Credit Card burning hole in "POCKET": Alembic F-1X or Fender TPB-1

On basstasters, the fender accually sounded a little better to me.. but then ymmv.

Randy

 

I have the F2B Alembic and I can't say enough good things about it. I really love that pre and im sure you would too. It has more of the vintage bassman vibe to it. Yet I would not call it vintage sounding just similar to it.

 

Both units are passive tone stacks (cut only). This was the primary reason I sold my F1X.

 

the Alembic is built like a brick s#$t house.. indestructible.. i too have a 70s F2B... the sound is timeless... I had both the F1X and the F2B at the same time.. the F1X has nice features that the F2B does not have.. but the F2B has more tube vibe and is gooeyer.. I sold the F1X and still have the F2B.. its 30 years old now and still going...great piece of gear.. i have zero experience with the Fender Pre.
but i have always felt that if you cant get the sound you are after with that simple B-M-T then you should change basses or speaker cabs before you dig a huge EQ whole that never seems to work.
i say alembic pre.. its built to take a lickin'

 

FWIW, there will be a nice Kern IP-777 for sale in the classifieds in the next few days . . .

The Alembic is very nice, too.

 

Sold my F2B and snagged a BMaxT. You should add that one to your list. When BBE designed that one they were clearly shooting at Alembic. Given that BBE designed that pre about 25 years after Alembic designed their's - it's no wonder they surpassed it. You should seriously give one a listen.

 

I've owned both at the same time and still have the F1-X. In fact, that is my Alembic and Fender on basstasters.

The Alembic F1-X has been my gold standard for 10 years now, for comparing pres. Many sound worse, many sound different, some sound better. But in the end I find myself going right back to the simplicity of the F1-X. Pure, smooth, creamy buttah and extended low end response. It also responds very well to tube rolling.

The Fender can get very close to doing the Alembic sound, but it takes some work. Fender really nailed the old school Bassman and Showman sound. But I didn't find the Fender to be an easy plug-and-play pre - you really have to tweak to get your tone. But as Vanselus commented, "Man, there are a LOT of tones in that box..."

 

The F1-X has a sound that starts out good and then grows on you. After you play one for a while you'll really love the tone. And then you'll play something else that you think sounds better and switch to it. But the longer you play the newer one the less you'll like it and end up back with the F1-X. That has been my experience.

 

Don't buy gear on credit, you're only making money for somebody else

Go for the Alembic

 

The F-1X has a transformer coupled XLR output.

 

You won't regret the basic tone.

Too often there are points made about the lack of EQ flexibility, and frankly if you need that much EQ in a rack set setup, get a 1U EQ unit of choice or get the SF2 as well. I have two racks based around an F-1X each and I have a parametric EQ in each; which I use now and again for this or that peculiar bass, or this or that peculiar room. Most of the time, I bypass the parametric EQ, and run the F-1X flat.

The DI is transformer coupled so it doesn't really suffer from phantom power if you run to a board that has universal phantom power.