Vox Amplification

Est. 1957 Website ↗

About

Vox is the British amp maker behind the AC30 — the chiming, jangly tone at the heart of The Beatles, The Shadows, and generations of British Invasion and indie guitarists.

History

Vox was founded in 1957 by Tom Jennings as part of Jennings Musical Industries in Dartford, Kent. The AC15 arrived in 1958, followed in 1959-60 by the AC30, which became the amplifier of choice for British Invasion bands including The Beatles and The Shadows thanks to its bright, chiming class-A tone. Vox also built the distinctive Continental combo organ and, in the mid-1960s, helped popularize the wah-wah pedal. The company changed hands several times through the 1960s and 70s amid financial difficulty, before being acquired by Korg in 1992, which invested in reissuing the classic AC15 and AC30 circuits largely unchanged alongside new designs like the solid-state/tube hybrid Valvetronix modeling series and the pocket-sized amPlug headphone amps. The AC30's sound remains closely associated with The Edge of U2 and countless indie and jangle-pop guitarists who followed in the Beatles' footsteps.