A German documentary on the band “Man”. In the section starting around 2′ 09″, some good views of the 4120 and matching cab on its end.
Below a still from “Beat Club” a year earlier (1969), in which the controls for the Normal Channel of the 4120 can be seen.
Later, Man moved over to a new set of solid state Vox equipment:
A selection of the pics of the Stones with their 760s in the last quarter of 1966 and early 1967.
ALBERT HALL – 23rd September 1966
STUDIO
Top bar of trolley removed and side-stands swivelled upside down
Jimmy Page (note the violin bow) with Brian Jones. 760 cab, as in the pic above, but a Fender amp on top
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE PALLADIUM – 22nd January 1967
Top bars of trolleys missing, side-stands still attached; the cabs sit on Foundation Bass “dollies”
SOME DETAILS OF THE BEATLES’ 7120s
A general shot of the Beatles at the Circus-Krone-Bau, Munich, 24th June 1966 – picture from Getty Images.
Credit: Photo by Bill Orchard/REX/Shutterstock (14563t). A detail of the amp John used on the 24th.
Credit: Photo by Bill Orchard/REX/Shutterstock (14563t). A tiny sliver of the amp that George used at Munich. Note that its diamond pattern matches the amp that John had – a quarter of a diamond at right.
Slightly oblique views of Paul and George’s amps, again from Munich.
A detail from the famous picture of Lennon in Studio 3, Abbey Road, with his Gretsch 6120 (sold at auction in 2015). Normally this pic is drastically cut to focus on the guitar.
Above, Denis Payton of the Dave Clark Five on stage at the Carousel Theater, West Covina, California, 27th June 1966 – photo published in the 23rd July issue of KRLA mag. In the background an AC100 and one of the band’s new 7120 cabs. This is the earliest dateable instance of a non-Beatles 7120 cab.
Given that the DC5 summer tour began in early June 1966, it seems likely that the cabs that they had were delivered to them in late May.
Pictures taken a few months later (see below) show that the band had four.
Above, the DC5 Royal Variety performance, October 1966
Three versions of the promo video were made at the Theatre on 10th November 1967, and much ink has been split on the question of whether the Beatles had solid state Vox Defiants or Conquerors with them on stage. It was certainly the latter – Conquerors.
The cabs however were 730 cabs, as one can see at the end of one of the videos as George wheels an amp across the stage apron. The ceramic Celestion T1225s are clearly visible in the pics below.
Ceramic Celestion T1225s were used from the outset in 460, 760, 7120, and 4120 cabs, but seem only to have been adopted for 730s late in the production run. Two surviving cabs with these drivers are represented on the 730 amps page on this site.
Conqueror cabs in 1967 always had alnico speakers.
It is probable that Vox / Macaris at 100 Charing Cross Road supplied the equipment on this day. The Charing Cross Rd. shop was less than a mile away from the Savoy Theatre.
Above a surviving example. May either worked for the Henry Glass company, which made the cabs, or Burndept Electronics, which readied the units for dispatch. Her name, always in chalk as above, figures regularly on the 7-series and solid state cab baffles.
From March 1966, “Beat Instrumental”, a British monthly magazine aimed squarely at professional musicians, and the only publication in which Vox regularly advertised, began signalling the imminent arrival of a new line of amps – the hybrid 700 series.
Above, editorial lines from the March issue, 1966.
Note from April 1966. By the time this appeared in print, John and George probably already had their amps – see the entry from Alf Bicknell’s diary (12 April) below. There are photos from mid April too. Paul’s 7120 bass arrived a little later. Perhaps the original intention was to coax 150 watts out it – perfectly possible given the presence of four KT88 power valves – a plan (if a plan at all) ultimately rejected, however.
Notice from May, 1966. Production of the smaller and larger amps of the 7-series range had probably just kicked off as this issue appeared on the shelves.
