He was better with the Rick!
Not to bash the Ric, but I have fared no better with those
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Dream Bass Let-Down
- Thread starter Kevin Teed
- Start date
Not to bash the Ric, but I have fared no better with those
There are a bunch of controls and they tend to be atypical compare to fenders. Maybe hit up the Alembic club here for advice? It may also depend on the type of stuff you play with it. I recently got a Ken Smith which sounds amazing in the funk and blues bands I play in. It doesn't really fit for harder rock stuff though so I'll bring my G&L or Warwick in those situations.
Really making me regret not going to school for engineering...
Beautiful bass! Sometimes, the wanting, the waiting, the planning are the best part. Or the hunt is better than the score.
Have you tried the great spectrum of bass strings? Strings are the most critical factor for sound.
Anyway, thanks for your story!
Law Of Observation: Nothing Looks As Good Close Up As It Does From Far Away.
Have you tried the great spectrum of bass strings? Strings are the most critical factor for sound.
Anyway, thanks for your story!
Law Of Observation: Nothing Looks As Good Close Up As It Does From Far Away.
This just happened to me. As a lifelong player now in my late 30s, I always wanted two basses: An American Standard Precision and a 4003s Rickenbacker in matte black.
I finally bought the Ric this year and was so heartbroken when I couldn't bond with it after 30 days. I traded it in for an American Professional Precision. I didn't bond with that either. Now I'm back to my Korean made Reverend Wattplower, which is back to being my number one. Unexpected for sure. It happens.
I learned that I have to stop thinking about what is supposed to be the best and just use my ears and hands and see what feels like an extension of myself and inspires me to play and write music. The Wattplower is that for me. I bought it on a whim as a kickaround bass but now I am considering getting another for the practice space. But who knows if the second one I pick up will have the same mojo or not. Guitars and basses are like individual people with souls. They deserve to be played and loved and bonded with. Sometimes the chemistry just isn't there.
I finally bought the Ric this year and was so heartbroken when I couldn't bond with it after 30 days. I traded it in for an American Professional Precision. I didn't bond with that either. Now I'm back to my Korean made Reverend Wattplower, which is back to being my number one. Unexpected for sure. It happens.
I learned that I have to stop thinking about what is supposed to be the best and just use my ears and hands and see what feels like an extension of myself and inspires me to play and write music. The Wattplower is that for me. I bought it on a whim as a kickaround bass but now I am considering getting another for the practice space. But who knows if the second one I pick up will have the same mojo or not. Guitars and basses are like individual people with souls. They deserve to be played and loved and bonded with. Sometimes the chemistry just isn't there.
It happens. I was always more comfortable with a Ric than a Fender. That said, I bought my first Alembic in '92 and it's been my number 1 since. I now have several, but rely on my first most often to this day.
Alembics are highly customizable. If you didn't order it the bass may have atypical features. I prefer wide string spacing, particularly at the nut, and all of mine share this feature. I favor six string basses, so the wide spacing at the nut may not work for everyone.
The bridge on many Alembics, particularly those with an Omega cut, is further from the end pin than many basses. This makes the first fret seem like a bit of a stretch on some models. I favor Elan and Europa body styles, which are a bit more traditional; these two body styles also balance quite well. (The bridge and nut on an Alembic is an engineering work of art allowing for easy and highly precise setup.)
Alembics aren't for everyone...no bass is. There may be something else out there better suited to you. I knew I had found my soulmate the moment I strapped my Alembic on. There may be one like that for you. Happy hunting!
Alembics are highly customizable. If you didn't order it the bass may have atypical features. I prefer wide string spacing, particularly at the nut, and all of mine share this feature. I favor six string basses, so the wide spacing at the nut may not work for everyone.
The bridge on many Alembics, particularly those with an Omega cut, is further from the end pin than many basses. This makes the first fret seem like a bit of a stretch on some models. I favor Elan and Europa body styles, which are a bit more traditional; these two body styles also balance quite well. (The bridge and nut on an Alembic is an engineering work of art allowing for easy and highly precise setup.)
Alembics aren't for everyone...no bass is. There may be something else out there better suited to you. I knew I had found my soulmate the moment I strapped my Alembic on. There may be one like that for you. Happy hunting!
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My first bass letdown was a Lakland 55-94. What led me to this bass was the versatility of the electronics. I liked the ldea of getting tones similar to a P, Jazz and Stingray all in one bass. I bought a Skyline first and if I bonded with it a USA in the future. I didn't like the way the bass balanced and the 35 scale. After the 2nd set I felt like I was fighting the bass not playing it. That said I think the 55-94s are great basses very well made and the Skyline series are a steal, they are just not right for me.
