Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Showcase => Series I Basses and Guitars => Topic started by: jazzyvee on August 30, 2016, 06:40:12 AM
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Whoops I did it again. This just arrived today so I guess technically it's NBD. As the description it's a Series I 5 string Europa in burl redwood back and front, Maple body laminates and mahogany core. The neck is that legendary recipe of maple and ebony and the hardware is chrome. I bought it from the same collector in Germany whom I got the burl maple bass from about 3 years back. It is immaculate and since as a collector his view is that it should not be played, that clearly shows in it's superb condition with no playing marks at all. I've been round it and checked everything the cavities etc and it's pristine.
Not had a proper play yet just played it through my PJB big head head phone amp and it sounds like you expect an series I go sound. Great!!!
The strings are apparently original and look like Alembic strings and show some sighs of corrosion under the wrap at the headstock end so I will change them before I do a gig with it.
Pictures... who said pictures. These are from the seller and I will take more at some point I'm sure.
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Wow! Simply beautiful. (How do you FIND these gorgeous things?)
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Nice bass Jazzy... congrats!
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I do wonder that myself growlypants. It seems that when i have the money for another alembic, along comes a perfect one for the money i have. I have known about this one for about 3 years but the guy wasnt in a hurry to sell so he said he was quite happy to wait till i had the money. Then he contacted me recently with a much better price so bingo. Unfortunately also the pound is much weaker against the Euro so it wasn't cheap but good for here and i'm happy with it. He still has alembic basses in perfect condition including a classico but no more series basses. He doesnt want to advertise because some people are not serious and just want pictures. But if anyone is interested pm me and i can send details to him to contact you directly.
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Congratulations, Jazzy. You're building a pretty impressive stable of Alembics!
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That's a great looking bass.I'm starting to get a little jealous of your good fortune and collection. ;)
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Good fortune indeed. Nice.
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Stunning, again!
Congrats!
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Looks like you're going to need a bigger music room!
Great looking bass I really like the burl Redwood.
Congratulations and play it healthy
slawie
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And now it's time to play that thing! Let the music free! After the first ding, it will sound much better.
Only partially kidding because after it gets a few owner's marks, then you can forget about collector's value and put it to work to do what it was meant to do.
I love your collection and I love that you know how to play them all.
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Sweet looking bass, nice score indeed! Look forward to hearing how it compares sonically with your other Series basses after you gig with it.
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Edwin, I have a couple of gigs in my diary this month and next so there should be an opportunity to give it some live experience.
I've been playing it so much over the past couple of days and thankfully it does have it's own voice compared to my other series basses. I'm still blown away by it. It's 16 years old, still has original strings, that are showing signs of corrosion under the silk at the headstock but soundwise they sound almost as bright as a new set of strings. There is only one ding on the tip of the headstock which is about 1mm in size other than that i'ts absolutely spotless no signs of playing no fret-wear or smoothing of pickups from contact with fingers, chrome plating is flawless. It's like brand new, there were not even batteries inside as it don't even think the covers were ever removed as it was quite a challenge to get them off. Interesting that the three continuous backplates are fixed to brass plates which is not the case on my other two newer basses with continuous backplates. I guess it helps with the balance and durability. It really is like brand new and the sound is incredible just like i expected.
StephenR, as well as this bass I have a series I and a series II Europa and when comparing them like this I tend to do it with the filters fully open and no Q then fully closed again without q because thats easier to reproduce and compare kind of like for like. On first impressions and playing at home the differences I would describe as this. The two basses with the ebony neck laminations seem to have more of the fundamental note that you play plus more of the higher overtones than the lower ones so they sound extremely clean, punchy and more sparkly toned and if you move the filters they seem to respond more audibly to smaller tweaks. Playing harmonics is much easier and they are louder and the notes sustain much longer. The series I with purpleheart neck lams has less of a pronounced fundamental in comparison but more of the warmer overtones and less of the higher overtones so the bass has a very big warm bassy tone and a little less of the higher overtones. What i do like about all of them is that even when the filters are completey closed there are still enough of the mids and higher frequencies in the output to stop the notes becoming woolly and indestinct but not so much that it competes with the bottom end. The twist in the tail is that all of them have the neck pickup in a slightly different place which makes a big difference to what is being picked up from the moving string so that really makes it harder for me categorically attribute things definitively to the woods that make up the bass. But it gives me three different sounding basses I can choose from.
