+HippiehavenCanada thanks a lot man, it's nice to be appreciated!! It truly is a great guitar, even tho it doesn't have the stock P/Us. Thanks for watching, terry
Did You know that story, that in the end of the 80's lots of Vox guitars were found here in Italy, probably an Eko warehouse, still in boxes? I bet there had been a gold-rush for them! Instant vintage out of the box!!😄
Used an original cherry red v269 back in the day. Visually a stunning gypsy guitar. Unlike this one, it had a pearlized black headstock. Lots of inlay work on the dark fret board. The original Vox bridge strung the strings across rollers. It was fully adjustable, but I found the rollers seemed to hurt the string vibration and sustain. So I slid a basic Gibson bridge in, and the guitar came to life. Carefully set up, the guitar had a super light touch, low frets, and was as fast as any guitar. Very easy to play for extended periods of time. Made in Italy in the 60s, the guitar's base sound was quite retro, trebley and bright. Not the warm or gutsy sound. But turning the tone controls back could warm the sound quite a bit. I usually preferred using both pickups for rocking out. The Wah Wah on mine was scratchy and then stopped working. I never serviced it. Never missed it. It really bothers me to see guys demo the v269. They turn the distortion on and it sounds horrid. The reason it sounds bad is the distortion has so much range. Makes a perfect flat topped sound wave on a scope. You can't use that much distortion and sound musical.! It goes up to a setting of 10, but you need it set at 2 or three and your distortion sounds warm and natural. You play it softly and the distortion is barely there. But as you play harder, it becomes warmer and noticeably sounding overdrive even though the volume is moderate. At this setting it duplicated the dynamics of the AC30 Amps to softer and harder playing. Very nice. Another benefit of using the distortion at low setting was the attack of notes. Being a powered system, the sound was so instant, it as almost like the note played in anticipation of you pressing the feet. It was a hot rod. One of the most entertaining aspects of the guitar is how it responded to the amplifier sound in feedback. Using a big Ampeg G412, feedback was no problem, unless you weren't used to controlling such a hot system. But playing it at those levels was pure joy. Being a hollow body, not only would the strings feedback, but the whole guitar would resonate and vibrate in your hands as it it was alive and breathing. Controlling it at this level took practice. I held my right hand on the strings just over the bridge. Mugging like this felt very intuitive and natural, sort of unconsiously letting it open up and braking it down through muffing. At that power level, sustain was unlimited and the muffing made it growl. Who needs Wah Wah now? My guitar preached man! I suspect just about any hollow electric could be used like this. But the Vox v269 did it great, and it was fun. Aesthetically, there was no cooler looking gypsies axe than the cherry V269. Ergonomically, it was a pain to hold because of the teardrop shape when playing while sitting. A strap had to be used sitting or standing. But the padded back made it comfortable even if you hung the guitar down to your knees looking cool. G r I n. It was a super fun guitar, but I wouldn't desire another one. The retro 60s base sound is not my cup of tea. It heated it up with tones, light distortion, pure feedback and muffing. Plenty of guitars have a naturally warm tone without being to techniquey about it. But if you need the 60s sound, this guitar is it. Another factor is the price of a well set up good condition cherry v269. It is through the roof. Around $3500. Sadly most v269s are abused and beaten. The sunburst models don't bring as much. But a guitar named Starstream is bound to be good therapeutic escapism!
Cool guitar. Jimi Hendrix talked about having to use a hand wah before the pedal came out, but I think he was talking about using the volume and tone pots to alternate the sound, but I don't think he meant what was used on this. Ian Curtis Vox Phantom IV Special I think is up for sale for 100,000 Pounds or something crazy like that. I like in the USA so I don't know how much that is in dollars
My first ever bass a Vox Panther,signed by John Entwistle.Naturally I treasure it.Vox made such cool guitars and basses but they should have concentrated on better necks and construction instead of crazy gadgets.I wanted a Phantom bass like Fang played in Paul Revere and the Raiders.
If the bottle opener lever was for controlling volume it might've caught on. When the lever is depressed the guitar is muted and then when you release it back to its resting position it returns to full volume. Perfect for country players.
+Iggytommy unfortunately, no, but the Gretsch P/Us sound pretty cool, but they do NOT sound like those Vox ones for sure.....thanks for watching, terry
the E tuner had to be trimmed up once in a while by going in the back. the analog electronics would drift a little as they oxidized. infering that they made it incorrectly makes you a dufus(being kind) signed: SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE. MOST of the high end guitars were as quality as fender.
It didn't come in with the original pickups. Someone had badly routed it out and fitted humbuckers. Next you'll be complaining it isn't a Starstream because they fitted a 6 string neck. The answers are all in the video.
