Vox Pop: How Dartford Powered the British Beat Boom (VOX amps BBC documentary)
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- Опубліковано 26 гру 2012
- The Beatles, the Stones, the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five and the Yardbirds have one thing in common: they shared the platform with Vox amplifiers.
Brian May and other music legends help tell the story of how a small music company based in Dartford defined the sound of Britain in the 60s.
Some of the nation's top musicians, including Brian May, Bruce Welch of the Shadows, Justin Haywood, and Francis Rossi, and Vox workers of the time, tell how a small company in Dartford, Kent, hit the big time.
Contemporary bands including The Horrors tell how the Vox sound influences their music today.
Vox Pop: How Dartford Powered the British Beat Boom, presented by Iain Lee, recounts the story of how in the 1950's the owner of a small music company in Dartford - which specialised in importing accordions -spotted that there was a rising interest in new-fangled electric guitars.
But there was a post-war trade embargo on American amplifiers such as Fender and Gibson, so he made great sounding British amps to fill the gap in the market.
New up-coming band The Beatles loved them and Vox became part of their sound and their stylish on-stage image.
The Rolling Stones, who also came from Dartford, loved their innovative guitars as well as the amps.
Suddenly everyone wanted Vox equipment and the company hit the big time.
The programme tells the compelling untold story of how Vox drew the attention of the pop world to Dartford; made a fortune and then lost it all by 1967.
Presenter - Iain Lee
Participant - Brian May
Participant - Bruce Welch
Director - Vince Rogers
Producer - Vince Rogers
Executive Producer - Linda Bell
My school friend and I are now 65. He has a AC30 and AC50 from back in the 1960's. He made a padded case for each (he's a carpenter), and they are still in perfect condition. Only valves and wires have been changed. He rewound the transformer himself. He was offered a huge amount of money for them, but he says they are his children.
Like he'd no how to wind a valve output transformer feckin liar!
Brian May has told the story about he was turned on to the Vox AC 30. He was a teenager and would go to the Marquee to hear Rory Gallagher play. One night backstage he asked Rory how he got his sound. Rory said get an AC 30, you cannot go wrong. Brian complimented how kind and helpful Rory was.
Brian May is a real gentleman. ; )
At 18:54 he's in heaven as Brian plays that iconic solo.. 😀
Yeah, and the tone is identical to the recording.
The documentary about Jim Marshall of the Marshall amp fame is well worth watching. After enjoying huge success and worldwide sales he very nearly lost his company and in 1982 was down to just 17 employees.
It's great to see Mick from Guitarist Magazine here
My first electric guitar was a Vox Clubman Bass Bought at Grove Park in South East London,it cost twenty pounds.
The fate of Vox in Dartford is a sad story… also the fate of J&E Hall (refrigeration) and Wellcome (pharmaceuticals) of Dartford. The town has a truly amazing history of manufacturing innovation. ‘The Town that Changed the World’. No kidding!
You can add the paper mills and the cement industry to that as well!
@@yarco982Absolutley correct! Also food canning as a process, high pressure steam (Trevithick) and so much more
Thanks for the reply, I wasn't aware of Donkin's cannery until now!@@stephensmith799
I'm lucky enough to own some nice amps...my 1964 Vox AC30 Top Boost is definitely one of them. Just an incredible amp in terms of sound and feel.
Hank was by far the first ever guitar virtuoso, especially for the standards of playing guitar at the time. Yes there was Les Paul but in the UK, Hank was on a bigger scale. He was like the Steve Vai of the 1960s.
I once had a solid state AC100, which had a really noisy front end. At the end of one gig the output stage (which had four 2N3055 transistors, each on its own large aluminum heatsink) failed. I had to rip all the components out of the power amp section and fitted a more modern PCB power amplifier, which was more efficient because it had thermal runaway protection.
Excellent documentary on history Vox , which put magic into modern music.
wow, young Mick Taylor!!
I have a 1964 AC50 top ( large box ). I just need to get a cab and its happy days . all my best to you and yours from Liverpool
I own two Korg-era Vox amps, the VT20+ and the AC100 (Classic Plus version) and I would never ever give them up
I saw Queen on Feb. 5, 1975...at the Agora Club in Columbus, Ohio...12 AC 30s at once...best sound I ever heard...Brian May took VOX to a new level.
When I saw them in 75 he had six AC30s behind him. A very big sound, but not ear blistering, which was good.
