School me on Alembic

[adje]

I bought a set of Alembic jazz bass preamp and pups way back in the late 80's, it's still on my Fretless Frankenjazz. The only thing I've never really bonded with is the "Q" control. It just souds like a sort of fixed wah pedal with the extreme ends o the range kind of un-usable, so I leave it centered. the other downside is tyat the pots have very light turn resistance, and are easily knocked out of whack. Any tips on getting a good tone using the Q? Is it possible to replace stock Alembic pots with something a little stiffer to turn?

What you're hearing is the filter with the Q boost always on. Add the Q switch, and you have the option to switch off the Q boost, or even the three-position version to have an in-between option. Link Removed

For ultimate control, you might add the pan preamp too (esp. useful if you have a PJ set).

 

[Blazer]

Alembic is one of those companies who tried to put too much controls in their instruments, in order to cater for every single tonal need the player could have.

But it doesn't always work out, for example, with the exception of Carlos Alomar, there are no notable guitarists who are using Alembic guitars.

Carlos Alomar and David Bowie during the "Serious moonlight" tour.

So what's the deal?
- Well then, let's turn the clock back to 1976, Fleetwood Mac have just finished recording their milestone album "Rumours" and are reheasing for the tour in support of that album. the band enlist Rick Turner as their guitar and bass tech. Turner, who was back then the man for everything Alembic wasted little time bringing the brand into the hands of his new employers.

John McVie took to the basses like a fish to water.

But Lindsey Buckingham wasn't so enamored with the Alembic guitars that Turner pushed into his hands. Declaring to Turner that they sounded too sterile, there was no meat on the bones.

Lindsey using an Alembic 12 string

But Turner got to work on Lindsey's Gibson and Fender guitars, souping them up with Alembic pre-amps, which Lindsey liked.

Turner, apparently made it his mission to make Lindsey a guitar and asked the latter what he really wanted. And got "Make it have the clarity of a Fender and the power of a Gibson." as a reply.

So to see how he could give Lindsey exactly that, Turner took one of THESE.

A Gibson Les Paul Junior, which are well known Tone machines and started to see if he could decipher what makes that guitar sound the way it does and why the Alembics fell short. He discovered that it was down to the Hippie sandwich construction of the bodies, they killed off the natural resonance and a Les Paul Junior, being as basic as it comes, had TONS of resonance.

So Turner made Lindsey a guitar which still had all the Alembic bells and whistles but married them to a body made of a single piece of mahogany.

And for the last 44 years, Lindsey hasn't played anything else.

So what I'm getting to is that it's not just the cost price which makes Alembic instruments unobtainable to most of us mortals but also the fact that not everybody can get used to the way they sound.

 

[HotelX]

Alembic is one of those companies who tried to put too much controls in their instruments, in order to cater for every single tonal need the player could have.

But it doesn't always work out, for example, with the exception of Carlos Alomar, there are no notable guitarists who are using Alembic guitars.
View attachment 4629662
Carlos Alomar and David Bowie during the "Serious moonlight" tour.

So what's the deal?
- Well then, let's turn the clock back to 1976, Fleetwood Mac have just finished recording their milestone album "Rumours" and are reheasing for the tour in support of that album. the band enlist Rick Turner as their guitar and bass tech. Turner, who was back then the man for everything Alembic wasted little time bringing the brand into the hands of his new employers.
View attachment 4629663
John McVie took to the basses like a fish to water.

But Lindsey Buckingham wasn't so enamored with the Alembic guitars that Turner pushed into his hands. Declaring to Turner that they sounded too sterile, there was no meat on the bones.
View attachment 4629664
Lindsey using an Alembic 12 string

But Turner got to work on Lindsey's Gibson and Fender guitars, souping them up with Alembic pre-amps, which Lindsey liked.

Turner, apparently made it his mission to make Lindsey a guitar and asked the latter what he really wanted. And got "Make it have the clarity of a Fender and the power of a Gibson." as a reply.

So to see how he could give Lindsey exactly that, Turner took one of THESE.
View attachment 4629665
A Gibson Les Paul Junior, which are well known Tone machines and started to see if he could decipher what makes that guitar sound the way it does and why the Alembics fell short. He discovered that it was down to the Hippie sandwich construction of the bodies, they killed off the natural resonance and a Les Paul Junior, being as basic as it comes, had TONS of resonance.

So Turner made Lindsey a guitar which still had all the Alembic bells and whistles but married them to a body made of a single piece of mahogany.
View attachment 4629666
And for the last 44 years, Lindsey hasn't played anything else.

So what I'm getting to is that it's not just the cost price which makes Alembic instruments unobtainable to most of us mortals but also the fact that not everybody can get used to the way they sound.

