News
Cort recreates Gene Simmons' bass
Andy Barrett Feb 4 2010, 10:11am
Kiss bassists Axe bass to hit the medium price market after Super Bowl 'launch'
Some 100 million people will see Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame) play his Cort Axe bass at the USA Super Bowl XLIV on February 7th 2010 as Kiss teams up with the USA’s oldest soft drink, Dr Pepper, for an advert that will be on air during the second quarter of the game between the Saints and the Colts in Miami, Florida.
After collaborating with Gene Simmons, Cort has been hired to manufacture and market the Limited Collectable Edition GS-Axe-2 bass guitar for worldwide distribution.
Each four string bass ships with a logo’d gigbag and is a specially built reproduction model of Gene Simmons’s own custom design he commissioned Steve Carr to build back in the late 70’s. Since then, the Kiss bassist and lead singer has wielded the Axe bass in all Kiss concerts around the world.
The GS-Axe-GS-2 bass is seen by Cort as the 'ultimate posing bass guitar, from the rock God’s signature on the headstock to the chipped axe blade'.
Aesthetics aside, this Cort model is also a player with tone, built with Cort’s expertise, comprising a solid mahogany body for a rich low end, a bolt-on hard maple neck and a 21-fret rosewood fingerboard.
In keeping with the original, the electrics include a single volume, single tone control and selector switch wired to a pair of Mighty Mite passive pickups with a configuration that, Cort said, has become universal in twin pickup systems.
'With a split unit in the neck position delivering a deep, punchy, growling bottom end with rich highs, and the single coil at the bridge offering a clear and bright response, the Cort GS-Axe-2 bass offers exceptional sonic versatility and tonal permutations,' read the statement. 'Even if the Kiss makeup isn’t your every day slap – or maybe it is – the Cort GS-Axe-2 bass is a complete accolade of the highest order for all Kiss fans, collectors and bass players alike.'
The Bass guitar will retail at £499.99 and will ship in May 2010.