@@chriscampbell9191 , I read somewhere that Brian didn't use all 6 of those amplifiers at once, he only used 2 of them and the rest were props, just for show.
@@goodun2974 That makes sense, I suppose. It sounded louder than just two 30 watt amps,, but a lot of what we heard in the theatre could have been through the PA. that said, aside from AC/DC's guitar sound, Brian May's guitar sound in 75 was the best live electric guitar I'd ever heard. Or even heard since. Too often it's waaaayyy too loud, our just doesn't sound as good as the CD. I haven't seen a ton of live acts, but I've seen my share. Brian May was the perfect combination of high energy crunch and expression, and it didn't kill my ears, either.
The proudest moment of Vox amplification was when Freddie and the dreamers winkle picker boot 0:50 👢connected with dj Mike amashies wedding tackle on the blue Peter show in 1962.
30 years and still working that Vox AC 15 - love yer
Excellent video
14:17... Priceless! Great doco, cheers.
Vox makes the most musical amplifier in the business. Even today with production moved to China, they make the best mass produced amps you can buy. I own both the AC15C1 and the AC30C2. Both are outstanding paired with any guitar I've tried.
Actually they don't Marshall do
please if you ever seen my comment .. is Vox Ad20 a good investment ?? I really have no idea am just learning
@@imanelyazid4215 what are you playing through now. What ever lifts your skirt works. Investment? I doubt you play guitar
I like the vox a lot, I have Marshalls, fenders, traynors, B52, Acoustic Corps, Orange amps, but the vox is kicking
@@craigshewchuk9018 no doubt about it. The vox AC30 is probably the best but the marshall 45 watt combo 2×12 is great n the super reverb 4×10 is great n the delux reverb is great n I think all the early fender tweed amps are beyond compare but I remember having an AC30. There is one amp I can't remember it's name but a 50's american amp small with tremelo that was the best amp I've ever heard. Pete Traynor made some interesting stuff. I lived in Toronto and knew him. Great person. He modified some equipment for me.
what a great post ....thanks ...i dont know how i missed this !!
i `ve got an AC4 original i had to re-furb and
i love it, ,what a great documentary this is,,
for anyone interested in guitar history this
ticks all the vox`s thankyou so much 😇👍
I’m a yank and I gotta Vox VT20X. I love it. 😮
I live in Dartford and never knew any of this
Vox, Marshall, orange, hiwatt, wem, sound city. The list goes on. British musical genius
Thee advantage having high negative feed in hifi amplifier is very low hiss or noise, a flat and extended frequency response. Also it provides very low harmonic and low transient intermodulation distortion with the reduction in voltage gain. And also with a negative feedback a high damping factor in the Loudspeaker; which also makes for the bass end of music much tighter and greater control of Loudspeaker. In a guitar amp you want the opposite to happen you want amp to distort to give those extra harmonics to happen cause mainly by high harmonic distortion. This also causes a higher transient intermodulation distortion that more body into the sound your creating through your electric guitar. Substain is improved with reduction negative feedback. When they refer to no feedback, they mean no negative global feedback. There are local feedback loops in transistor amplifier and valve amplifier; take the pentode valve it has 5 electrodes when they are connected up correctly, you get small local feedback loop within the circuit and cannot get rid of them all. You need them to make the pentode function properly.
Nice one!
Los amplificadores Vox son los mejores. Muy bueno el documental.
Great post, i do like it,
tonio
ya see, THIS is why I love the BBC.
I recently tried a modern Chinese-made Vox Phantom guitar. It's very nicely balanced and plays nicely.
Very cool 😎🔈🔉 Rock on ArtyThan ☆♡☆ 💯
Great to see Mick from that #thatpedalshow
Had a transistor Vox Buckingham back then and it would go into overload with volume at 2/3s strumming chords hard. Wound up plugging amp into a Silvertone tube amp branched into both speaker cabinets, turning volume down on both amps. Transistor amps were in their infancy then and couldn't match the drive tube amps produced.
Approx 24:30, Paul James talks about the Vox fuzzbox, and links it to "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". That wasn't a Vox fuzzbox. Keith Richards used a Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone, made by Gibson.
I'm sure Satisfaction boosted sales of the Vox pedal, though.
Very interesting
I cherish my 1965 AC30 treble model with added Top Boost. It is the best sounding amp I have, even better than my 1958 Fender low power Twin. I'll NEVER sell it.
