Vintage cheap basses

[ac100X]

I’d love to get my hands on an old 60’s VOX like the ones Rick Huxley played in The Dave Clark Five! I’d be Glad All Over!

Guitar player had a article about British invasion bands and they stated that Rick Huxley played a Fender Precision. Well he did sometimes and a Fender Jazz or Burns 6 string bass but he was see quite often with a Vox Symphonic Bass. The Guitar Player photo was showing him playing a Vox Symphonic but it was labeled Fender Precision. I wrote and pointed this out to them but they said "big deal, who cares". I care - just to keep the historic record straight and maybe because I own one. PS. I would not say they are cheep.

 

[B-Mac]

Guitar player had a article about British invasion bands and they stated that Rick Huxley played a Fender Precision. Well he did sometimes and a Fender Jazz or Burns 6 string bass but he was see quite often with a Vox Symphonic Bass. The Guitar Player photo was showing him playing a Vox Symphonic but it was labeled Fender Precision. I wrote and pointed this out to them but they said "big deal, who cares". I care - just to keep the historic record straight and maybe because I own one. PS. I would not say they are cheep.

View attachment 3217448

I care too and he definitely played a Vox. I have an older brother 8 years my senior who lived, ate, and breathed DC5. I can recall heated arguments between him an my older sister as to who was better... the DC5 or the Beatles (seriously). I can see some young writer at Guitar Player with a degree in Journalism not knowing the difference between a Vox bass and a Fender bass similarly to how someone might not know the difference between a Vox Organ (what Mike Smith predominantly played) and Hammod organ or even a Fender Rhodes keyboard. My brother owned the entire USA Epic records catalog of DC5 and was in the DC5 fan club! I helped him later with all the British Columbia records catalog and most of the Canadian Capitol records catalog of DC5 albums. Plus the many scrap books of magazine clippings and downloaded YouTube videos ...Huxley definitely played the Vox Symphonic bass. At a glance I can see the nonmusician milenial making this mistake. He definitely played a Fender later when they were making money and could afford 'better' instruments. He's pictured with a Fender bass in the two bottom pix.

This whole ‘cheap’ thing means so many different things to so many different people. To me it means ‘inexpensive’ (back then) version of a more expensive better or similar quality instrument. Today’s prices for that type of vintage bass certainly isn’t ‘cheap’.

Thanks for posting the picture of the Vox.

Vox Symphonic Bass made in ENGLAND 1960s Red
The VOX Showroom - Vox Guitars: The Vox Symphonic Bass
The VOX Showroom - The Vox Symphonic Bass and the Dave Clark Five

^ VOX ^

Fender (the hook in the headstock being the not so obvious difference to some)

Vox Synphonic Bass 1970 "Sunburst" | Headbanger Rare Guitars
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[GretschWretch]

But then there's this other Vox; great on the strap, a misery on the lap.

 

[B-Mac]

But then there's this other Vox; great on the strap, a misery on the lap.

Good catch Wretch! Pretty much stopped seeing that one after the first US EPIC album ‘Glad All Over’. I bet that really is difficult to play sitting down unless strapped a bit high since you really can’t balance it on either leg.

Vox Phantom?

 

[GretschWretch]

Good catch Wretch! Pretty much stopped seeing that one after the first US EPIC album ‘Glad All Over’. I bet that really is difficult to play sitting down unless strapped a bit high since you really can’t balance it on either leg.

Vox Phantom?

Mark IV. The Phantom's long-scale contemporary.

 

[B-Mac]

Mark IV. The Phantom's long-scale contemporary.

so this:The VOX Showroom - Vox Guitars: Vox Mark IV Bass V224

and not this? even though these were made then? I couldn't get a good look at the body shape in the video is why I'm asking:
[ah, I see the difference in controls now so definitely the Mark IV per the bottom picture if that is in the video you posted]
The VOX Showroom - Vox Guitars: Vox Phantom IV Bass V210

but definitely this later:

The VOX Showroom - Vox Guitars: The Vox Symphonic Bass

I didn't realize they made so many basses

The VOX Showroom - www.voxshowroom.com

and some other Vox in this pic?

[EDIT: just now realizing that I am now getting G.A.S. for something I probably will never find or won't want to pay such a high price for or will be a rusty unplayable non-functioning wreck or any combination of all of the above! Though I'd really like a Symphonic]

Check these catalogs out!
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[Dadagoboi]

Mark IV. The Phantom's long-scale contemporary.

60s/70s Phantoms are ALL long scale, unlike the Oregon imposters (and the Vox 21st Century reissues).

My 1965 Made in England original.

Yeah, that's an ebony fretboard on flame maple neck. Basically a baseball bat '51 profile with a funny headstock. Before they moved production to Italy and they became pencil necked geeks.

 

[GretschWretch]

60s/70s Phantoms are ALL long scale, unlike the Oregon imposters (and the Vox 21st Century reissues).

My 1965 Made in England original.

