Daion Power Mark-XX B

This is an update of the previous review. I recently had the original pickup selector replaced, and the bass now rates an easy 9.5 on the tone front. It sounds good enough now that I have decided to rethink having the electronics replaced. Just a small fix that made a big difference with the original electronics.

This is a 1982 Japanese-made Daion Power Mark XX-B. 24-fret neck. 35" scale 9-piece neck-through body(maple/rosewood), ebony fingerboard, with 3-piece laminated body, from top to back ash-maple-ash. Bound neck and headstock. P/J pickups, set up like a Gibson Les Paul with volume and tone for each PU, along with a selector switch. Original Schaller pickups, huge, original brass bridge and brass nut. Red transparent finish on the body wings with natural neck-through area exposed. Original body style; slightly Alembic-esque. Original tuners. This bass has the asymmetric neck profile, which, when combined with the width of the neck, makes it a dream to play. Can't fault it here.

Good bass for all styles. With my Peavey Nitrobass half-stack, it's punchy, full and well rounded, with a lot of nuance. You can get many sonic flavors from it, as a result of the P/J setup, from a huge, bassy boom to a nasal, biting rasp. Noisy on the J setting, fairly quiet otherwise. I wish it had a little tonal variation, which I may correct by adding a Bartolini electronics set. I bet it'll sound even better! Even as it is now, it's still got a sound that I like better than most Fender-ish basses, and most basses in general.

I have no idea how it came from the factory, but as it is now, it feels fine. I have it set up with medium-low action with D'Addario XL's and it plays easily, with few buzzes. This bass has been refretted, and whoever did it gouged the ebony fingerboard in a few places, which stinks. The pickup selector, after 22 years, has started to short out a bit, but it can be fixed with a little contact cleaner. The neck is stable and doesn't need tweaked much. No problems here, but I wish that it had been refretted more carefully.
The strap buttons could be better placed, as the upper one is on the inside of the horn and causes the bass to hang at a slightly strange angle when standing.

This bass had obviously been gigged when I got it. The binding had ambered out, as had the finish, there was some obvious belt-buckle rash, along with some obvious finish chips, and the output jack must have been yanked on really hard, since there's a big crack on the back that runs to the edge of the body. All this, and the bass still plays fine. I've taken it on some low-motion gigs, and, once I replaced the output jack, it's been perfect since. All of the hardware is heavy-duty and very solid. I had to tweak the truss rod a week ago(good old OH humidity changes) but it seems pretty solid. I'd take a backup if I had one, but I doubt that I would need it.

Nonexistent. Company is kaput. Need I say more?

I've been playing for about a year now. I traded up to the Daion from an ESP LTD thing, which was a good bass, but a friend has one, a green fretted XX-B from 1982, and he turned me on to them. I loved it from first pluck, and found this one here at Harmony Central. If it were stolen, I wouldn't know what to do, since the company is extinct. I guess I'd just watch Ebay for another. It's a great example of 80's Japanese luthierie. No one part stands out, but as a whole, it's just a perfect bass. I have a few small quibbles, but I don't think that you could do much better, as basses go. I love it.

I am foprtunate enough to own TWO of these fine handmade Japanese basses. I have a wine-red fretted made in 1983 and a green fretless from 1982. Both are 4 strings (they were made before 5 strings were popular).

The original tone controls on the fretless are, interestingly, very guitar-like with volume/tone/volume/tone and a three way pickup selector for bridge/both/neck. The knobs are big brass units, very dated looking, but they fit with the overall look of the bass.

The fretted bass has EMG elecs with the typical, volume, pan, bass, and treble. The selector is not used, so I removed it and replaced it with a brass button (the original switch is safely stored in the case).

The red fretted bass has a set of P/J EMGs, while the green fretless has the original passive factory pickups. Tone wise, the factory pickups give up NOTHING to the EMGs, but the EMGs, with their active elecs, have a lot more gain.

Neck-thru 9-piece laminated neck of rock maple, walnut and tiny strips of ebony. The six-piece laminated wings are maple between white walnut; very gracefully carved, with a deep glossy clear finish. The stain, both red and green, is even and nicely compliments the natural wood colors.

The Daion body style is an original design, somewhere between an Alembic and a Spector.

The bridge is a Daion thru-body unit of gold plated steel with brass brideg pieces. Tuners are also Daion.

The Mk.XX-Bs are full 35" 24-fret necks, with an african black ebony fretboard on the fretted and a Madagascar zebra ebony fingerboard on the fretless. The fretted has tiny brass markers on teh fretboard and black dots on the edge of the neck, the fretless has side markers only, with an unlined and unmarked fingerboard. The neck and headstock also feature a nice creamy binding.

Both basses have the violin style factory Daion hard case. The fretless still included the factory tool kit including allen wrenches for adjusting the bridge and trussrod.

My rating in this category is due to the fact that the elecs are way behind current instruments, but these basses haven't been made since 1984.

I play full on rock and roll, and both these Daions get a great growling tone. I previously played a Spector through the same gear. The red bass has the exact same pickups and elecs. It sounds EVERY BIT as good as the Spector, but seems to have MORE bottom.

I use absolutely NO effects and play through a very old Ampeg SVT with 8x10 cabinet. This amp/bass combination is a serious rock and roll rig. It has fantastic dynamics and can handle practically any size room.

The original pickups are VERY quiet, surprizing for passive P/J. The EMGs are typical EMGs. Silent until called upon.

The sound of the bass is SO versatile it is just amazing. On the neck pickup, it sounds like an old P-bass. Hit the bridge pickup, crank the tone on the bass wide open and it'll crack the enamel on your teeth. Blending the two gives almost any range of tones imaginable.

