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Alusonic basses are made in Italy by Andrea "Polly" Pollice. They've been in business since 2010 and they are gaining more adepts day by day and judging by this first instrument we have received, we can understand the reason for this growth.

Alusonic's idea was to create instruments that would be super comfortable to play and with an excellent sound, taking advantage of the traditional Italian design. Of course aluminium is an essential part of these instruments. Depending on the series, the body will be made from this material or wood.

In this case all the hardware (bridge, pickguard, tuning machines and knobs) is made from aluminium.

In order to come up with the best possible instruments they make their own bridges, pickups and electronics and we are happy to report that we can feel how these excellent parts contribute to the overall sound and performance of the instrument,

This bass in particular is the Django Supreme model and it's finished in Carbon as it belongs in the Carbon Series. It is super lightweight (just 3.2kg) so it's an absolutely joy if you play long concerts or sessions.

The swamp ash body has been chambered for extra resonance and to reduce weight.

The neck is made from hardrock maple and has two carbon rods for added stability. For the fingerboard they have used Graphitex and this is a perfect material as it's hard and won't dampen the string's vibrations at all like soft woods do. We love the carbon top on the body: hightech, modern and ultralightweight.

The bridge is made by Alusonic and it is fully adjustable and offers quick string release, perfect for those fast string replacements in a live show. Tuners are Hipshot ultralite.

Both the pickups and the electronics are also made in house and we must say this is a total plus.

Pickup arrangement is fairly standard (Humbucker at the bridge and Single Coil at the neck) but there's more than meets the eye.

The front pickup is made from Alnico V magnets so it's beefy and vintage sounding.

The back pickup is a splittable humbucker made from Neodimium magnets so each pickup has a different character. The good news is that they blend perfectly together and we believe this is in parts thanks to the special location of these units. Pickup placement plays a superlative role when it comes to sound.

Case in point: most bridge pickups tend to sound thin and nasal but this is not the case here at all. Actually when you select the bridge pickup alone in Single Coil mode you get a much fuller sound than you might expect. In humbucker mode it's wired in parallel so you get that big Music Man sound. The neck pickup on it's own is actually closer in sound to a P Bass than a Jazz Bass and we love that. The icing of the cake is that the two blended positions sound super musical too.

The 5 way switch acts like this:

1. Bridge in humbucker mode

2. Both pickups (bridge in humbucker)

3. Neck pickup

4. Neck Pickup + Bridge in Single Coil mode

5. Bridge in Single Coil mode

But wait, there's more. In active mode you get excellent sounding and noise free 2 band EQ with boost/cut. Flip to Passive mode by pulling the Volume up and you enter Passive mode where the Treble pot acts as Tone and we love this because the right capacitor has been chosen to get that low mid heavy sound (Jaco style). In short, you get excellent performance both in Passive and Active mode.

To sum up: a European made bass that is super lightweight and comfortable, sounds great both in Passive and Active modes and has a classic design that is incredibly well proportioned. A heck of a bass and with a great value for money. We love it.