A rare memory here of the Beatles first trip to Knole, for the filming of the Strawberry Fields promo video. The finished video would feature footage of the band on horseback, riding past the 430 & 730 amps, cabs & guitars on a platform in the background. The first day of the shoot (Tuesday 31st January 1967) proved to be quite a day for a local Sixth-Former, Alan Cutts, who witnessed some of the filming;
It is getting on for fifty years since I met the Fab Four, by the remotest of chances. Given the personalities involved, it would be surprising if the memory dimmed even slightly… I was the first person to come across them, when an afternoon School run in Knole brought us to the lads filming, which was a wonderfully diverting sight on a freezing Winter’s day. Sevenoaks School operated for six days per week in order to get in three afternoons of sport, and this was one of the Hilary Term pursuits. There were two of us on the training run; our route went around the house and back to the Lodge down from the Manor House.
When I stopped by, it was for a brief rest; there were Minis parked nearby, and the odd Roller.
I was at a party some months before on Eel Pie Island, where Lennon had put in a fleeting appearance. John had maybe recognised me despite the running kit, saying “Ay oop!”, with a remark about so that’s how you southerners dress in the winter, with a wink. Maybe he didn’t recognise me and it was just a friendly greeting…that’s how the film crew realised there was not really an issue.
I spoke with John, and Ringo was voluble too. We chattered about the ideas they wanted to act out, which I did not follow too well, as it was private to the band really. Lennon was speaking about the real location of Strawberry Fields, but his references were strange and only made sense much later when the record had been out awhile, and folk could understand what was being imagined. There are some vague phrases in the lyrics even now. Both he and Paul, in retrospect, seemed to know what they wanted to create. I had more a sense of watching something starting to happen, a happening, as was the word then.
Ringo was very pleasant, and spoke about ordinary stuff. There was not really a drumming role anywhere at that stage, and not a guitar in sight. The lads were following directions called by the film crew, intermingled with retorts from the Band, mostly disrespectfully funny.
John discussed briefly where they were shacked up; Ringo nodded, speaking of the Royal Oak, I thought. there was general chit-chat as they dashed hither and thither, getting things done under a volley of orders – looking back not wonderfully planned, whimsical.
“…This (internet) photo captures the cold day quite well, and the colours are exactly as I remember them, with the trees leafless and spiky, and everything waiting for Spring. The camera on legs is the one I looked through, although then it was pointing down more. We were over to the left a bit, and there was a bushy outcrop which served to segregate me and the Four, three with Paul up in his tree, way over left, or two with George sulking/resting. He does look cold ! I have to be careful not to embellish true memory or stir stuff into presumed recollection, but the mood sense is good. The light faded about four pm, so I continued on my run, with a wave goodbye, not wishing to be a nuisance; but I had what I wanted, some time there, watching and speaking, generally out of the way”.
Truly exciting, better than a glimpse across a party room of a revered hero, now actually making eye contact, happy moments, looking back, so very near that it was almost ordinary, like with one’s mates.
Paul was up on a tree branch; no piano then, that was much later, as per the videos, with his big fluffy dog below. In a comic broad Northern/Scouse accent, “Eeehh..”, he was questioning what “Me dog” was up to at the foot of the tree.
There was no music actually being played in the Park when I was there, just some footage being run out. Films, so forth. They were very busy but did send me a photo, I gave my address, but never expected anything. I got it copied years later as it was falling apart.
The photographers in Knole noted that our contact was friendly and snapped a couple of pictures, one of which they sent on to me a while later. There were several shoots taken in Knole, and the February ones, which may have turned to Penny Lane backings after the SFFE ones had been completed, were those commonly recalled by the many young visitors to the park, including coeval Sennockians. The Chronicle ran a brief piece at the time.
The entrance to Knole was largely hidden by trees but this one stood alone, and yet was secluded. Last time I was there was in 1990 on walkabout, but so much had changed … now some of the paths are metalled and the old tracks are long gone.
The full shoot was a couple of weeks later on the SECOND visit in Feb when many Sennockians cut school to wag a glimpse of the foursome, news having leaked out from my day there, which was Day One. Unique experience, and I did not splash it about – it was my own experience, & special.
The ‘Owl House’ ( or ‘Bird House’) and the crumbling old arch were off the run we did, so we bypassed the second site. That one is featured in the SFFE footage all over You-Tube etc, and the piano and period dress are mocked up in the then mishmash of cultures adorning the young guitar-wielding brethren of the revolution. There were horses and so on, from what I have seen many years later.
The real social life in the town then centred upon La Cabana, and several pubs.. ‘La Cabana’ coffee house was the Cavern Club of the time in Sevenoaks. My peers, and I, were aficionados of La Cabana in 1961, as schoolboys ( & later as Mods and Rockers in the evenings… the wall-hung juke-box…) The embryonic band ‘Breed’ played there, two of whose members (Ray Bennett and Bill Bruford) went on to fame and fortune in association with King Crimson and Yes. Fights between the Mods and the Rockers, and before that the Teddy-boys, had been a part of street life in the mid-60s; there was still a sense in the air of Mods and Rockers lurking in dark alleyways.
We had seen John some months before at the party on Eel Pie Island; lots of pretty things were there, hanging on his every movement. I don’t remember how we got on to the Island, but there were a number of people off their heads who got drenched. One has to be careful with rivers, so forth, although it was quite shallow I think.
The author, 1967
Sadly there are no autographs nor any written dialogue at all from my day in Knole. I had nowhere to carry anything, being in shorts and running gear despite the chill air. When Hendrix died, we were all just shocked at the loss to music, but it was an accident waiting to happen, we understood much later. “The dancers are all gone under the hill” now, to recall Eliot.
( Text – © Alan Cutts, 2016 )
“All You Need Is Love”, 1967. It’s still tricky to pin down exactly what was going on with the amps in the broadcast and recorded versions of ” ..this old Northern English folk song” (as Elvis Costello called it at Live Aid). People weren’t going out of their way to document and photograph amplifiers in the background, or precise elements of all the many mixes involved in editing the recording. Somewhere in the recorded “All You Need” mix there’s still perhaps an element of the very first recording sessions; these actually started at Olympic studios, on 14th of June. It seems Paul had used his double-bass, plucking / with a bow and striking the side for percussion, and George even experimented with a violin. It seems elements of that are heard here, mixed with added parts, in a backing reference tape/mix;
Opinions differ as to who did what and when – Geoff Emerick in his book recalled that Paul played the bass perfectly, though others argue Paul makes a mistake in the broadcast near the end and pauses…and people argue over how much was live and how much was on the pre-recorded track. The tape above and others often show pre-mixes had flubs and errors, that were buried in the mix, so it is hard to tell where to draw the line..and we should perhaps be wary of any supposed ‘definitive’ break-down.
Things are further complicated by the chaotic events leading up to the recording. We looked previously at photos of rehearsals/pre-recording; we were able to show that in the lead-up at least to the broadcast, the amp being used seemingly by Paul was the UL-430. These rehearsals/pre-recordings seem to have taken place the day before, and during the day of the actual broadcast. At some point, probably on the day of broadcast, Lennon shaves off his moustache; amps and pianos were then moved around the studio as it was dressed on the day, for some sort of presentation, and the broadcast itself. At one point, a blurred image of a Vox Conqueror on a wheeled cab is seen in the background.
We know that for the final broadcast, the 430 head has been moved somewhere, and replaced with a Conqueror head; it looks like Paul was using the 430 (with the same microphone hanging in front for recording/monitoring) in the run-up, so people have argued over whether he was still using it, or if George was now using it for the broadcast…leaving Paul miming, or connected to a hidden amp/direct injection (intriguingly there’s a small metal box visible in front of the amp, d.i. ?).
(A later pic of Paul/bass from about 68 also shows a similar small metal box, maybe on the way to an amp..)
Trawling through other pictures from the day though, we were struck by one black and white photo with more of the scene to the right of George. This seems to be from the rehearsal/recordings, probably during the day itself; 
This got us wondering whether we might actually be looking at a screened amp/cab behind the baffle (behind George Martin on right), with a microphone stand pointing down in front of it? This might point to the ‘missing’ amp, maybe the Conqueror, at this point at least. (In the later Paul photo from ’68 above, there is a microphone stand with adjustment fixtures of the type that could give the sort of shape we see…or it might be something else entirely). While searching other photos though, we were struck by another photo of George, which doesn’t seem to have been assigned – it is usually described as being George during Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour
era recording.
Amp & cab in background
The clothes he is wearing look to be the same as in some of these All-You-Need rehearsal/recording pics; shoes, shirt, something hanging round his neck (Lennon with no moustache, so probably the day itself, but not yet in full final outfits). 
