• The Master Oscillator: Powered by two transistors, several capacitors, and an adjustable tuning coil, this stage generated the highest tuned pitches for the instrument.
  
  
• The Frequency Divider Circuit: This stage accepted the high pitched signal from the master oscillator. Using six pairs of transistors (12 total), it sequentially divided the frequency of the master oscillator down to produce six lower octaves of that specific note, or in total, seven octaves of notes per card when including the original signal from the master oscillator. Each tone generator featured a small potentiometer mounted on the rear of the card to allow technicians to manually adjust the bias voltage, ensuring the frequency dividers stayed locked in sync and functioned properly.
  

These original tone generators had an inherent issue caused by the germanium transistors included in their circuits. Germanium transistors were notoriously unstable and prone to premature failures. When Underdown and Hill developed the circuits for the Vox Continental organ in 1962, they had little choice but to use germanium transistors, it was the prevalent technology at the time.

The introduction of more dependable silicon transistors in the mid-1960s offered a solution to these problems. However, Vox continued production of the original Continental organ design until 1970 at which point the needed change was finally made: the elimination of the germanium transistors.

The master oscillator was now powered by a pair of BC183L NPN silicon transistors or equivalent. Additionally, its frequency divider circuit now incorporated a silicon based integrated circuit (IC), a relatively new invention in 1970. This single IC replaced all twelve transistors in the original frequency divider circuit, streamlining the design considerably. The Continental 71 utilized a 14 pin SAJ100 dual-inline IC in its frequency divider network. Due to the stability of these new tone generators, bias pots were no longer required to correct for drift in the frequency divider circuit.

Vox included these redesigned tone generators in the Continental 300 (1970), Continental 301 (1970), Riviera 400 (1970) and Continental 71 (1971) organs.

Drawbars and Preset Tone Tabs
Most of the Continental 71 voicing controls were situated in a recessed cove in the organ's orange lid. Positioned to the right were four white drawbars to control the volume blend for the 16', 8', 4', and IV pitch registers. Two black drawbars located to the left adjusted overall timbre. The left or "~" drawbar delivered a mellow, flute-like voicing, while the right or "M" drawbar provided a bright, reed-like tone.



A row of six tone tabs were located between the pitch and timbre drawbars. Activating any tab switch from position one through five engaged factory-configured preset pitch combinations and deactivated manual drawbar control. Two red slider "Preset" controls located on the left cheek block offered control over the flute ("~") and reed ("M") voicing of presets 1-5. Activating the sixth (or D.B.) switch returned the instrument to manual drawbar control.

"Box Top" Lid
The Vox Continental 71 featured a top covered in orange Rexine vinyl that was a uniform 1½" tall on all sides, similar to the design of the rare and original 1962 "box top" Continental. Additionally, the edge of the top facing the player was vertical rather than angled. In contrast, the tops of most production Continental organs tapered from 1¼" tall at the keyboard to ½ " tall at the front of the organ while the edge of the top facing the player was slanted, not vertical.

Logos The Continental 71 utilized the same product logos as the 60s era single-manual Continental: a gold plated injection molded plastic logo on the orange lid and an aluminum "Vox Continental" plate on the front face of the organ.