Vox Sidewinder

The seller told me the bass was made in 1964 and I can't tell if that's correct or not.To say that it looks great is not enough.It's absolutely magnificent! The finish has some cracking though, but I was told that was"normal" considering the number of layers.
The rest of the body, neck, tuners and chromes look very good.
You've got o good number of volume and tone controls so it takes some time before you find what you want.It offers a great variety of sounds.

When I bought it, it was equipped with flatround strings and played with a pick, the bass really sounded great, with much thump and punch.All the notes are distinct only the highest lack a bit of sustain.
Ther is a distorsion effect too.In fact, it sounds like the brassmaster pedal that was made in the seventies.It's more a fuzz than a distorsion.Not something you will use on every numbers!

The bass needs an adjustement because it doesn't sound exactly right at the octave.

When I see how it has gone through 40 years I don't see why it couldn't live through 5 other decades or more without problem.It is true, though, that I don't think the bass has seen many gigs yet.

It'is definitely a great bass.I also owe a 1968 Ampeg AMB1 and the sidewinder is much easier to play .Both sound great.
Well I gave some money to grab it, but it was worth it and I know that it will rise in value as years go by.

Mine is a 1968 made in Italy. A few years ago, I saw one of these basses in a local Guitar shop.I picked it up and played it for a while . I concluded that this has to be the easiest bass in the world to play. Then I plugged it in and found that it sounded great just like the recorded sounds from the 60'and 70's.So I decided that I just had to have it .It was going for $300.Then I noticed these big cracks and I thought it had cracks in the body. I didn't realize that Vox used such a heavy clear topcoat that most of their guitars and basses from this era look like they have cracks; but the cracks are only in the top finish coat not the wood !So I didn't buy it and have regretted it till this day.When I saw one on ebay I just jumped on it and that was after discussing the bass with the other reviewer Matt. Eventhough his review was a year or two old at the time I contacted him , he still believed that this was the best bass around !

My guitar is cherry in color and has the built in fuzz, tuner,2 single coil pickups,a 3-way toggle switch, one volume, two tones, built in distortion and built in bass/treble boost . Mine came with original case. It has the thinnest neck with the lowest action I've ever seen in a bass. It's body looks like a Gibson ES-335 guitar with 2 real f-holes. This is a hollow body bass.

This guitar is just perfect for Classic Rock and any other genre. I'm presently using it with an SVT4PRO amp and a Goliath III cab. Very nice full ,rich sound as the previous reviewer had mentioned. The only complaint is it lacks some sustain as already mentioned in the other review. That is the only reason that I give this a 9 instead of a 10. But the sound is fantastic !

My bass was setup just great. I took it out of the case and played it with no adjustments necessary ; not bad for a bass that's over 35 years old. The action is low making it very easy to play.Mine does have some finish checking but in no way does this detract from the sound or playability. So don't let these finish checks fool you like it did me, if you have an oportunity to get one of these , go for it.

The bass will withstand live playing, hell, it's already survived for 35 years ! And this bass is a hollow body !

I'm not a bass player but a guitar player who dabbles in bass. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years. I'm in a classic rock band and our bass player uses this bass for more than 50% of our tunes. And I get to play it in a couple of tunes. When I got this bass I sold my Fender Jaz Plus because this bass was so much better that it made the fender look and sound like a joke. If this were lost or stolen I would immediately search fo another . I also want to thank Matt for responding to my inquiries about this bass; I am very happy to now own one. Overall I'm giving it a 10 because it really comes out to a 9.5 but decimals are not possible in this rating system.

I believe this thing was made in 1969 in Italy.
While I have to say that everyone has their own opinion on what constitutes a perfect guitar or bass, I truly believe that this bass ranks up there among the best basses ever made (EASILY). Most bass players can agree that there are a few features in particular that make a bass stand out among others: sound, playability, reliability, feel, look, and so on. This bass has it all, and why it was not wildly popular and gave the old standards (Fender J and P's and Ricks) a REAL run for the money I'll never know..
I saw one of these on eBay recently and the auction ended with no sale, high bid was somewhere in the mid $300's...it was a like a bad JOKE! Good god if I ONLY had the extra $ at the time!! I would be willing to pay 5x that for one of these if I had to.
When you pick this thing up and sling it over your shoulder, it feels like it molds to you! The neck itself is as narrow as a toothpick, and at first it feels WEEEIRD, but then after a day or two, you find yourself ripping through scales and riffs faster than you ever thought possible! A Fender P will now forever feel like elongated cinder block. I dont know how the hell I managed it, but I have found at last (after like 20 years of searching..)a bass that I can set the action REALLY low and NOT have the strings buzz, rattle and slap the fretboard with each strum or pluck (I play with a pick usually-round wound strings too) I have never owned a bass that you could do that on.
As far as features go, this thing is a beast. Two FAT sounding single coils: 3-way toggle switch, one volume, two tones, built in distortion, built in bass super-boost/treble boost, and a tone-generator button! (Yep, push the button and it beeps a perpetual G-note that you can use to tune to.)
This bass is the best in the world as far as I'm concerned.

I can only describe it as FAT. I usually play the neck pickup with the tone turned down about half-way - warm and SUPER bottomy, yet, crank the tone all the way up, and this thing will GROWL. It's astounding for a hollow-body bass built 30+ years ago. One might expect it to be dark and thumpy without much presence or definition? Think again.
Flip the toggle switch to the middle position and you have a slightly thinner, yet STILL VERY usable twang.
The funny thing, is that if I turn on the distortion, crank the volume and stand near my bass amp - the feedback that I get beats ANYTHING that the guitar players in my band are capable of! (heh heh)It will sustain and ring until the cows come home.

Action is phenominal! Super low without a single buzz, or rattle. Neck is perfect with just the slightest bow (as a bass neck SHOULD be).
The finish? Well as I said, it's 30+ years old so there are some blemishes and some cracking of the finish, some dings, but the darn thing still shines like it's brand new after a polishing. Amazing!
Even though the finish now would not make a "10 rating" the fact that it still looks decent and is still all there after 33 years makes it a 10 in my book!

This thing is amazingly durable for a hollow-body. It does not FEEL delicate and fragile like a lot of hollow bodies - it's solid and feels tough. I've used it for playing live for years with no back up. I've adjusted the neck maybe 2x in 5 years, and barely at that.
Being it's a hollow body I would NOT want to step on the sucker or have it fall off the stage! But then again, that's just the nature of hollow bodies.

I have no clue! I'm sure that there must be some former Vox customer service poeple out there, but I dont know if they're going to be too keen on answering my phone calls between soaking their dentures, shotgunning prune juice, and taking bus trips to Atlantic City or Florida!

After all of this lauding and praising and worshiping this wooden god of all basses, I DO have two complaints - the intonation is tough on this baby and the sustain drops off considerably on the higher frets.
You can *still* intonate it - but you'll need a six pack of beer and/or some Absolute Vodka to do so. The sustain...hmmm...well you'll have to be creative whenever you play on the last few frets (towards the body) although many bass players dont go there anyway so what does it matter right?
I may even have a pic or two of it on our band's website:
www.dipsomaniacs.net