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Author Topic: Alembic basses  (Read 34212 times)

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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #45 on: Time Format »

Hey Richard,

   If I might offer some bass guitar influences to listen to that might help you get into the bass guitar mind-set:

     Uriah Heep, (Gary Thain) Demons and Wizards, The Magician's Birthday
     Pat Travers Band, (Mars Cowling) Heat In The Street, Go For What You Know
     Marvin Gaye, (James Jameson) Heard it Through The Grapevine
     Gladys Knight, (James Jameson) Heard It Through The Grapevine
     Stu Hamm, (Stu Hamm) Radio Free Albumuth

    That's my short list that should get you on the right track :thumb-up:

     Harley 8)
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tomy

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #46 on: Time Format »

@ Rick, 3 batteries ; seems like Alembic aren't good to preserve the planet :facepalm: .IIRC 1 battery is dedicated to the led, Am I wrong ? actually 4 of my basses run in stereo mode :  my alembic, Yamaha attitude, precision custom bass and Rickenbacker 4001. A lot of my heroes use to play stereo ; Billy Sheehan, cliff Burton, John Paul jones etc... it's a good way to set up a bass in rock or metal situation ; clean tone with 1 PU, light disto with the other PU for example.

Lots of people think Alembic are jazz, funk or fusion instruments (because of Stanley) but most likely it started  in the late 60's in San Francisco with band like Jefferson Airplane,  or greatful dead. So those basses were made to ROCK THE WORLD :metal: (Jack Casady, what a legend !!!) and beside the active preamp the other innovation was stereo.

@ hey Harley, James Jamerson another legend (Marvin GAYE's album "what's going on" is on my top 20). Stuart Hamm,  good choice ! i guess you're nostalgic for the late 80's/early 90's ... I do love that period, So many good bass/guitar player had appeared. Stu hamm was one of those who dare  :thumb-up:
« Last Edit: Time Format by tomy »
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #47 on: Time Format »

Hey Tomy,

    The reason I referred to Jamerson twice is because I find it simply amazing that we are looking at the same song, in the same recording studio, but on a different day, with a different singer, and the bass is a completely different personality, even though it's still the same bass player! How many bass players can switch up like that? It's brilliant!

   My musical influences go back much farther than the 80's. In the 60's, the smaller groups were just beginning to discover and flex their creative muscles by pulling away from the big band sound and sounding just as good with a smaller group of musicians. By the 70's, the sounds were pumping a lot more power into the smaller groups, which were getting much more creative. I find that the early 70's especially, had much more original sounding bands showing up, which defined the future of heavy rock music. In the late 70's though, the record companies stepped in and began bastardizing the bands who were appearing at the time, by trying to make them sound more like the already successful bands before them. This was something I hated about the music industry which still persists to this day. You can listen to the Scorpions from their earliest recordings to their latest, and hear how the record companies made them change their sound from year to year as an example of what I'm talking about.

   Don't get me wrong. I love the musicianship of the 80's as it really raised the bar for guitar and bass players in terms of playing better and pushing the limits of guitar playing in all respects, but as far as the popularity, it was restricted to the Top 40 AOR that got the most publicity and commercial success. As far as the 90's, I'm not really a big fan of most of it. Ever since Nirvana came out, I used to tell people that's when pop music got pissed off. The Seattle Sound??? That makes me laugh. I'm definitely not a fan of grunge. When I'm asked who I think was the original Seattle Sound, I always reply: Jimi Hendrix. That usually ends that topic :lol:

    Harley 8)
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #48 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley,couldn't agree with you more  :whoohoo!:
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rnolan

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #49 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, Gary Thain is a fav of mine, I picked up Uriah heap live a while ago (have it on vinal but no turntable for now). July Morning is probably my fav song.

