Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week 2025
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew

Recommended reading

Fender Jack White Collection
Artists Jack White on why he rerecorded half of the guitars on No Name after he got his new Fender tube amp
George Harrison
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Michael Thompson
Guitarists “Then it’s how you smack it, or zing it or strum it”: Guitar legend Michael Thompson talks clean tone
Brent Mason
Guitarists “I thought, 'Well, now I have a Strat, a Les Paul, and a regular Tele all in one’”: How a top session player struck gold
Uli Jon Roth wears a blue bandana as he plays a G3 date in 2018 with his Sky guitar.
Artists Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s active pickup system was so powerful it blew up his amps
Victory The Deputy Lunchbox Head: the British amp company has made its portable 25W head even more portable/
Guitars Victory Amps has reimagined Pete Honore’s Deputy tube amp as a super-portable lunchbox head
Universal Audio's Woodrow '55 plugin on a computer screen
Guitar Plugins Universal Audio releases its UAFX Woodrow '55 pedal as a plugin, putting an "American classic" in your DAW
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Amps

Under the microscope: George Harrison's Vox AC30

News
By David Mead ( Guitarist ) published 2 March 2018

The story behind a Beatle's early '60s combo amp

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

A rare AC30 that once upon a time might have reverberated to the sounds of Please Please Me, From Me To You and She Loves You...

Don't Miss

Career in gear: The Beatles

We’re chasing through the leafy lanes of the Surrey countryside in search of a piece of Vox memorabilia from the early 1960s. It’s an AC30 from the company’s highly sought after early period, and quite a valuable item in its own right. But this particular amplifier has an additional pedigree in that we’re told it was once part of The Beatles’ backline, belonging to none other than George Harrison.

Arriving at our destination, the house of Vox collector and managing director of Croydon’s Rockbottom music store, Carl Neilson, we’re shown some precious rare items from Vox’s past, including an early black panel AC100 head and a pristine 1968 AC30. One AC50 from the mid 60s is “a rare model” according to Carl. 

“It was built by Triumph Electronics; Vox commissioned Triumph to build a few and this is one of them. Copper top with the diamond-shaped inputs with a valve rectifier - they usually have diodes - and it sounds better, in my opinion; it’s got a better punch to it.”

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
Amp'd up

Amp'd up

The house is, in fact, a virtual amplifier museum, full of untold treasures. In one cupboard alone, there are around six Hiwatt heads and Carl tells us that his loft is bustling with decommissioned Vox amps, awaiting his restoration skills. But it’s the George Harrison amp that takes centre stage today.

I bought it off a guy called Chas McDevett. He was the opening act for The Beatles and, at the end of the gig it was passed onto him

“I bought it off a guy called Chas McDevett,” Carl explains. “He was the opening act for The Beatles and, at the end of the gig it was passed onto him. George said, ‘I’ll get a new one…’ or something. I don’t know what year that was - probably 1963 or 64 or something.” Our research reveals some Super 8mm footage of the Fabs on tour in Blackpool in 1963, shot from the side of the stage by Chas himself. Clearly shown is an AC30 on a stand behind George - quite possibly the one before us now.

“It’s got a lovely, warm tone to it. It’s got a sound all of its own - it really is nice,” Carl enthuses. “Earlier this year, when Vox did the plaque ceremony at Dartford, I got asked to go down to Radio Kent and play it over the air, which was fun. It was at 7 o’clock in the morning and I had to get up at five, take it down there and play House Of The Rising Sun for them and it sounded amazing!”

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
Ain't she sweet

Ain't she sweet

Taking a look around the amp, we can see the white panelled Top Boost mod cut into the rear panel.

This is the Top Boost mod, which Vox did in the early 60s and they put it in the back

“This is the Top Boost mod, which Vox did in the early 60s and they put it in the back. There’s been quite a few mods - even I made a few 20 years ago. It’s quite simple, it’s just an ECC 83 with a few resistors and a capacitor on a bit of angled metal and you just screw it into the back. Cut a hole and put it in the back, so it was easy to do. The original mod - properly engraved in the back on the white panel - has been done later; the original was four input and then they put the Top Boost in and it does sound really good.”

During the time the AC30 has been in Carl’s hands, it’s attracted some celebrity fans. “I actually lent it to Francis Rossi. We did a programme called Vox Pop, Brian May was on it and I got Francis involved. I took it to his studio because they did the filming round there and as soon as Francis heard it he said, ‘How much is it?’ I went, ‘It’s not for sale… you can borrow it’ and that was it. That was about five or six years ago. He liked it; it’s just got that sound.”

