Vox (musical equipment)

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Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer based in Britain, which is most famous for making the AC30 guitar amplifier and the Vox organ.

1 Beginnings
2 The AC30
3 Instruments
4 Organs
5 Guitarorgan
6 Decline
7 Renewal
- 7.1 Valvetronix
- 7.2 Cooltron
8 Notes
9 External links

[edit] Beginnings

The Jennings Organ Company was founded by Tom Jennings after World War II and made the Univox, an electronic organ. In 1956 Jennings was shown a prototype guitar amplifier made by Dick Denney, an old workmate from a wartime munitions factory. The company was renamed Jennings Musical Instruments, and in 1958 the 15-watt Vox AC15 was launched. It was taken up by The Shadows and other British rock 'n' roll musicians.

Jennings sold production rights for the Vox Continental organ to an Italian subsidiary of Thomas organs in 1967. Under the new production agreement, the Vox Continental was soon eviscerated in quality and in sound, and it broke down when you looked at it wrong. For example, Ray Manzarek of The Doors had been using a Vox since 1966, but could no longer trust it during performances because of the problems in quality after 1967, and thus was forced to look elsewhere for an organ. He settled on the Gibson Kalamazoo, because it had a flat top like the Vox Continental, so it could accommodate the physical requirements of the Fender Rhodes Bass Piano, which was the bass for The Doors, in concert.

Image:AC30-Custom-Classic-lg.jpg

[edit] The AC30

Main article: Vox AC30

In 1959, with sales under pressure from the more powerful Fender Twin, Vox produced the 30-watt AC30. The AC30, fitted with Celestion "blue" loudspeakers and later Vox's special "Top Boost" circuitry, helped to produce the distinctive sound of the British Invasion, being used by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and the Yardbirds, among others. AC30s were later used by Brian May of Queen (who is well known for having a wall of AC30's on stage), Paul Weller of The Jam (who also assembled a wall of AC30s), Rory Gallagher, The Edge of U2, and Radiohead guitarists Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Ed O'Brien.

[edit] Instruments

In 1962 Vox introduced the pentagonal Phantom guitar made by EKO of Italy. It was followed a year later by the teardrop-shaped Mark VI, the prototype of which was used by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. Vox guitars also experimented with onboard effects and electronics. In the mid 1960s, as the sound of electric 12 string guitar became popular, Vox introduced the Phantom XII and Mark XII electric 12 string guitars. Vox produced many more traditional 6 and 12 string electric guitars in both England and Italy. Guitar effects pedals, including an early version of the wah-wah, used by Jimi Hendrix, and the Tone Bender fuzzbox pedal, used by Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds, were also manufactured.

Vox's wah-wah pedals were used by psychedelic rock guitarists Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix; and also by hard rock guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.

[edit] Organs

The Vox brand was also applied to electronic organs, notably the Vox Continental of 1962, which was immortalized by Alan Price on the Animals' track "House of the Rising Sun", and later used by Ray Manzarek on most songs recorded by The Doors. Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five and Rod Argent of The Zombies were also strongly connected with the instrument. The Continental and other Vox organs (such as the Jaguar and Continental II, Super Continental, and the Continental 300) share characteristic visual features including orange and black vinyl coverings, stands made of chromed steel tubing, and reversed black and white keys on the keyboards. The english wood key single manual continental (V301J) has become increasingly collectable, although the wood key american built (V301H) and plastic key italian built models (V301E, V301E/2, and V302E) are also commanding premium prices.

[edit] Guitarorgan

In 1967 Vox introduced the revolutionary but problematic Guitarorgan, a Phantom VI guitar with internal organ electronics. The instrument's trigger mechanism required wire connections to each fret, resulting in a very large and unwieldy neck. John Lennon was given one in a bid to secure an endorsement, though this never panned out. According to Up-Tight: the Velvet Underground Story, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones also tried one; when asked by the Velvets if it "worked", his answer was negative. The instrument never became popular, but it was a precursor to the modern guitar synthesizer. Many think Ian Curtis of Joy Division used a guitar organ but it was actually a Phantom VI special with on board effects.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Decline

In 1964 Jennings sold a share in JMI to the Royston Group and sold American rights to the Thomas Organ Company. He left the company in 1967, at about the time that Marshall overtook Vox as the dominant force in the British guitar amplifier market. Royston went bust in 1969, and the company went through a series of names and owners. Costs were cut, especially in the production of the AC30: cheaper loudspeakers with inferior magnets were used, as were printed circuit boards, while particleboard replaced plywood in cabinet construction, and at one point a solid state version was introduced.

Thomas Organ Company produced a line of mostly solid state amplifiers in the United States that carried the Vox name and cosmetic stylings, but were inferior to the British and Italian made equipment. To promote their equipment Thomas Organ built the Voxmobile; a Ford roadster dressed up to look like a Phantom Guitar. Despite this effort the Thomas Organ Company's Vox products destroyed the reputation of Vox in the North American market for many years.

[edit] Renewal

Vox Amplification Ltd has been owned by Korg since 1992. Korg revived the tube rectifier and alnico speakers for their version of the AC-30 in what is considered the most faithful version of the amp produced for many years. Korg have also used the Vox name for a new range of digital modelling amps. In 2003 manufacturing was moved to China.

[edit] Valvetronix

Recently Vox has emerged as a leader in the digital amp modelling market with the release of its Valvetronix line of digital amplifier modelers. Utilizing Korg's REMS solid state modelling software, the Valvetronix are driven via a low-power tube power amp stage. The latest line, the AD15VT/AD30VT/AD50VT/AD100VT, has received many awards and much praise for its faithful recreation of eleven classic guitar amplifiers at a price that most guitarists can easily afford. The company, however, is hesitant to reveal, in particular, which amplifiers each of the eleven models are supposed to replicate. However, many guitarists have their own opinions as to the various amplifiers modeled.

[edit] Cooltron

In addition to the Valvetronix, Vox have developed a line of analog effects pedals. Dubbed Cooltron, the line provides guitarists with vintage sounding overdrive, compression, boost, distortion, and tremolo. The pedals utilize low-power 12AU7 tubes to create vintage soft-clipping preamplification. Two of the Cooltron pedals, the Big Ben Overdrive, and the Bulldog Distortion, won the Guitar World Magazine Platinum Award<ref>Guitar World Magazine, September issue, 2005</ref>. Cooltron pedals: