Note how the flamelike look of the headstock extends to the top. It isn't a tortoise shell overlay but rather a paint job made to look like tortoise shell.
The shift to the Jackson Axe come about just before the European leg of the Lick it up tour. It's not shown in the tour book photos shot at SIR studios but instead made its "proper" debut in the video for "All Hell's Breaking Loose". The Jackson Axe (serial no. J0007) continued the new infatuation with EMG pickups, this one located closer to the neck than it had been on the Kramer. The headstock was the standard Jackson "hockey stick" with all four tuners—probably black Schallers—on one side. The space between the neck and the bridge had tortoise shell overlays and the headstock was painted to match the look. The bridge was once again hidden from view by a bridge cover. The bridge doesn't appear to have been Gene's usual Badass though. One of the few photos that actually show any detail about the bridge shows a black bridge with different saddles than a Badass.
Quite unlike the Kramer Axe—where the "cracks" on the blade of the bass had been hand-carved—the Jackson tried to get the same effect from a highly detailed paint job. It probably looked good when seen from the crowd but when one gets a closer look the effect is fairly amateurish. (At least I think so. For my money the hand-carved "cracks" of the Kramer Axe looked much better.) But Gene evidently liked it because this would become the basic look of his later production Axe, the one he played from 1996-2023.
It's obviously interesting to consider why Gene moved on from the Kramer Axe. He had used the long-scale 20-fret Kramer Axe throughout the 10th Anniversary Tour and there are no indications that it wasn't to his liking. He obviously still wanted an Axe bass, so why not the Kramer? Perhaps the failure of the commercial aspect of the Kramer Axe was the deciding factor. Gene did, after all, hold the patent for the Axe bass so he was probably interested in making money from the idea. Or maybe this was just his usual wanderlust, the searching for something specific that he couldn't quite articulate. That's obviously why he modified his basses so much throughout the years, to find that elusive something. As far as I know Gene has never talked specifically about this but then again, he hasn't really talked much about his basses at all.
As had been the case on previous tours the new Jackson Axe had its spot in the show during Gene's unaccompanied solo. (In a true lapse of judgement they tried to retain the basic idea for the solo from the 10th Anniversary Tour and it really didn't work.) There are comparatively fewer photos of the Jackson Axe during the Lick It Up Tour than there are of the Kramer Axe on the 10th Anniversary Tour and I think that is partially because Gene was no longer "photogenic". His blood-drooling had been one of the main focal points of the KISS spectacle for years but without the makeup, the outlandish outfit, and the blood all that was left was (pretty much) a partially balding, almost middle-aged guy who had lost his "monster/demon" identity. Anyway, the Jackson Axe traveled with the band to Europe and can be seen briefly in the footage from Madrid, Spain on October 14, 1983. Check "I Love It Loud" and "I Still Love You" from that footage to catch a few glimpses of the Axe.
One curious detail are the strips of tape making up the black parts of the Jackson Axe body. It's hard to see in some photos but glaringly obvious in other. It looks like simple electric tape that has been applied in a slightly haphazard manner. (The person who did it didn't bother removing the hardware and electronics so in all honesty it was hard to do a much better job than this.) This is slightly conjectural but I think it implies that the taped-up part was probably originally finished silver like the rest of the blade. Either Gene got the bass too close to the start of the tour so that they didn't have time to fix the finish or he simply didn't care. Since he kept the bass like this, and Jackson records seems to indicate that it was completed in late August 1983, I would wager on the latter.
This design choice by Jackson is a little baffling as I'm fairly sure that Gene was specific in what he wanted. The design of the blade itself had been the same since the very first Carr Axe and every single version had had this black section where the "handle" (i.e. the neck) joined the blade. The one exception to this—Carr Axe no. 3—was altered with a black marker to show Carr how the design should look. And yet, Jackson delivered an Axe which had to be corrected using poorly applied black tape.
As mentioned in the Pedulla section Gene tried the Dunlop Straplok here at the start of the non-makeup era. Look closely at the last two photos above and you'll see how far out from the body of the bass the strap is on the Jackson bass. That's the Dunlop Straplok
Mercifully the Jackson Axe was kept in this near-original condition for at least the two following tours, there are no noticeable alterations that I've been able to spot. The most high-profile appearance during 1984-1986 was probably in the video to "Heaven's On Fire", but it was also prominently featured in Animalize Live Uncensored where it got taken for a spin during Gene's solo spot. Throughout this period Gene would, more often than not, bring the Jackson Axe if there was a photo shoot or a TV appearance. The photos below illustrate this trend.
And naturally the Jackson Axe was also used on stage. I have fewer photos of this bass from the European leg of this tour but that is probably more a reflection of my relatively limited collection than any actual decrease in use. It could also be due to photographers snapping fewer photos of Gene overall because he was less "photogenic" as I postulated above. Gene mostly brought out the Jackson Axe for his bass solo and "I Love It Loud" and even if I actually enjoyed his solo spot when I first saw it on Animalize Live Uncensored, it doesn't really make for great photos.
By the time of the Asylum Tour and it's explosion of color and gaudiness, the Jackson Axe looked a little out of place but it was still part of the rotation. It was once again used for Gene's solo and for this tour it was rigged with a pretty substantial "rocket launcher" on the back of the headstock. This pretty much replicated the effect Ace had used in the 70s and shot an impressive stream of sparks. As most will have already seen, in Charleston, West Virginia Bruce got in on the action and strapped on the Jackson Axe when the rest of the band didn't return to the stage after his solo.
Some time in the first month or so of the tour Gene moved away from the Dunlop StrapLok on the Jackson Axe. In photos from January one can clearly see that there is a screw-in loop right below the bridge cover.
In 1987 Gene turns up with what looks like a slightly altered version of the Jackson. There's a high-gloss, mirror-like finish on the body and headstock, and there were added rivulets on the body near the pickup. It also had the classic screw-in loop to secure the strap. Looking at this bass it appears identical to the Jackson right down to the black tuning pegs, so one would assume that it was in fact the Jackson that had been re-finished. But during the Convention Tour of 1995 this bass was part of the museum and was labeled as a prototype Gene Simmons Axe. It had, however, the same black bridge that the Jackson had had. If he had actually created a new prototype it seems likely he would have chosen the Leo Quan Badass bridge he preferred on all his other basses at this time. For the most part Gene has had his head up his ass when it comes to pedigree and I have a feeling that he either didn't remember (at that time) or was simply trying to put his own spin on the story.
Regardless of whether this was the Jackson Axe in new clothing (as I claim) or a new "prototype" Axe, the bass got the same type of use that the Jackson Axe had gotten during the previous tour. It was brought out for a select portion of the show and had the rocket launcher on the headstock just like the Jackson had had. It began the tour with both knobs but pretty early on the tone knob was removed and the hole plugged by something red. (This would become Gene's standard move when he later prepared his Punishers for live use from the Reunion forward.)
This particular Axe made its last appearance during the European leg of the Crazy Nights tour, showed up for the convention musem and then disappeared. It didn't even feature in the auction (which a lot of other Axes did). Needless to say its whereabouts are unknown but I wouldn't be too surprise to learn that Gene kept it. He seems to have been sentimental about some select instruments through the years.
