Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: chinacat on August 13, 2015, 06:22:53 PM

Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: chinacat on August 13, 2015, 06:22:53 PM
On Alembic guitars, where does the OBEL reside in the signal chain from pickups to tone controls to volume-out?  Is there flexibility as to where the OBEL might reside?  Pros/Cons?
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: David Houck on August 13, 2015, 06:39:46 PM
According to the Tribute Owners Manual (http://www.alembic.com/info/manual_tribute.html), each pickup has its own filter and selector switch (off/on/bright); these signals are then fed into a summing amplifier, and then on to the volume control.  By changing the connections inside the control cavity, the effects loop can be inserted before or after the volume control, as shown here (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=256).
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: chinacat on August 13, 2015, 07:02:19 PM
Thanks, Dave.  So the OBEL and output volume control are downstream of the tone filters and summing amplifier, and the flexibility is limited to placing the OBEL before or after the output volume. Got it.
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: David Houck on August 13, 2015, 07:33:34 PM
Since each pickup has it's own filter, I'm guessing it would be somewhat difficult to insert the loop between the pickups and their filters.  Thus it would seem that before and after the volume control would be the only options.
 
However, I suppose one could custom order a layout where the pickups don't have individual filters, and where the one filter could follow the loop.  I don't know; that would be something you would need to discuss with Mica.
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: mica on August 13, 2015, 07:36:23 PM
It's switchable! There's an internal patch to set it to suit your needs.
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: mica on August 13, 2015, 07:46:08 PM
Sorry - I read that in haste. It's switchable before or after the volume control, but the volume is always AFTER the filters. Hope this helps.
Title: OBEL before or after tone controls?
Post by: chinacat on August 13, 2015, 09:12:08 PM
Understood with thanks!