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Photos provided by Alusonic Bass
Some bass guitar manufacturers are afraid to push the envelope with their instruments and keep them more traditional for more traditional musicians. Which is fine if that is your style, sound or for the genre of music you play. But that isn’t the case with Alusonic Aluminum instruments where they are tooling aircraft grade aluminum and carbon fiber into futuristic playable artwork. For review Guitar Thrills received the J-Special Supreme 5 Carbon bass guitar. This is the Ferrari of basses, and we were blown away when we opened the case to see this stunner in person and before we plugged it into an amplifier!
The body on this 5-string bass is made of aircraft grade aluminum with an aluminum edge and carbon fiber top. The neck has a flat thin profile rock hard maple with a carbon fiber headstock and graphite reinforcement in the neck. The neck finish is a smooth matte black epoxy that plays fast with a Graphitex speed fretboard. The J-Special Custom 5 Carbon is a 34” scale with 16” radius fretboard and 24 frets but it doesn’t feel overwhelming while you are playing it seated or standing. The pickups are a pair of Alusonic Alnico 5 Neodymium soap bar humbuckers. The J-Special essentially has an onboard EQ system with all of the tone controls at your fingertips.
This includes Volume (push/pull to engage active/passive), gain control, bass, middle, balance, treble and an enhancer control. I’m usually more of a 4-string bass player but thanks to the Alusonic low profile neck and string spacing it was comfortable to play and the fifth string on top will drop the low end when you want it. Surprisingly the J-Special Supreme 5 Carbon only weighs 9.4lbs even with all of these features. But using cutting edge carbon fiber and aircraft grade aluminum is lighter and stronger and it looks and sounds amazing. The side dot markers are Luminlay so you can see them easier on dark stages or playing at night. Alusonic created the J-Special with Hipshot Ultralite tuners that have a high gear ratio and super accurate tuning. Access to the dual adjustable truss rod is easier to access at the bottom of the neck next to the neck pickup. And the bolt-on neck is secured with 5 bolts for extra security. All of the hardware on this Alusonic is matte black finished so it looks classy and is functional also.
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Playing the Alusonic J-Special Supreme 5 Carbon through various amplifiers the bass lent itself easily to heavy rock, blues, jazz and funk. The string spacing worked for finger picking or using a traditional bass pick too. Although I felt the Alusonic sounded the best when fingerpicked with some pulling and slapping on the strings. But whatever your style or playing or music checkout the Alusonic J-Special Supreme 5 Carbon bass priced at $5,700 with ABS hardshell case. Alusonic also offers other bass models, guitars and aluminum cabinets. Visit their website to check out all of their innovative instruments. We had a great time putting their incredible Alusonic J-Special Supreme 5 Carbon bass through its paces and you will to. The Alusonic bass will make you stand out in a crowd visually and sonically when you plug it in! Alusonic Instruments is doing for bass guitars what Orange County Choppers did for motorcycles!
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