I currently have a Vox Conqueror in my workshop. Your EXCELLENT video has inspired me to video its restoration. Great research on the subject, my friend. With your permission, I will refer people to this video for more details about the Conqueror.
@@guitargearconnectionThanks for the video Paul! Good work! My question is do you hear a difference between the conqueror & one of the Thomas organ amps? Are they the same circuitry?
Nice job! Love these amps. I've played and serviced several vintage VOX solid state amps over the years, both UK & US (Thomas) production. The Conqueror is probably my favorite, but all are great in their own way.✌
Fun Fact; Jimmy Page loved these amps, and used them all over late Yardbirds and early LZ. Most famous Jimmy Page riff recorded with the Conqueror? Whole Lotta Love, using the Distortion channel, with his Dragon Telecaster
I saw an alternate Hello goodbye video & in the video George is pretending to be a roadie wheeling the amp away & it looks like the speakers were the 7442 they used in Marshalls. These could be prototype amps that were the 1st of their kind sent to the Beatles in late 1966?
Been looking up a few videos on these amps after watching Noel Gallagher's interview for That Pedal Show, and he mentions having a couple of these around the time Oasis recorded their second album, you can see one in Noel's backline around the time of Be Here Now. Apparently he later parted with them because they were "too big & mad" - I don't know why he thought that, the rest of the amps in his live rig at the time were 100+ watts, aren't the Conquerors like 30/60 watts? Maybe he got mixed up with another similar Vox stack - he referred to them as "the big Beatles stacks" - there's definitely a Vox stack on the live tracks in the "Right Here Right Now" documentary. He would replace those with an AC50 in the 2000s. Anyway, these kind of challenge my perceptions of solid state amps. If they were good enough for bands like the Beatles...
Great stuff as always! I’d love to own one of these, so iconic…closest thing I have is a Jext Telez White pedal which has great range from light overdrive to full blown fuzz, and of course the notched filter settings just like the amp.
@@guitargearconnection I love the pedal and it nails those tones through my rig, but I’m sure the real amp is that much better. Of course I’d love a Vox UL730 also, but I don’t think that’ll happen in this lifetime 😅
These are rare amps, and many people who want to will never have the chance to play them. I think it would be a great thing to dedicate the time and effort to capture the amp at different settings with the neural amp modeler (NAM) plugin so that the whole guitar community would have the chance to enjoy a little bit of their charm.
Hi Paul, I have a mid 60s Buckingham solid state (Thomas Organ) that my dad bought new for me back then. (I'm 73 years old now!!!) It is in need of repair (i.e.--first channel dies after 30seconds, rocker switches don't work, needs proper grounding, some effects don't work). I live in Phoenix AZ, but don't know of any techs that are specialists and knowledgeable with the Vox solid state line. Do you know of anyone either in Phoenix or whom I could ship it to be repaired properly? It needs to be perfect!! Physically, the amp is in mint shape, just need to get it working again. I was and am a Beatle nut. Have the Rick 360-12 WB, Hofner bass, Gretsch Jet, etc etc.Thanks for your help and love all your videos. Nate
Like my Conquerer, reverb still works, the bright channel is just way too bright so i had it modified to foundation specs, way more usable now. I have a cab in a northcoast wrap around stand. Always looking for another side stand
@@guitargearconnection Thank you! I needed to know because I just acquired a Conqueror with no footswitch and I needed to know if the current no distortion condition was a malfunction. Can you help me acquire a footswitch for one of these?
That's really how it is for all Vox smps, as well as Fenders. I really don't see why so many people get hung up on trying to get a crunch sound from every amplifier they use.
There’s nothing wrong with gear nerds enjoying talking about gear, it’s a passion. We all know that it doesn’t really matter what specific gear makes a song in most cases but it’s just a fun hobby to know all the technical details and aspects behind these songs
That's how it's supposed to be. They could have played through Gorilla amps (if they were around back then) and it wouldn't have taken anything from the quality of the songwriting. A good comparison is Eddie Van Halen's tone vs Randy Rhodes' sound on the first 2 Ozzy albums. Randy Rhodes' tone was pretty terrible but his playing was so fantastic, you get lost in it after the first few bars.
I currently have a Vox Conqueror in my workshop. Your EXCELLENT video has inspired me to video its restoration. Great research on the subject, my friend. With your permission, I will refer people to this video for more details about the Conqueror.
Thank you for the kind words! I would love to see a restoration video on it! And most definitely can refer people here! Thanks again!
@@guitargearconnectionThanks for the video Paul! Good work! My question is do you hear a difference between the conqueror & one of the Thomas organ amps? Are they the same circuitry?
Nice job! Love these amps. I've played and serviced several vintage VOX solid state amps over the years, both UK & US (Thomas) production. The Conqueror is probably my favorite, but all are great in their own way.✌
Great video P! Looking forward to more in the future. Hope you're well.
Thanks Matt! I’m hanging in there! Hope all is well with you!
Fun Fact; Jimmy Page loved these amps, and used them all over late Yardbirds and early LZ.
