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This is why Louis Johnson ended up with a Stingray!
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Nope it's a p bass.I had that album when it came out.The voicing on the album tracks is clear.He used a Alembic on the Q album.Check out free,and single,I"ll be good to you.You can hear that pbassYes, I suppose that was why he posed with one on the cover.
He might have used both sabre,and his stingray on the blam albumYes, I suppose that was why he posed with one on the cover.
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When many of us first heard The Brothers Johnson back in the 70's and were blown away, Louis was playing a P bass and killin' on it.
Yep.He was killing it for real.I played the heck out of that album back in 76
Something is not connecting. To be clear, I meant he posed with a P-bass on the cover. That was my junior year in high school. I remember that album very well.
I’m like the TB version of Candyman...say Alembic three times and I magically appear. 
As I pointed out when this thread was *alive* <cough> 7 years ago <cough>...Louis sounded like Louis no matter what he had in his hands, +/- the influence of EQ. He moved from brand to brand. P-bass —> Ripper—> Alembic —> Ray —> Sabre —> Treker —> misc —> back to Sabre. I’ve seen / heard him play live a number of times. He did Strawberry Letter 23 every time. Alembic, Ray, Treker, Sabre. Every time he sounded like Louis. Not thin. Not muddy. Definitely not lost in the mix. I met him twice. On one of those occasions (can’t remember which it was) I asked him if he played the Alembic on the SL23 recording. He said he did.
I’m thinking it may have been the time right after he and George got back together. He was playing a Treker. I got to meet both of them backstage and they both signed the back of my Alembic. Louis thumped the snot out of it first. No cell phone cameras back then or I certainly would have recorded that. Since we’re sorta discussing mix here, one memorable thing about that show is George stopped the show a couple times and threatened to come off the stage and whup the soundman’s ass if he didn’t fix the mix. I was legitimately concerned for the sound man. George was NOT joking.
I’ll end this post with a shot of my “Louis Johnson Starter Kit”. Alembic, Sabre, and Sting Ray. Coincidence, I swear.
As I pointed out when this thread was *alive* <cough> 7 years ago <cough>...Louis sounded like Louis no matter what he had in his hands, +/- the influence of EQ. He moved from brand to brand. P-bass —> Ripper—> Alembic —> Ray —> Sabre —> Treker —> misc —> back to Sabre. I’ve seen / heard him play live a number of times. He did Strawberry Letter 23 every time. Alembic, Ray, Treker, Sabre. Every time he sounded like Louis. Not thin. Not muddy. Definitely not lost in the mix. I met him twice. On one of those occasions (can’t remember which it was) I asked him if he played the Alembic on the SL23 recording. He said he did.
I’m thinking it may have been the time right after he and George got back together. He was playing a Treker. I got to meet both of them backstage and they both signed the back of my Alembic. Louis thumped the snot out of it first. No cell phone cameras back then or I certainly would have recorded that. Since we’re sorta discussing mix here, one memorable thing about that show is George stopped the show a couple times and threatened to come off the stage and whup the soundman’s ass if he didn’t fix the mix. I was legitimately concerned for the sound man. George was NOT joking.
I’ll end this post with a shot of my “Louis Johnson Starter Kit”. Alembic, Sabre, and Sting Ray. Coincidence, I swear.
Alenbics always seem to be lacking in the bottom end department. Maybe theres too many knobs and no one can ever remember which one is for bass. Skeet Curtis sure made his sound good in that Funkentelechy video though.
Stingrays have nice, fat bottom end.
Stingrays have nice, fat bottom end.
I’m like the TB version of Candyman...say Alembic three times and I magically appear.
As I pointed out when this thread was *alive* <cough> 7 years ago <cough>...Louis sounded like Louis no matter what he had in his hands, +/- the influence of EQ. He moved from brand to brand. P-bass —> Ripper—> Alembic —> Ray —> Sabre —> Treker —> misc —> back to Sabre. I’ve seen / heard him play live a number of times. He did Strawberry Letter 23 every time. Alembic, Ray, Treker, Sabre. Every time he sounded like Louis. Not thin. Not muddy. Definitely not lost in the mix. I met him twice. On one of those occasions (can’t remember which it was) I asked him if he played the Alembic on the SL23 recording. He said he did.
I’m thinking it may have been the time right after he and George got back together. He was playing a Treker. I got to meet both of them backstage and they both signed the back of my Alembic. Louis thumped the snot out of it first. No cell phone cameras back then or I certainly would have recorded that. Since we’re sorta discussing mix here, one memorable thing about that show is George stopped the show a couple times and threatened to come off the stage and whup the soundman’s ass if he didn’t fix the mix. I was legitimately concerned for the sound man. George was NOT joking.
I’ll end this post with a shot of my “Louis Johnson Starter Kit”. Alembic, Sabre, and Sting Ray. Coincidence, I swear.
Great collection. All you are missing is a Pbass , Gibson Ripper, and a Louis Johnson Trekker.
Well, I did say “starter kit”.
Gotta disagree with this. The two Alembics I have (and the four before them) do not lack in bottom end at all. For starters, because the electronics on most models are filter based, there is no “bass” knob. Without a doubt it is possible to dial away a lot of the low end, but fundamentally, it is there in spades. You have to want to take it out, or wind up there by just randomly twisting knobs.
hi Zombie Thread <wave>
Anyway, Alembics have plenty of bottom end -- at least my (former) '81 Series I did (however, Ill explain below)....a lot of slap funk players, probably influenced by Stanley Clarke, went to Alembic: Louis Johnson and Mark Adams (Slave) just to name two....but that didnt last long for most players: From my experience, the issue I had thumping my Alembic was the position of the neck pickup, which is right at the slap sweetspot -- I had to move the technique proximal to me and from that spot - This meant the thumb was now over the pickup which leads to the next issue I had: which was the string hitting the pickup on the slap, so the pickup needed to be lowered, which also took away from the low-end...Finally, I was gouging chunks out of the pickup and starting to get divots in the wood from my fingernails, something you really dont want on an Alembic....My Alembic is long gone, just like a lot of other slap/pop players in which the practicality of a 70s Alembic just didnt suit that playing style....Stanley kept using it, tho
Good points. Plus the earlier Alembics had the pickup selector knob located where your knuckles would hit it if you your thumping it. They eventually moved it to the same area as all the other knobs to fix that issue.
D
Alembic basses are their own thing, and definitely not for everyone. I will say that IMHO their Spoiler series are probably the most 'Fender-familiar' of the instruments they make, although they still have that distinctive hi-fi hi-brow complexity that Alembics are known for.
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