Prior to the introduction of the coffin shaped
Vox Apache 2 guitar, travel guitars were typically small bodied acoustic guitars with short scale necks. Their compact size made it possible to stow the instrument in the overhead luggage bin of an airplane. The Vox Apache Series expanded the concept of the travel guitar and travel bass by incorporating a battery operated "drum box" and a 1 watt battery operated amplifier into the instrument. The speakers were mounted to the inside of the pick guard. Despite all their features, the US street price of the Vox Apache travel guitar was under $300. The basses were less than $350.
The Mark V bass (shown above) was introduced by Vox in 2013. It shared the basswood body and 21 fret maple and rosewood neck with the
Apache 2 bass. The Mark V Bass eliminated the one watt battery powered amplifier, pick guard mounted speaker and drum box from the Apache 2 bass in favor of a second single coil pickup, dual volume controls and a tone control. The Apache 2 bass and the Mark V bass both shared a 30" (762 mm) scale length. The same padded soft case was included with the Mark V and Apache 2 bass.
The Vox Mark V and Apache 2 basses were both manufactured in China.
The 2013 Mark V Bass was not available in the United States, but it was offered by Vox dealers in Japan and throughout Europe.