The Continental became a popular instrument in the 1960s and 1970s, especially with garage and later new wave bands, and was used by the Beatles, the Animals, the Doors, Iron Butterfly, Elvis Costello, and Madness.

[4] The Vox Continental uses six slider-type, metered volume controls called drawbars instead of the stop-tab rocker switches seen on other combo organs.

The original cabinets were constructed by Heathpoint Timer in Rayleigh, Essex while some of the electrics were made by Kimber-Allen in Swanley, Kent.

[8] The Vox Jaguar was introduced as a budget version of the Continental the following year, retailing at $495 ($4,600 in 2023), which used rocker tabs instead of drawbars.

Only fundamental frequencies could be produced on the Jaguar, as it lacked the circuitry to generate additional harmonics like the Continental.

The tabs allowed a choice of "flute", "bright", "brass" and "mellow", a "bass chords" option and the vibrato as found on the Continental.

The bottom octave could be switched to a monophonic sub-octave bass generator, which was routed to a separate audio jack.

The Jaguar was also sold in DIY kit form, allowing musicians to save money by finishing certain aspects of the assembly on their own.

[19] The Italian Continentals used cheaper plastic keys glued to metal shafts, that were easier to break.

[23] Jennings struggled to retain control of Vox, and chief designer Dick Denney was fired on 19 September 1967, with employees loyal to him leaving shortly afterwards.

[20] The Vox Continental used relatively unstable germanium transistors in its oscillators, which can occasionally drift in pitch and required to be re-tuned.

Some technicians have retrofitted the power supply on a Continental to take a standard IEC 60320 C14 "kettle plug" lead.

[30] There are also some software emulations of the instrument, including the Arturia Vox Continental V, a Virtual Studio Technology plugin that uses modelling to accurately recreate the electronics of the original.

[31] The instrument was commonly heard in 1960s rock music, and played by the Beatles' John Lennon, the Dave Clark Five's Mike Smith and the Animals' Alan Price.

[32] Lennon played the Continental on Rubber Soul's "Think for Yourself",[33] and regularly used it on "I'm Down" as a live set closer, such as their 1965 concert at Shea Stadium.

[35] The Doors' Ray Manzarek played a Vox in combination with a Rhodes Piano Bass early in the group's career, including "Light My Fire".

[38] Other hit singles released in the 1960s and featuring the Vox Continental include the Monkees' "I'm a Believer", Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl",[39] ?

[44] Yes' Tony Kaye played a Vox Continental when the group formed in 1968, and disguised it in a Hammond organ style casing on stage, before upgrading to a real one six months later.

[47][48] Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has also frequently used a Vox Continental, and sometimes prefers its "drier, thinner, more cutting sound".