The STC/2MP Vox Super Continental II Organ with Percussion
Vox Super Continental Organ II with Percussion, UK Production
| The development of the Vox Super Continental II with Percussion occurred during a tumultuous era for Vox. The company had gambled its future on a new line of solid-state amplifiers that were poorly received. To make matters worse, the Royston Group, the UK-based electronics conglomerate that had purchased Vox in 1964, filed for bankruptcy in 1968, consequently forcing Vox into receivership as well. |
TC/2M Vox Continental II Organ without Harmonic Percussion |
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The Super Continental II Organ with Percussion was introduced in the February 1969 "Colossus incorporated" Vox organ sales flyer where it was described as follows: "The ultimate. The organ that turns you into a one man group and turns your group into an orchestra. Percussion built into the upper manual means you can summon more sounds and moods at the flick of a finger than you ever thought possible."
The Super Continental II Organ with Percussion was essentially a modified version of the Continental II Organ (see photo at left). Key differences included an extra printed circuit board dedicated to the percussion circuitry, four control buttons on the escutcheon plate for selecting and adjusting the percussion effect and a lid finished in gray vinyl instead of the traditional orange. Percussion
Percussion (also known as "harmonic percussion") was an effect innovated by Hammond Organ in 1954. This effect boosted the initial attack of notes in the upper manual by creating a short, rapidly fading second or third harmonic overtone while allowing the underlying fundamental tones to sustain. The four buttons that controlled the percussion effect were labeled: "1" (second harmonic overtone), "2" (third harmonic overtone), "Long" (decay time) and "Soft" (volume).
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The Royston Bankruptcy, Sale to Corinthian Securities
Meanwhile, the bankruptcy proceedings for the Royston Group, which included Vox Sound Equipment Ltd, were coming to a conclusion. In March of 1969, just one month since the announcement of the Super Continental Organ with Percussion in the Colossus incorporated sales flyer, Vox was forced into receivership in preparation for liquidation of assets. By the end of 1969, the UK investment firm Corinthian Securities purchased what was then known as Vox Sound Limited (VSL) and it's remaining assets from the receiver. It is doubtful, in my opinion, that any Super Continental II Organs with Percussion were produced by Vox in the UK during 1969 due to these developments.
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The Germanium Transistor Dilemma
Prior to silicon transistors becoming readily available in the late 1960's, many early solid-state devices, including the Continental organ, were based on circuits utilizing germanium transistors. However, germanium transistors were notoriously unstable. They were fragile, susceptible to drifting out of calibration and prone to heat related failures. The typical Super Continental II organ contained up to 175 germanium semiconductors. The failure of even one transistor could significantly affect the proper operation of the organ.
To address this issue, Vox planned to phase in several new portable organ designs that replaced the problematic germanium semiconductors with modern silicon transistors. The first of these was the Continental 300 organ (see image at right). Despite being virtually identical in appearance and function to the Vox Super Continental with Percussion, the Continental 300 added two features, preset tone tabs and reverb.
With Corinthian Securities purchasing Vox out from liquidation in late 1969, normal production could again resume at Vox. Although the Vox Continental 300 appeared in both the 1970 and 1971 Vox product catalogs, the Super Continental II with Percussion was conspicuously absent from both. |
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Vox Continental 300 Organ |
Vox Sound Limited Is Sold Again
Seizing an opportunity for a quick sale, Corinthian Securities sold Vox Sound Limited to the Birch Stolec Group in 1970. Manufacturing was moved to a facility near Hastings, East Sussex UK.
STC/2MP Super Continental II with Percussion, UK Production
Even as Birch Stolec continued to offer an Italian produced version of the dual manual Vox Continental 300 organ in 1971, plans went forward at VSL to redesign the circuitry of the seemingly abandoned Super Continental II Organ with Percussion. Vox Sound Ltd schematic TMO/030, dated October 1, 1971, revealed a new circuit design for the Super Continental II with Percussion. While maintaining all of the features described in the 1969 Colossus incorporated sales flyer, it's circuitry was based solely on silicon transistors. It's model number, STC/2MP, stood for "Silicon Transistor Continental - Two Manual, Percussion." Production appears to be limited to 1971-72. To my knowledge, the STC/2MP failed to appear in any UK catalogs during the Birch Stolec Vox era (1970-72).
Super Continental with Percussion, Italian Production
As was the case with several previous organ models, Vox used EME (Electtronica Musicale Europea) in Italy to provide supplemental production of the Super Continental Organ with Percussion. An image of this organ is shown below.
There were three notable differences between the UK and EME versions of the Super Continental with Percussion.
- The Italian organ sported a traditional red/orange lid, in contrast to the gray vinyl lid on the UK model.
- The percussion controls were physically located in the lower right cheek block on the Italian version, but on the right side of the escutcheon panel on the UK version.
- Like the Continental 300, the Italian made Super Continental Organ with Percussion offered three harmonic choices plus a tab to adjust decay duration. The UK model offered two harmonic choices plus buttons for percussion volume and decay duration.
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Vox Super Continental Organ with Percussion, Made in Italy by EME
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