What things cost in "The Good Old Days"!

[JimN]

to Graylion and Jim
I have the old Vox 64/65 catalogue, with all the price tags and came across a special animal which was the "AC30 extended Frequency 15" with two 15" speakers! Never saw one in the flesh and for that is also no price indicated. Anybody seen one of these extended AC 30`s?
Regards
Shadowkarl

Oh yes... saw a few around secondhand at the time (mid sixties), but very few in recent years. Many players seemed to regard them as the bass version of the AC30 (which wasn't correct).

I once mentioned the AC30X (the correct shorthand title) in a Vox-related article in the magazine "Making Music" (the one that was in newspaper supplement format and was given away free at music shops) and heard from someone over in Somerset or Dorset that they still had one (this about twenty years ago).

The model is detailed in Jim Elyea's wonderful book: "Vox Amplifiers - The JMI Years".

JN

[dave robinson]

Last time we played Shadowmania in 2006 (or it could have been the previous year) there was one for sale in the Lakeside opposite to Barry Gibson's Burns stall.

[Graylion]

I guess they must have been "Hen's Teeth" as in my Selmer Fender & Gibson catalogue dated August 1963 there were only the Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Jazz Bass & Precision Bass - that's also the order of the costings too. The Jaguar was the top of the range at 200gns. for a colour and 190gns. for sunburst. The Strat was 160gns for "Red" and 153gns for sunburst.

The earliest catalogues I have are the Selmer issues of 1963 and 64. The Strat, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Precision and Jazz basses are all included, but no mention in either of the Telecaster (or Esquire). Maybe, JMI had the rights to those at the time. I also had one or two catalogues from Bells of Surbiton (the more lower end gear), but they now seem to be long lost!

Bill

[hansaustria]

to Graylion and Jim

I have the old Vox 64/65 catalogue, with all the price tags and came across a special animal which was the "AC30 extended Frequency 15" with two 15" speakers! Never saw one in the flesh and for that is also no price indicated. Anybody seen one of these extended AC 30`s?

Regards
Shadowkarl

Yes, I owned one in 1980. The amp had two blue 15" speakers and the pre owner used it for playing through his organ.
I sold the cab and put the amplifier part into a normal AC 30 housing ( vintage / 1965 ) with 2 x 12 silver alnicos.
This was the only time I came across a AC 30 .... extendet version ! Never seen a second time !

Hans

PS: I payed for the 2 x 15" amp ATS 4 500.- ( Austrian Shillings ) according to the invoice of 16th June 1980 which I still posess.
For comparison: for a new 1965 Supertwin ( treble ) you had to pay ATS 14 600.- !

[keithmantle]

In 63 (14 yrs old) my father bought me a Hofner Colorama single pup and a Selmer Little giant( think it was called) 6w 4"x8" eliptical spkr +hard case for £25 and i never learned to play a note !! only started playing 5 -1/2 yrs ago at age 57 (USA Strat)

[Graylion]

Hi Keith,
Better late than never eh? "Never too old to learn" and other clichés! There have been quite a few "Little Giants" on eBay - what colour was yours? The only one I ever saw in the flesh was a red colour but eBay have had dark ones too (Black?). I have them in my old Selmer catalogues.
Cheers, Lionel

In 63 (14 yrs old) my father bought me a Hofner Colorama single pup and a Selmer Little giant( think it was called) 6w 4"x8" eliptical spkr +hard case for £25 and i never learned to play a note !! only started playing 5 -1/2 yrs ago at age 57 (USA Strat)

[Vincent]

I learnt something recently. When electric guitars first became available in the UK,people knew nothing about them-or electrics. Some people thought the sound came straight from the guitar-ignoring the fact you nedded an amp!

What they did was buy a guitar and lead,strip one end off the lead,attach a plug and then straight into the mains!! Some got away with it -others got a nasty shock.
Amongst the culprits were some famous names from a few years later. Even some shop assistants did this.

[Graylion]

BLIMEY! The mind boggles! I know about lack of earthing killing people (Keith Relf and John Rostill to name but two!) but I had never heard of anyone being that stupid! My Dad was an electrician so I learnt to respect electrickery from a young age when seeing him blow up a screwdriver from a "dead" mains socket! I was about 7 or 8 at the time I think. An electrician ex-boyfriend of my Sister got hospitalised by a shock from a 6.6kV main once! Lucky he lived to tell the tale! Yes - it was a "dead" main too!
Cheers, Lionel

I learnt something recently. When electric guitars first became available in the UK,people knew nothing about them-or electrics. Some people thought the sound came straight from the guitar-ignoring the fact you nedded an amp!

What they did was buy a guitar and lead,strip one end off the lead,attach a plug and then straight into the mains!! Some got away with it -others got a nasty shock.
Amongst the culprits were some famous names from a few years later. Even some shop assistants did this.

[Amanda]

In January 1963 the price of a fawn AC15 was 80 guineas, that's what the owner of the
AC15 I serviced told me - apparently he still has the receipt!!

[keithmantle]

I learnt something recently. When electric guitars first became available in the UK,people knew nothing about them-or electrics. Some people thought the sound came straight from the guitar-ignoring the fact you nedded an amp!

What they did was buy a guitar and lead,strip one end off the lead,attach a plug and then straight into the mains!! Some got away with it -others got a nasty shock.
Amongst the culprits were some famous names from a few years later. Even some shop assistants did this.

There are some stories in Mo Fosters 'British Rock Guitar' confirming this !!