Vox Bassmaster

not sure of year. 4 string. voulme & tone.not sure of ansewers to most of the questions. thin neck, original case.

fine,60s garage punk. no,not sure of variety of sounds. never been on the stage or stuido.like the look & feel.

horrible.not at all, loose tone knob.

not sure

1 month,no,something else,love the feel,wish i had a 60s gibson ebo.

This bass looks like it was built in the early 60's.
It came with a short scale (29 7/8" ) sycamore neck capped with the same wood for the finger board. Non stock tuners (darn!). No truss rod. Two pickups with a separate volumes and a master tone, like a Jazz Bass. Pickgaurd, white and black, is original. The body looks to be the same wood as the neck. Somebody oversprayed the original finish (red gloss) with a nice baby blue. Pretty sharp looking! The bridge is the original stamped aluminum bass with two saddles, kind of like a very early P-Bass. I think this may be an early British made model, the whole thing seems like it was built in a furniture factory, considering the choice of wood and the methods of assembly.

Fantastic sound, both unplugged and plugged in, any decent amp will do. The pickups, very punchy, big and warm, lots of Motor City growl. I had to check to make sure the pickups weren't humbuckers, they are so quiet. Indeed they are single coil models of a very unique design. I was really surprised when I picked this bass up that it sounded so good, despite the fact that the neck was warped beyond reason. Had to have it! I have since replaced the fingerboard with rosewood(30") with new frets and added a truss rod. Though I miss the original slightly shorter scale length (metric?), it plays really nice. It's extremely in tune now, which wasn't the case previously.

I think that this bass was very useful when it was designed and manufactured. It's done it's duty in the garage bands of the western world. Now it is a great tool for recording and toting to rehearsals. Fits in a standard guitar gig,bag, yet gives my vintage Fenders a good run for the money. Probably weighs 5 pounds. Don't think it was meant to last this long, but with a little help it has.

This bass has been around for forty years, I'd say that it will be around for some very good time to come.

No such thing!

This bass has alot of charm, and a great feel/ sound.

Made in the early/mid 60s in Italy. 20 frets, 4 string, solid mahogany body. 2 single coil pickups, with 2 volume and 1 tone control. Finish was originally white with w/b/w faceplate, rosewood fingerboard and polished sycamore neck. By far the smallest bass I've seen in my 30+ years of attempting to play.

This particular axe was modified when I got it. There should be only 1 volume pot, but this one has a second which had been mounted in the original 1/4" jack hole in the face. It wasn't done properly, so it has always been a little noisy and VERY bright. Because of the need for extra lite strings, it makes a sound that will cut you in half. If ya have stubby fingers, this is your bass.

Most of this doesn't apply, since it was well used when I got it. However, the neck still fits extra well even after 40 years.

When I played on a regular basis, this was my first choice. I also had an EB-O which was mud without rotos. But I played the VOX a lot. Never let me down. Never needs the truss adjusted, cause it doesn't have one. Thats a problem, but with a neck this small, I'm not sure one would fit.

None. Hasn't been made in probably 35+ years. Know where I can find some original parts??

I've been a musician for close to 40 years, but haven't played consistantly through all that time. I sold almost everything and was without for years EXCEPT for THIS BASS. Guess that says how much I like it despite it's flaws. If it were stolen, I'd try to find another, without a doubt. I'm reacquiring some stuff now, mostly kindof "kitchy". I have a Univox Les Paul, a Kent "335", a Checkmate solid state 1-10 with T&R, a Gretsch Lead Amp with 2 12s T&R, and some other small crap.
I love this bass cause I have sorta stubby fingers, and short scale works for me. It has a cutting sound, but will be better when I fix the electronics. I playes a Grabber and a "P", but the only other bass I owned was an EB-O. It was short and the muddy sound was at the far end from the VOX.

I wish it still had the original finish, tuners, faceplate, and tail piece cover. Maybe I'll find some.

