Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: that_sustain on January 01, 2013, 06:49:41 AM

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: that_sustain on January 01, 2013, 06:49:41 AM

I jammed the funk with some friends last night.  Felt great!  My dude let me play through his Fender Bassman 400(a particularly nice 400w 2x10 combo amp).  Honestly, it sounded like a million bucks.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: edwin on January 02, 2013, 05:38:35 PM

OK, now the bug has bitten you! Time to get an F1X, a bigass power amp and a fEARful cabinet and you'll know what your Alembic can really do.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: jazzyvee on January 02, 2013, 07:40:51 PM

Read in the style of Crocodile Dundee.  
that's not a big amp............this is a big amp.
 
http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/115515.html?1319739451 (http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/115515.html?1319739451 target=_top)
 
http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/rack2.jpg (http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/rack2.jpg)
haha.
 
I Jest.... but Daniel, it is a great feeling when you plug your alembic into the right rig for the first time and you hear that bass breath tone.
 
I remember spending weeks looking for the right rig for my bass and got the biggest smile when plugging mine into a mesa boogie walkabout 300w and a mesa boogie 2x10 powerhouse cab. It was out of my budget at the time  but I was so taken with the sound I had to extend the upper limit and grab it.
 
Jazzyvee

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: tncaveman on January 03, 2013, 04:46:15 AM

I play either in the basement or at church, so I usually don't get into big volume.  However, we did a talent show / fundraiser at church one time and I played w/ my GK Microbass and 12 cab plus my 4x10 GK cab. WOW - sounded like a million bucks.  The room was about the size of a basketball court and has about a 25 ft tall ceiling.  Never heard my Rogue sound so good.  My amp is rated at 150 watts (I think into 4 ohms) and only had the volume knobs at about 12 o'clock.  Made me wonder what a real amp would be like.
 
Stephen

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: that_sustain on January 03, 2013, 05:24:02 AM

Sigh...I have to wait about a year and a half before I can take the big watt plunge.  Whatever I get will have to have that little tweeter.  Slap bass sounds so much better with that...
 
You guys aren't helping. lol

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: alembic76407 on January 03, 2013, 10:44:55 AM

my first big amp
 
big amp's are fun, but back breaking
 
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146802.jpg)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: charles_holmes on January 03, 2013, 05:13:45 PM

Now that was a funny one right there I'll tell you David!!! Ah thank you..Thank you very much!

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: tncaveman on January 04, 2013, 05:10:20 AM

Hey David - Are those homemade EV 15-B cabinets?  I made one with the plans that came with the speaker and still use it w/ my 4x10 GK cab.   It was really fun building in in my parents basement.  I need to post some photos of it.  I actually built mine w/ ash veneered particle board.  It's a back breaker for sure - can't imigine toting around 6 of them though!  
 
Stephen

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: alembic76407 on January 04, 2013, 10:07:14 AM

Stephen, yes they are EV 15 cabs and we built all of them. the 2 green cabs are all I have left, I use them in our practice room with my Boogie 400+. on Stage I use a 4-10 bottom with my Genz-Benz 6.0
 
 
David T

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: mavnet on January 04, 2013, 02:41:01 PM

I can't find any pictures, but back in 77 when i got my basses from Alembic, I also got a small mountain of Hard Trucker cabinets (from Wizard there. no idea what his real name was - somewhere i still have his card, which says Wizard.) - my full bass rig was 2 of the big 15 and 2 of the 2x12 cabinets on each side of the stage, with bgw, crown, and some other amp the name of which eludes me powering the Gauss drivers. Amazingly inefficient sealed acoustic suspension cabs, and the biggest sound I've ever heard. Even played at a low volume, it moved a ton of air. Also didn't make friends with the rest of the band, since we all pitched in on loading and unloading. You can imagine how the guitarist, who played through a Vibrolux, felt helping me move all my crap. I really miss that sound, though.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: charles_holmes on January 04, 2013, 03:01:59 PM

I might sell one of my Bag End 18's and a QSC 2450 maybe $300.00 each.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: dannobasso on January 04, 2013, 05:07:26 PM

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146901.jpg)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: flpete1uw on January 04, 2013, 05:24:03 PM

Dave that must have been an earthshaking!!! Here I thought my Mesa Walkabout was loud.  
I bet it was a blast turned up to 11
 
~Pete

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: keith_h on January 04, 2013, 06:50:37 PM

My full rig. I haven't use the everything together since leaving the southern rock band I used to play in. These days it is just a combination of 18 and 2X10, a single 2X10 or double 2X10.  
 
