Vox Super Berkerley III opinion and price

[Dominic]

Hi, hoping for some help, I have the chance to pick up a Vox Super Berkerley III (head only no cab) it's 50watt, 110v USA made 1965-67 era, is it a worthwhile option (for my studio or even as a collectible) and if so whats a fair price, its in good nick for its age.

Cheers and thanks
Dominic

[DarkSky]

IIRC the Super Berkerley is one of the solid state heads that were manufactured in the US (by a third party under license to Jennings) to cash in on the Beatles success. Aside from honouring Brian Epstein's verbal agreement with Jennings by playing through the free promo ones provided for them for live performances while in the US in '65, they weren't used by the Beatles - the ones they owned and recorded with at Abbey Road were all UK-made valve models.

The ss models sound a bit different from their tube counterparts (unsurprisingly - though they were supposedly voiced to try to replicate the characteristic Vox sound of the AC-series) and they were notoriously unreliable. They have some collectibility in the US among aging-but-avid Beatle fans (most of whom don't seem to realise that the Beatles never owned and rarely used those models), but not much in the rest of the world AFAIK. Probably more useful to you as a curiosity and a talking piece than for studio work, I'd guess YMMV.

As to price, it depends a lot on condition - some of them are in pretty poor shape these days. I've seen one or two very well preserved heads go for a bit under US $1k. but I don't know if that was typical.

[Dominic]

Thanks for the email and history lesson Ray, I do appreciate it, it's always nice to learn the history and reasons for some of the older gear out there. The seller is asking $650, that also includes a hard poly molded case for it, the case will suit this and other heads. Does that sound reasonable??

[DarkSky]

Thanks for the email and history lesson Ray, I do appreciate it, it's always nice to learn the history and reasons for some of the older gear out there. The seller is asking $650, that also includes a hard poly molded case for it, the case will suit this and other heads. Does that sound reasonable??

If it's in excellent (functional and cosmetic) condition then that might be an okay price - but only you can say if it's worth it for what it will (or won't) bring to you or your sessions. At least the exchange rate is in your favor at present, tho...

[Dominic]

I know what you mean regarding "worth" value, functionality appears to be good, cosmetics is okay, nothing a clean of the tolex wouldn't fix, no tears from what I can recall, also the unit is actually here in Oz and local to me, so no shipping costs etc.

[Gian]

Would you pay that much for a non Vox solid state head? That is what I would ask myself.

I would rather a valve head.

[headman]

Would you buy a new Vox solid state head?
If the answer is no then don't buy into this one either.

headman

[Junction]

I have a SS Vox Conqueror head (1969) that I was looking at last night trying to work out what I should do with it. I think it is quite similar in build and design to the Berkerley, pretty much everything that could go wrong, has, with this amp .... every pot has crapped out, the switches faulty, there are 5 x PCB's in the pre stage alone, none of which work properly or reliably, the interconnecting cabling is a rats nest, the wires are brittle, the reverb tank rubber suspension is all but gone, I would say it needs total recapping. They were pretty badly assembled, I think the PCB's are starting to deteriorate somehow. One would only buy an amp like this if you were a fanatical collector.

I am going to rip the guts out of mine, clean up the head cab and chassis and build a decent PTP tube amp in there.

[DarkSky]

I am going to rip the guts out of mine, clean up the head cab and chassis and build a decent PTP tube amp in there.

Sounds like a fun project, Michael - and it'll be a pretty cool one-off when you're done with it!