In the 1968 Vox Ampliphonic catalog, the Nova amplifier was introduced and described as "the first lightweight compact amplifier expressly designed for use with wind instruments."

After becoming the predominant guitar amp manufacturer of the mid 1960's, Vox wished to expand into new musical markets. Vox recognized an opportunity in the band instrument business and started sourcing brass, woodwind, and string instruments that would bear the Vox name. Many of these instruments were designed by Vox to include a port in the mouthpiece area for attaching a small custom made Vox microphone as a pickup. This innovative approach to amplifying wind instruments opened a whole new market for Vox amplifiers.

The Vox Ampliphonic Nova amp was the entry level amp aimed at the woodwind and brass marketplace. Like its guitar counterpart, the Vox Pathfinder, the solid state Nova had two high impedance inputs and was rated at 10 watts RMS, 20 watts peak. The open backed, particle board enclosure had an 8" "Vox Gold" alnico speaker sourced from the Oxford Speaker Company of Chicago IL.

In addition to a two position "Dark/Bright" switch, the only other controls were a "Volume" and "Voice" control. The circuitry for Voice control was derived from the Vox "Tone X" control found on many Vox guitar amps, a sweepable frequency parametric tone control.

The Ampliphonic Nova amplifier retailed for $105 in 1968. Adjusted for inflation, it would retail today for almost $700.