Vox (musical equipment)
Encyclopedia : V : VO : VOX : Vox (musical equipment)
Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer based in Britain, which is most famous for making the AC30 guitar amplifier and the Vox organ.
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.
The 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 Who and the Yardbirds, among others. AC30s were later used by Brian May of Queen, Paul Weller of The Jam, Rory Gallagher, The Edge of U2, and Radiohead guitarists Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Ed O'Brien.
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 Phanton 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 fuzz pedal, used by Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds, were also manufactured.
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 was also strongly connected with the instrument. The Continental and other Vox organs (such as the Jaguar and Continental II) share characteristic visual features including red and black vinyl coverings, stands made of chromed steel tubing, and reversed black and white keys on the keyboards.
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. The instrument never became popular but it was a precursor to the modern guitar synthesizer. Ian Curtis of Joy Division was one of the most famous users of the Vox guitar organ, using it during live performances of songs such as Love Will Tear Us Apart, Atmosphere, Incubation and Heart And Soul.
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.
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.
Recently Vox has emerged as a leader in the digital amp modelling market with the release of its Valvetronix technology, which combines a low-power tube power amp with solid state modelling software. 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.
External Links
- [Vox Amplification] homepage
- [The History of Vox Amplifiers] by Jim Miller
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.