Vox Solid State Australian catalogue - late 1966
Below, pictures of the solid state brochure drawn up by JMI for the Australian market in late 1966. Nicholson's was a long-standing Vox distributor:
Above, the basic foot-pedal and the optional extra.
The foot-pedal shown at the British Musical Instrument Industries Trade Fair at the Russell Square in August 1966 is offered, at this stage, as an optional extra. The illustrations show the amps in their pre-production format and with their pre-production names. What was released as the "Virtuoso" is here the "Supreme", and what was released as the "Supreme" is the "Beatle".
The prices (in Australian dollars) of the various production models were later noted in ink:
Supreme/Virtuoso: $505 AU
Conqueror: $965 AU
Defiant: $1035 AU
Beatle/Supreme: $1450 AU
Dynamic Bass: $845 AU
Foundation Bass: $975 AU
Super Foundation Bass: $1170 AU
These equate by and large to the prices given in the JMI pricelist of April 1967.
The text in the lower left-hand panel expands on that of the advert published in "Melody Maker" magazine, 20th August, 1966.
"Melody Maker", 20th August, 1966, lower half of the advert. But in actual fact the solid state line was not ready - see this page. The intention to get the range to market at the "end of January 1967" could not be achieved, and it was only in April 1967 that the amps finally went on general sale in the UK.
The "Watchdog" was one of the elements adopted from the solid state amps issued by Thomas Organ under the Vox name in America. The limiter effectively throttled the volume when the output section neared the point of breakdown distortion. Jack Bruce was not a fan, presumably having tried a Super Beatle or something similiar on Cream's tour of the US in late March / early April 1967:
"Beat Instrumental" no. 51, July 1967.
Fortunately, the JMI engineers decided against the Watchdog, prefering instead full thermal cut-out to protect the output transistors. The dreadful bulldog motif was by and large ditched too, though it was retained for certain accessories.
The bulldog cliche on Vox Precision Guitar Strings.