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Played an Alembic tonight!

M

Mekanic

Dec 22, 2009
151
0
43
New Port Richey, FL
#1
Went to my local bar to have a beer and unwind, and listen to the band (they have a band every weekend with no cover)

So I'm sittin at the bar, they start warming up, I notice this headstock.... look closer, see the cloud, and said to myself "holy $#!^, this guy brought an Alembic to a bar gig!"

They do a set, sounds pretty good, I'm focused on the groove haha, go take a break so I walk up to him.

I'm a smart ass so I open the conversation with "I'll give you $300 for that bass right now" He looks at me with a grin, so I reply "I'm messing with you, and I can't believe you brought an Alembic to a small bar gig"

We get to talkin, he's also rockin the Alembic preamp, all kinds of goodies, and a helluva nice guy.

End of the night I talk to him more about it, it was made in 1984, he's had it since 1989. Handed it to me to try it out.

WOW. I can say I know where the $$$ goes on those, it was just... perfect.

He was a great guy, but now I have the problem of trying to find someone who wants to buy a kidney so I can get down on one of my own.

His site is Invalid Link Removed if you wanna hear some of his stuff.

This is the baby I got my hands on tonight. I had about 4 women on me, and all I wanted was to get my hands on this bass!
Invalid Link Removed
 
#6
mmm alembics....my buddy has a alembic he got for three hundred dollars, well actuall like 280. but its a straight up custom one. its got one pickup and a custom shaped body. i will take some pics today, cuz i got practice over there....but 280 bucks, no joke!
one day i will have one of those....i think i built one on the site for 12 grand, but thats retail and u dont pay retail. Plus they are right down the street from me, i went and took the tour...omg was it sweet
 
#7
I used an Alembic Distillate 5-String for about 16 years in all sorts of gigs.....including many local bar type gigs! The nice thing about it, it was so friggin heavy, you could have used it as a weapon if need be! Here is a photo from around 7 years ago. Sold it since then, I'm Sadowsky man now! But yep, it was a great sounding bass!

kbgrin.jpg
 
#10
:cool:

Alembic are indeed, wonderful basses.

I had a friend who use to be a dealer.

I was lucky enough to play 9 or 10 Alembics. (different models)

If they were no so dam heavy, I would play them forever.

Every one I played was between 12lbs-15lbs.:bawl: my back.
 
#12
I'm glad you liked it. It's always a pleasure to come across someone who knows a few things about basses, and it's always fun to talk shop. I bought the Spoiler for $1,000 from a friend in 1989, and I've never thought once about replacing it. Well, unless I win the lottery and can some day afford a tricked out Series II. In the meantime, I'm perfectly happy with the Spoiler, and could care less if some snoots don't think it's a "real Alembic" because I didn't pay $10,000 for it. I've had enough people compliment me on my sound through the years that I know one Universal truth... an Alembic is an Alembic.
 
#19
The spoiler shape has to be my personal favourite for alembic. I always had this idea of getting a spoiler with essence pickups/electronics and a q switch. The great thing about Alembic is they can actually make it happen.
 
#20
Matt Dean said:
Must of bought it from a junkie. :eek:
Click to expand...

I had a friend who was a sales manager at a music store in Gaffney, South Carolina. He once encountered a young man who brought in an Alembic Series II that belonged to his late father and wanted to sell it. The kid asked what this sales manager would give him for it, and he joked "I'll give you $500 cash right now". The kid took the $500.

I told my friend he was going to burn in Hell for that one.
 

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