Alembic Spoiler Issue

[rapidfirerob]

Played a gig today. Used a different bass for the first set. Played my 85 Alembic Spoiler for set 2. After playing a few songs, no sound. Plugged in my other bass and no problems. Checked the battery when I got home and it's almost fully charged. Put it back in and both pickups work fine. Same cables. Any ideas?

 

[abarson]

Gremlins.

 

[rapidfirerob]

Gremlins.

Ha! Something my keyboard player would say.

 

[Killing Floor]

Check the jack. May as well.

 

[rapidfirerob]

For some reason, the edit option is not available. I forgot to add that the sound level dropped significantly before cutting out. The nut on the jack is tight.

 

[adje]

Alembics are generally pretty sensitive to proper 9V batttery voltage levels, and it tends to go from 30 seconds of distorted signal to no signal as soon as the voltage drops too far below 9V (which normally would take months). So first stop is definitely try with a fresh battery. (And just use an alkaline type, rechargeable 9V-shaped batteries have cells that do not add up to 9V.)

Next stop is the 39 yo stereo/switching jack, which may have worn out.

 

[winston]

I had a white fretless '87 Alembic Spoiler!
IIRC there were Molex connectors for some of the electronics, maybe one got loose?

 

[mikewalker]

You are in good company, the same kinda glitch happened to John Entwistle with one of his Alembics (At Live Aid, no less!)

 

[newfuture]

My prime suspects (IMO in descending order of probability)

Marginal 9v voltage
Oxidized jack contacts
Sumptin' loose / dirty inside (mention of molex makes me add this)
Slightly misaligned jack contacts to instrument cable
Demons

 

[rickdog]

I had an old off-brand 9V battery that measured good on my multimeter but would sag under load (and later still measured good on the meter). I'd say replace the battery with a good new one before worrying about anything else.

 

[ac100X]

How about a picture of the bass?

 

[Clark W]

I had an old off-brand 9V battery that measured good on my multimeter but would sag under load (and later still measured good on the meter). I'd say replace the battery with a good new one before worrying about anything else.

yep, I've seen my share of 12v car batteries do the same thing, they would measure 12 volts, but put em underload and they would fail.

 

[StephenR]

I had an old off-brand 9V battery that measured good on my multimeter but would sag under load (and later still measured good on the meter). I'd say replace the battery with a good new one before worrying about anything else.

Mica mentioned on the Alembic club forum that they have a lot of failures with brand new batteries up at Alembic. Replace the battery with a fresh one, in a Spoiler the battery lasts a long time but for peace of mind replace every year.

The 82 Distillate I used to own had the LED that indicated the cord was plugged in. It looked kind of cool but unknown to me the battery life was maybe 25 hours. The first time the battery crapped out on stage mid-song it was totally unexpected, the sound went from sounding a bit weak to incredibly distorted to dead in less than 30 seconds. I replaced the battery constantly so it would never happen again. In later years the LED was removed from that model.

Also if you don't play the bass very often rotate the pots and controls from time to time so they stay clean. The pots are self-cleaning and that is a simple fix for a lot of problems.

 

[2thAche]

https://www.thomannmusic.com/keith_mcmillen_batt_o_meter.htm

I like this thing, it can test a battery AND test through your output jack. Sounds like it might be useful for you. Side topic: I'm rehabbing an 83 spoiler and planned to gig it. What style of music are you playing and how was the Alembic?

 

[rapidfirerob]

 

[rapidfirerob]

Picture of my bass above. Thanks for all the responses so far. I will change the battery today.
What is Molex and what can I do about it? I don't do anything with my basses besides change
batteries(Ha), change strings, polish and play them. Decades ago, one of the pickups stopped
working. A tech changed it for me. I have my own Allman Brothers tribute band, Idlewild West. I use Duracells bought from Costco.
I'm on the left with the Allman Brothers necklace/pendant.
I have the Batt O Meter, but haven't used it much or for a long time. I'll have to start using it again.
I've never tired of playing this bass and it's still my favorite. I also have an EVE IONA, made in Scotland and recently got an Ibanez SRMS 800 multi scale. I had Nordstrand Zen Blades put in. I have a Michael Kelly for home practice.

 

[rickdog]

I don't have a Batt O Meter, but I often check batteries in pedals through the input jack with a voltmeter. When I tried that on my Alembic, it didn't work (got a spuriously low reading, testing the battery directly showed it was good). So the Batt O Meter might or might not work.

Molex is a brand of connector that Alembic uses so electronics can be swapped out without soldering. Look on club.alembic.com, you should be able to find some pictures.

Nice looking bass! It looks to be in really good condition for almost 40 years old, with just a bit of patina on the brass to show its age.

 

[2thAche]

Picture of my bass above. Thanks for all the responses so far. I will change the battery today.
What is Molex and what can I do about it? I don't do anything with my basses besides change

Alembic uses Molex connectors on the pickup wires, they are just small standardized female connectors that match the 2-prong connector on their preamp connection for pickups so you don't have to solder them

 

[2thAche]

Alembic was kind enough to put them on for me when i ordered a preamp for my spoiler. I went with the "Activator" which has a pan knob rather than the selector switch of the Spoiler preamp

 

[J Wilson]

I owned a Spoiler Five for 10 years.

If this had happened to me:

Replace the battery. Although I don't think that's it: Unlike a lot of battery circuits, once a battery loses enough voltage, Alembics will distort like an AM radio between stations for several hours before they wink out.

I'd exercise the two pots, they're self-cleaning, just roll them open to shut quite a few times.

You can remove the back plate and carefully unplug and plug back in all the connectors you can see. IF your bass has one or two of the blue box preamps (not all do) be sure the little white slot screw trim pot(s) are at least halfway through their travel. These are individual gains to set the blend in the both-pickups-on spot on the rotary selector out front.

The traditional rotary selector circuit is neck pu/ both pu/ bridge pu/ standby (both pu OFF).
I'd check it as well.

Of course, it's a SWAG (Silly Wild Ass Guess) to diagnose these things long distance, but I owned one for a long time and knew them very well. I'd also contact Will Gunn at Will Gunn Guitars, an Alembic-only dealer. Will has an encyclopedic knowledge of them and could be a big help, and easier than reaching the perpetually really busy small shop at Alembic.

Link Removed
(615)708-7783
[email protected]

Also, at www.alembic.com, click on 'The Alembic Club', Alembic 's online forum with lots of users and info.

Best of Luck,

JW