Is it possible to get Alembic tone for under 1K?

[hieronymous]

I'd say this Alembicized Fender sounds pretty good, though the player has a lot to do with it!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_T2h00DR5Q

[that_sustain]

If you want an Alembic..you won't be happy with anything else.  I learned this the hard way after letting go of my first.  20 years(and a few basses later), and I'm back in tone heaven.  Other boutique basses are nice..but they don't have the electronics that come with Alembic.

[that_sustain]

...and if you can, hold out for one with the brass sustain block.  Whole lotta clarity and zing.

[slawie]

If you pick up a Washburn Taurus T24 Neck-Thru Electric Bass Guitar Natural Mahogany for around $450 new and then throw in a set of Alembic Jbass activators you will probably get the closest resemblance of what you may be striving to acheive.
Believe me there is no substitute for the original instrument but this may be a way of getting close (probably around 15 gigaparsec off target)
 
slawie

[musashi]

Superfilter.  For real.

[bsee]

Those of us commenting on alternatives are familiar with all the products involved. I have owned five different Alembics and still own a couple. When I tell you the Peavey TL-5 I own is close to an Alembic in build, I am not deceived. The tone isn't there because it doesn't have Alembic guts. The beauty isn't there because it doesn't have Alembic's hand-picked and carefully finished wood. The rest is there. These basses are well-glued neck through instruments that are cut to reasonable neck dimensions. The neck is five pieces and the top is flame maple. The ebony board is thick, and that makes a difference as well. This bass is as solid as any of the lesser models Alembic made in the same time frame. It isn't an Alembic, but if you never looked at the bass and went purely on feel in your hands, you might think it was a Europa. I am confident that dropping a set of East  Meets West guts and a pair of Activators in this bass would have it stand up favorably to any Alembic you could buy on the used market for $2K or so. The only other thing that would make a difference is a sustain block, but that's a matter of preference in terms of tone anyway.

[edwin]

I'm not saying you aren't right, but do you feel that acoustically it is the equivalent of an Alembic? Just curious because if that were so, then an electronics transfusion would certainly be worthwhile. I've played other basses that had similar construction, but somehow they still didn't have the vibrancy of Alembics I've owned and played.

[bsee]

It is better than some, not as good as others. I would say that it has better sustain than most of the basses with a maple-only neck recipe. If anything, it's maybe a little bit naturally bassy. I was wrong about the wood recipe, by the way, the wings are solid flamed maple (mine is less figured than others I have seen). It looks like a five piece neck of maple with a couple walnut stringers. The body also has a pair of similarly sized pieces of walnut separating the neck from the wings. I can practice with songs coming from laptop speakers unamplified. The bass can be heard in the next room when played without an amp. Not loud, but you can identify the notes.  
 
Also, I have the 2nd generation model which only has four knob electronics. The originals had five. I guess this model doesn't get EMW, it would have to settle for Spoiler or Orion guts. Or maybe some sort of hybrid Signature without Q switches.