Vantage Owners Club

[smcfarland1337]

Does anyone on TB own (owned) or play a Vantage bass?

I have not to this day met someone who has or even really KNOWS anything about the brand.

I know they're old and Korean(?).

My first bass I got five years ago was a 67 Vantage that my dad got when he was 12 and gave to me to learn lessons on.

She's a beauty and sounds like gold. I wouldn't trade her for the world. She's having a slight electrical problem at the moment though.

Please post pictures!

 

[rickwebb]

Very Nice! I used to have a VB-820 (I think that was the model number) about 20 years ago. Wish i still had it.

 

[Thomas Kievit]

She's having a slight electrical problem at the moment though.

Please post pictures!

Looks nice! So what's the problem with the electronics?

 

[chuck norriss]

These are matsumoku-made are they not? Japan, not Korea. Excellent instruments.
Matsumoku is esteemed vintage gear and rightly so; they're bad ass.

 

[stantonl]

My second bass was a Vantage, back in the late 80's. Couldn't tell you the model but it looked exactly like the one you have pictured here. It was a decent bass, but heavy. That's about all I recall.

 

[Gaolee]

I had one as my first bass. The neck dive it had was truly awesome. I never really bonded with it at all and don't miss it a bit, although it was probably a pretty good instrument, all things considered.

 

[joebar]

i have my first bass; a 1984 matsumoku built, made in japan vantage avenger x-77 model
i love the design and shape and i have never seen another like it in almost thirty years...
neck to die for and is ten pounds.
i have hot rodded it to hell and back over the years and i will never sell it...

 

[smcfarland1337]

Ah, Japanese, not Korean. My bad, it's been awhile since I researched them.

And the electronic problem is (what I believe to be) a small soldering issue that I haven't located (or really searched for). It just doesn't make the connection when hooked into an amp.

Also, totally digging that Avenger man!
My Vantage has one of the fastest necks I've ever played, same with yours?

 

[joebar]

Ah, Japanese, not Korean. My bad, it's been awhile since I researched them.

And the electronic problem is (what I believe to be) a small soldering issue that I haven't located (or really searched for). It just doesn't make the connection when hooked into an amp.

Also, totally digging that Avenger man!
My Vantage has one of the fastest necks I've ever played, same with yours?

my fave neck of all time; i have always gotten huge props wherever and whenever i play it out. always kills in the mix.
one of a kind

 

[Abner]

Go here for Uncle Matts goodness:

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...or

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Nice bunch of fellas over there.

(And I hate to tell you, I don't think they were making these back in 1967. Yours is probably an early '80s model. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Have a VA900B fretless myself.

 

[joebar]

i have my first bass; a 1984 matsumoku built, made in japan vantage avenger x-77 model
i love the design and shape and i have never seen another like it in almost thirty years...
neck to die for and is ten pounds.
i have hot rodded it to hell and back over the years and i will never sell it...

i went and checked out that matsumoku website-very cool.
however, there were a few x-77 guitars but i could not find an x-77 bass... could i have the only one? like i said, i have never seen another like it.

i suspect roger will be chiming in soon ...

 

[GoesThump]

i went and checked out that matsumoku website-very cool.
however, there were a few x-77 guitars but i could not find an x-77 bass... could i have the only one? like i said, i have never seen another like it.

I had the same one - X77 in red back in the 80s. Another local guy had one in black.

They are a bit of a rarity though.

GT

 

[smcfarland1337]

Could someone confirm whether or not there are any Vantages dating from 1967?

That is very interesting news to me!

 

[bootsox]

I had a vantage a while back, but it was in pretty poor condition when I got it and I ended up trading it for an Ibanez

 

[Thomas Kievit]

Have a VA900B fretless myself.

Ah, that's nice looking, 2 P-pickups How's the sound on this beauty?

 

[Thomas Kievit]

And the electronic problem is (what I believe to be) a small soldering issue that I haven't located (or really searched for). It just doesn't make the connection when hooked into an amp.

Well, I can only say that you should bring it to a luthier. I'm sure he can fix the problem

 

[GoesThump]

Could someone confirm whether or not there are any Vantages dating from 1967?

I don't know for sure, but it is unlikely. The instrument you posted in the first post of the thread is Japanese made & dates from the early 1980s.

You can find this one in the 1982 Vantage catalog:
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GT

 

[Abner]

Could someone confirm whether or not there are any Vantages dating from 1967?

That is very interesting news to me!

Well, it turns out that Matsumoku may have started building guitars as early as the mid-1950s.

But the Vantage brand did not exist until at least 1977, and the VS-695B was likely first built around 1981.

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-Alex

 

[LowEZ]

My '79 VP710

 

[Abner]

Ah, that's nice looking, 2 P-pickups How's the sound on this beauty?

I can't complain, quite the tone monster. Has what I assume to be a series/parallel switch, a phase switch, and the active preamp (18 volt) has a "tilt" tone control. Very versatile despite the one-knob EQ.

But neck-dive like you wouldn't believe, though — look at how far the bridge is from the edge of the body, and how short that top horn is. And a full 2-octave neck.

But I still love it. Wouldn't pass up a fretted version if you know of one...

-Alex