Stu Ham (I met, saw when he toured with Joe Satriani years ago, I was the driver/runner and got to drive them around (Johnathon Moover on Drums, he had to take an emergency trip to the dentist before the gig (ow) Also billy sheen I like too, I have the transcript to Lean Into It (Mr Big) with bass parts (and Guitar). And then there's the guy who played with Peter Gabriel (Peter know of him, just forgot his name) on his live DVD (Secret World), great concert BTW.

Also Slade Alive has some great bass, hey the list goes on...

Hey Tomy, I found it has 4 x 9v batteries, 3 in the battery cavity and one in the control cavity which I opened last night to check the trim pots, of which there are 4.  2 attached to the filters (probably the PU vols), one in the middle ?? and a small one which is hard to see, it may be LED brightness ?  I joined the Alembic forum and asked the question.
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tomy

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #50 on: Time Format »

@Rick...Tony levin ?

@Harley , I was not talking about influences... Just saying it was cool being 25 years younger :thumb-up:
« Last Edit: Time Format by tomy »
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #51 on: Time Format »

Well Tomy,

    I WAS making references to influences on the bass guitar in regards to Richard's comment about playing the bass more like a bass player, and less like a lead guitar player. It can be tricky trying to comp your own bass lines if you aren't thinking about it in the right frame of mind. That's the whole thing about bass guitar, it's about feeling a groove and setting the mood.

    This is one of the reasons I cited Gary Thain at the top of the list. We all know what he did with Uriah Heep, but take a listen to what he was doing before Uriah Heep, when he was with the Keef Hartley Band. It was more blues based music, but you can still hear Thain pumping the bass in his own style underneath everything else. For a guitar player who wants to lay down some good bass guitar tracks to his compositions without sounding like a guitar player playing the bass, this would be a good place to start.
     I spent a few of my early years going back and forth between bass and lead guitar because I was undecided which I enjoyed playing more. The bass is such a cool instrument, and if it has a good sound, with the right player driving the whole thing, then your music becomes magical.

    Harley 8)
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #52 on: Time Format »

Again I agree 100% with Harley  :thumb-up:
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rnolan

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #53 on: Time Format »

Hey Tomy, Tony Levin it is  :thumb-up: , "picked it like a nose!" as we say here sometimes (depending on present company LoL).

I've got some Gary Thain (from UH) running around my head for a while now, that's kind of how I'd like to play I think, and quite doable I recon.  Hav't heard of Keef Hartley Band before.
Hey Harley, just listening to Overdog, I get what you're saying, he's awesome... great band

The few times I've played bass I love getting in and setting the groove  :metal:
« Last Edit: Time Format by rnolan »
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rnolan

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #54 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, the Keef Hartley Band are awesome, great album on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHRbEP65R1I), really takes me back, and wow Thain can play bass  :whoohoo!:
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #55 on: Time Format »

Yep some great bass playing going on. Love it!
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tomy

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #56 on: Time Format »

Hey Rick, tonight my alembic is out for gig... lets see if it still got the fire >:D
« Last Edit: Time Format by tomy »
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rnolan

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #57 on: Time Format »

Hey Tomy, cool, have lots of fun  :thumb-up: , and you'll need a MB1 patch (or 2) for it ??
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #58 on: Time Format »

Hey Richard,

    Glad you liked what you were hearing there :thumb-up:
    I'm kind of surprised you weren't aware of Keef Hartley Band. I would have thought being a fan of Thain, that you would have known about it already. There are a lot of points in their songs that remind me of early Chicago. Very progressive and daring. I love that style of music.
   You can definitely hear the roots of Thain's style that he expanded upon later when he joined the Heep. I miss the creativity of that period in music history.

    Harley 8)
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tomy

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Re: Alembic basses
« Reply #59 on: Time Format »

Hey Tomy, cool, have lots of fun  :thumb-up: , and you'll need a MB1 patch (or 2) for it ??

Nope, on stage with this band I use my  gallien krueger 700rb-II/210 combo, its shape hallows me to use it as monitor. When gig is bigger then i use my ada stack.
« Last Edit: Time Format by tomy »
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