Vox Amplifiers

History

Vox is one of the most recognised British musical instrument and amplifier manufacturers and is now owned by Korg. The company originally made organs and was named Jennings Musical Instruments (JMI) after founder Tom Jennings. In 1958 they produced the 15 watt AC 15 electric guitar combo amplifier that was subsequently championed by Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

Within a short space of time, and to keep pace with their competitors, Vox produced the AC30 combo amplifier that used Alnico magnets, Celestion Blue loud speakers and their innovative Top-Boost circuitry. This ultimately gave the amplifier its unique sound and shaped the sound of the British invasion of the pop world in the early 1960s. By 1962 The Beatles became perhaps Vox’s most famous endorsees and were quickly followed by others such as The Rolling Stones.

Vox continued rapid expansion and also produced a series of guitars and organs such as the Vox Clubman, Stroller and Phantom. The Vox Continental Organ was perhaps the most famous keyboard product, being used on hits such as The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals and extensively by Peter Tork of The Monkees. Bigger and more powerful amplifiers were also manufactured with bass and guitar rigs reaching 100 watts.

Original owner Tom Jennings left the company in 1967 after being displeased with the direction that the company was taking, and this marked a decline in Vox’s fortune. Their market share was being taken from them by up and coming amplifier manufacturers such as Marshall and Orange – not to mention the Fender brand being imported from the US.

In the 1970s, Vox had a renaissance largely championed by guitarist Brian May of the rock band Queen. He created a totally unique sound and part of that was a bank of up to 12 Vox AC 30’s wired in series as one huge amplifier. Other named users such as Paul Weller followed suit. Suddenly the demand for Vox amplifiers was on the rise again.

In 1992 Korg purchased Vox Amplification Ltd and set about faithfully re-creating the AC 30 based on its original design – reviving the valve rectifier and Alnico speakers to try to bring back the classic Vox tone.

Differentiators

There were 3 contributing factors to the success of Vox amplifiers in the early 1960s. Firstly, the choice of valves gave the amplifier a warm tone; secondly, the use of Alnico magnets and Celestion Blue speakers gave almost ideal voicing for guitars and basses as it enhanced the top and bottom frequencies. The third factor was the addition of Vox’s top end boost circuitry, which enhanced the amount of high end tone at a frequency level that was pleasing to the ear and effectively gave the sound "presence".

This was combined with good performance stability and the choice of several models that included the AC15, AC30, AC 50 and finally the AC100. The AC 15 & 30 were combo amps whilst the others were separate amplifiers and cabinets – known as piggy-back amps back then.

Vox Today

The Vox AC 30 is still produced today, although now manufactured in China. Korg have blended the original classic design and construction together, and supplemented it with modern components and manufacturing techniques. Today the Vox AC 30 is perhaps considered to be more of a "boutique" style amplifier, but is still as popular as ever.

Korg have continued to expand the Vox brand and have recently released an entire range of Vox Valvetronix modelling technology amplifiers and combo amps that use software algo-rhythms to emulate the sound of some
of the most respected amplifiers of the last 30 years. Vox are still a well
respected brand and are globally recognised by the music retail industry
as being one of the first mainstream popular music guitar amplifiers.

With the backing of Korg we can expect further brand
expansion and innovation from Vox, so expect the Vox
name to be around for many years to come.