Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Showcase => Elan Basses => Topic started by: thebass on January 27, 2007, 02:15:29 PM
-
Just let me introduce my newest family member, a 89er Elan 4 String, purple coloured with chrome hardware.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/35751.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/35752.jpg)
-
Nice... very nice! Congrats!
-
A lovely bass, I was so tempted to bid on that, even though it's purple.
I hope you enjoy it.
Jazzyvee
-
Thanks Jazzy Vee for not bidding. It has lead to a good deal for me :-)
BTW: This Elan has an incredible sustain and is by far the lightest Alembic I was ever playing. I haven't weighted it yet but it's definetly lighter than my MM sterling (3,8kg).
-
hmmm, well next time I may not be so generous :->
Jazzyvee
(Message edited by jazzyvee on January 28, 2007)
-
so it didnt sell then? you still own it? good for you,i was checking it out also.a 5 string quilted maple just went but i got outbid while outta town. my dream elan would have a tobbaco honeyburst.
-
The auction ended with no bids. I contacted the seller and bought it afterwards off ebay.
-
Cool bass!! Congrats!
-
Well the bass is in transit and should be here by the end of the week.
A question if I may?
All my instruments have the rectangular pickups, what are the pro's cons of having the staggered pickup arrangement as seen on this Elan against just the rectangular style of pickups?
What does it do for the instrument tonally?
Jazzyvee
-
Jazzy, as far as I know there is no difference in sound, it's just a different shape.
-
Hmm, well my line of thinking is that the part of the string the pickup sees influences what we hear. Therefore since the E & A string pickups are nearer to the neck, when either the neck or bridge pickup setting was chosen, they would add a slightly more bassy component to the sound of the bass relative to straight bar pickups.
Am i barking up the wrong tree here?
Jazzyvee
-
Hi Vince,
because there are a lot of other factors influencing the sound, it's hard to answer your question without checking with other PUs on the same Bass. To me this Elan has a cleaner, more hifi like Sound than my MK for instance. My MK has two AXY soapbars and has got a bassier, dirtier sound than the Elan. But the wood is different, the neck has another shape, the headstock and body shape is different, etc. It's difficult to distiguish how much sound difference just results from the PUs by itself. All I can tell is that the Alembic P-Bass PU is totally different to a Fender P-Bass PU.
-
Jazzy; good point. If a pickup is moved forward or back it will sound different. And moving the position of the pickup doesn't just make the sound more or less bassy. The overall shape of the frequency curve changes. Go here (http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponseDemo/) to see a demonstration of this effect.
-
Hi Guys, the Elan arrived on Friday afternoon thanks for the fast postage Wernet.
The action is a bit high for me and also i think the strings a little light so I may change them soon. but I'm going to make some changes to the neck and bridge to get the setup that suits my style of playing. Also I'm going to change the position of the filter and pickup selector pots as they are not in the same place as my Europa and the pickup selector switch seems back to front. Another member has advised me on how to change the pots round and pickup outputs to do this so I'm gonna do that in a bit.
Once' I've done that I'll have a good blast on it and see how I feel about the sound. Through my P{JB briefcase it sounds fine. Seems a much hotter signal than my Eurropa at the moment.
Jazzyvee
-
The PU selector has worked the wrong way for me too. But since I haven't played it for at least a month I left it unchanged. If you like to change the output of the electronics you could tune it with the little pots inside. You can also adjust the volume balance of both PUs with them.
-
I've now swapped the filter and the pan pots round so they are in the Usual place. and its much more natural to operate now.
I also swapped the pickup connectors round so the pan from front to rear is the correct orientation.
I've been playing it a lot yesterday and today and still need to make some more adjustments. The pj pickups have more output on the bass side than the treble side so I wonder if raising the height of the treble pair of pickups on the neck and bridge side will change the volume on that side so that I can balance them then adjust the overall gain inside with the trim pots.
Also the neck adjustment on the bass side has no more adjustment anti-clockwise although it does on the treble side. I was trying to add some concave neck relief to cure a buzz at the 1st four frets on the E-string. Would raising the nut do this?
I'm guessing ( hoping) that the lack of adjustment of the neck truss rod on the bass side may be due to the very light gauge strings 35,55,70,90 applying less tension on the neck.
In actual fact I plan to put some medium gauge: .045 - .065 - .080 - .105 strings on the bass soon as the sound needs a bit more meat and thats the gauge I prefer, giving me more string resistance when playing.
