Vox VBM1 manual

Owner ’ s Manual 1 E[...]

IMPOR T ANT SAFETY INSTR UCTIONS • Read these instructions. •K eep these instructions. • Heed all warnings. •F ollow all instructions. • Do not use this apparatus near water . • Mains powered appar atus shall not be e xposed to dr ipping or splashing and that no objects filled with liquids, such as v ases , shall be placed on the appara[...]

1 FOREWORD I n the popular domain of “Classic Rock” Br ian May needs no introduction. Thanks to his e xpansive body of w ork with Queen, he is quite literally a global institution. In addition to being one of the genre’ s finest songwr iters and arr angers, f ans and critics alike consider him to be one of roc k’ s most distinctive and tast[...]

2 Brian’ s Introduction for V ox Brian May Special! For years I have been wondering what on Earth I would do if the Leg- endary Deacy Amp one day stopped working! And so often I have been asked wher e such an amp could be bought, to produce sounds as far apart in time as “The Fairy Feller ’s Masterstroke” fr om “Queen 2,” and “Bijou?[...]

3 DET AILS: Histor y , Use and Design Philosophy . A s stated in the FOREWORD , the original Deacy amp was made b y Queen’ s bass pla yer , John Deacon, sometime in 1970/1971, whilst he & Brian were studying at University . The compact combo he built boasts no controls what-so-e v er and, according to legend, was put together from par ts the [...]

4 In a nutshell, the Brian Ma y Special is a 10 Watt, 1 x 6.5" combo that sounds identical to Brian’ s homemade “Deacy System” (i.e. his T reble Booster/Deacy amp combination) and also off ers the f ollowing additional f eatures that dramatically enhance its fle xibility:  Controls f or Gain, T one and V olume plus a High/Low Gain s w[...]

5 GUIDED TOUR OF THE BRIAN MA Y SPECIAL ’S TOP P ANEL As y ou’ re about to discover , this unique combo is a tr uly v ersatile piece of gear that’ s ideal f or practicing, recording, or hooking-up to y our fa vorite amp f or added gain and sustain. W e’ re sure it will provide you with a plethor a of great additional guitar tones that f eel[...]

6 IMPORT ANT NO TE 1: Using the BOOSTER OUTPUT disconnects the rest of the Brian May Special . So , when y ou use your Brian May Special as a BOOSTER you can’t use it as an amp as well. IMPORT ANT NO TE 2: When using the BOOSTER OUTPUT , the only two controls that aff ect its output are the GAIN knob (2) and the GAIN s witch (4). The TONE control[...]

7 7. RECORDING/HEADPHONE jac k This speak er-emulated jack enab les y ou to connect directly to a mixing console or por table recorder such as a K org PXR4 or D1600. Additionally , y ou can hook- up headphones to this jack f or a great emulated sound. T urning the V OLUME controls (6) to zero will f acilitate “silent” practicing. 8. EXTENSION S[...]

8 Brian May Special Specifications • Dimensions (W x H x D) : 13.3 x 11.8 x 6.9 (inches)/ 338 x 300 x 175 (mm) • W eight: 12 lbs . / 5.6 kg • Output P ower: 10 W atts (RMS) • Speaker: 1 x 6.5" custom-v oiced, full-range speaker • Inputs: Input jack • Outputs: Booster Output, Exter nal Speak er , and Recording/Headphone Line Out. ?[...]

9 T echnical T alk 1) The Original Deacy As already mentioned in DET AILS at the beginning of this manual, the original amplifier itself dates bac k to a Mullard circuit that was pub lished when transistors first became av ailable as a consumer product, and was probab ly “rescued” from a car radio , as it is built on a commercial printed circui[...]

10 2) The new Brian Ma y Special To recap on DET AILS, after many meetings with Brian it was decided that this model would satisfy the f ollowing three criteria: i) It w ould sound and f eel exactly lik e his homemade “Deacy system” which comprises of his T reble Booster and the original Deacy amp b uilt b y John Deacon. ii) It w ould also offe[...]

11 Brian May Special Signal Path Flowchar t GAIN 9V BA TTERY SIMULA TOR GAIN SWITCH SPEAKER SYSTEM EMULA TION 10 Watt POWER AMP OUTPUT TRANSFORMER SIMULA TION V OLUME HEADPHONE AND RECORDING OUTPUT EXTERNAL LOUDSPEAKER OUTPUT T ONE BOOSTER ONL Y OUTPUT JA CK INTERNAL LOUDSPEAKER (FULL RANGE RESPONSE) 9V BA TTERY SIMULA TOR PUSH-PULL OUTPUT ST AGE P[...]

12 iv) PUSH-PULL OUTPUT ST A GE. Again the original format was studied and f or the reasons outlined above has been changed to accommodate a vail- able technology: a) Germanium PNP changed to Silicon PNP . b) The output transf or mer has been changed to an electronic simulation. v) The T ONE circuit was not on the original Deacy amp . This has been[...]

1 E  2003 VOX AMPLIFICATION LTD. Printed in Korea IMPOR T ANT NO TICE T O CONSUMERS This product has been manuf actured according to str ict specifications and voltage requirements that are applicable in the country in which it is intended that this product should be used. If you ha ve purchased this product via the internet, through mail order [...]