I have not had the opportunity to record with it, yet, but I feel sure it will be just as at home in the studio as on stage.

My only dislike is the pickup selector switch and its location. The selector is not really needed and it is right over the 22nd fret. It is easy to bump it to the front only position. I like to play a fretless with my thumb resting on the side of the neck, about the 22nd or 23rd fret, so that switch is RIGHT in the way. That's my only real gripe with the whole bass.

My rating is again a reflection of the fact that the original pickups don't have the gain of the EMGs and other currently available active systems.

These basses have been around so long that it is impossible to know the original setup. I played new ones, back in the early 80s, and they were great, right out of the box. There was supposedly a real live musician who set each one up at the factory.

As for flaws, those who have played a Daion, or have ever seen one, know that the quality of these basses was NOT the cause of their demise. They are exquisitely crafted instruments, largely handmade. The only flaws... tarnished parts, worn electronics,etc... are the result of many years of use, and normal.

There is one slight flaw with the pickups. For those of us who play HARD with fingers, the pickups are usually too high, so the strings hit the pickup covers and poles. The screws are too long and cannot pull the pickups far enough down, so I had to machine some small plastic spacers to lower the pickups enough so that I wouldn't eat them up.

These basses are bulletproof. The only repairs I have ever made to a Daion has been to replace the 1/4" jack after several years of wear. It seems impossible that a bass with such a nice slender neck wouldn't be subject to warpage and require constant re-adjustment, but they are super stable. I generally never even have to tune either one, unless the tuners get bumped, or I restring it.

The only reason for a backup would be to have ANOTHER Daion in case a string breaks.

Out of business since 1984. The company was based in TX, but the instruments were made in Japan. Daion were pretty expensive when new, and the company apparently didn't have a very good marketing strategy. The company went under before they really established a reputation that would have undoubtedly followed instruments of this quality.

The original warranty was LIFETIME! I guess that meant the life of the company, not the instrument.

I bought both of these basses off Ebay in 2002. I paid $500 for the red one and $1000 for the green fretless. The red one was a little beat up and didn't have the original pickups or knobs available. The green fretless was totally original and in fantastic condition. I might could have got it for less, but I didn't want to risk losing it, as they only made about 85 fretless Mk.XXs.

I have been playing about 25yrs, and have owned a Daion Savage (bolt-on), a Spector, a Hamer Blitz, a 4001, a 65 Jazz, and a few other basses. These two Daions also live with a Hamer USA B12L Chapparrall.

I sure HOPE these basses don't get stolen. They are hard to find, especially the fretless, and the prices are going up.

I really love the feel of these basses. They have such a nice thin neck, but have a fretboard almost as wide as a P-bass. The strings are fairly close, like an Alembic or Rickenbacker, they don't fan out wide toward the bridge like a P-bass or Jazz. The fretless has the asymetrical profile, which is an absolute joy. It was also featured on the Savage bolt-on models.

Before I bought these, I played a good many new basses, all three Spector lines, a new Fender, a Dean, most everything. I knew I really wanted another Daion, but figured I'd never find one these days. It just worked out. As for the colors, they are so rare, you just kind of have to take what you get. I didn't really want a green bass, but it grew on me really fast. I love it now.

The only thing I wish these basses had is a current production run! I would LOVE to play a brand new Daion Mk.XX with a stomping Bartolini pickup and elecs package. They would probably have to make a 5 string, too. That would be something else!

Only other thing I'd like to share is my website addy where more info can be found. Many people have had trouble finding info on these instruments, myself included, so I started a Daion website... Daions Online (http://home.att.net/~daion/index.html). I would like to hear from owners, seller, and those who are looking for one. They really are special instruments.

I am also trying to create a serial number registry in an attempt find how many of each model were made, and how many are still out there. If you have a Daion and I haven't heard from you, please contact me. There are no known remaining records from the company or the factory.

Mine is an '84 fretless, Japanese bass. It has EMG active PJ pickups with volume and tone for each. The finish is kinda hard to explain...it's a transparent green on the body wings with what appears to be a maple and walnut sandwich continuing through the center (it's a neck-through). The neck is asymetrical, meaning, near the head its more of a c-shape but as you move to the body the neck slopes to the bottom (like a backwards bass clef). Makes it real easy to get the upper register stuff. Brass nut and bridge, gold tone tuners, white binding around the neck and head.

The sound was hard to judge at first bacause it came with crappy harmonic pickups so I put the EMGs in and it really sang. Also, I wired it for 18v (just two 9v in series) and that sounds even better. I've used it for jazz, rock, folk, and experimental and it has been the right bass for each gig. And ripping a harmonic up the neck is always an attention grabber.

When I bought the Daion in '85 it was hanging next to it's brother (who was brown and had pickup damage) and it was the first fretless I had ever played. So, I couldn't tell if it was setup correctly but I knew I liked it. And the music store (I forgot the name) only wanted $350 for it. Yoink!

It went on the road with me for two years and never let me down. Everything about this bass is solid...I set the truss rod years ago and havn't had to touch it since. I sanded the back of the neck a while back because the glossy finish really slowed me down...also I masked off the body and sprayed epoxy on the fingerboard (rosewood), using two coats a day (every twelve hours) for five days. Roundwounds sound so much better and the neck doesn't get chewed up.

Never dealt with customer support.

I've been playing bass about twenty-two years and if my fretless was stolen I would be sad and homicidal because the odds of me finding another one are nil. It's a beautiful bass, both in looks and sound.