pics.
29th July
Beat Instrumental magazine, October 1967. Bruce Welch with a Vox Escort Special; a note on Vox amps in Greece; and Syd Wedeles's new shop. See the first note on Syd, March 1967 on this page.
Star Street is off the Edgware Road, not too far from Paddington Station. The premises were still occupied by an electronics shop a few years ago when the Google Street camera car went by (below).
39 Star Street.
24th July (2)
A page now posted on the trolley and handwheel fixings for Vox Supreme tilt-back cabs.
24th July
Beat Instrumental magazine, October 1973. No mention is made of Vox at the A.M.I.I. show in August. Negotiations were probably in progress though. Dallas Arbiter did not take on the solid state amps, which had largely come to an end in 1972 in any case.
19th July
For the first half of 1973 (ie. up to and including June), Beat Instrumental magazine gives the small notice below:
Vox is no more. There are no adverts, no mentions in the sections on musical equipment, no reports.
A vignette picture of Macari's Musical Exchange, 102 Charing Cross Road, in 1973 from a full-page ad. for Macari's in Beat Instr., June '73 - "Vox" still above the door, though nothing is said of the company in the ad's text.
17th July
An early "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" Dynamic Bass amplifier added here.
14th July
Some items from summer 1972 showing that Vox gave up its London office and showroom at 9 Gees Court in late July or early August, moving subsequently to Beaconsfield Road, Hastings.
Beat Instrumental, August 1972. A note on Vox in a feature on "Amplification" coinciding with the year's A.M.I.I. show in Russell Square. Note the Beaconsfield Road address. For a pic, see below (entry for 7th July).
Above, two items from B.I. in July '72 - the advert for guitars, giving the factory address (see the other ads below, entry for 8th July); and a short note in advance of the A.M.I.I. putting in a good word for Vox, still giving 9 Gees Court as the address of the office and showroom.
9th July (2)
The page on later Vox Defiants has now been split in two. VSEL Defiants are here; and VSL Defiants here.
There is now a new page on the prices of VSL equipment in July 1971 - few if any changes from August 1970, but a useful touchstone.
f9th July
A speaker matching unit with four outputs against one with two. The former retains its "Vox Sound Limited" information plate. Both units have gold string. The box of the two-input matcher is fairly ragged at back.
Pics of the (simple) internal arrangement of the unit immediately above are available on this page.
The intention was to make the solid state amps, which only had one speaker output, more versatile.
The boxes were designed to work with multiple cabs of the same impedance, preferably made by Vox, and if possible ones belonging to the new Multi-Link range.
Below a Vox Sound Limited "Multi Link I" (with 4x12" drivers) recently on ebay:
The id plate on the back gives ML I - ie. Multi-Link I - "special". It's not clear at the present what "special" designates - possibly speakers?.
8th July (3)
Below three adverts for the new "Vox Sound Limited" guitars - fine-looking instruments:
November 1971
January 1972
September 1972
8th July (2)
An index to the pages of "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" amps and so on is now online here.
Both this page and the one signalled below will be updated as the pages on the amps are sorted out (some are too long).
8th July
An index to the various pages of "Vox Sound Limited" amplifiers and speaker cabinets has been created here.
The same will be done for "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" amps and cabs.
7th July (2)
A new page on "Vox Sound Limited" in 1972 has been started here.
7th July
Jumping ahead to the second half of 1972, we are close to end of days - massive reductions on items, and the move of the office and showroom from Gees Court in London - a smart and presumably expensive address - to a suburban street in Hastings.
Beat Instrumental magazine, June 1972.
Beat Instrumental magazine, September 1972. Note the new address of the office: 94-96 Beaconsfield Road, Hastings.
Beaconsfield Road as it was a couple of years ago when the Google Street camera car passed by. Numbers 94-96 are the taller of the three buildings in the small complex.
Beaconsfield Road was around a mile away from the Birch-Stolec factory in St Leonards.
6th July
A picture page on the Vox Midas reverb shown below (4th July) now posted here - mostly details to illustrate various aspects of its construction.
5th July
The page on the Jennings J100 on the Vox AC100 website has now been updated. Further material will be added.
4th July (3)
Vox Midas 100 with reverb, serial no. 1142. Further pics to follow. The reverb pan is stamped "Birch-Stolec", so the amp is likely to have been made after August 1971, i.e. after the move to the new factory.
A huge amount of thought evidently went into the design of the chassis. Tolerances are sometimes tight - esp. the preamp and mains input - so assembly must have been a slowish process. But the arrangement of components is ingenious.