Other than that I'm still a happy bunny.
I have first rehearsal with the band I've just joined Taz( Stereo Nation) this week so hopefully will be able to try the Elan out there.
Jazzyvee
-
Changing to heavier gauge strings will add tension and concave relief. I did it before. The light strings were just a tryout which I don't prefer any more. My MK is also strung with medium gauge now.
-
Nice catch Jazzy, congrats! (http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/42030.gif)
-
Cool! I'm glad that the pot switching thing worked!
Raising the treble side pickups should make them louder; it should also change the tone somewhat as well. I believe it is the case that the lower the pickups, the cleaner the sound. However, the difference in tone may not be appreciable.
The heavier strings should help cure the buzz problem.
Note that even though the truss rod nut is loose on the E string side, the nut on the G side still has an effect on the E side. So loosening the G side nut can help with an E buzz.
Go here (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=311) and read what Joey says about when you should adjust the nut. Generally, if you have buzz when playing an open string, a nut adjustment may address that. But my guess is that your issue is not enough forward bow, which would be truss rod adjustment or higher tension strings.
-
I took the elan to rehearsal last night for the first time. The rehearsal room had an ampeg 4x10 and a 1x15 cab with an ashdown amp.
I tried that for a bit but couldn't get a good sound out of the Ashdown.
So I tried it with my Mesa Walkabout which sounded really ok but not great,then later the ampeg rig started showing a bright light inside which I was a bit concerned about so the studio changed to an Ashdown 8x10 bass cab, which I felt was not very meaty in the bottom end.
I couldn't seem to get the kind of sound I like on my other alembics which is a deep heavy, mellow sound with a crisp edge to the attack. I found the sound on the Elan to be either bassy but not, (dub reggae bassy), enough or very bright and crisp.
On my own mesa rig or thru the FX1,sf-2/QSC i can get the bass to give me anything I want.
Am experiencing the tendency of the Elan to be brighter and punchier in tone that the mahogany bodied basses.
I probably need to spend more time with the bass but I wondered if this is the nature of the all maple Elan bass.
Don't get me wrong I love it's different sound but it wasn't suited to what I was doing yesterday.
Jazzyvee
-
My old Elan 6-string was pretty bright -all Maple except for the 5 Purpleheart lams in the neck.
I tend to think that since Alembic uses Mahogany for the body wood on most of their basses, they consider Maple to be a more specialized sound.
It's sure a beauty!
-
I took my Elan out for two outdoor calypso gigs last weekend and it sounded great through my Mesa boogie Walkabout and 4x10 cab.
I've got more used to the sound of it now at home but need to get out gigging with it more often to get a grip on how it should sound live.
Jazzyvee
-
Good stuff Jazzy- my wife is from the US Virgin Islands so it's pretty common to find calypso coming out of our home stereo.
Who was the gig with? Any links to audio?
Toby
-
Beautiful bass. Let's hear it for the colored Alembics!
-
That is a beautiful bass. What scale is the neck? Long?
-
it's a standard 34 scale length and the neck is quite slim compared to my sc deluxe. If I was brave enough I'd get the sc neck re-profiled to the same.
When I first saw the bass for sale I was put off by the colour but by the time I reasoned that i should not put off getting the bass due to it's colour, it had already been sold.
So, I was pleased when it became available to buy from a member here and managed to work out a fair price for it. Now it's mine mine mine mine.
Now I have it, the colour is not an issue at all, unless I decided to wear a green shirt at a gig hahahaha.
Jazzyvee
Jazzyvee
(Message edited by jazzyvee on September 25, 2008)
-
Jazzy-
If you ever get an opportunity to record some sound clips I'd LOVE to hear that double P setup with the all maple body of your Elan. I'd also be interested to hear your impressions of the differences tonally between the neck and bridge set (I'm assuming you have vol, filter, pan w/ those 3 knobs).
My PJ Elan is getting close to being completed and I find myself coming back to check all these Elan showcase threads as a way to tide me over.
-
Last week I decided to try Joey's Post on Setting Up Your Bass on the elan and now i have managed to get the action lower and it now has a much more comfortable feel without any buzzing at all.
I've been playing it quite a bit this week to get the pickup height right and the balance between bridge and neck pickups and now i think it is sounding closer to the way I prefer.