The situation too, that same part of the studio/ wall/divider area, that baffle…it seems reasonable to suggest (-someone probably has already?) that this is from the same time, and therefore shows the same amp that George was using. Probably the same Conqueror head too, that was plonked on top of the 430’s cab for the final broadcast? (It looks slightly askew, suggesting it wasn’t firmly secured to the cabinet). Another photo from that day showed a blurred amp/cab in the background behind Lennon, but while things were being moved around. Very suggestive, especially with the final use of a conqueror head. If this is the same amp, then it helps to give us an impression of an amp, cab and mike behind the baffle, and a better sense too of the equipment & arrangements in the lead-up to the broadcast. The Guitar/Bass Isolation Screens with the long chrome handles running along the top were introduced in late ’66; they had wooden frames, and fabric over an absorbent material filling (from Recording The Beatles).
For the broadcast itself, that part of the studio was turned into a set, and many people were allowed in, some sitting on the floor in the area where the Conqueror & cabinet had been behind the baffle. Photos aren’t clear enough to say for sure who/what was where; we know a Conqueror head was moved over and put on top of the (430?) cab, which (we can now suggest a bit more firmly) Paul was using. One photo (below) seems to show the baffle, folded back. The style of the main cab’s logo shows it is probably one of the 4/7series cabinets, in the same place, without a trolley, and with the same mike/stand in front of it. The final broadcast ‘take’ was apparently take 58, which shows how much preparation had been needed to get to that stage. Photos of the Conqueror aren’t clear, but seem to show it only having one lead in; if George was now using the Conqueror (which we think was probably paired with the in-place 430/730 cabinet), then what amp if any was Paul using? It is possible the 430 was swapped over and put on top of the Conqueror cabinet, and then hidden somewhere in the space behind or tucked behind the foliage, or the signal split with the d.i….or perhaps d.i. out from the amp… or maybe just the pure d.i. signal was taken. Paul could also have mimed the bass; it would have been easy enough to have some/most of it incorporated in the previous recording of the backing track. Or maybe George used the d.i. …..but why move the Conqueror head? Vox asked Epstein maybe to use the new amp in shots? Why not just wheel the Conqueror with its cab on wheels over? And then we find another picture, with Paul standing near the same area, with the Conqueror in the background. 
Paul seems to have had a long lead back to the 430 in the other pics, and we only have a limited view, but it does muddy the waters even more. Still so many questions… but even if we can’t see the complete picture, at least we can put a few pieces of the jigsaw in place.
On the “DIT” box, the superb Kehew/Ryan “Recording the Beatles”, describes it as the ‘Direct Injection Transformer”. It was dreamt up by the innovative Ken Townsend; the second later pic of Paul with the bass seems to show one in use, and it looks very like the box by the amp in the All You Need rehearsal/recordings. The book states, “..the musician plugged his guitar into the middle jack, The cable coming from the box was the output to the guitar amplifier; the Tuchel socket on the Right provided a direct balanced output which could be sent to the desk”. The box is a squared-metal box, the right-hand Tuchel socket is much larger. “One of the most difficult instruments to record was the bass guitar…no matter which type of high-quality microphone we placed in front of the bass speaker, it never sounded back in the control room as good as in the studio…”. ‘Revolution’ would later see the Beatles recording in the control room itself, using these boxes to input direct to the mixing desk, while Ringo recorded drums in the studio without any sound bleeding through from the guitars.
Costume change, Conqueror moved to main cab, but is that the baffle folded back on right, still with cab/mike there? 430 Head swapped over?
Some good info on “All You Need” sessions on web HERE
and this suggestion of final takes, 58 and the one before, from “Beatle Brunch” site HERE;
The final take, numbered 58, added Ringo’s snare drum roll and some additions to Lennon’s vocal part on Track 4.
a baffle visible during actual broadcast, but view of what’s behind it is obstructed..possibly a studio monitor, with dark shape of something in front of it..?
Soon it will be 50 years since Alf Bicknell was jotting notes in his diary, about picking up the new Beatles 7series amps. 
