Author Topic: Boogieman replacement board on EBay (Read 1871 times)

hammer · « **Reply #30 on:** September 18, 2012, 12:28:50 PM »

More than anything else, it's Peter's last comment that would make me wary of purchasing anything from him.

Mica's question appears reasoned and non-inflammatory (i.e., hey let's talk about what you're doing). The response she got was anything but. Makes me wonder what would happen if I purchased the stuff and found that, for whatever, reason, I wasn't satisfied with it.

Wait a minute...there it is No Returns Accepted.

hammer · « **Reply #31 on:** September 18, 2012, 12:33:00 PM »

Just read my post. Clarification possibly needed.

I didn't mean to suggest that I would hesitate to purchase anything from Pater, but rather the Boogieman.

edwin · « **Reply #32 on:** September 18, 2012, 01:03:00 PM »

Yeah, it seems like a crapshoot. 40+ years of reputation for the best vs. fly by night ebay salesman with an attitude? Well, time will tell, but I don't think Alembic has much to worry about.

If I were Boogieman and had some serious chops and wanted to get Alembic's attention, I would be as nice as possible because if he's really on top of all this stuff, maybe it would turn into legitimate employment. Sort of like Steve Vai sending Frank Zappa a transcription of The Black Page.

bigredbass · « **Reply #33 on:** September 18, 2012, 10:21:44 PM »

Corvettes are getting mighty speedy here lately, but Ferrari is not going out of business. Lots of rangefinder cameras (including my fave Fuji XPro), but there's only one Leica. You can buy Citori skeet guns all day long, but it's still not a real Made-In-Belgium, FN Custom Shop, Browning Superposed. I could go on, but you see where I'm headed.

Musical instruments are the biggest 'me too business' in the world. There's lots and lots of handmade axes out there, but ALEMBIC owns an original spot in that market. It's a good business for the Wickershams, but a drop in a small bucket vs. the Yamahas and Fenders of the World. Aftermarket parts for these axes would indeed be a 'cottage business' ! Plus, with the Pit Bull Customer Service Department and a No-Return policy, I think you can see where THAT's going as well.

I might put somebody else's keys or strap locks on my Alembics, but Ron's electronics are the heart of these things, and I could not imagine for the life of me using anything else. I'd end up with a musical equivalent of one of those Jags with a transplanted Chevy V8. No Thanks.

J o e y

gtrguy · « **Reply #34 on:** September 18, 2012, 11:25:18 PM »

I hate to tell you this, but Ferrari has been owned by Fiat for years. I can also tell you that if my XKE had a chev engine, it would be slightly lighter and go faster and be way easier to work on... and Leica uses Japanese parts and technology to make the digital stuff work right.

elwoodblue · « **Reply #35 on:** September 18, 2012, 11:55:36 PM »

pardon the tangent...just wanted to celebrate gtrguy's 500th post...woohoo!!!

O.K. ...back to my somber , but not sober being.

carry on ~~~

Elwood

lbpesq · « **Reply #36 on:** September 19, 2012, 08:24:59 AM »

And Volkswagen owns Porsche, but I'd still rather drive my 968 than a Beetle.

Others have tried to copy Alembic's innovations in the past, Aria and Fernandes to name two, but I doubt few if any players who wanted and could afford an Alembic settled for Aria or Fernandes. I own both guitars and, while the woodwork is very nice, the electronics just don't cut the mustard compared to the original Alembic stuff. On my Fernandes, I pulled out the electronics and put in Alembic.

And might not Mesa have an issue with Boogieman too?

Bill, tgo

jzstephan · « **Reply #37 on:** September 19, 2012, 08:43:08 AM »

A better analogy would be Ferrari GTO kit car

or a real GTO

with the real stuff under the hood

gtrguy · « **Reply #38 on:** September 19, 2012, 10:34:15 AM »

Yes, 500 posts!!! And still playing the devils advocate! And Porsche tried to swallow Volkswagon but Volkswagon ended up swallowing Porsche, even though the Piech family sorta took it over years ago. And a new Honda 4 door Accord is faster than an old 911, or so I hear.

The lesson is that any company in this day and age needs to be aware of the world market and what the competition are up to and adjust accordingly. No niche is safe, no client base is secure. I think the recent ads Alembic have been running show that they are aware of this.

They do put out one of the best instruments made, which is why I have one or two, but I also have a Fender and a Yamaha and a Musicman.