Jazzyvee
-
Spoke too soon, the neck seems to have moved again and the truss rods nuts are loose again and strings buzzing and choking. Even raising the bridge and nut didn't get rid of it till the strings were too high off the fretboard for sensible use.
I called Alembic this afternoon and Mary put me through to James in setup and he suggested some heavier gauge strings as a first option to put more tension in the neck and if that doesn't work i may need to send it in for a heat bend on the neck.....!!!!!
Any string recommendations?
FC, you have some Elans, do you have any neck issues with yours and what brand and gauge of strings do you use?
Jazzyvee
-
Hey Jazzy,
One Elan right here and one Elan that will hopefully be finished at the end of this week (...) :-)
I mainly use R.Cocco strings and prefer the RC 4H set (50, 70, 80, 110)
No serious neck issues here, I only did a few slight adjustments due to the change of climate. (on all basses)
What strings do you use?
-
thanks FC I found a shop selling R.Cocco's and bought a set of 45's
It's moved the neck significantly and now I have some adjustment both ways. I've adjusted it and will leave it for a day and check back to see if it has settled down then make some final amendments if needed.
Thanks for your advice on strings. :-)
Jazzyvee
-
JV, it's amazing the difference in tension between different sets of strings. On my Elan Five I've always used Markley NPS Roundcore Nickels (the Rocco Prestia strings). Last change, I put on D'Addario stainless XL's and had to chase the action for several days before I could put it back to where it was with the NPS strings.
So NEXT time, I'm going back to the NPS strings and leave well enough alone.
J o e y
-
I tried the strings on the bass at rehearsal today and the heavier gauge and them being new sounded great. Very meaty and not as thin as the previous gauge.
However I do feel they are a bit abrasive to the touch so I could feel some resistance to sliding my fingers on them and also that made the finger noise too much for my liking. Hopefully they will wear in soon.
Thanks again FC a good choice in string my friend.
Jazzyvee
-
So did it settle down? Got it like you want it?
Thought I'd give you my setup numbers (bear in mind this is a low action, set up for a fairly normal guage-size string set). Get your capo, your feeler guages, and your ruler, and make sure you're tuned to pitch.
-clearance (unfretted) over the first fret, the same for the G side and the B or E side:
.025 inch / .635mm
-neck relief (capo the first fret and hold the string against the nearest fret where the neck meets the body, roughly the 21st fret on most Alembics):
.010 inch / .254mm
-string height over the 24th fret (unfretted):
G-string, 1/8 inch / 4 mm
E or B string, 3/16 inch or 5-6 mm
This is pretty low, and a very flat fingerboard feel. Any lower and for me it will rattle with a pick or if I get heavy-fingered. Actually inspired by an interview I read with Anthony Jackson discussing his setup (he's VERY particular) where he liked to run his nut a bit higher than most. My two Alembics are both long scale, classic taper fives, with the same strings, so they are set up exactly the same.
As always, there is no setup that's perfect for everyone, but it's important to be able to express your own setup in numbers. Then you can aim to get any and all of your axes to the same feel. If this does not work for you, at least these numbers can serve as a beginning to work up your own uniquely personal number set. As always, remember how many turns you made on the nut, bridge, and truss rod, so you can get back to where you were if need be !
Best of luck, and I just love that purple axe. Here's to Alembics in color!
J o e y
-
PS:
Looking at the pictures reminded me of something else:
Pickup adjustment is also subjective pending on the tone you hear, but I always start with Precision style pickups adjusted equally. After your setup is done, measure the distance from the top of the pickup shell on each end to the string directly above it. You'll end up with the two halves forming a shallow V shape, higher in the middle, to match the curve of the strings on their bridge saddles. This is your starting point. E or A string(s) boomy relative to the D and G? Lower that side. G sound a little thin? Raise that side of that shell, etc. After this is done, then raise or lower your pickups overall to fine tune your tone or gain. Of course this is better done with new strings.
A lot of times, especially with a used instument, you'll find P-pickups adjusted flat across both halves, which can leave you a little short on articulation or may make one string boomier than another.
Then you can save these pickup height numbers in your setup, as well.
J o e y
-
I will give both those suggestions a try when I next sit down with the bass and have some time. The action has settled down but I still think it could be a bit lower. And the pickup stuff Joey rings home because the balance is definitely in need of adjustment.