Short scale 4 string 21 fret bass made in the early-mid 60's. Two single coil pickups. One volume, one tone. Mahogany body. No truss rod. A lot of the parts on mine are non-original, so I don't know how they should count as far as ratings go. The bridge is original, sort of Fender P-style, but much MUCH smaller. One saddle was broken so it's got one original and one off a Mustang bass. The Mustang side is quite a bit bigger than the Vox side, but it works. The tuners are out of some Old Hagstrom, apparently. They're Fender style. I guess it originally used Klusons. It's got that sort of "I Can't believe i'ts not Fender" style going, but the top horn starts way up the neck, and the pick guard is different. It has a very small, very round neck. It's almost like playing a dowel. This is hands down the smallest bass I've ever seen, not counting those rubber string nightmares. At first glance it looks like a strat. My housemate kept saying he didn't think it looked like a short scale when I first showed him, because he forgot that it was a bass. It's not fancy, butit's small, it's got that going for it. very cool

In a lot of ways, it's the exact opposite of what I need in a bass, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's pretty much the opposite of my Squier P-bass. You have to use really light strings on it, both because of the truss rod (or lack thereof) and the fact that yes, it does have a couple of pretty major cracks in the heel. It's one of those thing where I'm playing it WWAAAYY lighter than I generally play to avoid breaking it, but once it breaks it can be repaired to where it's strong than it is now. But anyway, it's got a really nice sound. Lots of treble and more bottom than you'd ever think could come out of something so small. Kind of like a Rick in a lot of ways, or sort of a Paul McCartney sound (I can't Fucking stand Paul McCartney, but I'll steal his tone). It's a lot rounder and less distinct than the Fender, and of course, i can't maul it to get it to overdrive the amp, but chords sounds really really awesome on it, and a slight palm mute gives you a really beautiful, fluid tone. The lows aren't deep enough to really be earthshaking, but they're really rich and full sounding, and if you play the treble strings nice and gently with a medium pick, you get a very true string sound. I can do three note arpeggiation at the 2d fret and it's bell clear. I'd like to be able to push it a little harder sometimes, but that's life. It sounds really awesome through the Big Muff - it's actually a lot louder with distortion than the Fender is - but you have to roll back the treble quite a bit. It's pretty much impossible to make it sounds very out of control, but you can get nice, tight, growly basslines out of it really easily. I was amazed at how little noise it made. As in none. At all. Really my only complaint is the fact that you can't switch between pickups. I have a feeling I'd probably stick with both on all the time anyway, but it would be nice to know for sure.

It's so old it almost doesn't apply, and like I said a lot of parts were missing when I bought it, but the neck is still good after almost 40 years and the finish only has a couple of little dings in it, so I would have to say that was a pretty well built little creature. The neck was set really weird, though. It was sunk so low that we had to shim it up to get it to clear the pickups. i don't know when that developed, since I don't have a real history on the bass at all. Otherwise it's not bad. It's not a tank by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a real instrument.

This is another one of those things where I have to be careful how I answer. If I plan on playing live the way I do with the Fender, than no way. Not a chance would I even think of bringning the Vox with me to any show whatsoever. I play really really har dlive, and there's just no way the Vox could stand up to it, and then figure in an almost broken neck and you've got an instrument that shouldn't be allowed to see sunlight, never mind brought to shows. But with a little practice I think I could enough of a benefit soundwise out of it that it would be worth shedding the all-out frenzy live style in favor of a cool notes played well style. probably not keg parties. probably not too many teen skate centers. But local bars/music stores, the places we normally play, I woulnd't be too worried about it. The point's moot right now since I don't have a case or even a gig bag for it, but in the future. The finish is probably going to get more dinged up in the process, but not terribly. It's delicate, but not so much that I'm afraid to touch it. It would make an awesome studio bass, though, anyway, so no loss if it doens't become my main instrument for all uses. It's kind of like my first grown-up guitar, I guess. Everything else I own is either not worth taking care of or built too well to succumb to the way I treat it. The vox actually demands that i take care of it, but I'm sort of in to that.

No longer Vox's problem, but Shawn the Guitar Guy is more than I'll ever need.

I bought this bass for three basic reasons. 1) it was there. 2) It was cool looking. 3) I have a pretty wicked case of carpal tunnel in both hands, and I thought a shorter scale would be easier on them. I was right. This is such an easy bass to play. The neck feels almost as if it's as narrow from string to string as it isfront to back.. It's not, but it feels almost perfectlly round in your hand, and somehow, every note you want manages to be right there when you go for it. You can get a nice big sound out of it without pummelling it and it's light and balances nice with a strap. I can play it for hours before my hands start to ache, which I can't even thin of doing with the Fender anymore. And it sounds great. it really does. So good that I'm willing to work my style around it, and that's as nice a compliment to a guitar's tone you can give, I think. And as far as fragility goes, I guess it's like if I had an almost cherry Kharmann Ghia. Really fun, useful if you really need it to be, but not a real sports car. Something you wouldn't try to drive cross country and you wouldn't try to push down the highway at 100 miles an hour. Something that will fall apart if you treat like it's something it's not. The limitations are definitely there, but fine, whatever. The coolness outweighs them to an infinite degree.