jazzyvee

The idea behind the alembic bridge is not as much to do with tone but to keep as much of the energy you impart on the string as possible, in the string with less of that energy being dissipated and absorbed into the body of the instrument. Hence the use of a heavy dense brass construction for the nut, tailpiece and the machined brass bridge on some models mounted onto a large heavy brass sustain block. This should help sustain. I think many things about bass design and construction affect how the bass guitar will sound and perform. Some are like the emperor's new clothes, some have extremely marginal effects and some have a big effect many are hard isolate individually and may not even be noticeable in the context of a gig. But a number of items in the right places will most likely be noticeable. Sustain is not the be all and end all of a great bass sound but I'd rather have it and learn to control it rather than have hardly any and try to find a way to get more. Here is a vintage bridge with the block mount. A more modern Chrome plated version

Good to hear you had a good experience on your first outing with your alembic. I was out on two festivals with mine this weekend too. There are some similarities with the series II and the SF-2 but the SF-2 is more featured. Low pass, High Pass and band pass modes and the frequency control goes down I think to 40hz. I've had one for almost as long as I've had an alembic and rarely use it, but when I do it's usually for a heavier bottom end on reggae gigs If I have cabs that can take it. It's a great bit of kit and gives you access to that series bass sound. .There are a few basses that alembic have made with one or two channels of the SF-2 built into the bass.!!!

I think putting the battery behind the headstock is a practical non invasive strategy and I can't imagine how it would be done on the body without getting in the way or requiring mods/routing to hold the battery and cable. It's a very lightweight plastic battery holder and uses those coin sized batteries so is very light. those short scale alembics are noted for nose diving but I haven't noticed any increase in that from the installation. I personally have not had any problems with this type of fret led. The previous version of the Fretfx held two AAA or AA , ( not sure exactly), batteries and had two switchable differing brightness levels. I've had that on one bass I think since about 2007 ish and the plastic that goes over the nut has gone brittle and broken away leaving the wire exposed and sometimes it shorts out on the nut/ I used to put some tape over it but it looks fugly! But the type I have on now is fine.

These were taken in a room in the daytime with curtains closed so subdued light and the battery is about 18 months old.

Yeah it is a sticky backed led strip which is slim. I use my thumb round the neck sometimes to silence open B and E strings when slapping so that extra couple of millimitres are noticeable at first but soon you get used to it and it's not a big part of my playing so they have never been a problem.

Sure thing, I will see if i can get some time today to tale some pics.

I think mine were about £90 each.

For anyone looking for after market side LEDs then I can recommend Fretfx. have them on all my basses that don't have led's installed at manufacture. Other than that Simms do them at far greater cost but I hear good things about his work.

I think I know who that bass player is and if I'm right I have played that bass too. 🙂 LED's are available for all their models and the series II they come as standard all others are optional. I have side LEDs on mine and whilst they are a great asset, after a while you kind of forget they are there, until someone points them out. Front ones are more for show in my view and I personally wouldn't spec them as the cost would be better spent on the sound and other ergonomic preferences on the bass. However if i found a great bass, having front LED's wouldn't stop me buying the bass but i'd keep them turned off.

I prefer analogue however, I don't use effects on bass at all but the guitarist side of me does. I have always preferred the analogue effects. Not because they do their sound changing job better than digital but because the natural tone of the guitar is less compromised when the pedal is on or bypassed/off than with digital. I have found if I plug direct into my amp with nothing in between, that gives me the best sound and is what I do mostly, if I plug into an analogue pedal with it off, then there is sometimes a slight change the tone of my guitar and I guess that is less with a true bypass pedal. However, Digital effects to me seem to remove a lot of the tone out of an instrument especially bottom and lower mids and seem to accentuate the highs and hence sound thin. When I was touring the band leader wanted lots of effects on the guitar as it was Indian/reggae fusion so after trying a few multi effects pedals I settled on a boss unit first and after a day trying it out at home and at rehearsal i hated it and swapped for a Line 6 XT-Pro which was marginally better. Unfortunately both of them stripped the life out of my guitar tone and when I called both companies for advice on why that was I was told that even with everything off the signal still goes through the ADDA converter and if you want to keep your natural tone you need to programme it back in using the EQ settings!!! In the end i got an AB line switcher and only switched in the digital unit when I needed those effects and kept it out of the loop most of the time. I appreciate there may have been a huge improvement in the technology now as the two guitarists in my main band use Boss muiti effects units and swear by them but there is still a big difference between their natural guitar sounds and the sound through the pedal with it off. They are both good players and the pedals are part of their sound and it works for them. If I end up using pedals on bass it will be analogue unless the digital technology has improved massively. Either way I think I would prefer to have some kind of blender so I can always have the dry signal and add as much or as little of the effects to it rather than have the whole bass signal with the effect on. LONG LIVE ANALOGUE!