Jazzyvee
-
Jazzy, that is one sweet bass.You know,I've never been a fan of color, favoring natural finishes.However,after seeing the Elans in the showcase,I've quickly changed my way of thinking.I noticed this bass first (I looove quilted maple)and its rich color.This bass and others like it opened my eyes.As a matter of fact,I think Elans are the best Alembic bodies for color finish.The naturals are beautiful too,but color really suits them IMO.I love my red flame maple.It's a rich cherry red.BTW,what kind of music are you into?I've some idea from your threads you have a full plate.I wish I had more time to play in a band (I'm in sales-60 to 70 hrs some weeks).I'm just itching to play some blues infused funk/raggae/ska etc with some fusion swirled in =).
-
Thanks Wishbass, first time I saw this purple bass for sale I let it go because I wasn't keen on coloured alembics. However I regretted it and when the purchaser, a forum member, put it up for sale again, I wasn't so stupid second time around. It's a great bass and the Europa electronics help to tame that brightness that maple has. Most of the music I play on bass is more Jazz-funk and rnb and an occasional straight ahead jazz gig. I don't do that many gigs these days but always hoping my fortune will change in that matter.
I'm really a guitarist but my bass is in my bones so I straddle both camps.
Jazzyvee
-
STUNNING COLOR!!!! BEAUTIFUL PIECE!!!!
-
Some more photo's of my Elan 4 Bass. They are some of the photo's I took for a 2012 calendar I had printed with pictures of my guitars and basses.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/120441.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/120442.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/120443.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/120444.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/120445.jpg)
Enjoy Jazzyvee
-
Beautiful Jazzy!
-
Absolutely gorgeous, Jazzy. Congrats.
-
That bass is awesome! I read a bit about it and it seems to me like these basses are best in the 4 string persuasion. I've had issues with mine (a 5er) sounding thin with a B string. Maybe it's the pickups???? Anyway I think the color is sweet so congrats to whoever this is going to.
-
Not sure what pickups you have on your bass but mine the P-type and the method of holding the pickup in place uses springs and a screw unlike my other alembic basses. I tend to play with my thumb on the neck pickup edge when playing a 4 string bass so on this bass this can cause that pickup to move closer to the body against the spring so increasing the distance between the pickup and the string which reduces the output of the E string. Then the edge of the screw hole can get caught on the screw and not always return to its original position. This i have found is the cause of the thinner sound on the E string this bass sometimes.
I should probably get a stronger spring.
Jazzyvee
-
Hey Jazzy, I upped my offer if this bass is still up for sale.
-
I creeped a bit and if you have a purple 6 then you need this bass to complete the purple nerple collection!
-
Wookie, believe it or not I ordered the 6 string from Alembic in that color(with a narrow neck). I've never regretted it. I love that thing. It is an old friend. However it gets very heavy after a while and sometimes it is nice to just have four strings to bang on
-
I think purple is an awesome color for an instrument. I've had only 1 but I wish I didn't get rid of it. The way my mind works is you have to make sets with basses. Not neccessarily the same color but my OCD tells me I need 4,5,and6 string versions of a model, but I was thinking if you could have the same color (as in this case) it'd be even better i'd offer my ?lan 5 but it's red and has p j pups. Btw any advice on switching out the Alembic pups for dare I say EMG! I love my ?lan but I've never liked the sound on the B string. I've complained on the FAQ section and I havent played since I posted there and it's still in the shop with 4 strings on it. That's all an aside.... A Martin, you need this bass!
-
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/121195.jpg)
-
Wookie, I've not liked my low b string for many a year and avoided it. Recently I got fed up with it and applied my ocd to it. Originally I thought it was a combination of timbre and frett buzz in the open position that kept me from playing it. After recently spending time over a couple of days fiddling with the adjustments and getting a file out, the buzz disappeared (I still need to be wary of how much force I apply when energzing the string). The timbre was fine once the buzz cleared up. I actually dig the low B now. I feel a little silly not having done it 20 years ago, but maybe I have more patience then when I was young. The other thing I would suggest is looking at your speakers. The low B is below the frequency response of a lot of speakers.
As for pick ups, I don't have any suggestions. I'm really not in the pickup loop.
-
Wookie, I will revise my previous statement. The bass sounded great for several days but after a major temperature drop outside (which probably affected humidty inside) the bass was all a buzz.
