Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Showcase => Artists and Their Alembics => Topic started by: David Houck on August 10, 2005, 02:30:59 PM
-
Since I haven't asked permission to copy them, here's a link (http://www.stevemorse.com/newgallery/curt1.htm), and here's one (http://www.stevemorse.com/newgallery/dd19810603-2.htm).
-
I used to go see these guys every time they blew through New Orleans. I thought that the top on that bass was just gorgeous. I would LOVE to see a better pic of this bass.
-
It is indeed a nice looking bass. I've been a big fan of the Dregs since the first album came out, and saw them several times in Chapel Hill in the seventies. And I loved that bass!
-
The Dregs were just awesome in concert. The first time I saw them a very young Eric Johnson opened the show. EJ was obviously intimidated by the masterful Steve Morse, but Andy West just killed it with some of the hottest licks short of JAE. The last ime I saw them Mark O'Connor had joined and boy! that guy had some incredable chops. They were truly musician's musicians.
-
I saw Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs a few months back. Dave LaRue on bass. Great show.
-
I saw them twice, 12 years ago and about 8 years ago, both times in the same converted movie theater in Boulder, CO. Really intimate venue, really close to the stage. I think the good doctor was on violin the first time, Jerry Goodman (?) the second time. LaRue on bass. Both times were a real treat. Chuckc, I agree completely, truly musician's musicians. It was worth standing outside in line for 45 minutes in 5 degree, 20 mph weather. Being in line that long let us sit 25 feet away from Morse.
Rich
-
I would always try to see them when they came through the Chicago area back in the late 70's early 80's. Used to cover a couple of the Dregs tunes in a band. I still have the Guitar Player magazine with Andy West's interview. I find it interesting when asked who were his biggest bass influences he replied Steve Morse.
Keith
-
Andy with his Alembic
-
WAY back when, I had a lesson with Andy West up in San Rafael, CA. He had a rack of GK heads (don't remember the speakers) and this was in his Steinberger bass days. I was too much in awe to really get much technical information. In the beginning, he asked me to play one of my own lines but interrupted me about 1/3 of the way through to start suggesting alternate fingerings.
Truth be told (and I mean no disrespect -- honest!), I was at least hoping he'd listen long enough to what I was trying to do and let me finish before critiquing me...Oh, well, it was probably a lame line, anyway!
But I was also his last student for the day and he asked if I wanted to join him for lunch! Yeah, like i was going to say, No? We had a great conversation. I used to photograph airshows as a hobby and told him about the SR-71's being stationed at Beale AFB at the time. He's a very technologically oriented guy.
This was also when mirrored aviator glasses were all the rage, but he had a novel use for his. When we sat down at the cafe he took them off and placed them on the table at such an angle that he could see his own reflection in the lenses. Most of us are unaware, but when you sport a beard rivaling Moses', it's easy for bits of food, crud, car keys (just kidding), etc. to constantly become trapped in it without the owner's knowledge. This way he could tell if there was anything in his beard before it became an embarrassment.
I've seen him play with Steinberger, Alembic and I want to say, G. Modulus (?) basses and he was killer each time.
-
Love Andy!
Mario, that link was fabulous, great audio quality.
Here's a Steinberger clip (audio is poor):
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EVA80E6xd8Y&feature=relmfu (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EVA80E6xd8Y&feature=relmfu)
-
Great story, Sam. What a honor!
Love him, too. Paul
-
Great story, Sam. What a honor!
Love him, too. Paul
-
Thanks, Paul. And I meant to say, a G. Gould bass, not G. Modulus.
-
http://www.rrb-live.com/july--2017---dixie-dregs-reincarnation.html
The boys are back in town.
-
I've got to keep an eye on that. Hopefully as the dates fill out they will have something closer to me.
-
Tour dates for the Dixie Dregs - with Andy West - with his Alembic! (http://dixiedregs.com/#about)
-
A photo from a recent show, the current Dregs shows are fantastic...
-
Nice bass!!
-
A happy man with his bass :)
-
Nice pic! :D
-
Well that is great to see Andy slinging an Alembic again. On the liner notes of What If he is credited as "bass innovator".
And as fate would have it my brother has tickets for the April 11th show at the historic Pabst Theater - wonder who he is going to take.... ? ;-)
-
Rob is correct, the Dixie Dregs show was absolutely fantastic. There were several of those "magic musical moments" where you get transported to a different plane... drawn into the layers of music that is perfectly balanced by craftsman and their instruments.
Or maybe that was the gummies my brother had...
Seriously, it was impressive how they still have it. I think the last time I saw them was in 93'. Andy played his Alembic only on Twiggs Approved... kinda dissapointed (I am biased) but it sounded much clearer than his 6-string Modulus (?). But understandable that for someone that plays so many notes that having more strings makes negotiating those killer runs a lot easier. Wonder if he knows that Alembic makes sixer's? ;)
-
Thanks for the show review! Andy is mainly playing his latest custom G. Gould bass on this tour. The body is solid walnut. He has been using Geoff's basses for years. As far as I can tell all the Gould basses he owns are custom models made to his specs. The walnut bass has six-strings on a five-string neck. I think Geoff's basses are fantastic and a lot of them are very light weight which is an extra bonus. Would love to have one with Series electronics but know that will never happen. I have a 2003 cocobolo G. Gould with a wood neck. He doesn't make wood necks anymore only graphite. I didn't care for the profile of the graphite necks as much as the wood one I have.