Most famous Jimmy Page riff recorded with the Conqueror? Whole Lotta Love, using the Distortion channel, with his Dragon Telecaster
Thanks very much.
That was great.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I owned a Defiant briefly in the nineties It was mint and sounded really cool
They sound great! The horn really helps shift the defiant into a different sound
I saw an alternate Hello goodbye video & in the video George is pretending to be a roadie wheeling the amp away & it looks like the speakers were the 7442 they used in Marshalls. These could be prototype amps that were the 1st of their kind sent to the Beatles in late 1966?
Been looking up a few videos on these amps after watching Noel Gallagher's interview for That Pedal Show, and he mentions having a couple of these around the time Oasis recorded their second album, you can see one in Noel's backline around the time of Be Here Now. Apparently he later parted with them because they were "too big & mad" - I don't know why he thought that, the rest of the amps in his live rig at the time were 100+ watts, aren't the Conquerors like 30/60 watts?
Maybe he got mixed up with another similar Vox stack - he referred to them as "the big Beatles stacks" - there's definitely a Vox stack on the live tracks in the "Right Here Right Now" documentary. He would replace those with an AC50 in the 2000s.
Anyway, these kind of challenge my perceptions of solid state amps. If they were good enough for bands like the Beatles...
Great stuff as always! I’d love to own one of these, so iconic…closest thing I have is a Jext Telez White pedal which has great range from light overdrive to full blown fuzz, and of course the notched filter settings just like the amp.
Funny you mention that pedal! This morning we were talking about the White pedal, which I guess is a replica of the Jext. I’ll have to check it out!
@@guitargearconnection I love the pedal and it nails those tones through my rig, but I’m sure the real amp is that much better. Of course I’d love a Vox UL730 also, but I don’t think that’ll happen in this lifetime 😅
great video, I really enjoyed it, lots of info, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
You can hear Conquerors all over the Stones’ Satanic Majesties and Beggars Banquet
These are rare amps, and many people who want to will never have the chance to play them. I think it would be a great thing to dedicate the time and effort to capture the amp at different settings with the neural amp modeler (NAM) plugin so that the whole guitar community would have the chance to enjoy a little bit of their charm.
EXCELLENT!!! Thank You for the info!!!
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Paul, I have a mid 60s Buckingham solid state (Thomas Organ) that my dad bought new for me back then. (I'm 73 years old now!!!) It is in need of repair (i.e.--first channel dies after 30seconds, rocker switches don't work, needs proper grounding, some effects don't work). I live in Phoenix AZ, but don't know of any techs that are specialists and knowledgeable with the Vox solid state line. Do you know of anyone either in Phoenix or whom I could ship it to be repaired properly? It needs to be perfect!! Physically, the amp is in mint shape, just need to get it working again. I was and am a Beatle nut. Have the Rick 360-12 WB, Hofner bass, Gretsch Jet, etc etc.Thanks for your help and love all your videos. Nate
Like my Conquerer, reverb still works, the bright channel is just way too bright so i had it modified to foundation specs, way more usable now. I have a cab in a northcoast wrap around stand. Always looking for another side stand
They are very bright sounding amps all around! Definitely unique. Keep rocking that thing!
Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) of Spacemen 3 used a Vox Conqueror
Can you jumper the channels? Not sure if anyone actually does that, but was curious. I hope you get to some Thomas Vox amps in the future.
It is something I will look into! And I thank you!!!!
Is the distortion from the amp or a separate pedal
From the amp!
I have a Defiant which probably has a better tonal range than the UL710 I traded a number of years ago.
Enjoyed this. Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Do you think George used the Conqueror on Fixing a Hole?
I’m honestly not too sure! It does fall in the time line of them obtaining the amps, but I’m falling more towards the UL730 possibly too.
@@guitargearconnection they do sound similar. But the distortion sounds less harsh than it is on the UL730.
Can the distortion on the Conqueror be used without the footswitch?
No unfortunately it needs the footswitch!
@@guitargearconnection
Thank you! I needed to know because I just acquired a Conqueror with no footswitch and I needed to know if the current no distortion condition was a malfunction.
Can you help me acquire a footswitch for one of these?
Playing with distortion does not give a good representation of what this amp sounds like.
That's really how it is for all Vox smps, as well as Fenders. I really don't see why so many people get hung up on trying to get a crunch sound from every amplifier they use.
The main thing about The Beatles is the songs, the gear is interesting but it's the songs we remember.
There’s nothing wrong with gear nerds enjoying talking about gear, it’s a passion. We all know that it doesn’t really matter what specific gear makes a song in most cases but it’s just a fun hobby to know all the technical details and aspects behind these songs
That's how it's supposed to be. They could have played through Gorilla amps (if they were around back then) and it wouldn't have taken anything from the quality of the songwriting. A good comparison is Eddie Van Halen's tone vs Randy Rhodes' sound on the first 2 Ozzy albums. Randy Rhodes' tone was pretty terrible but his playing was so fantastic, you get lost in it after the first few bars.