A Superb 1963 Vox AC-4 Combo

1963 Vox AC-4This is an all original Vox JMI AC-4 tube combo with an output of 4 watts and weighing just 17 lbs. The solid pine cabinet measures 16 inches wide x 16 1/2 inches high x 7 1/4 inches deep. Brown 'lattice' grille cloth. Single original eight-inch Elac "8C 177" Speaker (coded on rim "2556") which we have recently had professionally re-coned. Copper top control panel with two instrument inputs, one volume control, one tremolo 'speed' control, one tone control with a built-in on/off switch, and a 2 amp fuse with a 110 or 230 voltage selector. Original black tolex covering with original brown latticed grill cloth. Serial No. "04579" and Model No. "AC-4" stamped in blind on rectangular "Jennings Musical Industries Ltd." metal plate affixed to top back panel of cabinet. The black tolex covering is almost mint , as is the original black plastic handle. Complete with the original tremolo foot-switch.
A wonderful little fifty-six-year old legend… just turn it up for real tube gain at a reasonable volume.

The Vox AC-4 was a guitar a small practice amp that was introduced in 1958 and originally marketed as the AC-2.
While the AC-4 was introduced in 1962, "The Vox Story" by Dick Denney and David Petersen reports that the "TV front" AC-2 was first offered in 1958. In his book, Denney recalls that the earliest design for the AC-2 had a 6.5" speaker. Denney indicated that the speaker size was increased from 6.5" to 8" due to poor sales of the AC-2 with the smaller speaker. In 1960, without any changes to circuitry or power output, Vox renamed the amp the AC-6 to suggest the peak RMS power of the amp. In 1961, the TV front cabinet styling of the AC-6 was replaced with what what now be known as "traditional Vox styling" and the amp name went back to AC-2. The AC-2 electronic circuitry is documented on Jennings Musical Instruments schematic OS/009, dated 9/12/61. The amp is included as the AC-6 in a 1960 JMI Vox double sided sales flyer and as the AC-2 on page eight of a 1961 JMI Vox Amplifier catalog.
The AC-2 (and in 1960, the AC-6) would accompany the AC-10, AC-15 and the AC-30 to form a complete Vox amplifier range. Cosmetically, the 1961 AC-2 had fawn vinyl, brown diamond grill cloth and brass vents, as seen in the photo at upper left. Electronically, the AC-2 had four tubes: one EZ80 rectifier, one EL84 power tube, one ECC81 (aka 12AX7) and one EF86. The amp had two inputs and three rotary controls: volume, tremolo speed, and a tone control that included an on/off switch. A control panel voltage selector plug also housed the mains fuse. A single button tremolo foot switch was included with the amp. The 3 ohm 8" speaker in the AC-2 and AC-4 was manufactured by Elac in Germany. In 1962, the AC-2 was renamed the AC-4. The new name might suggest an increase in output power, but this was not the case. In reality, the AC-4 had the same circuits and power output as the AC-2. The original power output of the AC-2 was about 3.5 watts RMS (6 watts peak), so JMI chose to rename the amp to AC-4 to reflect the actual power output. After a small handful of very minor electronic revisions, a new service schematic, JMI OS/051, dated 9/25/64, was drawn for the AC-4.
(https://www.harpamps.com/micKamps/Dating-Vox-Amps.html).