The JBL PA speaker is just on top for convenience.
 
Keith  
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146909.jpg)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: tncaveman on January 04, 2013, 07:44:42 PM

Here's my EV cab.  It still sounds good after 30 years, especially w/ the 4 - 10's beside her.  And the rest of the family wanted to see what was going on.  Stephen  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146921.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146922.jpg)
  The family in the Man-cave
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/146923.jpg)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: hieronymous on January 04, 2013, 09:34:04 PM

Wow - is that a silver Ric?

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: vince_klortho on January 05, 2013, 12:09:20 AM

The coolest experience I have ever had with sound was when we were doing a soundcheck for a gig at a fairgrounds in a fairly good-sized building and we had a pretty serious PA system. It had four EV MT4s and each of those cabinets have four eighteens in them.  You can feel your pants move when that system gets cranked up.  Of course I have an Alembic bass and when it was time to do my check I thumped my E string and just let it ring for about a minute.  Everyone in the entire place stopped talking and whatever else they were doing because it was such a cool sound.  It seemed to be right at the resonant frequency of the building and you could feel the sound in your body.  It was mind-blowing for me and a lot of other people there too. Sixteen 18-inch speakers can really move a lot of air, especially in the MT4 cabinet.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: edwin on January 05, 2013, 12:47:28 AM

I used to play regularly at a club in Rochester NY called the Horizontal Boogie Bar which had 4 of the MT4s on a side in their PA (lots of reggae groups came through). They had gone to a hospital auction and had bought these Pickering amps that were used for magnetic resonance imaging and had to be sold off every 4 or 5 years to keep the lab in spec. Each one was 4000 watts and dead flat from DC to light, as they say. It was a profound bass experience in that room.  
 
I've played through a bunch of great rigs, but I think one of the best bass in a room (as it were) experiences I've had was at Red Rocks. There's just something about the way that place sounds. I didn't play my Alembic, but the Starfire sounded wonderful.
 
The most profound bass experience I've witnessed was probably the Grateful Dead at the Oxford Plains Speedway in 1988. There was a stack of double 18 Meyer subwoofers 1 wide and maybe 4  stories tall on each side of the stage. There were 140,000 people in the area (with 80,000 in the racetrack) and the bass was effortless, quick and insanely deep everywhere.
 
I've got to say, though, an Alembic pre into a good size power and with a fEARful cabinet (http://greenboy.us/fEARful/ (http://greenboy.us/fEARful/)) rivals just about anything I've ever played, perhaps with the exception of Mike Gordon's Meyer rig. It has real bass response, handles a lot of power (mine didn't let out the magic smoke until I experimented with bridging my amp and ended up enthusiastically playing a reggae tune at the end of a long night at Fox Theater with 2200 watts going through it) and weighs about 50lbs. It's also pretty inexpensive if you are handy with tools.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: tncaveman on January 05, 2013, 06:32:37 AM

No Harry, the Ric's an aged white.  Looks kind of like an ivory color on my monitor.  The other amps/cabinets are a 4x10 GK and a Fender Hot Rod Deville (in case you thought you saw a silver Ric amp).  I do have an old 15 watt 1-15 in. Ric practice amp that my son uses as an extension cab.  It had a new Eminence speaker in it.
 
WOW - 16 - 18 inch speakers.  Can't imigine that one!  Hit the wrong note w/ that set up and everyone would know.
 
Stephen

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: hieronymous on January 05, 2013, 08:43:05 AM

Sorry about that Stephen - I get excited about Rickenbackers! Your 4001 definitely looks white in your profile pic, but in the pic you posted I could swear it was the silver color that often turns green - maybe the fact it wasn't green should have been a clue - boy am I colour-confused!
 
