Yup, I played a bunch when browsing the Nagwon Music Arcade in Seoul. I was trying to help my euphonium playing friend buy a cheap bass for him to learn on. Those are the Korean made basses at every little "store" specializing in mass produced, Korean made, low end instruments. They are nothing to write home about and those videos are not indicative of the unproduced/clean sound of the instruments.
They felt slapped together and the necks could not withstand the temperature changes in the building (a super large warehouse atmosphere), as I never felt a single one that had a real setup. But then again, maybe the basses were ignored. If you walk up to any little "shop" in Nagwon and say you want a bass, a practice amp, a cable, a tuner, a strap, a case, and some picks for 200,000won...they are gonna hand you a Dame.
There were some amazing builders in the arcade who could build better quality budget basses for cheap, like Y-man, but the Dame basses just felt like the MIM squire basses you find manhandled at any GC.
Here is a link where you can see that the Dame basses cost 293,000-495,000 won. Which is about 220-420 dollars American, paying cash, after you talk them down (both essential when purchasing there as the Korean government taxes credit card transactions heavily and haggling is expected.
Invalid Link Removed (also notice the low-end Ken Smiths are 3-4million won or $3.3-4.400US list. Which is quite the mark up, but typical of any gear from the US, when purchased abroad.) I had to pay double for strings.
My friend and I decided on a Kawasamy (also seen on the linked site), which is a Japanese brand of about the same quality. To me, those videos sound very "wet".
Of all the Asian made instruments I played while living in Seoul for a year, the Bacchus jazz basses took the prize. They looked great, felt great, and sounded great, even if the pups/electronics were just mix matched barts and such.
looks and sounds amazing!
