The permutations of early Vox models remain endlessly fascinating to vintage-amp enthusiasts, and few get us as worked up as a rare transitional version of the hallowed AC15.

The “TV-front” designation is more often applied to tweed Fender combos of the late ’40s and early ’50s, but when we hear it in connection with a JMI-era Vox AC15 of a decade later, we know we’re onto something special. Add “two-tone” to the descriptor and… well, we’re almost too excited to think of an adjective.

The AC30 is often seen as Vox’s flagship amp, and it had the extra power many professional groups were demanding by the early ’60s. But, plenty of Vox fanatics regard the smaller AC15 as the company’s best-sounding amp, and designer Dick Denney’s greatest contribution to guitar tone. Producing around 18 watts from a pair of EL84 output tubes, it’s also a lot easier to handle when a 2×12″ AC30 pushing upward of 36 watts can be too much for many venues and studios.

The roots of Tom Jennings’ JMI (Jennings Musical Instruments) are found in the repair shop he opened in Dartford, Kent, in 1946, followed by the larger retail outlet at 55 Charing Cross Road in central London, where he added manufacturing to his quiver a short time later. A big part of the early focus was on the accordion – Jennings’ own instrument – and then the electric organ, but as the skiffle boom morphed toward rock and roll and it was clear the guitar was here to stay, JMI leaned heavily into catering to that market, too.

Like many such fledgling companies of the day, JMI initially retailed general-purpose amplifiers made from generic circuits (often manufactured by Henry Weil & Company, later of Fenton-Weil fame). But just as Jennings was seeking a boost in quality and an edge on the competition, the work of a young engineer named Dick Denney was brought to his attention. Denny went to work for Jennings in the fall of ’57, and in converting his own amplifier design for larger production at JMI, he created what many consider the first purpose-designed guitar amplifier on the British market.

The first iteration of the AC15 (labeled AC1/15) was released in ’58 and quickly made a splash, though it initially had a circuit quite different from the archetype of the model. In basic looks, it resembled the early-’50s, TV-front Fender Deluxes, but with top-rear-mounted control panels with individual Tone controls for each of two channels. Preamp duties were covered by ECC83s (12AX7s in the U.S.), with a 5Z4 for rectification. A short-lived Vibravox rendition, the first Vox guitar amp with vibrato, added an ECC82 (12AU7).

Toward the end of ’59 and through the following year, however, the design evolved into the AC15 circuit as we know it; Denney redesigned his preamp around an EF86 pentode tube in Channel II, which had a thicker and more-powerful voice, while changing the rectifier to an EZ81 (he briefly adopted an ECF82 for the vibrato and the mellower Channel 1 preamp gain stage, but midway through ’60 dropped this for a return to an ECC82 for vibrato modulation). In this circuit evolution, the AC15 also transmuted through cosmetics, arriving in this appealing combination of the TV-front cabinet in two-tone blue-gray Rexine as a brief stop between the earlier TV-front cab in cream Rexine and the more-familiar Vox cab with upper fascia in fawn and then black vinyl. As such, this amp – owned by London-based guitarist and guitar restorer Yuuki McClure – carries the AC15’s most desirable circuit iteration, and an unusually lively cab-and-color scheme that wasn’t with us for very long.

Asked to provide VG with a thought or two on this example, Vox expert Jim Elyea, author of Vox Amplifiers: The JMI Years, said, “My favorite AC15 is the single-speaker, two-tone, TV-front. Later amps like this, with the second version EF86 circuit, sound great and were the height of 1960 cool. Just ask Hank Marvin! Originally, this would have had the Vox logo in the upper-right corner of the grill and a “Fifteen” badge in the lower left. Cheaper than a Celestion, a Goodmans Audiom 60 would have originally filled this cabinet.”

Elyea’s “Hank Marvin” comment refers to the fact that this iteration of the AC15 was played by the guitar star for a time. One appears in The Shadows’ iconic video for their 1960 hit single “Apache,” which the guitarist is sitting upon, and apparently playing through. Though indeed the speaker isn’t original, the Celestion is likely preferable to many players; McClure tells us its date code pegs it to July ’61, “…apparently making it the earliest appearance of an Alnico Blue, as later examples of the next-iteration thin-lip AC15 have the silver Hammerite Celestion speaker.”

Living out a scenario from many an amp aficionado’s dreams, McClure recently secured this 1960 AC15 in the U.K.

“It came from the estate of the founding member of U.K. band The Allisons, who came second in the ’61 Eurovision Song Contest and subsequently went on to knock Elvis off the #1 slot in the U.K. charts, as well as gain platinum status,” he tells VG. “The amp was listed on Facebook Marketplace with a large pile of low-tier Carlsbro PA gear – which I still have in the workshop, as it’s unsalable – but tucked away in there was this amp, of the like I’d never seen. We had to drive three hours one way to collect it in person, cash in hand.”

According to the happy new owner, however, “Overall, it’s startlingly crisp, rich and harmonically detailed at cleanish volumes. You immediately recognize the ‘Vox thing’ aped by so many modern boutique builders, but it has a profoundly vintage, organic liveliness and sparkle I recognize from larger ’50s Fender tweeds, perhaps with the Celestion Alnico Blue adding some magic.

“The driven sounds are just remarkable! It’s not a Fender thing, nor a Marshall thing, but just as aggressive and raunchy with a familiar tweed roar, but denser and punchier. The EF86 and EL84 combo is unique, and I should think blokes twanging on a maple-board Strat in ’61 would be intimidated by the aggression and break-up so readily on tap.”
With few such finds likely remaining in the wild this deep into the 21st century, it’s up to the individual reader to determine whether they’re happy for McClure, or seething with envy. Either way, it’s good to know that a 64-year-old Vox AC15 can still live up to its reputation as one of the sweetest and most ferocious tone machines ever created.

This article originally appeared in VG’s September 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.