Basses and guitars are very different instruments

 

[Blazer]

Basses and guitars are very different instruments

Yeah, which is what Turner figured out when he couldn't get Lindsey Buckingham enthusiastic about Alembic guitars.

It's also why the Music Man Stingray Bass became a success while its guitar sibling never cracked the market.

Yeah, it has exactly the same pickups as a Stingray bass and the same kind of pre-amp, it simply never worked for guitarists. It sounded too toppy, too high end.

 

[Chickenwheels]

Yeah, which is what Turner figured out when he couldn't get Lindsey Buckingham enthusiastic about Alembic guitars.

It's also why the Music Man Stingray Bass became a success while its guitar sibling never cracked the market.
View attachment 4629785
Yeah, it has exactly the same pickups as a Stingray bass and the same kind of pre-amp, it simply never worked for guitarists. It sounded too toppy, too high end.

Good bass goes over and under, good guitar straight through the middle.
Of course there are always exceptions.
Loving the pics and stories.

 

[Chickenwheels]

I bought a set of Alembic jazz bass preamp and pups way back in the late 80's, it's still on my Fretless Frankenjazz. The only thing I've never really bonded with is the "Q" control. It just souds like a sort of fixed wah pedal with the extreme ends o the range kind of un-usable, so I leave it centered. the other downside is tyat the pots have very light turn resistance, and are easily knocked out of whack. Any tips on getting a good tone using the Q? Is it possible to replace stock Alembic pots with something a little stiffer to turn?

My John East preamp has springs mounted below the knobs on the shaft. This might help.

 

[JW56789]

Ah, but John Entwistle went on the record in interviews that he struggled with controlling the Alembics' necks when on tour with The Who at times, sometimes spending up to a half hour pre-show adjusting them to get the neck as straight as he wanted. I've read similarly from others than Alembic bass necks are "alive" in that regard.

Anybody can make a bass neck(through) that sometimes never quite realizes its not a tree anymore, as Mica likes to say. Generally with the laminations and 1/4" of ebony sitting on top, the necks are very stable.

These were my two five strings, strung in the typical 45-128 (or130 or 135 depending on the set).

The green Elan was a 'new' custom build in 2005/6. The necks was rock maple in three plies with cherry veneers between them and the ebony fingerboard. This one took a little adjusting over the first year, as it was new. Alembic is way better than most in that all of their wood is carefully aged, but it was still a new build. However, the several tweakings I gave it as it got used to its new home were nothing out of the ordinary.

The red Spoiler was an '86 production. Three 1/4" purpleheart strips between four plies of maple, ebony fingerboard on top. This one had long since reached its' 'equilibrium' age: In other words, whatever minor amounts of sap, any gassing from finish or electronics had finished, it had reached a steady-state moisture content. This one . . . . never moved. I left both of these strung with the same strings every time. Once I had the setup nailed, I'd pull out the feeler gages and a rule once or twice a year, and it rarely moved a millimeter. Eerily stable.

Any idea that their necks are as a general population a little flexy just not borne out by experience. I can see the occasional bad actor that slips by any builder, but on the whole, no.

 

[JW56789]

When Alembic would finish a bass for Entwistle, they'd get the neck dead-straight, after having sweated over the frets to make sure they were perfect to support that, and then drop the string height to where it was unplayable to anyone in the shop. John would come in, or they'd deliver it, and he'd fly on them. Maintenance to maintain that is not impossible, but a full time job on instruments traveling in trucks across the country and around the world. They had just readjusted his basses completely back to his liking just a few days before his untimely passing. He also was not much of a fan of being 'tethered' with the 5-pin cable.

But My God, he'd get that 'God's Mighty Clavinet' tone out of them !

 

[Blazer]

When Alembic would finish a bass for Entwistle, they'd get the neck dead-straight, after having sweated over the frets to make sure they were perfect to support that, and then drop the string height to where it was unplayable to anyone in the shop. John would come in, or they'd deliver it, and he'd fly on them. Maintenance to maintain that is not impossible, but a full time job on instruments traveling in trucks across the country and around the world. They had just readjusted his basses completely back to his liking just a few days before his untimely passing. He also was not much of a fan of being 'tethered' with the 5-pin cable.

But My God, he'd get that 'God's Mighty Clavinet' tone out of them !

In his book he said that just before taking the stage at Live Aid, the neck of his famous "Spider" Exploiter "Wandered off into oblivion."

Which is the reason he sold it to the Hardrock cafe

"That was its punishment."

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Some of the Alembics made for Phil Lesh bordered on comically over-controlled. There’s a funny video of him on YT trying to remember what all the knobs do… and he can’t. I would submit that that’s a bit silly overkill when you also have a full set of tone controls in most amps, but it’s kind of an Alembic trademark look. I wish I knew where they get their lumber, NOBODY has a such a deep library if exotics, and every detail is just absolutely slaved over. Even if they are paying minimum wage (hope not!), the number hours required to build one would result in a much higher price than any mass produced bass.

