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Alembic tone from a D class

#41
Keep in mind we have reached the age of the "disposable power amp".
I asked a bunch of milennial full time musicians a few months ago for power amp suggestions on Facebook. I got one astoundingly logical response.
"I bought the Bugera Inuke1000 for $150. So far it's lasted for over 150 shows. It's over 600 watts @4ohms. If it dies I replace it. It's now under $1 per show...".

Let that sink in.
 
#43
sprag said:
I love the clean fat tone I get out of my Alembic f1X. However given it's used with a power amp and they sit in a rack the weight kinda adds up

So, what's out there, if anything that can cop that F1X sound in a d class head? I'm Happy to go super clean head and an always on pedal if need be.
Click to expand...

Jule Monique is prototyping a small preamp box. It looks great, but it doesn't have that propriatary Alembic input jack.
 
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#44
Ric Vice said:
Passinwind,
Your depth of knowledge knows no bounds. Absolutely fascinating. So does Quilter buy their power amps from QSC?
Click to expand...

Just parroting crumbs of info from the long Bass Block thread here on TB. IIRC the whole Quilter amp is built on the QSC production line, but I have no idea how the books look between the two business entities or who does the mods, and so on.
 
#47
Ric Vice said:
Walter Woods are very clean amplifiers, at one time he even offered a MI series amp with an Alembic 5 pin jack that was used to power the basses internal preamp. I wish I had sprund for the original Alembic pre when they sold them.

View attachment 3111374
Here's the amp I'm talking about, based on the pilot light it's a MI-400-8 with the
Alembic input. I owned this amp and it's incredible. Repairs and service can be an issue.
Click to expand...
That's WAY cool. Didn't know Walter did that. Truly a great guy.

I gigged an MI-400 Green light for 15 years or so. Nice sounding amp; but not nearly in the same slam ballpark as the current crop of micros.
 
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#51
Lance Bunyon said:
I was interpreting someone else's thesis. You're responding to the wrong guy.
Click to expand...

Since your post #36 did not quote anyone, I interpreted it as a response to the OP's post #35. The OP wants light weight, but I see no indication he is willing to compromise on sound quality. He specifically wants Alembic tone and feel. What part did I get wrong?

Sorry about your back.
 
#52
Lance Bunyon said:
The whole thread is illogical. "I have one of the most iconic preamps of all time and I no longer wish to tow the ledsled power amp which accompanies it. Therefore instead of replacing just the amp with a super light class D power amp, I want a class D which sounds identical to my iconic $1000 preamp..."...
Yep.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's illogical at all. The Alembic preamp is pretty heavily voiced, there are plenty of light weight amps that sound the equivalent (and perform better, more reliably) than the lead sleds of the past.

My suggestion would be to use the Alembic into the power amp in (or effects return) of one of the favorite class d amps (bypassing the preamp) which gets you a power amp PLUS a back-up preamp.

Lance Bunyon said:
Keep in mind we have reached the age of the "disposable power amp".
I asked a bunch of milennial full time musicians a few months ago for power amp suggestions on Facebook. I got one astoundingly logical response.
"I bought the Bugera Inuke1000 for $150. So far it's lasted for over 150 shows. It's over 600 watts @4ohms. If it dies I replace it. It's now under $1 per show...".

Let that sink in.
Click to expand...

I think you are comparing apples to oranges here. There are plenty of products out there in the bass world that have long warranties and are fully repairable. In many cases you get what you pay for. Different players have different ideas about what might work best for them.

Wasnex said:
No need for a false equivalency...it can be about both...I.E. lightweight and sound good.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Find something that works for you and simply enjoy it rather than worry so much about inconsequential details.
 
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#54
bucephylus said:
That's WAY cool. Didn't know Walter did that. Truly a great guy.

I gigged an MI-400 Green light for 15 years or so. Nice sounding amp; but not nearly in the same slam ballpark as the current crop of micros.
Click to expand...

I had mine until just recently, so I was able to compare it with most of the newer micros from Aguilar, Markbass,
Mesa, and Gallien Krueger. The Mesa 800+ sounds incredible. There are features in Walter's preamp that I still prefer over all of these amps except the Mesa. Just my take however :)
 
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#56
Does anyone know how true the Johnk FET-F2B pedal gets to the alembic tone. It seems that into a clean amp or effects return could be the lightest option I already have a TH500 so I would just have to outlay the price of the pedal.

This will be for live use only, so just has to be in the ballpark.

I'll ask this in the effects forum as well, as a search just brought up mainly sale threads and I didnt see any posts comparing the pedal to its inspiration
 
#58
If you want the pure sound of an alembic bass you could always try what I did this weekend plug my series I mono output directly into the front of my class D power amp and into my barefaced BTII. It sounded great, the external power supply drives the bass at 36v (+-18vdc) and the output of a series bass is pretty hot so it can easily drive some serious volume directly from the bass without the pre-amp. The sound was more even across the sound spectrum than it is through the F1-x pre-amp that I normally use.
 
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#59
A while back I bought a Quilter BB800 as a backup for my Walter Woods stereo green light. I would run a Sansamp BDDI V2 to the XLR line in on Quilter. Sounded good and performed well, but to my mind not nearly as well as the WW.

I decided that my back up amp should be the same as my stalwart main amp, so I sold the Quilter and BDDI and bought another WW stereo in perfect condition. Not the best decision from an economic standpoint but there it is.
 
#60
interp said:
A while back I bought a Quilter BB800 as a backup for my Walter Woods stereo green light. I would run a Sansamp BDDI V2 to the XLR line in on Quilter. Sounded good and performed well, but to my mind not nearly as well as the WW.

I decided that my back up amp should be the same as my stalwart main amp, so I sold the Quilter and BDDI and bought another WW stereo in perfect condition. Not the best decision from an economic standpoint but there it is.
Click to expand...
It does not surprise me that a $2000 legendary amp with transformers et Al outperformed a $600 amp with SMPS (or whatever that acronym is) and no iron.

Lately I've been gigging the Hartke 7000. Mosfets and transistors with transformers outperform the newfangleled light as a feather crappywappy. Get off my lawn.
 

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