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The V214 Vox Cougar Bass was offered in the 1965 "King of the Beat" and 1966 "Vox, It's Whats Happening" catalogs. A reprint of either of these catalogs is available at North Coast Music.
The appearance of the dual pickup, semi-acoustic Cougar Bass was reminiscent of the styling of popular Gibson 335/EB2D and Hofner Verythin models produced in the mid 1960s. Unlike the similar guitars from Gibson and Hofner, the Cougar had a removable neck.
The 1966 US Vox catalog described the V214 Cougar Bass as follows:
"Thin body electro-acoustic; 2 husky, 4- pole bass pick-ups; hinged tailpiece; flip action toggle switch; 2 volume and 2 tone controls; ebony fingerboard; adjustable master bridge; sunburst finish."
The 1966 US Vox price list indicated that the retail price of the Cougar was $249.90 USD. In 2011 dollars, the Cougar would retail for about $1699.
The Cougar Bass was produced for Vox in Italy by both Crucianelli (primarily in 1964) and EKO (1965 - 1969).
EKO produced and marketed a similar instrument that they called the Barrracuda Bass. Click here to see the Barracuda Bass in the 1967 EKO catalog.
Crucianelli made Cougar Basses have a "bat wing" shaped pickguard while EKO produced guitars have a traditionally shaped pick guard. Crucianelli produced Cougar Basses have chrome pickup covers while EKO produced Cougars have white pick up covers. Lastly, Crucianelli Cougar Basses have a somewhat muted two tone sunburst finish while EKO Cougar basses have a vivid three color burst.
My thanks to Roger Tessier who allowed me to take photographs of this EKO produced Vox Cougar Bass.
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