Vox Essex Bass - NOT!!

[cjlectronics]

So a customer/friend brought me a Vox Essex Bass to fix. The problem is no sound but I can hear the amp hissing. Volume and Tone adjustments have no effect on the output hiss. So, I take the back off and this is what I find.

All of the original parts have been removed and a cheap ass SS rack mount power amp is screwed into the cabinet, the front panel input jacks are wired into the power amp, and the speakers are wired into the power amp's output. All of the knobs are set just right for the last person who played through it. Hats off to the person that wired it. Impressive!! The person that sold it to my buddy can go to hell for not disclosing the modifications!

[teemuk]

Not a cheap ass rack-mount power amp but a chassis of a cheap ass Quantum combo guitar amp.

Quantum Guitar Amp

The good thing is that the thing can likely be salvaged into to a bastard child of Vox Essex and a Quantum FX50 RC. For example, convert the Vox to a plain speaker cabinet and fit the Quantum chassis to a head cab, it may need a reverb tank.

This - to tell the truth - will likely sound better and offer more versatility and reliability than a real Essex Bass, and it will look way better than original Quantum combos (made by ASI).

The "vintage factor" will be gone but so far there was little of it left anyway since the power amp chassis of the Essex has been removed (I'm pretty sure that the amp failed like many of them) and possibly the preamp section of the amp mounted on the top control plate has been removed too. If not, one might be able to salvage it as an external effect.

[Steve Conner]

Awesome. So there isn't even a hole in the back to adjust the knobs?

Anyway, I'd bet the wires to the new input jacks have come loose.

The original Quantum looks like it was used as a cat scratching post.

[drewl]

Priceless!
Are those the original speakers at least?
Some guys love those old Thomas Vox amps, just rebuilt a Berkely II this week.

[52 Bill]

I've seen similar things done, but they usually have some of the controls moved up to the original control panel.

Those are the original Oxfords. I think if I dug deep enough, I may have the original chassis and control panel for one of those.

[cjlectronics]

I cannot tell if thes speakers are original. Also, there is no cutout for the controls on the power amp...they were adjusted at a particular setting and the back cover was closed and screwed in. All of the back cover screws are intact and all are original.

My buddy is talking about finding the right amplifier guts for it, so we'll see. Is the Quantum amplifier a good amp? I don't know anything about them.

[J M Fahey]

It's probably much better than the original, 60's vintage one.

[R.G.]

The Essex bass amp suffered mainly from being underpowered and too widely pitched. The Thomas Vox amp products actually sound much better than their solid state competitors.