Spacing is key for me as well. I'm 6 foot 5 tall, or 196 cm, with huge hands. Anything less than 19 mm feels cramped for me. I'm willing to compromise to 18 if the tone is great, but 19 is optimal.
Yep! Many times, actually. I'm fairly new to the game and didn't really know what I wanted, or which sound was "my sound". I bought what I thought was my dream bass, and wound up really disliking it for many reasons. Weight and neck profile being to two deciding factors in my selling it. I wound up trading it, actually. Got a couple of very nice basses out of it and used those to commence trading for any and everything I could get my hands on in order to find the right one. Nothing seemed to really fit. It was a classic case of Goldy Locks for me. Oddly enough, I wound up swapping a buddy an amp for the 'Ray in my profile pic and fell head over heals in love with it. I'm all gas'd out now and don't really play the other basses in my quiver, outside of a sense of obligation. My MIM pbass is 2nd in command and is a very close 2nd. No harm, no foul. You tried it, didn't find it was your taste, and someone else will surely be very happy with such a beautiful instrument in their life!
My first Alembic was acquired from a now defunct music shop that an old friend had for a very long time. He was having health issues so his brother was running the shop in the early '90s when I got my '87 Persuader (Vector body - flame maple top with P/J pickups) for $600 with OHSC. In '96 I found my '84 Exploiter (flame koa top and OHSC) at another local shop for $1000.
Over the years I modded both basses with VPF+Q Switch, and added a second output jack that I ran "phantom" power into from a PS unit I built (a TBer now has that PSU that he uses with his ZON bass). I had the Exploiter defretted, and added Sperzel tuning keys to the Persuader. In the end, I realized that there were tuning stability issues with both Alembics (neck issues?) so I traded them both to GC for my first ZON (of three over the years). GC gave me what I had into the basses so I made out okay on that deal (back when GC was still a good place to do business with).
To the OP:
I had one much earlier in my life and didn't connect either. It was just to sterile sounding for my tastes. It didn't have that resonance that I craved out of my Jazz and P bass. I also had a 72' Rick that I actually kinda miss. I have owned many high end basses, and really, none of them have been my cup of tea. Guess I'm just too old school. lol
I had one much earlier in my life and didn't connect either. It was just to sterile sounding for my tastes. It didn't have that resonance that I craved out of my Jazz and P bass. I also had a 72' Rick that I actually kinda miss. I have owned many high end basses, and really, none of them have been my cup of tea. Guess I'm just too old school. lol
I agree. This is a bass i dreamed about, off and on for 40 years,and recently the stars aligned for me to get one. (Veillette-Citron).
I am not disappointed in the least, love everything about it.
I have had disappointment issues with Alembic, and Ken Smith basses in the past. Fabulous,but just not right for me ergonomically. (And my favorite basses are Rickenbacker 4004 models.)
I always think back to around 1977. Nearly every concert I saw that year had a bassist playing an Alembic. Larry Graham, Marvin Isley, I think Cordell Mosson (Parliament,) had Alembics. I don’t think anyone kept using one more than a year. My guess is that they were all used to their Fenders and Rickenbackers. For many of these players, Music Man was a better fit when they went active. That is also why active Jazz boutiques are so popular too.
There's something about that flavor a P-bass has that just seems right. Through the years, no matter what brand/model bass I was playing, I was always trying to make it sound like a P-bass without knowing that's what I was doing.
This Distillate sounds really good. It's set-up right and I've got all the electronics worked out. It has multiple sounds that I like, but it doesn't feel alive to me and I'm not comfortable with the ergo's. There's no inspiration when I pick it up like my old slab-board.
I wanted a USA Stingray Classic for a few years and finally found a USA SUB Stingray for a decent price. Brought it home and played it but it never sat right with me. It could have been the painted neck, or the string spacing or both. After playing P’s for years I’ve just gotten used to them. Aesthetically, the Stingray is great. Tone wise, also great. For me, playability, not so great. Maybe I need to try one with a SLO neck, idk.
IF anyone hasn't suggested this yet, and I think it wouldn't hurt to try hiking the action-string height on your Alembic just a bit.
Give it a smidge of that Fender feel and see if that changes anything. FWIW.
Alembic is its own thing but it's still a bass with lotsa character and tonality.
Give it a smidge of that Fender feel and see if that changes anything. FWIW.
Alembic is its own thing but it's still a bass with lotsa character and tonality.
AND, my '83 Musician 924DS is my ONLY bass...sold all my others. Feels just right for me...with my HPF and the Musician's 3 band eq, I can beat any rig into submission...
.+1 to giving the Alembic more time.
