Vox
The Jennings Organ Company started shortly after the Second World War in 1947, but are best-known today for their renowned models of guitar amplifiers under the Vox brand. They launched the AC15 15w tube combo amp in 1958 and began their legacy at the heart of rock and roll music.
After being popularized by The Shadows, Vox struck an exclusive deal with The Beatles for exclusive stage use of their equipment, creating bigger and bigger configurations to contend with the increasing volume of their screaming audiences at the time. Other users around the time of the 'British Invasion' include The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and the Yardbirds. During their 1967 tour, The Monkees would emerge from an oversized Vox prop amp at the beginning of their shows.
Although less commercially successful, Vox were equally innovative with their guitar designs - with their iconic teardrop shapes, 12 string models, and experimentation with built-in effects and modified electronics. One such innovation was the ambitious, but ultimately unwieldy and unreliable Guitar Organ, which triggered an external organ module upon contact between the strings and frets. It was not very popular.
Vox were purchased by Korg in 1992, and continue to offer electric guitars and basses, amplifiers, fx pedals, and organs. Notable Vox players over the years have included Brian May of Queen, The Edge of U2, Radiohead, Paul Weller and Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
Vox Tone Bender V828 (1968)
What the Fuzz is all about The pedal that really changed it all was the Sola Sound Tone Bender. You can hear it in hits by the greatest guitar players of the mid â60s and easily understand what the fuss was all about, it was about Fuzz! VOX (JMI) wanted a piece of the pie and produced their version of the Tone Bender by JEN in Italy. The pedal we have demoed is all stock from around 1968-9. It uses the SFT363 and SFT337 germanium transistors and sounds incredible, though different from the original Sola Sound Tone Bender which uses a pair of OC76.