Alembic Electronics?

[philwood]

Has anyone ever upgraded their 'non Alembic bass' to Alembic electronics and if so did it make a huge difference? Thanks!

[Kiwi]

Generally, electronic upgrades will deliver one of two benefits:

1) They'll give you more control over which frequencies are emphasised before the signal hits your amp
2) They'll reproduce more faithfully whatever response the pickups are putting out. This is where headroom becomes important.

Some bass manufacturers have fitted circuits to their instruments that colour the sound using fixed frequency boosts. I couldn't tell you who they were however although I have a few hunches.

Re: Alembic electronics, it depends on the upgrade. Alembic offer a single filter wiring loom along with sets of their aviator pickups and I have a set fitted to my Pedulla Pentabuzz.

What you can expect is very hifi frequency response. I'm not so keen on the filter as it only allows control over treble, not bass. There have been times when I would have liked to dial up the bass a little.

If you want to go down the Series II or I route, the electronics from Alembic direct cost a small fortune. There is a company on fleabay called Boogieman who manufacture and offer retrofit electronics for Alembic basses that offer similar functions to the series circuit but caveat emptor there.

Again the filters in the series circuit don't offer a lot of control over bass frequencies.

[White Cloud]

[quote name='philwood' timestamp='1408267280' post='2528391']
Has anyone ever upgraded their 'non Alembic bass' to Alembic electronics and if so did it make a huge difference? Thanks!
[/quote]
The compressed answer is...yes it would make a significant difference.

I always much preferred the electronics package fitted to Wal basses than Alembic. Apparently Alan @ ACG utilises a electronic filter package system that is an improvement over both Alembic and Wal at a significantly cheaper price point.

If you are serious about making this kind of upgrade it would be a folly not to at least touch bass with Alan (a member here "skelf") for advice.

[BassBod]

You can get much of the benefits by using EMG stuff - except the (very expensive) filter eq. EMG have taken a similar path to Alembic, but put the micro electronics into the pickup casing. Has the same general effect, clean pure signal, more string sound..arguably less wood in your sound. Easy retro fit, cheaper and removable.

[jazzyvee]

For a while I put ACG filters in one of my alembic basses and whilst it sounded great and has a wider controllable filter range than alembic it did not sound the same. Earlier this year I put the alembic electronics back in the bass and installed the filters one of my other basses. Kiwi you are correct when you mention Alembic does not a have much ability to manipulate/boost the lowest frequencies. That said I don't usually have any problems with getting a good bottom end from my alembic.

Here is a link to a friend of mine in USA who has added alembic activators to his fender P-bass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCkTk04jT6Y&list=UUJPTKHxB_XKoP1BDy5-yXwQ
You may like the sound.
If you can't find alembic pickups and electronics package, you could try looking for a used Alembic Soundfilter SF-2 which is more or less the same system that is in the series II basses but with wider filter range plus band pass and high pass options..

There have been a few alembic activators on ebay lately but you could always get them direct from Alembic. http://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/jzbtacpic.html

Jazzyvee

[philwood]

Thanks everyone that helps alot!