VOX AC100 - UPDATES AND NEW INFO
January to March 2024
31st March
The first of a series of notes - eventually to be gathered together on a page of their own - on early AC100 SDL trolleys with basket tops.
1) The lower section of the trolley (the wheeled base unit). Both early on, and later, these were made of tubing with a diameter of 7/8". The early trolleys (with basket tops) were less broad, however, than later ones:
BASKET-TOP TROLLEY
Total width of whole - 29 1/4".
Inner width (between bars) - 27 1/2".
Total depth of base - 14 7/8".
LATER JMI TROLLEYS (and Thomas Organ Super Beatle trolleys). PARALLEL BARS ON TOP.
Total width of whole - 31 5/8".
Inner width (between bars) - 29 7/8".
Total depth of base - 15".
As the 4 x 12" cabinets were 27" wide, tolerances in the early trolleys were really tight - only 27 1/2" between the uprights.
Early basket-top trolley (early 1965).
30th March
Thanks to Jack, pictures of AC100 serial number 868, late 1965, have been added here.
AC100 serial number 868.
23rd March
Thanks to Joe, pictures of JEI Ac15 serial number 3086 have now been added on this page.
13th March
Some notes coming on early AC100 SDL trolleys. For the time being, a quick picture of the base of one, the insert designed for Kenrick Shepherd ball castors with a threaded stem, 5/16", British Standard Whitworth. More to come soon.
10th March
Thanks to Joe, pictures of a handsome early Jennings AC100 have been added to this page.
27nd February
A further possible identification: - serial number 206, currently in Denmark, is probably the amp used by the Swinging Blue Jeans in Sweden in mid October 1964. Again, compare the alignment of diamonds on the grille cloth.
22nd February
The amp on the left is probably serial number 184. There is a strong chance that it was the one used by Gerry and the Pacemakers for their set on the T.A.M.I Show, Santa Monica, 28th-29th October, 1964. Note the distinctive stretched grille cloth and alignment of diamonds. The speaker cabinets are probably the same too.
31st January
Thanks to Luca, pics of AC100 serial number 291, black panel, early 1965. In terms of the balance of sales, it seems increasingly clear that the majority of AC100s with black panels went to Europe or were sold locally in the UK. That is not to say of course that batches did not also go to the USA. Numbers 231, 236, 256, and 262 appear to have had long histories there.
17th January
Thanks to Oly, a shot of the interior of the Vox MC15/4 from the autumn of 1964 - preamp assembly at top, power section at bottom, the two linked via umbilical wiring and an octal connector.
Further shots to come soon.
Vox Metal Clad 15/4.
11th January
Just to signal that a further JEI V100 has come to light - one of three now known, two with their original serial number plates (numbers 1003 and 1007), this one without. Thanks to Ray for info on the amp.
7th January
A short piece in the American music press, November 1964, signalling again that Thomas Organ was the exclusive distributor of Vox in the USA and that distribution and the awarding of franchises were underway.
Batches of equipment had arrived as far back as the 17th September (announced in the Chicago newspapers). See this page. But the amplifiers - and presumably guitars too - will have spent some time in the Thomas Service Center in Evanston - in the case of the amps, for testing and checking, the resetting of voltage selectors, and the recording of salient details (type, model, serial number and so on) in the Thomas log books.
The same will have been done for the batches flown (slightly later on) to Van Nuys for Sepulveda.
American music press, November 1964.