Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: pace on April 18, 2011, 05:39:58 PM

Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: pace on April 18, 2011, 05:39:58 PM
PUT THEM IN A BASS..... LOL......
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/102311.jpg)
 
I couldn't have picked a better transplant recipient for you JOEY!!!
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: bigredbass on April 18, 2011, 11:44:20 PM
OK, I fell off the wrong side of the bed today, Mike, what am I missing here . . . . ?
 
J o e y
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: rustyg61 on April 19, 2011, 01:05:32 AM
Something to do with a Big Red Bass?
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: pace on April 19, 2011, 03:09:01 AM
and your LOVE for Gibsons!!!!
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: sonicus on April 19, 2011, 06:35:14 AM
LOL  , Well at least you guys picked out a Want To Be AlembicBass  and not one of those Gibson Bass's with those strange 3 post tilt bridges.  LOL_______
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: tbrannon on April 19, 2011, 07:49:22 AM
Is that a Warwick bridge and tailpiece?
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: sonicus on April 19, 2011, 07:59:04 AM
This bridge & tailpiece were offered by Gibson on some Les Paul Bass issues at some point . I played one at the Guitar show in Marin Co, Ca, last year.  Warwick has had a similar looking one.
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: 811952 on April 19, 2011, 08:19:22 AM
I bet that thing sounds...  HEAVY!  ;)
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: sonicus on April 19, 2011, 11:31:57 AM
JA !___  Bend those Minor Thirds___1,3,1.3,1,3,1_______
(Spoonful)
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: pace on April 19, 2011, 06:24:19 PM
This is a '96 LPB3 Les Paul Standard bass.  
 
This is one of the last ones before the three point bridge, chambered body, and toggle switch were introduced. I'm pretty sure that this bridge is licensed thru Warwick.  
 
I've had this bass for a long time, but have always been turned off by how the original Bart electronics represented this bass's acoustic attributes. The Alembic HG Activators are a perfect swap for the original TB+ ceramic pickups, and the Bart TCT preamp has been replaced with Alembic Vol, Vol, Bass+/-, Treble+/-. At first I was hesitant of not having a low pass filter on this bass, because that IS the Alembic sound... BUT.... This is my first set of Activators with two volumes, and because of the pickup placement I'm able to get similar EQ curves by slightly rolling back one pickup or the other!  
 
Once Activated I have to admit that this isn't anything like my EBO (alas, no Spoonful).... But it does have some of that early Phil vibe, along with all the clank that the older Gibsons were known for!!!!
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: sonicus on April 19, 2011, 06:54:11 PM
LOL. I was joking with the spoonful in response to 811952.
Honestly , when I checked out a similar Bass @ the Guitar show I was thinking the same as you did and to put Alembic Activators in it.  Early Phil vibe is WAY COOL, his ALembic modified EB-3  had some cool visceral growl ______
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: bigredbass on April 19, 2011, 10:25:11 PM
OK, NOW I get it.
 
That is certainly an upgrade and I would bet my next paycheck that indeed, it does not sound like an EB-O.  NICE COLOR.  Really nice axe, Mike, deinitely  cool dropping a 'crate motor' into this bass.
 
(BTW, HipShot is making a very nice replacement for that 3-point abomination of a bridge:  The technically astute who are not stuck to that vintage look might want to consider it.  Uses the same three studs, nice piece.)
 
So I feel like I've paid appropriate appreciation to this newly upgraded axe, and Mike, I really appreciate you thinking of me, nice to not see one more wood-toned bass.  Thanks a lot.  And in an attempt to acknowledge my part in this conversation, I did, back in the day, buy a brand new Ripper in natural, followed by a sunburst RD Artist, surely the heaviest bass ever manufactured upon the North American continent.  So I'm certainly an accessory and culpable for that time period.  
 
But that was then . . . . and this is now.
 
 
 
So . . . . Gibson makes basses ? ? ?  
 
J o e y
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: bigredbass on April 19, 2011, 10:35:32 PM
. . . . I'll even go as far as to admit a certain (surely perverse, or some as-yet undiagnosed problem between-the-ears) desire for an LP Bass, preferably not from 'Good is Only Gibson Enough' (my favorite scrambled re-write of that slogan).  Sure enough I found this, and thankfully I've not bugged Susan to ask who to talk to a IKEBE to round me one up:
 
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/original/E-LB-135CD.html (http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/original/E-LB-135CD.html)
 
From ESP's affordable line, only available in the Far East, luckily for me.  Trade out the Seymours for those EMG's from the Steinberger XL's, add a BTS Circuit, and rewire the selector for a standby and I'd be off to the races.  Plus, it would be a hoot to run around NashVegas with a lawsuit bass !
 
Or it might be more fun to get one of those EBay Chinese Gilsons . . . .
 
I was told nobody my age was innocent anymore, but THIS wasn't the kind of thing I though I'd get caught out on.  Geez . . . . .
 
J o e y
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: hieronymous on April 19, 2011, 10:57:46 PM
I'm a fan of both Alembic and Gibson (and Rickenbacker and Guild and Fender too) - I'm diggin' the Les Paul!  
 
Question for you - do the guitar pickups perform in the bass department? The reason I ask is, I have a Fender Japan Bass VI reissue, but don't like the pickups. Have thought of putting Strat-Activators in it - think it would work?
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: pace on April 20, 2011, 04:03:18 AM
Harry, the Orion Baritone that I owned had these same pups in it.... Back then I was going A-A, so I knew that the HG's would respond to the low E fine.... Same Bass & Treb +/- as the Orion too!  
 
I think that the Strat style activators would work in a Bass VI, but are the ears set at the same length??
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: tbrannon on April 20, 2011, 07:04:28 AM
Joey said, a sunburst RD Artist, surely the heaviest bass ever manufactured upon the North American continent.
 
I'm guessing you've never hoisted a Peavey T-40?  ;)  Truth be told, I'm sure you have played T-40's before, but they are notoriously heavy and thought they at least deserved honorable mention when discussing boat anchors.
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: bigredbass on April 20, 2011, 08:36:56 AM
Toby, I bought the first T40 that came into our store ($349.50, case included).  Hartley certainly built them to last, but I thought it would make a great 'room clearer' (this tells the experienced just what kind of places I was playing in . . . ).  Even though, the RD (I owned both of these at the same time) was NOTICEABLY heavier.  I think mine was 'one of those basses', an exceptionally heavy one out of a line that was generally heavier than most.  I often wondered if mine was made from railroad ties, then bleached to look like maple.
 
J o e y
Title: Make Alembic guitar pups sound better~ 1 step!
Post by: benson_murrensun on April 20, 2011, 10:40:39 AM
I always thought the T in T-40 stood for tree.