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Why does this Alembic sound so bad?

#26
Looks to me like he's getting the sound he likes. I had a Spoiler for 18 years and I rarely had a problem getting what I and my band mates considered to be a good sound out of it. It never sounded like that video but I never did (or ever would) want it to.

It was sensitive to dead strings though. They sounded, well, dead. A new set would always bring it right back to awesome sounding.

:bassist:
 
#27
puff father said:
Looks to me like he's getting the sound he likes. I had a Spoiler for 18 years and I rarely had a problem getting what I and my band mates considered to be a good sound out of it. It never sounded like that video but I never did (or ever would) want it to.

It was sensitive to dead strings though. They sounded, well, dead. A new set would always bring it right back to awesome sounding.

:bassist:
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I was going to say the same thing. Thats the sound he is looking for. A lot of Metal bass players want that Midrange clanky sound. So he probably has the mids and highs raised and very little bass.
 
#33
Alembics have incredibly versatile electronics that can be used to dial in almost any tone imaginable. That's the good news. The bad news is that versatility means you can dial in some weird tones, too. Think of it this way: it's easier to kill yourself in a Ferrari than on a tricycle. Also, whoever said that Spoiler electronics are "clanky" and low budget is way wrong. Spoilers use the same AXY pickups as Alembic's Signature and Anniversary basses, and the same Q filters as all of their basses. I own a bunch of Alembics, including some Series II's (their top-of-the-line) and a Spoiler, and they ALL sound great.
 
#36
ggunn said:
+1 It's hard to believe that he would spend the money to make a sound he hates.
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alexofc69 said:
I was going to say the same thing. Thats the sound he is looking for. A lot of Metal bass players want that Midrange clanky sound. So he probably has the mids and highs raised and very little bass.
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+2. Sounds a lot like Eric from Cryptopsy's tone. Which I never cared for, but I'm sure he likes it.

Paulo started out with a P-bass, you can see it on their earliest videos. No tone problems there. Later he switched to a Jazz 5 and has sounded like crap ever since. I'm sure he's trying to cop that horrible bridge-J tone with the Spoiler.

And not for nothin but I've seen lots of players of other musical genres boost their annoying high mids to ridiculous levels. They all sound like crap too.
 
#37
BigSwami said:
1. It's an Alembic, and they're designed to be bright. And they are probably, as mentioned above, the cheap electronics.

2. Metal bassists, for some reason, cannot resist arranging their EQ to look like a smiley face. All you end up with is bottom no one can hear and clangy treble no one wants to hear. One of the reasons I haven't listened to metal in so long is that I haven't heard a metal bassist in decades who had a good tone. Hopefully one day someone will prove me wrong.
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Listen to Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne.
 

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