 

[zortation]

I owned a 1981 Series I back in the 80s......sometimes I have remorse thinking about it but once I remember all the things I didnt like about it, my remorse goes away.........What I didnt like: serious neckdive and neck pickup location (Im a slap bassist and my fingernails were gouging the pickup cover -- how Stanley plucks strings without doing this is a mystery) but the BIGGEST thing I didnt like about it was gingerly taking it out of the case, making sure I didnt accidentally brush it against any object (even a q-tip), being careful onstage not to bump the mic stand, wiping it down, gingerly putting it back in the case, etc....she was too much of a very high maintenance girlfriend and that got old quick....edit: i recently acquired a small inheritence and briefly considered getting another one....it didnt take much to talk myself out of it

View attachment 4628001

Bouffant mullet is strong in this one.

 

[ThudThudThud]

I tried one in Italy. It was the most 'me' bass I'd ever played, or heard. Felt right, sounded right.
This was in the days of the Lira, and before Euros.
There were a lot of digits in the price.
A lot.
I believe it was well over L5million.

 

[glocke1]

I owned a 1981 Series I back in the 80s......sometimes I have remorse thinking about it but once I remember all the things I didnt like about it, my remorse goes away.........What I didnt like: serious neckdive and neck pickup location (Im a slap bassist and my fingernails were gouging the pickup cover -- how Stanley plucks strings without doing this is a mystery) but the BIGGEST thing I didnt like about it was gingerly taking it out of the case, making sure I didnt accidentally brush it against any object (even a q-tip), being careful onstage not to bump the mic stand, wiping it down, gingerly putting it back in the case, etc....she was too much of a very high maintenance girlfriend and that got old quick....edit: i recently acquired a small inheritence and briefly considered getting another one....it didnt take much to talk myself out of it

View attachment 4628001

bolded is where I am at on this..Like I said before, I have a SCSD and an older Series 1..neither get played out much for the reasons you listed, neck dive and fear of having them get beat up. The neck dive on the Series 1 medium scale actually isn't all that bad but I still don't really want to have to worry about it getting beat up.

The newer Series basses seem like they would balance better.>I'd love to have the chance to try one of those

 

[eweise2]

You can get a used Epic for much less than that, but they are lacking the filter-based preamp which IMHO is one of the keys to the Alembic sound.

My Epic has two filter switches, no bass treble controls. They also built it with an orion body instead of the epic one. Ordered through Guitar Center back around 1998 for $1,100. Only bass I've had since.

 

[Snert]

For the thru necks, it's the electronics package that determines the model, not the body shape.

 

[Blazer]

I don't know, if you guys are aware of this but, seeing as how Phil Lesh has been named a couple of times, Eastwood guitars have brought out a reissue of his Doug Irwin made "Tiger bass"

Which has the full deal here: neck through body construction, "Hippie Sandwich" the lot.

But at only 1200 bucks is way cheaper than an Alembic or a real Doug Irwin made bass.

And Eastwood also offers THIS.

A copy of the Alembic that Carlos Alomar played, but different from that guitar, it has a built in effects loop, which Alembic also offers as an option.

I admit it, they're not as cool as the real thing but boy are they ever tempting.

 

[Blazer]

And while searching for a picture of Phil Lesh playing that Doug Irwin bass, I came across a couple of pictures of his Alembic basses and their INSANE amount of control options...

To be honest, I'd be completely lost, there's something to be said about a good Fender P-bass in all it's basic-of-all-basic simplicity

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Ive settled on three knobs, MV, Pan, and MT, maybe one micro-switch. Ill bet Lesh never touched most of those knobs on stage. Is that Starfire shaped one an Alembic? I think thats the one in the video called "Big Brown. He uses that diagram to navigate it.

 

[adje]

Ive settled on three knobs, MV, Pan, and MT, maybe one micro-switch. Ill bet Lesh never touched most of those knobs on stage. Is that Starfire shaped one an Alembic? I think thats the one in the video called "Big Brown. He uses that diagram to navigate it.

Not just Starfire shaped - it really is a heavily modified Starfire, that they gave Alembic serial #7. One idea of the Wall of Sound was to have a dedicated PA per instrument - but for the bass it would be a dedicated PA per string - hence the quadraphonic pickup in both Big Brown and Mission Control. Of course the WoS was impractical, but - well - hey - we still have those two basses to marvel at.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Are Alembic pickups single coil or humbuckers? Are they fully shielded? The couple I played years ago were dead quiet.