Alembic Elan Plus

[67precision]

Anyone using these?

[SGD Lutherie]

The pickups or the bass?

[67precision]

pick ups... Least that where I thought I posted this...

I have a 1991 Alembic Elan that was a custom job, the pickups were Distillate. Whoever owned the bass before me put Barts in there and I want to restore it. Mica from Alembic recommended the Elan Plus and I am looking for a little input if anyone out there can offer it.

My wife surprised me with this last year for Christmas - wow!


from the company:

"Here's the details from the file:

HDLB4 Elan bass with Distillate electronics

top: Coco Bolo
accent: Walnut pinstripe
body: Maple
neck: 3-piece Maple
scale: 34" long
fingerboard: Ebony
inlays: Pearloid (plastic) ovals
pickups: Alembic AXY
controls: "Distillate" volume, filter, Q switch, bass cut/flat/boost, treble cut/flat/boost, pickup selector switch, mono output
hardware: goldplated
originally made for: Guitar Center, San Diego, CA
birthday: December 17, 1991

The original owner was from California, and the bass was a special order for them.

At the time the bass was made, we were experimenting a little with serial number codes. This was ordered as an Elan with Distillate electronics, so it received an "HD" serial number code. We didn't encode like this for long...

Oh, and the electronics and pickups in the bass are definitely not original. I'd suggest replacing with Elan Plus if you want Alembic guts. Email me for details about these parts."

[SGD Lutherie]

I just saw this post over at the Alembic board. That's a beautiful bass!

That preamp in there looks like an older EMG BTC. Not a bad preamp, but I can never figure out why people change the guts in Alembics. Thats what makes them Alembics.

Most of the Alembic pickups are made the same way. The AXY pickups are stacked humbuckers.

So the Elan Plus electronics would use the AXY pickups and the Elan Plus electronics, which was the same as the Europa, and is as Mica explained.

So you have the low pass filter and Q switch, plus bass and treble boost/cut switches.

It would make the bass a standard Alembic again.

Now it's just a matter of wanting the pay what they are asking for the guts.

[67precision]

Hah, yeah.

Mica told me they might be able to scrounge up some factory seconds for me but I have yet to learn how much. I am sure they will be a chuck of change regardless.

It plays like a dream, for a Fender guy it is strange to have virtually no fingerboard hot spots. It sounds great with the Barts in there but I am really excited to hear it with the real deal.

I too never understood why someone would yank Alembic electronics - or yank frets which it appears has happened to this bass.

[SGD Lutherie]

I knew a guy that used to buy factory second AXY pickups directly from Alembic for around $100-150. That was about 5 years ago. I think they were slightly scratched.

I was making JFET buffers for him to use with the pickups.

This guy says he has a "huge pile of Alembic pickups" and sticks them in a lot of basses they sell.

SUBWAY GUITARS: Bargain, Custom, Professional Quality, Retro and Vintage Guitars, Basses & Amps

You can maybe check with him if he has a whole setup.

[67precision]

Very cool - thanks for the link! I'll check with him, you never know...