Thanks
I was given a non working ac30, all it needed was one ecc83 valve sold it in the 60s. Wish I still have it.
I have a Laney VC-30 1-12" speaker and by itself is similar too the AC-30 sound but its sound was just too shark for me.
Once I fed the VC-30 in stereo from another amps FX loop stereo pedal output wow it is the best sound ive ever gotten from any stereo setup.
It just happens the Egnator Rebel 30 FX loop or pedals has the perfect ohm match too run the VC-30 input to compliment the very warm Rebel 30 and add the Tom Petty like sound I have never had !
Together blues rock and glass slide sounds so good a stage sound I would not change this setup its unbeatable in 30 years of obsessive tube -speaker-settings and amp substitutions no question !
Pedals using bucket brigade chips are the most natural sound you can get , not for amps with muddy bass and weak highs however !
Brilliant post - brilliant amps AND ECHO units !
That guy who got the lesson from Hendrix doesn't look anywhere near old enough.
He's got a painting in his attic.....
A good guitar tech has some spare AC30s. A great one pulls the valves/tubes between gigs and wraps them in cotton wool.
Feeeendaa!
Vox is one of the best clean and crunchy sound that I've got ever. Fender goes a nice clean, but not as Vox. Marshall goes great to distorted sound, but it has not the great gradual crunch range as Vox has.
Nice the spontaneous face of the interviewer at 18:40 when Brian just goes into Bohemian Rhapsody solo... 😂
Too bad they didn't go a little bit more into the solid state amps. Keith Richards made a lot of great mid-period ('66-'68) Stones hits and album tracks playing through a Vox Supreme -- an amazingly good sounding solid state amp for that era. Great vid, though. A find bit of music history.
I have django bates old Calsboro Scorpion 2X12 to which I have added a Hacker valve record player amplifier. It is my would be Vox AC30. I eq it on a 6 channel mini mixer.
9:05 I don't think anyone could present a worse example of "The Marshall Sound"
VOX Valvetronix Baby!
From Rory Gallagher to The Velvet Underground (sponsored by Vox..) Vox played a big part in their sound..
These days Korg is putting out amps made of sawdust, sweatshirts and suitcase handles(filled with chintzy electronics)and for those with big money they can buy a ginormous plywood hand wired 15 watt amp.I think Jet City,Blackheart and VHT are kicking the snot out of Korg in the bang for buck dept but they don't feature checkered grills and the big brand name.Korg is cashing in big time on the old Vox name.To be fair they have made some unique guitars.
Ritchie Blackmore used Vox AC 30 on Machine Head lp the Greatest Electric Guitar sound ever still freaks me out
@@steveberti7060 He played a classic AC30 yes,great tones.There have been some good amps since Korg bought the name but a lot of overpriced low quality amps as well.
Unfortunately what Reg Page says about the Beatles always playing Vox is not true. They frequently used Fender amps in the studio, and there are even clips from live gigs where a tweed Fender amp can be seen. In the famous rooftop appearance from January 1969 all the amplification is Fender, with John and George playing Twins.
They didn't start using fenders till Brian died and therefore till Brian ceased to be The Beatles' manager. So the deal was never broken.
Errapel Biurrun The Beatles were using Fender amps in the studio (along with Vox) by the time they recorded Rubber Soul in late 1965. I have also seen a photo of a gig (from 64 or 65, I think) with a big tweed Fender on stage next to the AC30s.
The live amp you've seen could had been one of the supporting acts' gear. Any evidence of what you say?
there are pics of John with a tweed deluxe from hamberg 1960
also he had a tweed amp he pianted black you can see from that era
cowbrooklane Yup. It is crazy to say the Beatles only used Vox. They tried all sorts in the studio. There's a vid of Clapton talking about the session when he played on Gently Weeps and he says Harrison took him to the studio and there was a Marshall set up for Eric to play.
I own two of them
Great amps indeed, but engineers in the studio made them sound great as well... 40 years of recording music experience tells me it isn't the instrument, but how it's mixed and recorded.
Extremely true- people think they can just buy an amp, plug in and get the sound on the record. Nope. It’s the engineering and mixing that makes the magic.
I would say its both.
@@standinsilence Yup, but remember, Korn used Marlboro Cigarette amps on some of their recordings... Ie; a novelty practice amps with 2" inch speakers, and look what that became.. Fender Champs for Joe Walsh , etc.. Quality Engineers make a mediocre sound turn into gold.😁
Musician, instrument, interconnections, effects, amplifier, speakers, environment, microphones, mixing console, recording medium and technology used; a complex and essential chain where any of the links can have a profound effect, and that’s just on the way to collect the sound. The skill to ensure the reproduction of the captured performance sounds as good as possible on an almost infinite variety of playback equipment is an art in itself.