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Fantastic! Congratulations!
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Thanks for the overview! If you ever get the time, it would be great to get a video demonstration of them, maybe plugged in direct.
Again, a fantastic collection you have!
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Absolutely amazing! You got yourself such a fantastic stable at this point that you are pushing Pierre for the best in the European Union....oops I mean Europe prize. I can smell a purchase in the near future from our friend on the continent.
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Fabulous bass. So glad you got it out of the hands of a collector. Gig it all over, and then some. It's exceptionally pretty!
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Thanks Nigel, it is exceptionally pretty and I will be doing as many gigs as I can with it until I get the feel of it's sound then I can get a use it for which gigs it's best suited. I know alembics work with everything but when you can choose you do choose. :-)
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Looks like it will be getting it's first gig on Sunday night. Just re-strung it with some Pro-steels and what a change from the 16 year old strings that still sound great but probably not a good idea to trust them not to break on a gig.
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Looking forward to your review Jazzy. I'm curious how it measures up against your other Alembics.
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And we know that pictures never fully translates all alembic's beauty, don't we? I just can imagine... this redwood is amazing!
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Hammer, not sure about buying but our friend in the continent just sold his quilted maple MK Balance K 4 string to the bass player in the big band I play with. I saw it last night and had a quick play before rehearsal.
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Beautiful bass, Jazzyvee :)
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Jazzy, sweeeeeet! That is a beautiful work of art and I know that you will have that baby singing like never before! Congratulations on snagging it!
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Here is a clip of the bass in action on my latest gig 3rd March 2017
https://youtu.be/UQ2RLXLrOLM (https://youtu.be/UQ2RLXLrOLM)
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I've posted more on you tube so you can hear the more of my Series I Europa bass. Youtube does stuff to the sound apparently but you can still hear the thick rich tone. I was using rack system in mono with F1-x, through the SF-2 that was adding a small amout of bottom end at about 120hz to make the sound a bit richer on the quieter tracks, then into my QSC power amp and finally my 4x10 mesa boogie cab. The building decor in that area is all hard surfaces, marble floors we are stood in front of a large glass window with steel bracings and fixings and high ceiling so the sf-2 warmed up the bass a bit. Part way thorough the gig the sound guy asked me to take some of the bottom end out so I turned to gain off on the SF-2.
All the bass in the recording is from my backline, there is no bass through the PA at all.
https://youtu.be/UQ2RLXLrOLM?list=PL83iJEMd_7jxd_yeVBdTFcv3p6zJGQUDn (https://youtu.be/UQ2RLXLrOLM?list=PL83iJEMd_7jxd_yeVBdTFcv3p6zJGQUDn)
PS: Mica you are correct this bass is great for reggae!
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My 5th trip round the sun with this bass will complete today.
It’s my favourite looking of all my basses.
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That is one beautiful bass…and lots of ebony in that neck :)
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Thanks, it is a heavy bass to carry for a long gig.
I guess ebony and redwood plus redwood mounted brass backplates adds more.
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Six trips around the sun since i bought this bass and it took 8 days to get here. The sound is incredible. If it were possible and easy to get done without sending it back to alembic, this would benefit from being a series II.
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That’s a very cool bass :)
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That bass suits you well, Jazzy. 8)
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Yeah it does and if i'm honest it's my favourite and I would love to treat it to a conversion to series II. Bump to alembic for a series I to II conversion kit. ;-)
I already have a stash of dual gang pots (although not sure if they are master volume pots), so possibly would just need to convert the Q switches to CVQ's.
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Maybe talk to George’s father, I think he converted one of his to CVQ switches.