'The Shadows'

1960 Vox AC-15

This is an original 1960 Vox 'Turquoise & Gray' AC-15 watt EF86, tube combo weighing 45.00 lbs., and is identical to the one that the British group, The Shadows made so famous. The 'two-tone grey' covered solid pine cabinet measures 20 1/2 inches wide x 20 3/4 inches high x 10 1/4 inches deep, and has the original 'Diamond Lattice Pattern grill-cloth" and original black hard plastic handle. "Jennings" rectangular bronze badge affixed to the middle top of the front of the amplifier. Two lighter grey removable back panels. Original 1" diameter red rubber feet on base of cabinet. Original twelve-inch Celestion T.530 'Alnico' speaker with ceramic magnet and gold & blue foil sticker. Third circuit with five tubes (1 x Philips EZ81 Rectifier; 1 x Telefunken EF86 - Input pre-amp channel II; 1 x Mullard ECC82 - pre-amp channel I; 1 x Mullard 12AX7 -phase inverter and 2 x Telefunken? EL84 - power. Black top control panel with four inputs  "Vibrato" inputs, with two rotary controls (Speed/Vib-Trem) and two "Normal" inputs with two rotary controls (Volume/Tone). Five-way 'plug-in' selection for mains voltage, two-way on/off switch and red pilot light. Serial No. "4129" and Model No. "AC-15 0" stamped in blind on rectangular metal plate affixed to top back panel of cabinet. Complete with the original JMI 3 3/4 inch diameter vibrato footswitch. A wonderful sixty-five-year old legend… just turn it up for real tube gain at a reasonable volume. Complete with the original Vox 'on/off' foot-pedal (for Vibrato). This is by far the finest example of a 'Two-tone gray' AC-15 that we have ever seen.

Quite simply one of the rarest and flat-out coolest Vox amplifiers of any style we have ever had, a fantastically rare piece on these shores. As used by the pre-beat boom musicians who were pioneering amplified music in England,  especially Cliff Richard and the Shadows. This is far and away the finest European amp of its era, a masterpiece of the time and still a spectacular sounding amp by any standard.

"1960 was a year of great experimentation at Vox. Everything was ready for a change. Circuits were redone, wild and wacky coverings and grillcloths were tried, and by year's end, the cabinets would have a complete redesign. While Dick [Denney] was re-doing the insides of the A.C.15., Tom [Jennings] was changing the look of the outsides. First off was the change from the Cream w/diamonds covering to not one, but two fabrics - a light and a dark speckled grey. These were separated from each other by a length of thin gold piping inset into the front and sides about three quarters of the way up. This was standard issue from roughly February to September 1960". (Jim Elyea. Vox Amplifiers The JMI Years, p. 360).

"Perhaps the best known users of this two-tone version of the A.C.15 were The Shadows. Although they were perhaps the most photographed band to use the two-tones, other groups used them too, including The Terry Young Five in 1961, and Gerry Marsden on the early 1960s."