We’re curious as to how Carl’s interest in all things Vox began. “I’ve always loved AC30s,” he says, “playing through them myself with my band, playing with different bands over the years. I think the first time I ever tried an AC30 I was about 11 or 12. I lived in Bournemouth and my friend bought one, plugged in and I thought, ‘Bloody hell, this sounds amazing!’ So that was it and it went off from there, really.

“My first amplifier I built myself. I couldn’t afford a proper Vox and so I bought myself a kit amplifier from a small radio components type of shop in Crystal Palace, it was a 30 watt, metal clad amp called a Veritone 30 - a bit like a Linear Conchord - and then I just used that when I was a kid.”

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
Triumphant test

Triumphant test

The electronics bug having well and truly bit, Carl’s interest in amplifiers deepened. “Absolutely, yes. My stepfather had an electrical shop, so I was always interested in electricity - I got a buzz out of it, if you know what I mean!” 

Don't Miss

Career in gear: The Beatles

Strangely enough, Carl’s first job had a Beatles connection, too. “I went to work for Triumph Electronics when I was 15; just left school, literally the next day I was at Triumph. I told them I could wire amps up and they tested me by getting me to put a transformer in a Vox 7120 amp belonging to The Beatles and then they said, ‘Yeah, okay, you’ve got the job. You start on Monday’ and that was it. I got £4 7s 6d a week! I worked for Triumph for about a year and then I went to work for Macari’s in London - the Vox shop.”

Around this time, the original set of Vox AC30s were supplied to The Beatles. They were beige-coloured, but were returned with the request that the moptops wanted them in black. “That’s what I was told,” Carl says. The story continues that Vox subsequently started supplying AC30s in black - another instance where four lads from Liverpool changed history!

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
David Mead
The magazine for serious players image
The magazine for serious players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
Fender Jack White Collection
Jack White on why he rerecorded half of the guitars on No Name after he got his new Fender tube amp
George Harrison
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Michael Thompson
“Then it’s how you smack it, or zing it or strum it”: Guitar legend Michael Thompson talks clean tone
Brent Mason
“I thought, 'Well, now I have a Strat, a Les Paul, and a regular Tele all in one’”: How a top session player struck gold
Uli Jon Roth wears a blue bandana as he plays a G3 date in 2018 with his Sky guitar.
Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s active pickup system was so powerful it blew up his amps
Victory The Deputy Lunchbox Head: the British amp company has made its portable 25W head even more portable/
Victory Amps has reimagined Pete Honore’s Deputy tube amp as a super-portable lunchbox head
Latest in Guitar Amps
Supro Airwave: the new 1x12 tube combo combines old-school looks and tones with onboard cab sim tech from Two notes Audio Engineering.
Supro teams up with Two Notes for the Airwave, a vintage-voiced 25W tube combo with onboard cab sims
Line 6 Helix Stadium XL: The new flagship amp modeller and multi-effects unit is a dramatic expansion of the Helix framework with a suite of state-of-the-art features
Line 6 debuts all-new AI tech as it supercharges its amp modelling platform with the Helix Stadium
Laney Lionheart Foundry Supertop
Laney unveils the IR-equipped 120W Supertop head with onboard effects and matching cabs
Kemper MK2 Series
Kemper promises more power, flexibility and effects from refreshed and souped-up Profiler Mk2 series
Joe Bonamassa plays a Guild DE-500 Duane Eddy signature guitar at a Nashville show celebrating Eddy's life. Bonamassa wears a dark blazer embroidered with bright musical notation.
Joe Bonamassa on how to choose the right amp for a gig
Victory The Deputy Lunchbox Head: the British amp company has made its portable 25W head even more portable/
Victory Amps has reimagined Pete Honore’s Deputy tube amp as a super-portable lunchbox head
Latest in News
Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith
Olivia Rodrigo surprises fans during her headline Glastonbury set by duetting with The Cure’s Robert Smith
Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher of Mastodon perform at Riot Fest 2024
“I won’t miss being in a sh** band with horrible humans”: Mastodon guitarist slams his ex-bandmates
Black Sabbath get the freedom of Birmingham
“We’re all proud Birmingham people and we love this city”: Black Sabbath have been awarded the freedom of Brum
Van Halen
“Eddie told me, ‘Roth is driving me nuts'": When Eddie Van Halen asked to join Kiss — and they turned him down!
Charli XCX
"The most boring take ever”: Charli XCX addresses "boomer vibe" criticism of her Glastonbury performance
Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson backstage at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 17, 2009 in Palm Desert, California
“They all remind me of certain times in my life”: McCartney names his all time top three albums

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...