My attempt to then adjust the truss rods led to a snapped truss rod under the DGC strings
Fortunately I have already contacted Mary at Alembic (who was helpful and sympathetic ). We have game plan and I am sending my Elan back to its maker to be fixed. Hopefully it will come back even better then before.
-
Just realised my bass is 25 years old this year and is the oldest alembic I own but not the one I've owned the longest. Still looks and plays superb. How old does an instrument need to be for it to be classed as vintage?
-
Careful there Jazzy. I remember the first time I showed up to a gig and one of the guys was delighted I brought a vintage ax. It stung a bit when I thought it was new when I bought it!
-
Fortunately the age of alembics are easy to determine if you have the serial number so I was under no illusions of the age of mine when I got it. Whilst it does not look new, it does not look it's age and certainly has not lost it's singing voice. In fact I was practicing with it last night at home after lowering the action a bit more.
(Message edited by jazzyvee on October 23, 2014)
-
So the question could be when do we turn vintage?...
(Message edited by mario farufyno on October 30, 2014)
-
Mario raises an interesting question. Of course one would need to keep in mind that vintage, as least as it is typically applied in the English language, typically assumes that one is referring to something of high quality. As in...while one might refer to a vintage Alembic as a guitar or bass that is 20, 25, or 30 years of age, one would probably not refer to a cheap $100 bass as vintage regardless of age.
Question is...would this not also apply to establishing whether a living organism, including a human being, meets the criteria for being vintage.
-
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/220806.jpg)
-
Such a cool bass!
-
It's 32 today and I had a great practice session with it early this morning through my alembic rack to a 1x 12 and 1x18 barefaced cabs. Moving forward I hope I get more opportunities to play it live.
-
Superb instrument. It had slipped my memory yours had come with the 'plus' electronics too. 8)
-
Yeah it's a useful set of controls. The mids and top end is so bright on this bass that I usually have the treble switch on cut and hardly ever found a need to use the Q-switch. I can't really say when I bought it that I understood what the classic P-bass sound or a J bass sound was for that matter. I think if I was having one made with those pickups I'd be more inclined to have the G/D string pickup closer to the neck than the E/A strings as I find if the filter is at or nearing the closed position, the output balance across the strings tends to drop from the G/D strings. I would like to try thicker strings but due to the chrome plated hardware I can't really open up the nut or saddles without affecting the plating. Other than that it's a strong and versatile sounding bass.
-
I am about to take this bass to a local high end bass maker (Jaydee) to have it refinished. Hopefully on Monday as i'm in that side of town.
I plan to have it refinished in a clear coat so that the quilted maple is much more clear.
I would like the finish to appear as bold as my series II europa.
http://www3.alembic.com/img/13095_bodyfront.jpg
I know that alembic use a polyester finish so will be requesting that same finish. But is there something else like a grain enhancement layer that needs to be done to get the quilt maple grain to show up as well as it does on my series II or will it naturally do that when sprayed with clear finish?
Not looking for trade secrets if it is, but just hoping I can get the bass to be as dramatic in it's own way. I also have asked to have faux neck laminates painted in so that it looks like it has ebony neck lams through the neck back and front, and also the logo chrome plated to match the hardware.
I would like to keep some of the original finish on the bass as a sentimental thing. My first thoughts were to keep the back of the headstock in purple.
-
An amber wash over any figured maple will cause the grain to 'pop', often dramatically. Personally, I would do it under the clear.
I like the idea of leaving a flash of the original finish somewhere too. :)
-
Can you tell from looking if the quilt maple on my S2 has any kind of amber in the finish. It looks that way sometimes but i put that down to a trick of the light.
-
This is the kind of classic effect i am hoping for, though i wonder if painted neck lams would look authentic or fake. Maybe if they were almost black it would look better under a satin neck.
-
This is the kind of classic effect i am hoping for, though i wonder if painted neck lams would look authentic or fake. Maybe if they were almost black it would look better under a satin neck.
I tried to think of a way to do what you're thinking about one time, Jazzy. (as a rescue/restore on that sad Excel that bounced around eBay/Reverb for a while back) I was going to refinish it in a burst to hide some of the indececies, and try to somehow stripe the neck beam to have the classic maple/purpleheart effect. A pro shop could probably do this convincingly, masking and spraying with airbrush is tedious but possible, perhaps with waterslide decals even. The body would be fairly easy; the neck, especially where it joins the body, has some complex curves that would be difficult to simulate a flush joint. I would have made a mess of either, and opted to just go darker with the burst. Ultimately, someone else ended up with the bass, and it left my mind.
