I'm getting a Vox Jaguar as partial payment for building him a bar in his house. I have sort of been researching them online. It has mixed reviews.
Can anyone give more input?

Mort Dammit

Thank for the advise. I should have it next week sometime. I am going to mess around with it for a while. Hopefully it will make it to practice.

Mort

I have one, it's old and beat to hell but I get great sounds out of it. Needs constant tuning and tweaking (invest in a set of screwdrivers! Not as versatile with sounds as the Vox Continental but does the job. The tremelo is great if and when it works (mine doesn't anymore...) Good luck with it!

Yeah, I can understand that. There are plenty of combos that have that problem. For general combo organ problems, try the Combo Organ Heaven Spares & Repairs page. For things that aren't there, join the ComboOrgan YahooGroup. The quickest way to do that is probably by using the link for the Discussion Group at Combo Organ Heaven.

I guess I should have clarified "better" they are better on the Jaguar because they were functional... the Farfisa bass keys never worked right...so I actually don't have much to compare it to.

Hmm...You guys like the bass keys on the Jag better than the Farfisa, huh? I could see that if it was the FAST 3 or 4 or 5, but I always liked them on the Deluxe. (By the way, remember that a Vox *Continental* does not have bass keys.) Another nice thing about both a Farfisa Combo Compact Deluxe and a Vox Jaguar is that there are separate outputs for bass and treble, meaning you can run the bass sounds over to a separate amp if you want. This is *not* true on all combo organs. (And evidently some people blew out some amps back in the 60s as a result.)

Personally, I like the bass on the Farfisa Combo Compact Deluxe 'cuz you can throw on the percussion (drums and/or cymbals), as well. The regular drums gives a bit more oomph to the bass sounds.

Another thought, of course, is to pick up a key bass. I use a Hohner Bass 3 on top of my Yamaha YC-20. (Yeah, the YC-20 has bass keys, but the volume's not loud enough and there's no separate bass jack, although one *can* evidently be installed by someone w/the know-how.)

If you're someone who likes electric piano sounds, you might also consider throwing a Hohner Pianet up top (or putting the Farfisa above a Wurlitzer - or Rhodes, I guess - electric piano. Sometimes it's fun to use the lower keys of the electric piano for your bass sounds. Plus, a Pianet can sound very cool through a distortion pedal.

You might also consider joining the ComboOrgan YahooGroup.

We have one, and as of now, it is our primary keyboard. Mike likes his Farfisa better (which recently shit the bed), I think they sound is pretty similar, but the Jaguar has better bass keys (when they work.) While they are very cool they are REAL touchy...you have to be extremely gentle with them... We've had to have it shopped 2 times. Once to change the power and the second time because it just crapped out. The contacts like to go out of wack and if you open it up you'll get the hang of how to jimmy them back into place. I'd say take it, and if after a while you don't end up liking or using it, sell it on ebay...they are going for lots right now. Also, be sure to get some cords or something to tie around the keyboard and the case...the handle is not connected to the side with the keyboard and the latches usually suck...you WILL drop it and it will probably be when your drunk and you'll want to cry (ahem, not that this happened to us.)

The Jag is cool for what it is. It's kinda limited, however, as far as the sounds it can achieve. On the other hand, the sounds it *can* get you are pretty damn good. But most agree that if you've gotta have a Vox organ, then the Continental is the way to go. That said, a Jaguar comes way cheaper than a Continental. And hell, even the Jag's are expensive these days. You can read about cool combo organs at Combo Organ Heaven. I've actually got both a Jag and a Continental...As well as tons of others. My favorites right now remain my Yamaha YC-20 and my Yamaha YC-30, although the Continental and the Farfisa Combo Compact Deluxe come right after that. Oh...Another good thing about the Jags: They're light!