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Alembic F-1X vs Noble preamp - FIGHT!

Which sounds better, the Alembic F-1X or the Noble? (listen to audio files first)

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    63
#21
frankie5string said:
It's funny how so many people forget that the apex of tube audio wasn't fuzzy sounding gear. In my mind, I see that as more of a rose-coloured-glasses thing - taking advantage of a design to make something that everyone tried to fix and throwing it back in as a "throwback."

The same thing happened with film photography. Decades spent to make colour film as fine-grained and pleasing as possible, only to throwback to grainy weird stuff to capture the nostalgia of what every film manufacturer spent decades trying to engineer out.
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I cannot deny this…at the time I admit, I moved away from rack stuff…

It’s funny how that crept back into my life.
 
#26
el murdoque said:
The Alembic has a sort-of Fender tone stack, so the mids are cut only. The Noble has a James/Baxandall tone stack which is boost only and no mids control. The flat setting on the Noble would be 0 - 0, so it's also quite extreme.


I personally only listened to the flatwound recordings and on those, I preferred the Noble. There is a little bit more of a third dimension to the sound. I cannot properly put it in words - but while the Alembic sounds very good, the Noble sounds very good and you get the feeling that you can almost reach out and touch the notes.
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Jack has repeatedly said that the Noble is Fender-ish, not James/Baxandall oriented. When you run the Bass and Treble EQ controls to the same position, there is a bit of a mid-scoop going on too.
 
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#27
pfschim said:
Jack has repeatedly said that the Noble is Fender-ish, not James/Baxandall oriented. When you run the Bass and Treble EQ controls to the same position, there is a bit of a mid-scoop going on too.
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There's more to being Fender-like than just a mid-scoop. I don't really hear much Fender "Bassman" character in the Noble... maybe if you drove the input really hard it does something...
 
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#28
frankie5string said:
There's more to being Fender-like than just a mid-scoop. I don't really hear much Fender "Bassman" character in the Noble... maybe if you drove the input really hard it does something...
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well, I said (repeating what Jack Roan has said) ... that the Noble is Fender-ish, Fender-like, or Fender inspired, in response the comment by el Murdoque that the Noble EQ was James/Bax (which it is not). I never said it was based on the Bassman.

So, I guess what we might say about the compare the the OP made between the Alembic and the Noble, is that it's really a compare between the very Fender inspired design of the F-1X (60's Dual Showman/Twin), and the "Fender-ish" design of the Noble.

Either way, both sound pretty darned good!
 
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#29
IMO.. 2-10-2 kinda defeats the soul of the F1X. It really wants the Fender deep, electric, sizzle, juicy scoop, more like 6-6-6 no, I'm not doing an Alister Crowley thing...really that setting is kinda magical ... provided you have the cab to handle it... Haven't had a Nobel. Had 2 Nobelliums and Neptinium... went stright back to the Underground Accellerator and Finally pairing on that board. In the rack, F1X soon to be paired with SF-2...
 
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#30
4Mal said:
I'm not doing an Aloster Crowley thing...
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IMG_7705.gif
 
#31
4Mal said:
IMO.. 2-10-2 kinda defeats the soul of the F1X. It really wants the Fender deep, electric, sizzle, juicy scoop, more like 6-6-6 no, I'm not doing an Aloster Crowley thing...really that setting is kinda magical ... provided you have the cab to handle it... Haven't had a Nobel. Had 2 Nobelliums and Neptinium... went stright back to the Underground Accellerator and Finally pairing on that board. In the rack, F1X soon to be paied with SF-2...
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Interesting, I remember my perfed setting.
4-9-4

😎🤙🏽💥
 
#32
4Mal said:
IMO.. 2-10-2 kinda defeats the soul of the F1X. It really wants the Fender deep, electric, sizzle, juicy scoop, more like 6-6-6 no, I'm not doing an Aloster Crowley thing...really that setting is kinda magical ... provided you have the cab to handle it... Haven't had a Nobel. Had 2 Nobelliums and Neptinium... went stright back to the Underground Accellerator and Finally pairing on that board. In the rack, F1X soon to be paied with SF-2...
Click to expand...

This is what I always thought. You lose a fair amount of that bottom-end "goo" when you slam the midrange outwards like 2-10-2.
 
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#36
4Mal said:
I'll give that a shot though the Super Filter is on deck for a Friday arrival. I'll be gooning out on that for some time I expect...
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At the time, I was playing Audere loaded J
Basses and Modulus Q5s…

Carver Power amps, DBX 166 compression and Bergantino 322s…Aghh that clean 2Ks sound
 
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#38
TomB said:
I can see how that might steer you towards GK. …been that way myself :).
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It’s funny Tom, I almost really now on that fast response from them. I played some conventions and festivals where it was a hassle to get “my backline” (know your battles), it doesn’t happen to often. When it does happen and it’s like a SVT I just 🙄.

That’s when I slip a small GK out of pedal board case and throw it on top.

It looks like my Yorkie, hanging with his German shepherd buddy in comparison.

Cheers
 
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#39
TonyP- said:
At the time, I was playing Audere loaded J
Basses and Modulus Q5s…

Carver Power amps, DBX 166 compression and Bergantino 322s…Aghh that clean 2Ks sound
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I can see that. You'd want more mids than I with that setup I think... At the time for me (the 666 days). It was Reverend Rumblefish PJ's, Whatever for power, Bag End 2x10's. 1 shallow and 1 deep. Lots of mids on tap. Generally my rig was carrying the small and medium rooms we were playing. Primarily roots rock, power trio. I needed a big, blooming sound that I could fit in a Subaru... The 2x10's stacked vertically were awesome... I eventually migrated ro a 1001 RB II. Cabs in Series for 8 ohms. I ran that rig for quite a while.
 
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