the Alembic "sound"?

[KNURRR]

i don't exactly know what THE alembic tone is, but this here is pretty nice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIqY9...eature=related

(Jimmy Johnson with Lee Ritenour)

[leegreenman]

I always think of John McVie during the Rumors era. This, however may be inaccurate. I've always thought the point of Alembics, is that they are capable of a very wide range of sounds.

[Joebone]

Originally Posted by LowRanger

I believe Jimmy "Flim" Johnson does the Alembic sound to a "t" on the Flim and the BBs album "Tricycle."

Great bass sound, chops to die for...

+1 I dig the Alembic sound even more on the BB's album "This is a Recording." A very important album in my development as a bassist, and while I'm pretty much a confirmed Sadowsky user, I'm in awe of the sound and concept Johnson displays on this album.

[mb94952]

I am listening to TRICYCLE as I type this. To me, Jimmy Johnson is not only the most tasteful (is that correct grammar ?) player, but he has *the* Alembic tone.

When I hear Jimmy play on TRICYCLE or with Holdsworth, or anything he does, I get teary eyed. My brain can't handle the awesomeness of his tone without going into "tone envy overload".

Jimmy Johnson is the ultimate bass player.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by mb94952

I am listening to TRICYCLE as I type this. To me, Jimmy Johnson is not only the most tasteful (is that correct grammar ?) player, but he has *the* Alembic tone.

When I hear Jimmy play on TRICYCLE or with Holdsworth, or anything he does, I get teary eyed. My brain can't handle the awesomeness of his tone without going into "tone envy overload".

Jimmy Johnson is the ultimate bass player.

Jimmy is one of my favorite bassists, but I am not a fan of the 'Alembic tone' at all. That intro solo piece on tricycle, or his work on the many James Taylor CD's, or with Holdsworth sounds GREAT to me, and TOTALLY different from any other Alembic player IMO. I would think most would have a hard time identifying Jimmy's tone as particularly 'alembic'. Smoother, fatter, more organic than most others who use those basses.

IMO. +1 that Jimmy is something special, and his supportive work with James Taylor for the past 20 years or so is even more impressive to me than the schredding with Holdsworth or the complex playing with the BB's.

Check out Jimmy's 'come in' on 'Traffic Jam' on the James Taylor double live CD. Maybe the most beautiful bass tone I've ever heard

[20db pad]

IIRC, Alembic's tonal goal was to use the finest and most responsive materials and building approaches to build an absolutely neutral platform for the strings to vibrate on. This philosophy has been mentioned in print by Ron Wickersham and others on the Alembic staff.

The typical Alembic sound seems to be clear, musical, and very refined. There are many makes and models from many builders that can do this now, but Alembic was the sole pioneer for a good amount of time.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by 20db pad

IIRC, Alembic's tonal goal was to use the finest and most responsive materials and building approaches to build an absolutely neutral platform for the strings to vibrate on. This philosophy has been mentioned in print by Ron Wickersham and others on the Alembic staff.

The typical Alembic sound seems to be clear, musical, and very refined. There are many makes and models from many builders that can do this now, but Alembic was the sole pioneer for a good amount of time.

I would agree that 40 years ago, they were top of the line. They had that unfortunate neck dive thing back then with the original Series II basses, but for the time, they were amazing. Wouldn't want to play one at this point, but from an historical perspective and for those who love the 'coffee table/hippie sandwich' collector thing, they are still quite something.

The quality of the lower end models got REALLY bad for a while... HORRIBLE fretwork (I was associated with an Alembic dealer in the 80's). Awful stuff. Haven't seen many around in the past 20 years or so, so not sure if they fixed that issue.

[abngourmet]

I currently own three Alembics (custom Series II Entwistle Replica, an '06 Stanley Clarke Signature Standard, and a '91 Essence). I've owned several others - Spoiler-Exploiter, '03 Europa, Limited Edition Entwistle Spyder, '04 Dragon's Wing, '95 Epic. The common thing between all of them, regardless of electronics package is that they are all astonishingly clear in tone. By this I mean you hear everything and they demand good technique. The individual electronics packages, as noted elsewhere bring a lot of versatility to the table tone-wise, with the ultimate being the Series II package. Having played instruments with Anniversary, Europa, Signature, Epic and Spoiler electronics, I can say my favorites are the Essence, Signature and the Series II, in that order. All are capable of amazing tones - growly, warm, bright, deep - you name it.

Best example I can think of is John Entwistle - do a google search for "Entwistle isolated bass feed" and you'll get just John playing Won't Get Fooled Again and Baba O'Riley. Great example of the Alembic sound and phenomenal playing to boot.

And now, for some bass porn, here is my Series II:



Alan

[20db pad]

Originally Posted by KJung

The quality of the lower end models got REALLY bad for a while... HORRIBLE fretwork (I was associated with an Alembic dealer in the 80's). Awful stuff. Haven't seen many around in the past 20 years or so, so not sure if they fixed that issue.

I recall the entry level models from that time period. Even though I was an "entry level" player, I knew that the build quality wasn't top shelf and that it wasn't normal to experience pain while playing because of inexcusably poor fret installation.

Recent examples are more in line with what's expected at the price point.

[abngourmet]

My first Alembic was a used '83 Spoiler Exploiter. I can't speak to others at the time, but the fretwork on that one was flawless. And as someone who owns relatively recent examples of Alembic basses, I can tell you that today that fretwork is second to none - I've actually been to their factory and watched James installing frets - trust me, they do it right.

Now, one thing that is a bit peculiar to Alembics is that their fingerboards, for lack of a better term may "shrink" a bit when new, and some of the fret ends may protrude from the edges of the fingerboard (not much, but enough to notice). Alembic knows this, and they actually have a place on their website that addresses it (it's a relatively easy thing to correct - I've done it myself). Basically, one takes some painters tape, tapes up the side of the neck, and runs the file over the ends of the offending frets until smooth (you'll see a little black dust from the ebony they use on the file). Fortunately, one only has to do this once if it's necessary (and it's not on every instrument they build - I've not had to touch any of my other Alembics for this, past or present).