I have been watching the Voodooman EBay ads for guitar amp switching pedals that they make to rival the OEM amp pedals. They made better, cheaper pedals and I thought what a great idea, especially for the awkward older Mesa Boogie channel switching pedals that they improved upon. They started out small with just one or two pedals and now offer a whole big line of them. Well, I checked EBay last week for them and found that other companies now are making the same aftermarket pedals and that they look better and sell for even less.

That is the Free Enterprise System at work, for better or worse. Now if you take that to the global arena, you see America buying stuff cheaper from China, and we outsource jobs and material to them now, for better and worse. High-end Eastman guitars are rivaling anything we can make and many players are picking them up, just as we bought ?made in Japan? once it was good.

Things change and we need to keep up.

hammer · « **Reply #39 on:** September 19, 2012, 12:22:35 PM »

The key questions here would seem to be:

(A) Are the electronics actually better or just cheaper. There's a real difference between something new offering better tone, greater flexibility, etc. and a product that is merely less expensive. How many times have all of us taken a shot at something that appears to be too good to be true and found out exactly that;

(b) How much faith can one put in a product that while it claims to make one's bass sound 21st century (whatever that is) can not be returned if one is not satisfied; and

(c) The lack of customer service skills the guy appears to possess. Is there anyone here who would want to have to deal with this person if his product turned out to be less than expected.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #40 on:** September 20, 2012, 02:16:56 AM »

Good Point Hammer. A while back before I had my Series II I had some ACG filters installed by John East. These are the same filters that Stanley Clarke has in his Spellbinder basses. Low and high pass for each pickup plus cvq and master volume and balance. I really put them in because I wanted to see if I could get access to a series bass type of sound before I splashed out on a real one.

Thankfully they sound really good but don't sound as complete tonally as I was expecting and are slightly noisier than alembic pickups. The high pass filters are not really a lot of use to me apart from adding some attack on the notes. As a consequence I don't use that bass as much as I did before. I'm toying with the idea of putting the Europa electronics back in the bass and buying a non alembic bass to put those other filters in.

In contrast to this boogieman person. Alan Cringrean from ACG guitars and John East were fantastic about helping me get the setup right and John even did the mod to get master volume and balance and installed everything in my bass at no additional cost.

Jazzyvee

Bradley Young · « **Reply #41 on:** September 20, 2012, 08:50:07 AM »

Jazzy,

Did you use the ACG with Alembic pickups?

Bradley

jazzyvee · « **Reply #42 on:** September 20, 2012, 11:16:43 AM »

Yep I did, John did all the necessary mods to get everything working with the low impedance pickups.

jazzy

jim777 · « **Reply #43 on:** October 04, 2012, 09:36:40 AM »

Being difficult to work with doesn't really imply anything about the quality of the work though. Anyone who has ever dealt with Ken Smith or Alexander Howard Dumble would attest to that. I also can't actually see anyone buying this stuff for their Alembic - if you had a Series II bass and found it noisy or whatever why not get rid of it and get something quieter? Who is the target audience for these products exactly? Maybe someone buying it for a home made instrument, or as a kit to ship off to a custom builder, but not for an actual Alembic! Who would do that?!?

And not for nothing, (keep in mind I'm a bass player since '73 but new here before the pitchforks come out!) it might just be that a few more Alembic copies floating around might bring some more recognition to the brand as well. It's not a great thing, or somethign you would seek out certainly, but it doesn't need to be entirely negative. Best preamp/electronics product available aside, there are still probably 1000 bass players who've played the Bongo's 4 band pre for each bass player who has played an Alembic Series instrument. And even Mike Pope is selling multiple snap together configurations of his pre that will fit in anything these days. Fodera pre for 300 bucks, basically.

There is an apect here of Oscar Wilde, The only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about. I wouldn't buy one myself, but I would be interested in seeing just how many are being sold. i can't see him ever hitting triple digits with these things honestly.

Bradley Young · « **Reply #44 on:** October 04, 2012, 09:57:46 AM »

Jim,

Difficult to work with implies everything I need to know about the product. I was going to buy one.

What happens when you need support? You think Mr. Jerkface is going to take care of you? No, he's going to tell you you're holding it wrong.

This is the same reason that I won't do business with someone who treats a barista/waitperson poorly... they will always find a way to do you wrong.

Bradley