ACG Sound Samples/Demos?

[Krikcet]

This is my first time posting to Basschat, so I hope this is in the right place.

 

I've been going down a rabbit hole with ACG and I've seen nothing but glowing reviews of both Alan and his builds. However, there are not many demos/sound samples available, specifically for the MC/DFM combo. 

I've scoured YouTube, and there are some nice videos of ACG owners playing their instruments, but I'd love to see someone show the flexibility and characteristics of all of the ACG pickups/preamps, especially the MC/DFM setup.

 

Is there a hidden repository that I've just not stumbled upon yet? Or would it be possible to convince some ACG owners to upload some demos?

 

Thanks all!

[BassApprentice]

Did you find this video?

 

Demo featuring the Über Finn R Type with DFM pre-amp and MC5 pickups.

 

 

[Krikcet]

Yes I did see that video, and it's a great start, but I crave more!

[BassApprentice]

Paging @eude  @ead @binky_bass as I believe they have all owned/currently own multiple ACGs

[eude]

I haven't really got much recorded to show off the DFM preamp I'm afraid, but I have a video of my fretless 6er, which has the DFM, but no MC pickups.

 

I also posted some recordings of some Flea lines in another thread, trying to ape his tone on Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

This is was my Uber Finn 5er, which has the MC pickups and a DFM preamp.

Hope that helps!

On a side note, I you certainly won't be disappointed if you go for an ACG, they are incredible instruments!

 

Eude

[ead]

Apologies, nothing much to offer on this topic.

[Krikcet]

1 hour ago, eude said:

On a side note, I you certainly won't be disappointed if you go for an ACG, they are incredible instruments!

That's what I've heard! They look incredible, and I'm just trying to decide what configuration I want. Clearly the MC pickups are Wal-inspired, and I see a lot of people going for the Wal tone with them, but I've heard some people say the ACG filters are a bit more Alembic-y. Do you, or anyone, have any insight on that subject? I occasionally play in a Grateful Dead outfit, so being able to lean towards the Alembic tone would be pretty useful. 

 

Your clips sound great, by the way.

[eude]

3 hours ago, Krikcet said:

That's what I've heard! They look incredible, and I'm just trying to decide what configuration I want. Clearly the MC pickups are Wal-inspired, and I see a lot of people going for the Wal tone with them, but I've heard some people say the ACG filters are a bit more Alembic-y. Do you, or anyone, have any insight on that subject? I occasionally play in a Grateful Dead outfit, so being able to lean towards the Alembic tone would be pretty useful. 

 

Your clips sound great, by the way.

Very kind of you dude.

 

The MC pickups are very much a full range pickup, very clear, powerful and even across the range of the bass. The regular B Series pickups are very very good too however, but each different model has it's own tonal input to be the mix, PB is a split coil P style, FB is a stacked sidewinder humbucker, SB is a single coil and the RFB is a side by side Musicman type are arrangement.

 

I would agree that the preamp is probably more Alembic than Wal in flavour, as the range of the ACG filters is much wider than the Wal, like the Alembic, but you also have more control over the filter frequency, as you can adjust the level on the fly.

The DFM also has a global mid/treble stack, whereas the EQ01 has a high pass filter, both are a really nice addition, beyond the limits of a Wal preamp. You can also add a passive tone knob too, which can be useful.

 

I don't think you'd have any trouble getting some Grateful Dead tones using either ACG filter preamp.

 

Where are you with your specs so far?

Edited February 14 by eude

[Krikcet]

1 hour ago, eude said:

Where are you with your specs so far?

Thanks for the great info! 

I'm just getting started, so I haven't made too many decisions yet. I'm sort of leaning towards either a RetroB or a Finn 5 string (or 6 😬) with the MC/DFM5k arrangement. I love his more adventurous shapes, but I play in a country band mainly, and I need to consider the stage presence of the instrument as well. 

 

I'm tempted to go 33" scale, but I'm nervous that the B string would suffer, so I'll probably go 34-35".

 

So many options!

[eude]

1 hour ago, Krikcet said:

Thanks for the great info! 

I'm just getting started, so I haven't made too many decisions yet. I'm sort of leaning towards either a RetroB or a Finn 5 string (or 6 😬) with the MC/DFM5k arrangement. I love his more adventurous shapes, but I play in a country band mainly, and I need to consider the stage presence of the instrument as well. 

 

I'm tempted to go 33" scale, but I'm nervous that the B string would suffer, so I'll probably go 34-35".

 

So many options!

If you're going for a 6, I would lean towards the RetroB for better lap balance, and I guess it would be a better fit for your band.

The 33" scale thing, I wouldn't worry one bit, I play 31.5" scale ACGs now, 4s, 5s and 6s and the low Bs are fantastic, 33" will be just fine. All my original ACGs were 33" and I never had an issues.

