This is why Louis Johnson ended up with a Stingray!

[Dr. Cheese]

YouTube - The Brothers Johnson - I'll Be Good To You 1976

I know the mix may not have been great, but that Alembic was not cutting it!

Check out how much better this Music Man suits him: YouTube - Brothers Johnson - Get The Funk Outta Ma Face

 

[Joe Gress]

Actually, that Alembic almost looks waaay out of place on him.

 

[lucas vigor]

All I can say is WOW! What a tremendous, talented and self-assured band! I had forgotten how much I liked these guys!

 

[superdick2112]

The Stingray has more bottom end, and the Alembic sounds crisper, but neither bass is as get-down funky as his bell bottoms are.

 

[Hoover]

YouTube - The Brothers Johnson - I'll Be Good To You 1976

Hey, is that Alex Weir on 2nd guitar (white Strat upstage right) ?

 

[Jasisco]

Love this instrumental of theirs.. YouTube - Brothers Johnson- Streetwave

 

[tastybasslines]

if u like funk, check this out...

no one slapped better than LG IMO

YouTube - Graham Central Station - Pow

 

[bucephylus]

YouTube - The Brothers Johnson - I'll Be Good To You 1976

I know the mix may not have been great, but that Alembic was not cutting it!

Check out how much better this Music Man suits him: YouTube - Brothers Johnson - Get The Funk Outta Ma Face

You're joking right?

I mean you're comparing two totally different mixes. If you put the Alembic Series up against a Ray all other things being equal, there would simply be no contest. The Ray is a great bass, but nowhere close to the heft/cut that the Series circuitry produces. Not even close.

Just one more example of how many links in a complex chain can and do lead to noticeably different final results. Just be cautious drawing conclusions.

Leo did work directly with Louis on the Ray; and Louis discusses that in an early instructional he made. Leo + Louis definitely = magic, and Rays are great. Just cautioning not to misconstrue the Alembic. They rule.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

You're joking right?

I mean you're comparing two totally different mixes. If you put the Alembic Series up against a Ray all other things being equal, there would simply be no contest. The Ray is a great bass, but nowhere close to the heft/cut that the Series circuitry produces. Not even close.

Just one more example of how many links in a complex chain can and do lead to noticeably different final results. Just be cautious drawing conclusions.

Leo did work directly with Louis on the Ray; and Louis discusses that in an early instructional he made. Leo + Louis definitely = magic, and Rays are great. Just cautioning not to misconstrue the Alembic. They rule.

I owned two Alembics, and they were great basses, but they ain't Stingrays! I remember that period well, and many players got Alembics because of Stanley Clarke only to go back to Fender or get a Stingray.

 

[bucephylus]

I owned two Alembics, and they were great basses, but they ain't Stingrays! I remember that period well, and many players got Alembics because of Stanley Clarke only to go back to Fender or get a Stingray.

Which Alembics? Were they Series instruments? The non-Series instruments are not even on the same planet with the Series stuff. They were intended to compete in lower price points, and I completely agree they will not stand up to a Ray. Series is a whole different deal.

 

[xaxxat]

I like this one:

YouTube - THE BROTHERS JOHNSON Stomp 1979

 

[bucephylus]

I owned two Alembics, and they were great basses, but they ain't Stingrays! I remember that period well, and many players got Alembics because of Stanley Clarke only to go back to Fender or get a Stingray.

Also, the Series stuff from that period had some pretty serious ergonomic issues going on, which put off a lot of players. Alembic has more recently addressed that aspect.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Which Alembics? Were they Series instruments? The non-Series instruments are not even on the same planet with the Series stuff. They were intended to compete in lower price points, and I completely agree they will not stand up to a Ray. Series is a whole different deal.

Both were cheaper Alembics, but even the highend Alembics wer dropped by players like Cordell Mosson, Mark Adams, Marvin Isley, and Larry Graham, as well as Louis Johnson.

 

[wideload]

I know Alembic "lost" some pro players by not offering endorsement deals. Don't know if this applies to the artists you mentioned, but it does come into play at that stratospheric level. The rest of us don't play Alembic because of the price!

 

[bucephylus]

Both were cheaper Alembics, but even the highend Alembics wer dropped by players like Cordell Mosson, Mark Adams, Marvin Isley, and Larry Graham, as well as Louis Johnson.

I strongly submit that if you actually auditioned one with a decent amp, you'd get my point in about 2 seconds. There are a lot of reasons artists go on to other stuff. Alembic does not do a lot of endorser deals for one thing. Then, there has been the ergonomic thing, which is a bit complicated.

A better recent example of Alembic series instruments cutting through was the recent James Taylor concert that aired on TV about a year ago. Even on the crummy TV speakers I could hear Jimmy Johnson's Alembic sitting pretty in the mix and knew who was playing instantly without even seeing him.

Love the Ray(just had to let mine go for a Sadowsky), but whether you love them or not, you've got to accord the Series Alembics their due. They truly are awesome.

 

[Ben Esparza]

Funny to see a local guy, Bobby Rodriguez, on trumpet on "Get The Funk Outta My Face". He's now Dr. Rodriguez and is a music professor at UCLA. I remember him playing in my brother's rock band in the late 60's/early 70's.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I strongly submit that if you actually auditioned one with a decent amp, you'd get my point in about 2 seconds. There are a lot of reasons artists go on to other stuff. Alembic does not do a lot of endorser deals for one thing. Then, there has been the ergonomic thing, which is a bit complicated.

A better recent example of Alembic series instruments cutting through was the recent James Taylor concert that aired on TV about a year ago. Even on the crummy TV speakers I could hear Jimmy Johnson's Alembic sitting pretty in the mix and knew who was playing instantly without even seeing him.

Love the Ray(just had to let mine go for a Sadowsky), but whether you love them or not, you've got to accord the Series Alembics their due. They truly are awesome.

I played the old one that needed an external source long ago. I guess that was a Series I. I played a Series II, I think back in the 1980s also, so I am not totally clueless about Alembic. I do see your point about ergonomics though. That said, I still think the Stingray simply produces a classic tone that really work well for funk. It is a tone that we all know, and the Alembic tone does not have that iconic status.

 

[Kwesi]

I've never heard an alembic with a tone I would call "fat." Granted, I haven't played any but because of what I've heard from them it doesn't matter much to me.

 

[bobbolux]

not exactly my cup of tea, but nothing out-funks a vintage Stingray.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

It's interesting that in the first video at about the 55:00 mark, while you can see that he is playing finger style the tone sounds exactly like it does in the sections of the songs where he is plucking. No difference at all.


Looks like some pantomime wasen't done so clean.