I guess I don't get as excited about speakers and amps, though I enjoyed Edwin's descriptions - I'm pretty sure we opened for his band back in the '90s at the Horizontal Boogie Bar - he let me play through his rig and that was the most powerful, deep, full sounding rig I had ever played through - before or since! My gear always sucked when I was playing regularly...

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: Bradley Young on January 05, 2013, 11:47:11 AM

I don't want Edwin to feel alone here: fEarfuls, are, IMO, the best cabinet design for bassists out there, barring (possibly) some exotic, high-dollar stuff. If you want the cabinet to be my bass, louder they are pretty hard to beat.
 
My 12/6 with 500 watts can put out a LOT of clean sound.
 
Everything I play though it: 6-string Alembic, 5-string beater phenolic fretless, Kala U-bass sounds great.
 
Bradley

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: pauldo on January 05, 2013, 03:40:25 PM

4 x 21 Bag End sub at the Chicago gathering. Those that were there know what a solid bottom feels like!!! :-D

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: hankster on January 05, 2013, 06:49:46 PM

My favorite bass sound ever?  Playing with my R & B  band, the Tokyo Giants, at an NBA game in Toronto, playing for the live audience during all the tv talking heads spots. I am sure several of the Alembicians experience this regularly, but the sound of my bass loud enough for 20,000 people to hear was, well, unusual and excellent.  Just my GK combo into the house system - but so...loud!

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: that_sustain on January 05, 2013, 07:11:19 PM

What I really want is another Ampeg SVT200T 4x10 combo.  I traded my old one in for a Magnavox-era Ampeg SVT head and 8x10 cab.  That combo had an American made DI box, limiter..the works.  I haven't seen another except for the 2 I've seen online.  I think it was 200w/300 with an extension.  
 
I played at a club in the 90's with an SVT200T and an Alembic Essence.  The soundguy looked at me with such love.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: edwin on January 05, 2013, 07:26:13 PM

Hankster, I want a Like button for your post!

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: bigredbass on January 05, 2013, 10:50:28 PM

BTW:  All you Ampeg guys, do the current equivalents of the original SVT heads drive two (2) current 810 cabs as the originals did?
 
J o e y

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: count on January 06, 2013, 07:47:06 AM

I have two GK 400RB's I use with an SWR Goliath cab I gutted and rebuilt with four Eminence drivers wired in stereo. My rig looks like a stray dog (haven't gotten to update the estetics yet..) but sounds like a blast!
Haven't played any large venues yet, but if I did I would just change out the cab with any two 4 ohm cabs with enough 10's in them..
I love 10's...
And those 400RB's are the loudest 300 watters I've played this side of the tube-fence.

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: pierreyves on January 06, 2013, 08:28:15 AM

jazzy... some death's clouds are under your head... I change my poweramp some months ago... LOL ! Carvin product some 2 X 1200 Watts now !!
http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/rack3.jpg (http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/rack3.jpg)
http://www.carvinworld.com/poweramps/

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: count on January 07, 2013, 11:57:17 AM

What's that Samson thing you have there on the top...?

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: kenbass4 on January 09, 2013, 12:30:09 PM

Joey,
 
Yes, at least my 10-year old SVT Classic goes down to 2 ohms, specifically to drive 2-810s
 
My Alembics (and many others at the Bay Area Gatherings)sound great through it...

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: olieoliver on January 09, 2013, 01:32:04 PM

My rig!
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/147291.jpg)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: edwin on January 09, 2013, 06:07:34 PM

How many roadies do you need for that one? :-)

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: olieoliver on January 10, 2013, 08:00:48 AM

Just 1, been married to her for 33 years too! LOL

Title: I played my Alembic through a big amp for the 1st time
Post by: alembic76407 on January 10, 2013, 10:37:10 AM

Olie, your nothing without a PA
 
your friend in OKC
Sir David T
 
PS; my roadie of 33 years must be on strike !!!