General external views of no. 1142 are at the foot of this page.
4th July (2)
The page on Vox Sound Limited has been recast and the new material on dates and so on worked in. VSL was conveniently in place in its new premises - 9 Gees Court, and the Birch-Stolec factory - in time for the big music show in August 1971 - the "Associated Musical Instrument Industries Fair". Whether that was an intention or simply the dictates of circumstance is unknown at the mo.
4th July
The body of the notice on Vox equipment, along with prices, in Beat Instrumental, July 1971. The Defiant and Supreme, just to take two quick examples, are the same price as in August 1970. See the yellow VSL pricelist here. New to the range are the 100 watt Focus speakers. A surviving set can be seen at the foot of this page.
Two illustrative pictures from the July 1971 piece on amplifiers. The Defiant pic is an old one, from JMI days, showing a pre-production amp.
3rd July
Beat Instrumental, July 1971. The preamble to a short section on Vox, the Defiant strangely said to be "new". Note the address - still Erith. But the move may already have been in progress, as the new office address in Gees Court is noted in the full page Beat Instrumental advert placed by Vox in August, and the new factory premises - the Birch-Stolec factory in St Leonard's-on-Sea - referenced in the half-page ad from November - both on this page. But presumably the two premises were taken on at the same time (ie. in August).
Connected with this, it's intriguing to see a music shop opening up not too far from the factory. Clearly an opportunity to grasped.
Beat Instrumental, September 1971.
58 Norman Road on Google Street, a couple of years ago, then and probably now a Gallery Shop.
2nd July
A new page created on the 200 watt solid state Jennings Electronic Industries J200 on the Vox AC100 website. Surviving examples seem to be be exceptionally thin on the ground - if anyone knows of one, do get in touch.
All the JEI material will be brought together in one place when the updating has reached a suitable juncture.
1st July (4)
The pages on Jennings Electronic Industries amplifiers on the Vox AC100 website are in the process of being updated.
1st July (3)
Beat Instrumental, July 1970. The pics below of the Barbarela night club certainly show Vox equipment, but whether they are from 1970 is not certain.
The Barbarela Night Club, Las Palmas. In the uppermost of the two pics, a Super Foundation Bass to left. In the lower, Vox amps in the gloom of the background. Pics from this blog page.
1st July (2)
Beat Instrumental, November 1971. Just to draw attention to the last line: "On their stand at the Canadian show, Vox will be exhibiting their latest range of educational and PA equipment.
By the time BI had gone to press, the show was done and dusted. But what was the "Vox educational equipment"? Something already in production that had been given a new twist?
The page on Vox Sound Limited articles has been updated. Further additions to be made to it next week.
1st July
The pages from the "Vox Sound Equipment Limited" Italian brochure (1968) now set up here.
30th June (3)
Material on Jennings Electronic Industries in 1970 and 1971 is now being gathered here.
30th June (2)
In the brochure below, Comusik describes itself as the exclusive distributor in Italy. Presumably it acted in this capacity in 1967 and 1968, being replaced in early 1969 by E.M.E., which had been making guitars and organs for Vox since 1966.
The impulse to change to E.M.E. was probably the setting up of the new factory at Montecassino (wrongly given as Monte Cassiano in the Vox advert of early 1969).
Report from Billboard magazine, 2nd November, 1968.
30th June
An early JMI Gyrotone III - from 1967 - sold in Belgium some time ago. Note the Celestion T1279 drivers, as in Defiants.
Below, two pages from the VSEL brochure produced for the Italian agent in Rome, Comusik. The main distributor in Italy was E.M.E. - named in the VSEL ad for the Frankfurt Music Fair in 1969 - see this page.
In 1968, 625 lire was approximately £0.42, which means that 10,000l = £6.72. The Defiant therefore cost the equivalent of approximately £436 against £235 in the UK in 1968. Shipping and import duties were not cheap.
29th June (2)
November 1971. Note the new addresses. In two ads from April 1971 Vox is still in Erith. Below, two further snippets from Nov. '71, the second noting sales of £100,000 following the Associated Instrument Industries fair in August.
29th June
A new page on Tom Jennings post-Vox posted here - Jennings Electronics Developments and Jennings Electronic Industries - which run parallel with Vox Sound Equipment Limited in terms of making and selling solid state amps.
The material, some of which new, gathered on this page and on pages to come, will be used to update existing pages on the Vox AC100 website.