VOX T.V. Front AC 30s

[alandjackson]

I was recently spending the day at Ted Lee's home reminiscing about the early Manchester groups and Ted showed me some pics of his group 'The Olympics' who were the best instrumental group in the area. A few pics showed that lead guitarist had a T.V. front AC30/4 which he bought in 1960 which contradicts the belief that only a few of these amps were built specifically for use by 'The Shadows'. Ted had a blonde standard-style AC30/4 for his bass and so it would appear that both styles were on general sale in 1960 as also were for AC15s. Incidentally, Ted was a well-known guitar builder and repairer and refinished both George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet and John Lennon's Rickenbacker in black before 'The Beatles' were famous. Ted also resprayed Fender guitars, which Jennings brought in finished in sunburst and salmon pink, for a local music shop if customers wanted different colours and did a few excellent jobs for me.

Alan Jackson.

[MeBHank]

Hi Alan...

Jim Elyea's book states that there were about 150 of the TV front AC30/4s made. You can tell if an amp was one of the 12 made for the Shads as they were made with a foil-insulated chassis.

I'll be in touch for a chat soon. Take care...

J

[phil kelly]

Remembering past conversation with the late Dick Denney on the subject of the Vox ac 34 TV Cab Twins i recall him saying there were not many made and as the Vox book states probably around approx 150, ( production approx only for a year tops )The amp was primarily developed by Hanks request to have the same sound as the AC 15 but louder and with an extra speaker and the Shadows were the first to have them fairly early in 1960 most probably used on the earliest hits ( apache ? ) who knows.
The Shadows were not the only group to have them , ( have a picture of Billy Fury on stage with two , also a wheel echomatic ! )( and it is not known how many they had, only nine are known of today which makes it the rarest of ac30s.
The shadows amps were as Justin states screened with thick foil for TV use, mine still this intact and has the blue factory inspection tag intact which depicts the amp as MODEL AC 34 , not as AC 30 / 4 which the trad cab models were known as, also the lettering on the gold black panel is smaller than the trad split cab model of late 60/61, hence the tag of poss prototype.
Phil.