I'm anxious to see what you come up with.
-
It would look great stripped and refinished clear; but I must say, looking at your photo on page four that is a nice looking bass as is! :)
-
Yeah it is a nice looking bass as is, I just have a preference for natural wood on alembics and the quilt under the purple looks subtle but exposed it would be more "alembic". I decided not to do the same thing on my all black Europa since it seemed to get a lot of interest when I was thinking of selling it a while back. The Jason Newstead look was the appealing factor. So best leave well alone.
-
We don't use any enhancements for bringing out the grain - it's just the wood. The clear finish does really magnify the figure inherent in the wood. Having the water clear polyester finish built up in many thin layers helps. I don't think the figuring on your Elan looks an incised as the reference you posted later.
Your Series II doesn't have an amber tint.
-
I had a chat with the sprayer at Jaydee custom guitars yesterday and I have it booked in for a respray on Friday.
I'm scrapping the idea of the stripes because the guy told me that it will just look like painted stripes and not like it there was wood in it's place.
So it's all going to be clear finish except the back of the headstock which will remain the original purple colour, unless I change my thoughts by the time I get there.
-
Well it's in the shop and will be about 5 weeks.
-
Are we going to have to wait for the reveal to learn if the purple souvenir remains?
-
Since it’s you asking Mica, we did discuss some options like the whole headstock staying purple or the back and sides of the headstock or a fade a short way down the back of the neck. But i decided to just go with leaving the back of the headstock and tongue purple. The finishing touch was going to be chrome plating the logo to match the hardware but he was reluctant to do it because it is so thin he couldn’t guarantee i would survive the process of buffing needed before plating. They will be taking photos of the progress which of course i will share here. The stripping starts on Monday.
-
Here is part of the reveal Mica. I got these photos a few moments ago.
-
I took the opportunity to have a refret too as the existing ones have seen a lot of action.
-
Ohh, I'm liking this!
-
Thanks, im looking forward to collecting it. I know things look different after the finish hits the wood but it i can’t see the same level of quilting on the unfinished bass as i could see when the purple was showing.
-
I got a call earlier from Jaydee to say my bass is ready for collection. Not cheap but well worth it i think. Initially it was just gonna be a respray but then they called and told me it needed a lot of fret dressing so I decided to just have a refret done instead as the bass had been well played before I got hold of it so i'm not surprised. I most likely will pick it up tomorrow on my day off unless I can get out of work early (unlikely). Watch this space. :-)
-
Toby Diggins just emailed these.
I think i need some new strap buttons.
-
The respray looks great, Jazzy... very good call. I like the little splash of original color too.
-
Thanks, it came out really well. It's been setup but a bit too high for my liking so i will tweak that when i get time.
-
That looks great :)
-
Beautiful job on the bass, Jazzy. Your choices turned out great.
-
Yeah, i am really happy with it and i play it more than before. I recently took it to a rehearsal with a new songwriting colaboration a friend of mine is putting together to develop and record some of his song ideas. It's based around the funky 70's sound so i thought the p-style pickups should give the right vibe.
It was fine though i'm still in a quandry over whether to put flats on it. I did once on my 5 string but to me they had the tone of dead roundwounds at the point i would change them, so they are now on my acoustic bass guitar which works better than the clattery bronze ones. The other thing is, they are far too expensive here to buy and then find them unsuitable. If anyone here has some recordings with an alembic using p-style pickups and flats i could listen to it might help me decide what to do.
-
Lots of differences between the different flats out there, Jazzy.
I really liked the T-I Jazz Flats on my Persuader 5-string, (has a P/J setup) but I switched to the Jazz Rounds this past year and really liked the expanded range of bright tone. I still have these on my Custom fretless, modeled somewhat after the critical specs of the Persuader. A lot ot players hate the ultra-soft tension of the Thomastik strings, but it just feels right to me.
I hear good things about the LaBella low tension flats lately. Haven't tried them, personally.
-
Absolutely fantastic looking! Very well done indeed!
-
36 years old and still looking and sounding great. Sadly not gigged with since the refurb. Hopefully the future brings me some 4 string gigs where this bass can shine.