Bass direct?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suddenly going out to buy a Fender P, it's just that this was the first one that Ive heard live that had a sound I could recognise from what people on forums have described as a classic P-Bass tone. In actual fact I have had my own Alembic P-style bass for about 11 years and it sounds awesome, but when I bought it I was more of a guitarist and wanted a bass for writing and I knew nothing about P-basses and their distinctive tone. I've done a few gigs with it and used it on jam/open mic sessions but I have to say it gets the least playing time since it has a particular tone that for me doesn't fit with most of the stuff I do. http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/35752.jpg

In the past I'd never really paid much attention to P-basses, when I'd heard them on gigs they pretty much didn't move me at all, but on Saturday night I had a gig at a 60th birthday playing bass with a Stevie Wonder Tribute band. The birthday boy played in his trio before we hit the stage and had a well used and loved i guess Fender P-bass and man...... the sound was incredible. Full warm and punchy just the kind of sound I read that so many on here love about them and not the dull thud I'd been hearing a lot in the past!

At the risk of exposing my ignorance about these two basses, I'd be inclined to swap the necks and get the maple neck on the jazz bass then sell the P bass. 🙂

Wow, that must be a hard choice to make when it doesn't sound like you really want to sell either. Fortunately, whenever my other half knows I'm interested in another bass, she encourages me to buy it, she even comes along with me to collect it.!!!

What he said ^

It's not that I don't find a difference in sound from basses generally, and I have no axe to grind with any make of bass or player at all, it's just that I think most of the bass players "I hear on gigs" play with a fender type of sound so even if the bass isn't a fender it's eq'd so that the tonality is in that ball park and the differences become subtle. Now that may be the player's decision, the design of the bass itself or the FOH engineer making that call. Who knows what is the strongest element. But it does start with the bass and the player. I don't dislike the fender sound at all but for my personal sound, I wanted something that started off not aiming for that sound hence me getting an alembic.

OK good call. I must add I'm no expert on basses or the business of bass. One of the reasons I read and participate in this site is to learn. Anyway, here are the basses I've owned, whilst I was a guitarist so never played them enought to gain any insight to bass tone really. I used them mainly for working out song ideas and the occasional once in a blue moon gig or jam. ( I did learn that none of them could make my fingers sound the way I wanted them too) 1970's Woolworth bass, Washburn Falcon 4 string bass, Wasburn Force ABT (5 string) hope I got the model right, Musicman Sterling 4. (the last one I had for about 3 years and sold about 2007). Other than that the basses I've actually played over the last 10 years are: One Fender Victor Bailey Jazz bass, maybe about 3 other Fender Jazz basses, a warwick bass, a steinberger, Fodera Anthony Jackson & Yin Yang, Wal fretless, Ritter R8, Roya and Corsa, a couple of Jaydee bass, an old antoria semi acoustic short scale bass and most of those were during one afternoon at the Bass Gear shop. Out of those, I didn't get a wow factor or GAS from playing any of them and the ones that made my fingers sound the best was the jaydee and the Victor Bailey Signature bass. That said I can't see myself buying any of them, though never say never and they all make other musicians fingers sound good when I've heard them being played. :-) I hope that answers your question. :-)

Hmm, I thought all basses sound the same, it's the fingers that make them sound different........ I''ll get my coat....

I'm gigging with a new Stevie Wonder Tribute band called Know Wonder started by Dennis Seaton, ( Musical Youth), at the Jam House Birmingham on Thursday 17th May. http://www.thejamhouse.com/birmingham/live-music/event/4794/know-wonder-may-2018.htm

I have to head out at 14:00 for a gig at The Avenue in Chesterfield with Musical Youth. If anyone is up that way and going to the gig, feel free to come over and have a nerdy basschat. I'm tame and approachabe even though I look serious when on stage.

Well isn't that interesting, I prefer the those very ones that fit outside your rule. So we won't be in any competitions for 5 string basses anytime soon. :-). But I've run out of GAS now so no new gear for me anytime soon apart from replacing anything that gets broken or worn out. If I was going up to sixers I'd go for a 4 + 2 on an angled headstock or 3 + 3 on a non angled one.