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| Late sixties Cherry Vox Ultrasonic XII
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The Vox Ultrasonic XII, or V275, was made in Italy at the E.M.E. (Elettronica Musicale Europea) factory in Recanati, with the majority of guitars shipping between mid 1967 and at least early 1968. They were still listed in the 1970 Vox price list, though considerably reduced in price.
The Ultrasonic XII was one of a few twelve-string semi acoustics available in the late 1960s. Gibson had offered the ES-335TD-12, (plus the Epiphone Riviera 12), Fender, the Coronado XII and there were, of course, a number of Rickenbacker twelve strings, but this (along with the Vox Starstream-XII) was perhaps the only model available with built-in electronic effects.
From the 1968 Vox catalogue
An exciting double cutaway 12-string electric acoustic guitar. Has built-in E tuner, distortion booster, treble and bass booster, Wah-Wah, repeat percussion. Completely re-designad easy-to-fret fast-neck with VOX double T-bar and adjustable steel rod. Has two VOX Ferro-Sonic wide range high output pickups. One volume and two tone controls. 3-position pickup selector switch. Has chrome plated machine heads. Sunburst or Cherry. |
Functionally, this guitar is the same as it's six string counterpart; the built-in effects are identical (listen to the six-string Ultrasonic sound clips), and both versions were equipped with the same Ferro-Sonic pickups, controls and vibrato tailpiece.
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| Cherry finish, front and back body binding |
Many Vox guitars had a back pad, held in place by press-studs. |
The twelve-string tailpiece and palm operated wah-wah |
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| Enclosed VOX tuning keys, and Made in Italy by VOX decal |
Five-piece laminate neck. |
The serial number is stamped into the neckplate, the model name on a sticker |
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| Access to the battery is via a plastic backplate beneath the backpad |
In the original case |
VOX case logo |
There is one difference from the six string Ultrasonics, necessitated by the extra strings, and that is the headstock shape. The one shown here (above left) has a slightly straighter bottom edge, a larger Vox motif and less intricate flower design, than the six string (bottom left). And the Ultrasonic XII shown in the 1968 catalogue (right) has a more rectangular Phantom-XII neck.
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