View attachment 3217799

Yeah, that's an ebony fretboard on flame maple neck. Basically a baseball bat '51 profile with a funny headstock. Before they moved production to Italy and they became pencil necked geeks.

My point (obviously poorly-made) was that at the time you Reference the marks/Phantoms were the long-scale offerings in Vox's bass line. The others (Cougar, Panther, violins, Wyman) all were short-scale.

What strings do you have on your Phantom? I got a hippie-stripped Mark IV from Music-Go-Round that came loaded with rounds. The sound is serviceable but not riveting. I wonder how the bass would sound with flats or tapes.

 

[B-Mac]

Mark IV. The Phantom's long-scale contemporary.

WOW! I just noticed even Lenny is playing a similar version of that Vox in guitar form!

 

[B-Mac]

60s/70s Phantoms are ALL long scale, unlike the Oregon imposters (and the Vox 21st Century reissues).

My 1965 Made in England original.

View attachment 3217799

Yeah, that's an ebony fretboard on flame maple neck. Basically a baseball bat '51 profile with a funny headstock. Before they moved production to Italy and they became pencil necked geeks.

That looks like it's in great shape!

 

[GretschWretch]

WOW! I just noticed even Lenny is playing a similar version of that Vox in guitar form!

Yes, but Brian Jones was the premier celebrity endorser of Vox teardrop guitars.

We seem to be drifting off topic here. Except possibly for the Panther, none of the new Vox basses I saw in music stores could be considered cheap.

 

[B-Mac]

Yes, but Brian Jones was the premier celebrity endorser of Vox teardrop guitars.

We seem to be drifting off topic here. Except possibly for the Panther, none of the new Vox basses I saw in music stores could be considered cheap.

Like I said above....
This whole ‘cheap’ thing means so many different things to so many different people. To me it means ‘inexpensive’ (back then) version of a more expensive better or similar quality instrument. Today’s prices for that type of vintage bass certainly isn’t ‘cheap’.
I am guessing a Vox Symphonic Bass was less expensive than a Fender Precision back then?

And you are such a valuable asset here at TB! in '64 and '65 I was just 4 & 5 years old!

 

[Dadagoboi]

That looks like it's in great shape!

Thanks, it is. It also came with the original rectangular Cheney case. I always wanted a white one so I built a clone for myself a few years ago. Duncan SCP quarter pounders under scratch built covers.

What strings do you have on your Phantom? I got a hippie-stripped Mark IV from Music-Go-Round that came loaded with rounds. The sound is serviceable but not riveting. I wonder how the bass would sound with flats or tapes.

Rounds on my Phantoms, when I got my first in '73 that was what I was playing so I never considered them for these. They would sound good with flats, I just have a lot of other basses with them that make more sense for me.

 

[B-Mac]

I sent the Eastwood Guitars Custom Shop a message to make the Vox Symphonic! Maybe some others will do the same. It would be so cool if they made an accurate looking one! I'd jump on it!

 

[ac100X]

Ok, if we are now talking Phantoms...hers mine, made in Italy...

 

[JIO]

Funny I just ran across an article about Teisco Microphones. The full name of the company was Teisco Del Ray. Teisco was founded in Tokyo in 1946. They made guitars, amps, synthesizers, drums and pa equipment. Their products were sold as Silvertone, Kent, Beltone, Duke, Encore, Kingston, Lyle, Sonatone and Kay. In 1967 the company was bought by Kawai Musical Instruments which discontinued the guitar line meant for export. By 1977 they stopped making any guitars at all to focus on Kawai synthesizers which were eventually discontinued too.

Teisco Del Rey (Spanish for "of the King")

 

[JIO]

Truthfully -- I like the *idea* of cheap vintage basses more than the actuality.

I've owned a few. And of course still miss my first bass -- a Zim Gar that I would take apart and put back together a few times a year.

But these days, the craftsmanship and quality control at overseas factories has advanced so much that there are basses for $100-400 that play *so much better* than anything silvertone or harmony made in the 1960s.

It's less about comparison to modern standards than simply appreciating the era specific artifact, which could also be a blast to play!

 

[nomaj]

What you guys are calling cheap, I am calling mid-range. "Cheap" would be Kingstons, Dominos, Normas.

Exactly. My first bass was a Kingston (thru a Supro Thunderbolt).

Definitely did NOT sound like a P thru a B-15.

 

[GretschWretch]

Exactly. My first bass was a Kingston (thru a Supro Thunderbolt).

Definitely did NOT sound like a P thru a B-15.

Even so, the current reputations of some of those old Supro/Valco amps may surprise you.

 

[JIO]

Not 'cheap', but at $150 they were affordable - 1966 Teisco Del Rey EB-200 short scale (w/flats). Played through my '76 B-15N - it can Motown with the best P. I say 'not cheap' because my 1st MIJ "Stadium" bass cost $40 new. (no case) That was cheap. A Fender Jazz bass (2 pu's) was $285 plus $59.50 for the case in 1966.