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Alembic Series II
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
We now return to the dramatic conclusion of Green Eggs and Ham (TalkBass Edition)
. Man, you're like a dog with a bone. If I say that I will try a set of TI Jazz Flats in a 5-string set in the next 3 months, can we move on, Flats-I-Am? I promise to report back, FFS. You should be providing the hundred dollars this'll cost!
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I ran TI Jazz Flats on my (non Series) 5 string Essence bass for quite a while. Loved them. So easy on the fretting hand, very fast strings but IIRC a somewhat lower tension than you'd expect with Flats. I'm using TI Power Bass rounds now (TI Magnecore Round Wound Hex Core .047-.119) and really like them as well. I don't see any reason why a flat on a Series bass wouldn't sound good, but some folks just don't like the sound or feel of Flats on any bass, and that's cool, to each their own.
String changes can be one of the most cost effective ways of changing the sound and feel of your bass. Unfortunately, I find very little accurate predictability on how much or what changes will occur. The down side is it's very much a trial and error process.
You're excused!We now return to the dramatic conclusion of Green Eggs and Ham (TalkBass Edition)
True. And more body and neck laminates and recessed logo. But that’s if the question was about differences between a SeriesI and a Series II bass. The question was about the electronics. That’s part of the reason this all gets so confusing. There are Series I and Series II basses and Series I and II electronics that can go in other basses. There are Signature basses and Signature electronics that can go in other basses. I could go on. But since the question was about the difference between the two electronics packages, that’s all I answered.
I have never tried flats on any of my alembics but am planning to try some Labella deep talking black nylons on one of mine. I have an all maple europa 5 bass with signature electronics that i use predominantly for reggae gigs and want to find out how those strings fit for that genre. Any experience of them you can share would be welcome.
Well Jazzy, I put Chromes on my Sig. Deluxe 5-er a few years ago, (I do change strings every year or so...) and I've never looked back. They're bright at the outset, but mellow very nicely soon there after. I don't think you'll be sorry one bit. Absolutely zero string noise!!
Well, one might actually consider LEDs to be electronic, that's why I mentioned them. But yes, realistically, I imagine when someone requests Series II Electronics in their build, it probably doesn't include the LEDs (which presumably come at their own expense).
Looks like they still do: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Right: While you can draw parallels between most of the controls on the SF-2 and Series II electronics (e.g., "Reciprocal Damping Ratio" is really just the same thing as "CVQ") the most overt differences are
- The SF-2 offers Lowpass, Highpass, and Bandpass modes for the filters, whereas Series II filters are Lowpass only; and
- The SF-2 allows you to mix the unfiltered output of the instrument with the filtered signal.
Yeah, a complete Superfilter built into a bass would be off the hook! I do recall reading an old post by Rick Turner (either here on TB or perhaps in the Alembic Club forum) where he described the ridiculous complexity involved in the one time he managed to do that.
Will Gunn prefers to use the SF-2 Superfilter for tone shaping of his Series basses. His Series basses have no onboard low-pass filters, Q-switches, or CVQ just a master volume, volume for each pickup and a pickup selector. Link below to the Featured Custom page on the Alembic site that describes his basses.
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I had a good on line conversation with Will when I was considering using my SF-2 as a stand alone pre-amp instead of in the send and return loop of my F1-x.
I've done a few gigs with it now (reggae only) though not with a series bass and the bottom end clarity is incredible. I use one channel on low pass and the other on band pass so I can ad heft then pick a punch frequency. The sound guys DI the bass and mic up the cab and so far the feedback has been great.
I've done a few gigs with it now (reggae only) though not with a series bass and the bottom end clarity is incredible. I use one channel on low pass and the other on band pass so I can ad heft then pick a punch frequency. The sound guys DI the bass and mic up the cab and so far the feedback has been great.
Funny. A while back I had made an open offer over at Alembic Club to trade my Series II 5-string for a 5-string Balance K style Series I or Signature, with some cash involved, depending on the bass on the other end. If I had gotten a taker with a Signature bass, my plan was to get a Superfilter and achieve the Series II flexibility that way. Not a full-on Will Gunn approach, but similar.
Interesting thought. Looks like my Dragon Wing with Signature electronics would be a very costly conversion to a Series bass (if it's even possible). But if I picked up a Superfilter I could get close?
Not sure how that would work considering the Signature layout is mono output vs Series basses being stereo output. Am I missing something?
if you put the SF-2 in stereo mode, then you can patch the series bass outputs into each channel of the SF2 and process each one separately.
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However if you switch to mono mode and using it as a pre-amp you can put a mono bass signal into the front jack on the SF-2 and send the output from channel B to your power amp. Both channels on the SF-2 operate independently and gets summed to the output jack marked Out. That is how I currently use mine with my signature bass.
If you were using it in a send/recv loop then you would use the jacks marked In and Out when in mono mode.
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However if you switch to mono mode and using it as a pre-amp you can put a mono bass signal into the front jack on the SF-2 and send the output from channel B to your power amp. Both channels on the SF-2 operate independently and gets summed to the output jack marked Out. That is how I currently use mine with my signature bass.
If you were using it in a send/recv loop then you would use the jacks marked In and Out when in mono mode.
You could do what im currently in the process of doing which is to get the wiring loom to get my signature electronics converted to anniversary which will give me the same kind of layout as a series bass, with a mono/stereo switch which will enable the use the two sf-2 channels independently.
That actually sounds like a very good plan. Keep us posted on how it works out, I might want to follow your lead.
On the subject of Jimmy Johnson's incredible tone, I think my favourite tone of his was from the 1984 RIT special with Lee Ritenour playing 'Mr Briefcase'. He absolutely lights it up without slapping. He was playing IIRC, a graphite-necked Alembic 5 string. I also love his tone on 'Metal Fatigue'. The power and projection of notes on his low B string are phenomenal.
