Hot on the heels of the first ever bass guitar controller for Playstation and Xbox is the Gene Simmons (bassist of the band KISS) Axe bass guitar controller. Read on for more about it.
A few weeks back I wrote about the debut of an official bass guitar controller for the guitar hero and rock band video game franchises out on Xbox and Playstation game systems. Even back then, there was word of the axe bass made infamous by Gene Simmons of Kiss in the 70’s and 80’s being available later. If you haven’t heard about it yet, here’s a picture of the sucker.
Unlike the Fender Precision Bass Guitar Controller that was given high marks for creating a superior third-party product, it seems that the axe bass guitar controller is rife with cheap and flimsy components, but don’t take my word for it – check out the IGN Axe Bass Controller Review for yourself!
After reading that review, you’d think that just about anyone involved in this project would want to distance themselves from it – but not Gene. He’s been touring the country making appearances at various electronics superstores flogging the sucker. Then again, are we really surprised – this is Gene $immon$ (note the $) we’re talking about here. One of the only flaws of the Fender Precision controller was its price – and the Gene Simmon’s axe bass controller costs the same for a vastly inferior product. IGN rated the Axe Bass Guitar controller overall as a 4 out of 10, with a 3 out of 10 in specific for the build quality – I guess Gene is banking on people buying two of these things, one to hang on the wall and one to use (and then throw in the garbage when it falls apart)?
In a related note, my brother told me about a certain Gene Simmon’s bass solo that’s online and how terrible it is. I couldn’t resist digging it up (after all, when a drummer finds a bad bass solo online and wants to share it you know it has to be worth checking out). Check it out:
[leadplayer_vid id=”50E57E5735048″]
You’ll get to see the REAL axe bass guitar in action, not to mention the ego that made the axe bass controller possible!
Enjoy!
I don’t rate the look of that controller at all lol. I personally think Kiss are a good band though but Gene Simmons sucks as a bass player and so does his solos
Gene is a good bass player, but he should stay away from solos. I’m sure if he wanted to he could craft a decent one, he’s already well ahead of many by not overplaying! Gene has always had other things on his mind (money/women) that came well ahead of the bass guitar. I think Dr. Love is one of my favourite Kiss tunes; the bass line is simple but works well with the song – what more can you ask for? The other thing I give Gene total props for is helping to make the bass guitar as cool as electric guitar – sure he had to dress up like a demon, spit blood, belch fire, sing and wield an Axe bass to get attention, but it worked!
I guess Gene isn’t that bad as a bassist as Michael Ippersiel said, but yeah solos why bother.
It was more root note bash out than bass solo really.