Vox Compact 50

"Vox Sound Limited", 1971 and 1972 (moderate numbers produced)

Detail of a Vox pricelist printed for the German market in 1971. The Compact and Slave range were not valve though. The heading only relates to the Vox V100.

Below, pictures of a Vox "Compact 50B", "B" presumably standing for Bass. The "Compacts" were part of a short-lived range released by "Vox Sound Limited" in 1971. Other members can be seen on this page. Of the four principal types of amp produced - the Compact 50, Compact 100T ("Treble"), Slave Master, and Slave Driver - only The Slave Master was given any attention in the British press of the time. Pages on an early Slave Driver are here.

The main drive in 1971 was the European market. Little seems to have been done to push the two ranges in the UK.

Externally the Compact 50B looks much the same as the 50W Slave Master and Slave Driver. The cabinets were designed to be stacked (note the wells on top for the feet of a surmounting unit); and the amplifiers too were built on a modular principle. Were it not for the name on front, one would be hard pressed to tell one type from another. No schematics have so far come to light, though the factory will doubtless have had drawn or printed working layouts.

The amps, from an electronic standpoint, are extremely well constructed - neat, tidy and indeed compact.

Above, vignettes of the Vox/Birch-Stolec factory on the Ponswood Road Industrial Estate, St-Leonards-on-Sea (Hastings). On the right, Compacts or Slaves in covers awaiting despatch.