I watched a video of the recent Dregs show at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, NY. Not familiar with the names of the tunes but on the one tune he used the Alembic for it looked like he was mainly slapping. Guessing he is enjoying re-visiting his old Alembic but is more of a six-string player now.
-
Yes Stephen that is the same song.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=WcRSRkVHHTE (https://youtube.com/watch?v=WcRSRkVHHTE)
The cool thing was his Alembic was on stage, on display for the whole first set and then when he strapped it on he talked a bit about it being his original bass with the Dixie Dregs. I believe around the Industry Standard era he switched to a Steinbrenner.
Oddly, older pictures show standard oval inlays on the neck, but now it appears to be sporting some rather fancy inlay work... wonder if anyone here knows the back story on that? @mica. ;)
-
Pauldo, The neck was damaged on stage at some point and repaired. He then sold it to a former student who had Alembic replace the neck and the inlay was done at that time. Here are some links that have been posted about it:
http://andywest.com/music-gear/no-longer (http://andywest.com/music-gear/no-longer)
Here is the Alembic file lookup info:
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=5490.0 (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=5490.0)
I’m seeing them in Boulder, should be fun! :)
-
Whoa...
Rob, if I understand correctly, that is your bass (but originally Andy's) I saw the other night that you so generously lent to Andy for the tour?
Imagine you will be getting some VIP treatment in Boulder - please forward my vast appreciation to all of them for their performance in Milwaukee.
-
The Santa Cruz show is coming up! This Tuesday! I'm excited - I was never a huge fan but I had a couple of the albums (Free Fall, What If) - I think I need to review some of these songs, I don't want for the music to be too unfamiliar, I actually like to really know the music before I see a performance.
Found this interview from No Treble from a few months ago before the tour started, he talks about the Alembic a little bit:
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2018/01/19/dawn-of-the-dregs-an-interview-with-andy-west/?utm_source=weeklynews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01222018 (http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2018/01/19/dawn-of-the-dregs-an-interview-with-andy-west/?utm_source=weeklynews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01222018)
-
I saw the two shows in Boulder this weekend, very good performances, I really enjoyed them, great musicianship. They played tunes off of Freefall, What If, and several others. Pretty loud, so you might want to bring earplugs. :)
-
I saw the two shows in Boulder this weekend, very good performances, I really enjoyed them, great musicianship. They played tunes off of Freefall, What If, and several others. Pretty loud, so you might want to bring earplugs. :)
I'm so bummed I missed it! What If! However, I had 3 gigs over those two days.... Timing is everything.
-
The Dixie Dregs at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz was awesome! I found out from setlist.com what they would be playing so I could bone up on the tunes - haven't listened to this stuff in over 20 years! It was a little on the loud side - thanks for the warning rv_bass! But overall it sounded good - only complaint was that the bass was a bit lost - Steve Morse's speaker cab was pointing straight at me and had a very full sound, and the kick drum was pretty subsonic, especially during the first set.
Here's the introduction of the mighty Alembic bass and the beginning of Twiggs Approved (the only song he used it on):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsAUCZc6OWY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsAUCZc6OWY)
And here they are playing (best pic I got of the evening):
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/888/40829634604_939d33b3cd_z.jpg)
I really wish he had used it at least on Cruise Control - that bass line really needed the high end that was missing from the Gould. I wonder if he had flats on the Gould?
They're in Sacramento tonight! Anyone going? I'm pretty sure it's sold out.
Oh, and the Rio Theatre was interesting - it really is an old movie theater, with what looks like the original seats - no balcony - everyone sat for the entire show (but it was an older audience, I was on the young side at 47) - but I think they have a mold problem, my friend started sneezing during the show and I felt it a little bit too.
-
Nice photo, Harry, thanks for the review :) . I think he uses Labella flats, and in photos of the Gould I’ve seen him using foam at the bridge under the B, E, and A strings, and a dampening strap at the nut.
-
Nice photo, Harry, thanks for the review :) . I think he uses Labella flats, and in photos of the Gould I’ve seen him using foam at the bridge under the B, E, and A strings, and a dampening strap at the nut.
Thanks for that! I saw the dampener at the nut. In this interview it says he's using some kind of LaBella prototype:
I have used LaBella Super Steps since 1992 – they came stock on an F Bass I once owned as well as some of their nylon tape wound strings for fretless. I am not into the super bright piano tone of some round wounds, although others can pull that off great and I do appreciate it for certain kinds of things. But for this tour I wanted to get that semi-flat wound sound I had on the old Dregs albums that works well for fast articulation with the pick. I am using some kind of prototype super polished nickel wound strings they are working on, which I am loving. They are really smooth feeling, so very fast to finger and pick, and still have a full range sound without being too bright.
http://www.geartechrec.com/issue3-andy-west/ (http://www.geartechrec.com/issue3-andy-west/)
-
Cool article, thanks for posting. I’ll keep an eye out for those polished LaBella flats!
-
Harry thanks for posting the Alembic Intro.
Interesting about the sound. My friends were on the ground floor at the historic Pabst Theater, my brother and I were in the third balcony for the first set. My complaint was I couldn’t hear Steve well enough. Before the second set they moved everyone from the third balcony down to the second. All of a sudden the mix was perfect. Figure Steve’s stage volume must be enough to bi-pass the mains.
Side note, the last several years I wear earplugs when I go to see live shows. Average yellow foam with blue string type... volume is reduced, but I find it easier to hear separation of the instruments as well as avoiding tinnitus the next morning.
-
Twigs Approved 2018
-
Twigs Approved 2018
Nice!
-
;D