gringopig's guitars
2026 Vox AC15X handwired
This is a new handwired AC15 amp built like an original early 1960's model made by JMI. It has the same resonant cabinet and Celestion alnico blue speaker but with added useful features like reverb and a master volume.
The Vox AC range of amps made their appearance in 1960 or thereabouts and was a result of the demand for amplification for electric guitars in the UK. The AC15 was originally made by JMI or Jennings Musical Instruments owned by Thomas Walter Jennings, it was designed by Dick Denney in 1958 and the first variant was different to the models we recognise today. It was called the TV front model much like early Fender amplifiers.
The later versions were styled as we know them today and originally featured a somewhat fragile wallpaper like covering known as 'Fawn' as the model below shows
Then came the more familiar black tolex as below. Other models included the AC4, AC10 and AC30 along with twin speaker AC amps. You can get twin speaker AC10 and 15 models.
The Beatles famously had these and their association is most often known about the Vox amps but Brian May used them exclusively as did Status Quo and other very un-Beatley players so although the Vox is forever associated with the Fab Four, it is also one of the best known and loved amplifier types and has its own sound.
Amplifiers have flavours. The Fender sound, the Marshall sound and the Vox sound. This is largely down to the circuit design. It is thought it is the sound of EL34's or 6L6's or EL84's but that is just not true. The sound of an amp has very little to do with the output valves and a lot more to do with the circuit design: where the tone section is with respect to the gain stages and how the phase inverter splits the signal into the power section and how the output transformer loads the speaker. The impedance curve between output valves, the transformer and the speaker has so much to do with the feel of an amp.
The Vox uses two EL84 valves but so does my Friedman JEL-20 and they sound very different.
My new Vox has ECC83 or 12AX7 valves and doesn't use the EF86 which Vox used on early models but gave up on due to high microphonics. The AC15X has a clever FET in the front end configured to mimic the higher gain of the EF86 and features on the normal channel as the boost switch.
The Top Boost channel sounds amazing and the reverb and master volume are very welcome. It loses the vib/trem circuit however which is a pity but I would much rather have reverb in truth!
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