Alembic electronics change...

[KenToby]

I picked up an Alembic Epic with stock pickups however someone added a different preamp. The output is very low. I spoke to Mike Lull and he said this is to be expected and that I need to pay the $600 for a new Alembic preamp... I don't think so. I'm thinking about swapping the pickups for Nordstrands. If anyone has a better idea to keep the Alembic pickups, I'd be interested to hear.

Thanks,

KT

[edwinhurwitz]

Hm, I can't imagine it would be too hard to put together a preamp to bump up the gain. I remember making a bunch from Craig Anderton's designs and his DIY for Guitarists book has instructions for building preamps and how to adjust the gain.

$600 gets you the right one, but that doesn't mean you don't have other options. I wonder if the Lane Poor 2x1ac might have enough gain. The Alembic pickups are nice. I would try to work out a different solution before swapping them out.

Edwin

[bassman10096]

Alembic pickup and preamp sets (designed for aftermarket upgrades to Fenders and others) pop up often on Ebay. You might find an appropriate Alembic pre for a lot less than $600 that way. The Alembic electronics are nice and would probably add some value back to the instrument.

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Alembic electronics aren't compatible with many other makes...they explained it to me once, but that was 10 years ago so I don't remember if it's a voltage issue or what.
If you don't want to wait for Alembic electronics to turn up, you could either try to return the bass as it's not stock (I have no idea if you were told that it was) or call Subway Guitars in Berkely. They seem to have a lot of surplus Alembic parts, but that solution could give rise to other issues.