Elettronica Musicale Europea (EME)

The Vox brand was founded in the United Kingdom by Tom Jennings, first emerging onto the scene in 1958 with a series of hugely successful amplifiers that were used by many of the so-called British Invasion bands of the early 1960s, such as The Beatles. Their first combo organ, dubbed the Mark I Continental, which was designed by electronics engineers Les Hills and Derek Underdown, was released in 1962. The Vox brand focused primarily on stage-based instruments and was formally designated as a subsidiary branch of Jennings Musical Industries, or JMI (known prior to 1957 as The Jennings Organ Company), which focused primarily on organs geared toward the home market. Although the single manual Continental remains the most iconic of the Vox combo organs, later dual manual models such as the Continental II (UK), Super Continental (Italy), and Baroque were also frequently used throughout the late 1960s. Prior to the release of the Continental, Jennings was also credited with the design of an early electronic keyboard instrument in the early 1950s called the Univox, similar in concept to monophonic piano and organ attachments such as the Hammond Solovox and Selmer Clavioline. In the 1960s, JMI also served as the UK distributor of Farfisa combo organs.

With the incorporation of Jennings Musical Instruments in 1957, discussions leading to a collaborative venture between JMI, the Thomas Organ Company, an American manufacturer of primarily church organs, and Eko, an Italian manufacturer of electronic organs, also began. This joint venture was not formalized until the early 1960s, emerging as EME (Elettronica Musicale Europea), and resulted in the establishment of a subsequent factory in Portofino, Italy. EME remained the primary manufacturer or electronic organs in Italy throughout the latter half of the 1960s, producing many instruments under the Vox and Eko brands, including the former’s Super Continental and Continental Baroque models; the factory ceased operations on Vox instruments in 1978. In 1970, Ennio Uncini, a former president of EME, would go on to establish the Jen brand of synthesizers and organs in Pesacara, Italy. As a byproduct of the popularity of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” and its use of the Continental Mark I, a further production and distribution agreement of Vox organs and amplifiers was established in late 1964 with the Thomas Organ Company. Additional manufacturing facilities were briefly established at 8345 Hayvenhurst Avenue in Sepulveda, California in order to meet a corresponding higher demand in the American market. Following an increase in financial difficulties, Jennings sold JMI to Royston Industries, a British electronics company, in 1964, which resulted in a formal rebranding to Vox Sound, Ltd. and a move of manufacturing facilities from Dartford, Kent, England, to Erith, Kent, England. During this time, the JMI moniker continued to appear on associated organs. In 1969, the brand was liquidated to Corinthian Securities, a British banking firm, and, in 1970, it was transferred to Birch-Stolec Industries, a British electronics company based in Hastings, East Sussex, England; by 1973, Dallas Arbiter had acquired the brand. In 1978, Vox was once again sold to Rose Morris (RM), the UK-distributor of Marshall amplifiers. In 1993, Korg acquired the brand, undertaking a campaign to reproduce a series of amplifiers. Tom Jennings was formally terminated of his association with Vox in 1967, forming Jennings Electronic Industries (JEI) in Dartford the following year. JEI continued to produce electronic organs and amplifiers in a similar manner to the Vox models. Under JMI ownership in Dartford, England, Vox amplifiers such as the models AC-4, AC-10, AC-15, AC-30, AC-50, and AC-100 were produced by engineers Derek Underdown and Dick Denney. During the Royston era in Erith, England, the UL series of Vox amplifiers, including models 705, 715, 430, 730, 460, 760, 4120, and 7120, were produced along with a line of solid-state amplifiers such as the Traveller, Virtuoso, Conqueror, Dynamic Bass, and Foundation Bass.