For their concerts in Stockholm, 28th and 29th July, JMI provided John and George with new AC80/100 amplifiers and speaker cabinets containing two 15" Celestion drivers. The cabs were of the same dimensions as AC50 large box speaker cabinets. Pictures and details can be found on this page. It should be said that Reg Clark, general sales manager of JMI, when interviewed many years after the event, naturally struggled to recall details. His suggestion (quoted by Jim Elyea, p. 588) that the new Vox gear might have been provided by the Swedish promoter cannot really be correct.

Reports of the testing of the AC100s in the days leading up to the Stockholm concerts can be found here.

Evidently the 2 x 15" cabinets either did not meet with John and George's approval - or were perhaps only intended as a sort of stop gap. At any rate, JMI had a set of new "Super de Luxe" cabinets - 4 x 12" Celestion T1088s and a pair of Midax horns - ready by the end of the week beginning Monday 3rd August, 1964. And probably at some point during that week, an arrangement was made to deliver the new units to the Beatles on the afternoon of Sunday 9th August prior to their first performance at the Futurist Theatre (curtain up at 6.25pm).

Dick Denney's recollection of driving up to Scarborough with his wife Dolly and Alan Harding, his assistant, is reported briefly by Jim Elyea (p. 588). A van followed with the new equipment - two new speaker cabinets together with amplifier sections - see the note in the last report below. The amplifiers were probably the ones used by John and George in Stockholm, brought up with the cabs as a new "set".

In the van with the gear, Eddie Haynes (now known to have been present thanks to an email from a friend of his); possibly a driver (Ernie Sleight?), though Eddie sometimes drove the JMI van too; and the young man in the photo at the head of this page.

Below, thanks to Ed, a picture taken on 9th August, 1964, by Eddie Haynes on stage at the Futurist Theatre, Scarborough, shortly before the Beatles' first performance there (6.25pm): Lennon with his new AC100 SDL.

9th August, 1964.

Paul McCartney of course already had his AC100 Bass set, given to him by JMI in time for the Christmas concerts at the Finsbury Park Astoria, December 1963. Below, a detail of the rear of the amplifier section taken backstage at the Futurist, Sunday afternoon, 9th August, 1964.

9th August, 1964. Detail of Paul McCartney's AC100 Bass set.

In relation to the chrome trolleys and the need for brakes, Dave Petersen, relating comments made by Dick Denney (Dave Petersen and Dick Denney, The Vox Story, 1993, pp. 54-55), says:

"These were first fitted to The Beatles' AC100s prior to their 1965 (sic) U.S. tour, and on a pre-tour "warm-up" concert in Scarborough, where the stage had a slight forward slope, it only took the opening number to start a general forward movement of the bass cabinets. This could have gathered quite some momentum by the time it reached the front of the stage, but fortunately Denney, who was usually along at Beatles' concerts, was able to take a grasp of the trolley and spent the next two numbers kneeling behind the cabinet until some blocks were found. Braking castors were fitted from then on."

Note however, that Paul's trolley already had brakes, and that AC100 SDLs never did. Denney, whose recollection of details was never as good as Derek Underdown's, may have conflated two separate events:

9th August, 1964. Detail of Paul McCartney's AC100 Bass trolley showing the left-hand side of the braking lever.

But the intention, nonetheless, may have been present in Denney's mind after the Scarborough concert. In the US tour of August and September 1964, the need for brakes was obviated by the removal or loss of the castors themselves.

Some pieces on the Beatles' concerts in Scarborough, Sunday 9th August, 1964, from local newspapers.

The comment in the third piece - that new 100 watt sound cabinets and amplifiers were brought up for the shows - is of great interest. The speaker cabinets were certainly new. The amplifiers? As mentioned, probably simply the ones that JMI had issued to John and George for use in Stockholm in late July. At any rate, they evidently all came up in the JMI van with Eddie Haynes et al.

Advert placed in the papers on the days before the two shows (early and later evening). The Beatles appeared as part of a Kennedy Street Enterprises package.

The crowd outside the Futurist Theatre, Sunday afternoon.

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