Brown Bass with Anniversary Electronics

[Harleybass]

I had sold my 83 Medium Scale Distillate This Year with a maple neck to buy a 2007 Short Scale Brown Bass with Anniversary electronics.I love the tone on The Brown Bass.with the exception of the tone I get out of the G and D strings.Always have used Roto Roundwounds.They sound from those strings almost sound“Processed and Compressed”for the lack of a better word .I’ve owned many Alembic’s and the brightness and snap from my Distillate on The G and D strings was superb. My longtime motto to many sound company’s was please don't let my bass blend in with the kick drum.I play a lot of improv, Allmans,Southern Rock and when I hit those 2 strings they need to cut through the mix. I am not getting that with my Brown Bass.Please don’t get me wrong it’s good but not great. I currently use a Mesa WD 800 and 2 Mesa single 15 “ cabs. I’m puzzled why I can’t get that same snap that I loved so much from my Distillate on My Brown Bass. I’ve bought and sold a Bergantino Forte and then I went from the Mesa D 800 to the WD 800 .Any Thoughts?

[adriaan]

Well, a Brown Bass would have no maple at all, the dominant wood is mahogany, and I would assume it has a set of Fatboy pickups, and no onboard treble boost switch, so not surprising there is less apparent "snap" than on a Distillate. You now have two volumes and two filters, so way more options to experiment. Looking at the WD-800 specs, you have a megaton of EQ options there, so again lots of room for adjustment.

My 6er is sort of based on the BB wood recipe, and I find I use the neck pickup as a kind of subwoofer that - with the filter nearly closed and a dallop of Q - I can turn up to shovel in some heft along with some dry woodiness, whereas the bridge pickup volume is on full, its filter is at like 80-90% for slightly sweeter highs and perhaps a bit of Q as well.

If you're using nickelwounds, a move to stainless might help. DR Hi-Beams or Lo-Riders will also retain their brightness longer than Rotosound.

[Harleybass]

Thank You for your input.I really appreciate it

[hammer]

I’d agree 100% with Adrian that it’s characteristics of the wood recipes and PUs you are hearing. But as he states, due to the flexibility inherent in Alembic basses, there are a  of things you can do before starting to search for another Distilllate. These range from using your PUs and filters a bit differently to changing to a brighter set of strings. If those don’t do the trick, there’s always the possibility of investing in a SF-2 - the ultimate tone shaper. What you’ll then have at your fingertips are the tone shaping possibilities of a Series I or II bass and you can dial in or out whatever frequencies you choose to get your sound. Although a SF-2 isn’t cheap, on the used market they often go for in the neighborhood of $700, and that’s a lot less expensive than a Distillate.

[keith_h]

I have played a BB since the early 2000's though it is now the backup bass for my Series 1. I have found that it is much more even sounding across the tonal spectrum with no string or note being more pronounced than the others. The only way I have found to get more brightness and snap is to turn on the Q-switches with both filters wide open. I also scoop the amp slightly so the highs become more pronounced. However none of these adjustments will bring out as much snap and zing as I can get with the maple/purple heart neck of my Series 1 or the other maple necked Alembics I own. A lot of it boils down to the woods of the BB not being compatible with the emphasized highs you get with harder and denser wood recipes. You can even hear the difference in Stanley Clarke's early years tone using BB Series instruments and his later tone where he started using maple necks and denser body woods. The only suggestion I have other than adapting to the bass or replacing it is to try adjusting your amp for more of a scooped sound to see if it will give more emphasis to the high end that you are looking for. 

[Harleybass]

I appreciate everyone’s help.my passion for the alembic tone started 25 yrs ago when I took a Kawaii bass and put Alembic electronics in. From there I had a Stanley Clarke, an Essence 4 and a Essence 5 then moved on to a Series 1 then a Distillate to my current Brown Bass. I have tried 4 different sets of strings played with the controls on the brown bass to writing down every setting. I primarily use the neck pick up and play with the controls from there. What I have NOT tried is an Alembic SF -2 and yes it is cheaper than a Distillate.I have always been an Ampeg guy so I may go back.so I have some thinking to do

[el8ed]

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me the revelation in the treble department of my short scale Alembic’s was changing to lighter strings. I started out on the Cocobolo Series II with Alembic short scale strings which I loved from the feel and overall tone, but even with 2x10” and 2x12” speakers and tweeters in my TC Electronic rig the highs needed a lot of EQ help to impress. Changing to DR Hi-Beams LLR40 sets cured that “shortcoming" instantly. I run them now on all 3 of my short-scale Alembics including a fretless Brown Bass.
I believe that the reduced mass on the shorter scale allows the strings to be more “alive” and added snap is one of the rewards. From my albeit limited experience string noise was also reduced quite a bit. Much of that might be attributed to my non-existent “chops” though. 
Just my $0.02 …


Oh, one more thing—I did play around quite a bit with pickup height to achieve the treble-to-bass balance I was looking for.

[gtrguy]

I did some experiments a while ago with pickup heights and was surprised at how much change it made. I found that raising the pickup more toward the strings made it more alive and articulate and that dropping it down would pull it back, which would tame that down.
Either could be useful depending on what tone you are after. There seems to be an aperature (sp) or window that the PUP poles sense with it's magnetic field that is a certain size, both side to side and up and down.

[jazzyvee]

To bias the emphasis towards the brighter bridge pickup you can also adjust the individual preamp trim pots inside the cavity so that the balance is greater for that pickup. Might be worth experimenting with that and pickup height to find a scenario that suits.

[pauldo]

Several have mentioned it and I’m gonna jump on that train also.
Pickup height.  Play around.  There is a ‘focal’ point in the magnetic field where you will get the best response.  Probably won’t resolve the ‘lack-o-snap’ but may give more articulation? 

[Harleybass]

Thanks Guys, tomorrow I will check out the pots (I did it on my Distillate , but not on this) already played with the pickup height. Can’t thank everyone enough

[hieronymous]

Different strings can make a big difference - some work with some basses and not others.

I was also stunned by how sensitive my 5-string Stanley Clarke was to pickup height adjustments - I've got the pickup higher under the G than the low B, pretty well balanced now.

[Harleybass]

I’m using Roto 35’s Rounds

[el8ed]

So you are coming from the opposite side than I did. I actually tried a set of DR Pure Blues 35’s and very much disliked the “wimpy” G-string. The 40 G-string in the LLR40 set fixed that for me. Just my personal experience.