Alembic basses

[Peter H. Boer]

Indeed that's the point of the dummy coil. Picking up hum in 180dgr phase, while not picking up string movement due to the lack of magnets.
This way you get humbucking silence but single coil sound.

[rnolan]

http://www.frettech.com/frettech/dummy/index.html is a decent explanation on how to make one. So you can wire it series or parallel.

[MarshallJMP]

Nice article ! 

[rnolan]

Seemed to explain it pretty well 

Well bass arrived today  :whoohoo!: , very nice but needs to be played in. Also it falls away to the left (machine head end) like an SG does as it has the strap mount on the back of the neck and also leans forward at the top (again because of the mount point) .  While I knew it used that style strap mount, I didn't expect it to be unbalanced :-(. My Anderson (being one of his first made) was also like this when I bought it, so I moved the strap mount to the upper horn (same as a strat), much better, and he adopted that in his later instruments. (quandary, do I drill a hole in it and relocate the strap mount to the upper horn...) So haven't plugged it in yet, just letting it get acclimatised, it's freezing here and its come from Florida (where it's hot no doubt). As it warms up I'll set it up, they have it set low (as I asked for that) but I can squeeze a bit more out of it.
Neck is beautiful, as is the workmanship.

[Harley Hexxe]

Congrats Richard,

   Now...go play yer guitar!!! :banana-guitar:

           

[rnolan]

Thanks Harley, pics earlier in this thread BTW

[Harley Hexxe]

Yes, I saw those, but is that the actual bass guitar you got?

    Harley 8)

[tomy]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL  RICK ! :whoohoo!:  ;D  ;) :)   :))    :banana-rock:   

Am I wrong or it is Stanley's tenor signature model ?

Does your wife like your new bass ? ;D

[rnolan]

Yes, I saw those, but is that the actual bass guitar you got?

Hey Harley, that it is my friend, the one and only (no 2 Alembics are the same).  As I said to the guys at bass central (great guys to do business with BTW), I want that one and only that one.

Hey Tomy,  :whoohoo!: . I don't know about the signature tenor model.  This one is the brown series variation of the stanley clark model (that they designed for him years ago), and the electrics are based on the series 1 ?? I'm still finding stuff out. It has FatBoy PUs (allegedly a bit more bottom end, good for a short scale (30.75")) and "small" body.  The neck is even thinner (nut width) than SCs original apparently.

Well my ex wife (hasn't seen it in the flesh yet) but is supportive, actually, I wouldn't have the Anderson if she hadn't been my partner back then.

[rnolan]

So gave it 24 hours to acclimatise, cold and dry air here.  Set it up tonight (~1/4 turn on each truss rod) and got the neck relief nice and low. Then dropped the action a fair bit.. wow, nice guitar to set up, came up really well.  Then finally plugged it in (ADA MB1  > desk > studio monitors), love the sound(s), and now lots of experimenting to do...
Only complaint is it falls away to the left (neck heavy), Mica at Alembic has been making some suggestions to help, apparently SC models are neck heavy.  So will maybe try a 4" wide strap with suede which should help. I played it at rehearsal tonight (I'm usually the lead guitarist LoL), loved it, so nice to play and sounds so great.  Although my fingers are very sore, but they will adapt. It's a very responsive instrument, which really suits my stage of playing, captures all the nuances in both left and right hand.  I need to get some Mullard long plates for the MB1, I recon they will go well with this bass.

[tomy]

Hey Rick,

Some bass players never get it  with the falling neck. it is really usual with alembic. Some other don't like the shoRt upper horn too (they feel being backyard to the neck). So even they love the tone, they don't fit with this kind of bass. anyway I'm sure you won't regret !

Mine is a serie 2 with 7 pots on, the pots config is :

-1xPU selector (neck, both, bridge, none)
-2x Volume (neck bridge)
-2x low pass filter (neck, bridge)
-2x CVQ(neck, bridge)

[MikeB]

So, i was at the unveiling of this bass. I'll preface my remarks by stating that i did counsel Richard pretty strongly against making this purchase. But, it's done so let's get on with admiring the damn thing. First impressions are that it is beautiful and really nicely put together. Felt really easy to play, although i don't have a lot of experience with basses. Richard then plugged it into his mb1 and flicked through a couple of factory presets. 30 seconds later and he was producing some really sweet bass tones. What a great combination. I look forward to hearing what he can get once he's more familiar with the instrument and the amp (and stops playing the bass like a guitar player).

[rnolan]

I bought a 3.5 " wide strap today. It has suede back which helps a bit with the balance.

Hey Tomy, electrics (supposed to be similar to series one ?):
-1xPU selector (neck, both, bridge, none) The "both" position is very loud compared to either PU on their own, unlike a guitar
-2x Volume (neck bridge)
-2x low pass filter (neck, bridge)
-2x Q switch (neck, bridge)
Mono/Stereo output switch (RTS)
LEDs on/off switch (which are purple with amber 12th and 24th fret)
Can't say I'm a fan of the filters yet but it's early days.  For now I have them full open.

Can you post some of your Alembic MB1 patches for me to try, and also any others, seems Peter is the only one who's posted any MB1 patches to the MB1 patches child board.

[tomy]

Hey rick, Since i 've redone my whole setup, I erased all the presets. I haven't made for alembic yet. I made some for factor kubicki, ken smith, Yamaha attitude... not really more. It take me a while to create new presets. But, no doubt i'll share as soon as I have some.

how many battery do you have inside your bass ? Will you use The stereo outs ?

[rnolan]

Hey Tomy, no worries.  I found preset 14 sounds quite good so far but I haven't fiddled with it yet.

So I cracked open the battery cover, it's got 3 x 9v Durocells in it. Wouldn't mind getting circuit diagram of it.

Not sure if/when I'll use the stereo outs, from what I've read so far you get one PU on each channel.  So if I wanted to do totally independent things to each PU, I could.  I could give each PU it's own MB1, and or mixer channel (then eq/FX). First I need to play more like a bass player and less like a lead guitarist  .