We add this fantastic brand to our permanent inventory of basses in stock.
Duesenberg is a relatively new brand in the market, but it's one that gained almost instant recognition among vintage players. There's a reason for that: we all love classic and vintage basses but the truth is that as cool as they are, we all know there's a number of issues on those instruments that sometimes make it impossible for professional players to use them. We are talking about huge dead spots, poor intonation, issues with tuners that break when you use a thick E string, poor string to string balance...the list goes on and on.
Duesenberg has addressed each and everyone of those problems and has come with a clever and well thought way to sort them out. The good news is that they have achieved that while keeping all the mojo intact. They've taken a lot of trouble to keep all their instruments instantly "vintage friendly". That's why so many hardcore vintage players have made room in their collection for a Duesenberg instrument that simply lives next to their favorite vintage axes and actually get to see more stage use than those just because they are more reliable and you don't need a new mortage in case something happens to the instrument while touring the world, your country or playing down the corner pub.
This model is called Starplayer Bass and it is by far the most popular bass model in the Duesenberg catalog. It's easy to see why: classic semihollow design with F holes, impecable build quality and dimensions. Even the logo looks cool!
But the real treat comes when you play and plug the bass in. Most short scale basses are too thin sounding and lack the power and low end of a long scale instrument. Not the case here. This could easily be the best short scale bass we've ever tested. You get a full bodied sound that makes you forget about long scale basses. It plays like a dream, doesn't go out of tune (and intonation is spot on, great!). 3-4 finger guitar like chords sound full and resonant as well as detailed. Just grab a pick and kick in you favorite overdrive pedal and you'll get a monster tone instantly. Playing up and down the neck on every string and not finding any funny issues is somethign that doesn't happen with short scale basses ofter, but we are glad to report this is the case.
Controls are bautifully simple: Two Volume, Master Tone and Kill Switch. This one is really hand as you can just set your favorite sound and use the kill swith between tunes. Of course you can also use it musically for rhythmic effects with a little practice a la Tom Morello.
All the mechanical parts in this bass work just perfectly so you can be sure you'll get years of hassle free use.
Initially Duesenberg instruments were made in Corea and then inspected in Germany but these days all instruments are built in their factory in Hannover, Germany.