The Vox AC50, early references in the music trade press

"Music Trades Review", July 1963, the earliest Jennings ad to have come to light so far for the AC50 Foundation Bass. The ad was repeated in "Beat Instrumental" in August. The actual dimensions of a small-box two-input AC50 are 19 x 10 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches - 7 inches tall including feet. The chassis initially envisaged (i.e. to fit the box described in the blurb) will therefore have been proportioned slightly differently from production amps.

Given the date of this ad, the design process for the AC50 and setting up of production evidently took around four to five months, John and George of the Beatles receiving the first units at the end of November (see the entry below, 13th June).

A great pic. of the new Foundation Bass speaker cabinet from the preview report of the Jennings stand at the Russell Hotel Trade Fair, August 1963. Production cabinets were made slightly differently, the radius at the corners being much less pronounced.

A report via Reg Clark of JMI about the Beatles' new AC50s in the weekly magazine "Record Retailer and Music Industry News", 28th November, 1963. Mention of 60 watts is likely to have resulted from a misunderstanding, Reg having said something along the lines of the new amps being "around twice as loud as their existing ones" - though not strictly true, great promotional puff. Note that the statement is not a direct quote from Reg: though new in his job at JMI, he will have known that the AC50s were indeed AC50s, not AC60s.

The "end of this week" means Friday 29th November, i.e. the day after the "Record Retailer" had appeared in print. Details of the new amps had presumably been communicated by Reg earlier in the week.

So there we have it. Reg Clark was clear that John and George would have their new amps by 29th November 1963. Perhaps they had already arrived by the time the magazine hit the news-stands.

A further report - British music trade journal, December 1963 - relating to the Beatles' AC50s. This came a few weeks after Reg's communication to "Record Retailer" magazine (of late November). Prior to his appointment as General Sales Manager and Publicity Officer in early October, Reg had worked in the Jennings shop on Charing Cross Road - for five years it is said.

A paragraph (published on 25th January 1964) on the coming Jennings display at the Frankfurt Musikmesse - "new high-power 50 watt amplifiers".

An interesting report, February 1964, on the Beatles' new amps - "extra powerful amplification equipment". In the second para, the note: "specially made in narrow cases for them". The desire for a "look" suitable for The Beatles therefore seems to have been the principal driving force in the design of the thin-edged boxes of the first AC50s and AC80/100s - not just a general aesthetic sense of balance and proportion.

Just to add that the early thin-edged AC50 boxes enclose their chassis extremely tightly. Valves made in Germany in the 1960s-1980s, branded RFT, Telefunken, and so on, will not fit. They are too tall. The left hand EL34 will stick against the screws for the handle protruding through the top of the box. Valves that do fit are: Mullards (XF1-XF4); EL34s made in Japan using old Mullard tooling - branded RCA, Raytheon, etc; and large bottle American-made 6CA7s - GE, Sylvania, and RCA. 1960s-1970s Teslas may be fine too, but no first-hand info is available at the mo.

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