Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
The little-known EL34 Vox amps from the late fifties, one of which is fixed bias. https://www.voxac30.org.uk/vox_ac2_30_1957.html. VOX AC2, 30 WATT AMPLIFIER. OS/003 (FIXED BIAS) VOX AC30, NO2. OS/007 1960 (CATHODE BIASED) EL34: individual 470 ohm cathode resistor and 50uf bypass caps. 5k output transformer
From what I can see, the only difference between the two schematics below is the 200ohm resistor after the rectifier (shown on the V-1-3 schem). There are some variations of cap values that can be ignored, such as 4n7 vs 5n etc. I think this may be similar to the AC15 schematics, where Thomas Orgain … Read more
Vox tone bender – two knobs and three silicon transistors. It’s kind of a silicon MKII with clipping diodes on the output. It’s loaded with a Jen FZ III circuit, which I wasn’t aware that it was ever used in a Vox. Photos from someone that grabbed a fuzz from me recently – Initially … Read more
While I’m in the process of modding / rebuilding some Vox amps, I thought I might try the original Vox AC-4 from 1962, or at least a simplified version of it. Here’s a link to the full vintage Vox AC-4 schematic and amp details. Apart from the simplicity, I want to try something with an EF86 … Read more
Since I’ve been on a slight Beatles related run lately, I thought I should tackle the Castledine Electronics Magical Mystery Box. This is Stu Casteldine’s version of the Brilliant channel from a Vox Conqueror guitar amp. Castledine included a gain recovery section at the end and the transistor-based distortion switching has been removed. I ran … Read more
I’m a bit of a fan of some of the late sixties / early seventies Beatles fuzz sounds, so I was interested to see this pop-up. Like the Creepy Fingers Lonely Hearts Fuzz, it’s based on the fuzz section built into the Vox UL series amps. I’m feeling a bit of déjà vu posting this, … Read more
I do like some of the Beatles fuzz tones, and coincidentally I have a couple of Gretsch Guitars to match – so when I saw this, I thought I had to give it a try. It’s very closely based on the preamp from the Vox UL series amps, which were used on Revolver and in … Read more
Still on the Vox thing at the moment – just a little Distortion Booster using a variation on the Colorsound fuzz box layout. It’s the red box version, here’s the thread on FSB with the schematic etc. Like so many vintage effects, there seems to be a few versions of the circuit. VOX DISTORTION BOOSTER … Read more
This is a nice simple one, and a slight variation on the Colorsound Fuzz Boxes that I’ve been building lately. Basically a silicon fuzz face variant, which is a progression from their original booster that just had an on/off switch. VOX DISTORTION BOOSTER | 0.15″ VERO LAYOUT And if you’re wondering what’s going on with … Read more
While I was working on another fuzz face layout (the Sonus Jimi Mod 1968), I thought I might do a quick adaptation for the Vox Tone Bender, as there was room for the additional resistor. Quite fond of the Vox, so I’ll probably build this once I’ve finished my current project. Usually I like to … Read more