The V269 Vox Starstream
The V270 Vox Starstream XII


Vox Starstream XII Guitar

The Vox Starstream and Starstream XII were introduced in the 1968 "Vox Musical Instruments - The Sound That Travels With the Stars" catalog seen at left. A black and white reprint of this catalog is available at North Coast Music.

These guitars featured a number of onboard battery operated special effects. The standard red sunburst finish on the Starstream was reminiscent of the Fireglo finish on a Rickenbacker guitar.

The catalog described the V269 Starstream guitar as follows: "Features the exclusive VOX teardrop electric acoustic body style. Has built-in E tuner, distortion booster, treble and bass booster, Wah-Wah, and repeat percussion. All new easy-to-fret fast-neck with Vox double T-bar and adjustable steel rod. Two exclusive VOX Ferro-Sonic pickups. Tremolo arm. Fully adjustable bridge. One volume and two tone controls. 3-position pickup selector switch, Sunburst, Cherry, or Sandburst."

The V270 Starstream XII was described as follows in the 1968 US Vox catalog: "An exciting 12 string electronic acoustic guitar in the famous Vox teardrop shape. Has built-in E tuner, distortion booster, treble and bass booster, Wah-Wah, and repeat percussion. Has the new easy-to-fret fast-neck with Vox double T-bar and adjustable steel rod. Has two exclusive VOX Ferro-Sonic pickups. Adjustable bridge, chrome plated machine heads. Cherry or Sandburst."

A hardshell case was included with both Starstream models.

The 1968 US Vox price list indicated that the retail price of the Starstream was $450 USD while the Starstream XII retailed for $525 USD. In today's dollars, the Starstream would retail for about $2875, the Starstream XII would retail for about $3350 USD.

The Starstream and Starstream XII guitars were produced for Vox in Italy by EKO in Recanati Italy. A decal on the back of each guitar states: "Made by Vox in Italy."

The circuitry for all the onboard effects (treble/bass booster, distortion, wah and repeat percussion) in the Starstream guitar was designed into a single module. In some cases, this module was sealed and encapsulated, making individual component repair impossible. Additionally, the Vox service schematic for this guitar provides no "point to point" repair information on these modules. If you find that changing the 9 volt battery that powers the internal effects does not correct a malfunctioning effects circuit, it is likely that the onboard features are permanently inoperative. Complete replacement effects modules have not been available since Whirlpool, the company that purchased the assets of Thomas Organ in 1970, closed the US Vox warehouse permanently in 1979.



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