HA HA 2:43 Sounds like Country Joe's song FEEL LIKE I'M FIXIN' TO DIE riff
it is not well known but the beatles used to use Peter Walker's quad amps in the studio, innit ! As did The Pink Floyd and all the other famous bands - except the yanks of course...
The Beatles did use other amps later on.
I part exchanged my biege AC30 with top boost for a 100 Sound City ( Hiwatt ) stack. It was OK but I wish I still had my AC30. Great amp. oh by the way, 30 watts, you gotta be joking. Mine was bench tested at 80 watts before it clipped and 120 flat out !!
Actual tube watts are measured correctly your 80 watt measurements are impossible.
El-84 tube puts a maximum of 12 watts out class A/B so 4 - EL-84 tubes together put out 38 maximum watts .
The amps do not have the maximum plate voltage to run at 38 watts but somewhere around 30 watts is maximum output.
Cooling fans should be in these AC-30 combos or tube failure is certain in time !
Even with fans failure will occur just like a light bulb.
Those are AC 100 specs, AC 30's are very loud though.
Subtitulos español por favor
VOX . . .
Rick Huxley (DC5) . . .
Keef . . .
Mick Jagger . . .
The Dartford Legacy.
Best amps on the planet. I will take a current stock AC15 over anything, any thing, any 6k hand wired boutique amplifier.
The Beatles did use Fender amps on the rooftop
The sound comparison between Fender, Marshall and Vox beginning at 8:42 is poorly done; the mic/mic preamp was audibly clipping and distorting.
8:35 Is this not over-generalizing a bit? The Fender Twin Reverb valve amps could get a pretty good variety and range of sounds and tones.
@7:36mins I can't really hear what he said. Right after the "what happen Dick?" Can anyone share what was said here?
BTW, what does he mean by P45?
He says "And on my own head, be it".
A P45 is a form listing how much tax you've paid in the last tax year, it's given to you when you leave, or are fired from, a job.
hope this helps.
👍👍😎🤟✌️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I like VOX AC 30..........................
got the ac30h2l african mahogany cabinet the best amp ever built
✔
Crayford surely!
Close, but no cigar! The Dartford/Crayford boundary is at Maiden Lane, about half a kilometre from the old Jennings factory.🙂
Starting from 16:18 is why you clicked on this.
What about Alan Pyne ??
Sorry, a bit late to the party, but as a young bass player living in Dartford in the late '70s, I knew Alan quite well. He was a total legend, mad as a box of frogs but an amazing bloke!
I was lead to believe the AC meant Amplifier Combo....
Needs captioning!
Why?
i have problem with my vox amp
02:43 And it's one, two, three. What are we fighting for? Don't ask me and I don't give damn. Next stop is Vietnam. And it's five, six, seven. Open up the pearly gate. Ain't no time to wonder why. Whoopee! We're all gonna die.
Fender made amps and guitar long before rock n roll. Country music was electrified before rock happened. British bands used fender amps n guitars long before vox.
Soooo, no U2?! really?
Pathetic really, when you think about it. This guy furtively knocks up a not-for-public-consumption AC30 - fifty years down the line no one's made a better amp. Apps? Forget it.
"The Beatles? That's not a very good name for a start."
Great post. ☆☆☆☆☆
No it's not, it's a one trick pony
I've just bought one and I'm sending it back the vox amp is aquired taste, I'm sticking to my Marshalls from now on
@HECTIC VON KAOS my boss katana eats it for breakfast
No mention of the deal with Italy to make organs. No mention of TB. Not all AC30s are the same. Some are AC30TBs = AC30 top boost. These have an additional circuit. The top boost amps are the most desired. Marshall copied the Fender Bassman 4-10 amp circuit.
Well maybe more desired by some but I have a 1963 non-top boost that I’ve had since 1976 and for me the top boost circuitry on AC30s is superfluous as I would never use it anyway. I only ever used the Normal input with a treble or power booster, never the treble input. That’s where the rock sound lives on an AC30, the Rory Gallagher/Brian May sound. The top boost sound is maybe OK for clean punchy pop or jangle.
AC30 always. ALWAYS. ❤️😁