Alf Bicknell was the Beatles chauffeur from 1964-66. When Alf later started to tour telling stories & memories of his time with the Beatles, George Harrison provided this as part of a testimonial for him;
“…Alf Bicknell lived moment to moment with the Beatles through those years … Anyone who was beaten up by Imelda Marcos’s bully squad is a friend of mine.” (This was a reference to the rough handling the band received while on tour in the Philippines). The wikipedia listing describes how, “..Dressed in a blue suit, crisp white shirt and tie, he first drove the group in an Austin Princess (registration SST 626) – at that time, he later said, it was one of only two cars in London to have blacked-out windows (the other belonged to Peter Sellers). Later Bicknell drove the band in John Lennon’s Royce-Royce Phantom V, which was kitted out with a television set. On occasions when any of the Beatles wished to be more discreet, the chauffeur would use a less conspicuous vehicle.” (full version HERE) 
Maybe Alf & Mal used the large Rolls (which Lennon got in ’65) to pick up the amps. (One of the Indian musicians on the earlier “Granny Smith” (Love You To) session, Anil Bhagwat, later recalled that he too had been picked up by Alf in the Rolls-Royce). According to wikipedia,
“With take 6 selected as the best performance, a reduction mix was carried out on 13 April, freeing up space for moreoverdubs on the four-track tape. Harrison added another vocal part onto what was now referred to as take 7, and Ringo Starr played tambourine. McCartney contributed a high harmony vocal over the words “They’ll fill you in with all their sins, you’ll see“, but this part was omitted from the final mix.[57][nb 4] Harrison also overdubbed fuzz-tone electric guitar,[60] controlling the output via a volume pedal.[58] Producer Tony Visconti has marvelled at the guitar sounds the Beatles introduced on Revolver, particularly Harrison’s part on “Love You To”, which he says “sounds like a chainsaw cutting down a tree in Vermont”.[61]
Harrison had experimented earlier on “Tomorrow Never knows” with backwards guitar tones; “..— one ordinary, one a fuzz guitar — which were superimposed on top of one another. Geoff Emerick recalls that this was all George Harrison’s idea and that he did the playing.”
—Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions, p.78, 1988
It would seem then that the amps were picked up on the 12th, and probably first used on the sessions on the 13th, which started with overdubs for ‘Love You To’ and continued with the first takes of ‘Paperback Writer’.
Alf is described as having been very approachable, friendly and modest…. this is certainly how Steve Zazulyk, who met him once Liverpool, remembers him;
“I believe it was 1997 or 98 my wife Kelly and I won a trip to travel from our home in Canada to Liverpool and attend the re-release of “The Yellow Submarine”. We arrived at the hotel and missed the bus, and so did a very friendly looking soul in the lobby, sitting at one of the long tables. I made a comment about missing the bus and he invited me for a seat. It was then that I met Alf and for the rest of the night he told me every Beatle story I could have ever dreamed to hear. All the questions I had about what happened the night of Shea Stadium and what was it like to have been in the same room as Elvis and the Beatles at the same time (They only met once at Graceland, Alf, Brian E. and Col.Tom Parker were the only one’s present).We stayed in England for 8 days (of course) and saw Alf every day (I think he thought my wife was cute!) what a great and gentle man. He used to laugh and get excited then he would do his signature pose…grasp the wheel of the Rolls Royce Phantom V and pretend to drive! That was Alf he was great…. To Alf’s family.. he really was a part of history and a unique and great man.” Steve also recalls, “..I specifically remember Alf talking about lugging these big ass speakers around”. This could be a memory of shifting the ac100s; but with the increasing power & size of the new 7120 amps, even the giant Mal needed more assistance. In the violence as they tried to leave Manila airport, the authorities even switched off the escalators….lugging 7120s and cabs up stairs while being punched and kicked by the military may well have been what he had in mind.
More on earlier posts; the arrival HERE ,and on moving the amps around- HERE
From a site about Andy Scott, who went on to play with the Sweet in the 70s – pics here from around 1967/68 with “The Elastic Band”. This was re-formed from “The Silverstone Set”; they had supported the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Manchester. Some sort of 4-series amp is being used, hard to tell from the pic, but probably a 460 with a foundation cab?