[binky_bass]

I have 5 ACGs at the moment, I think I've owned another 5 or 6 over the years. I have two 33" 6ers, a 34" 9 string, a 24" 6 string and a 7 string headless guitar. All are fantastic beasts. The 34" 9 is absolutely crystal clear across the strings - the glassy clarity of the treble strings really makes for a writers instrument. The two 33" 6ers are both Salace E-Type basses - my personal favourite body shape by far for looks and ergonomics. The Bs are perfectly useable, I'd suggest buying the ACG specific 33" Newtone Strings. The 24" 6er does suffer a little bit when played unplugged in terms of feel and sound because of the much shorter scale, but still sounds massive plugged in. For context, I've owned at least one of almost all known bass brands over the years from the cheap to the highest end boutique basses money can buy and ACG (as well as Conklin, BeeBasses and Warwick) are the ones I always come back to and certainly the ones I have owned the most of! It helps that Alan is a great guy to order a custom bass from, plenty of regular communication, questions answered very quickly and photos sent all along the journey. Sound wise, the below song was recorded with a 33" ACG Salace E-Type 6 string.

 

https://open.spotify.com/track/3PQ5cf4uIpFgrZJojwHbMH?si=z0oZY-F7SgeW0ZoWP-tL0A&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3rKKrxENJGOLArJ4sxEFpq

 

This is the 9 string (when I was 7 stone heavier!)

 

 

This is a Salace 6 33" (a very quick demo):

 

 

And this is the 7 string guitar a few years ago with me just noodling about:

 

 

Hope that helps! Happy to answer and questions should you have any.

 

Russ.

Edited February 16 by binky_bass

[Krikcet]

On 14/02/2025 at 17:41, eude said:

All my original ACGs were 33" and I never had an issues.

Awesome! I think that might be the move.

 

3 hours ago, binky_bass said:

The Bs are perfectly useable, I'd suggest buying the ACG specific 33" Newtone Strings

Thanks for the tip. Those clips sound great. 

 

Alan really seems to have some devoted fans. I haven't really seen a single negative review apart from some people saying the filter preamps were a bit complicated, but that's exactly what I'm looking for. It seems like the DFM has some detents on the lower knobs, too, so that should make it relatively easy to keep track of a few sweet spots.

[eude]

8 hours ago, Krikcet said:

Awesome! I think that might be the move.

 

Thanks for the tip. Those clips sound great. 

 

Alan really seems to have some devoted fans. I haven't really seen a single negative review apart from some people saying the filter preamps were a bit complicated, but that's exactly what I'm looking for. It seems like the DFM has some detents on the lower knobs, too, so that should make it relatively easy to keep track of a few sweet spots.

I would thoroughly recommend going with 33", shorter if you dare too

Also, Newtones are brilliant strings, and perfect for ACGs, hex core nickels being my favourites, but before I rediscovered Newtones (long story), I had no issues using other strings manufacturers too, DR, Dunlop, D'Addario etcs.

You might end up with a little more of the string on the tuner than you would prefer, but it doesn't effect anything happening between the nut and the bridge, and if you ask nicely, you could ask Alan to make the B and E strings string through, which would take up any excess length.

[Krikcet]

5 hours ago, eude said:

if you ask nicely,

I will absolutely be asking nicely. 

[ead]

I had the MC pickups and DFM pre in a fretless 5er that has sadly had to go due to my arthritis.  They are a heavenly match and give you so many options to choose from.  Highly recommended.

 

[Krikcet]

That's a beauty! Sorry to hear about the arthritis.

[MJJS]

 

A pair of 30.5” Salace basses,

B - C with no problems.

 

Both have DFMs, but not the MCs.

 

The fretted one (352 on the ACG site) can produce a very convincing Alembic style sound when “popped” on the treble side.

 

The Wal sound is also closely produced by the fretless (552). I am lucky enough to own a Wal mk2 5 so have compared of course. The trick here I find is to tune your filter to a frequency of interest within your rif to feature it.

 

Good luck!

[MJJS]

 

 

 

Two sound samples, an Alembic SC Sig bass playing a start of a track, then the Salace in the same position and then the Salace in the correct position that shows more of the Salace range.

 

The Wal one has a noodle on a Wal Mk2 5 and an ACG Salace 6 in Bm. Both have flats on.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

[Krikcet]

33 minutes ago, MJJS said:

Hope that helps

That does help! You can really hear the difference between the ACGs, the Wal, and the Alembic. Very interesting. Thanks a lot!

[Sibob]

FWIW, I recorded the (shortlived) Basschat podcast theme tune with my (at the time) ACG Krell 6 String (U-Retro, not filter Pre).

 

Si