What's amazing to me is not how Alembics can sound like other basses but how different they sound in the hands of different people. I will say that I think the Series basses are apart to a greater and lesser degree from other Alembic basses. To my hands and ears, Epics have more in common with other brands of basses than they do with Series I basses.
However, I digress. If you listen to Stanley Clark, Phil Lesh, Danny Bowens, Jim Cammach, etc. they are all playing Alembics, but they are all very distinctive from each other. In fact, Phil's bass was directly compared to a washtub bass by producer Keith Olsen in reference to the Terrapin Station sessions. He complained that Phil didn't have a Fender. As a side note, I've run into a fair number of engineers and producers who don't really know what to do with a non-Fender sound. I recently recorded some bass lines for a friend's album and went through various basses (including my Series I) but non of the parts were successful in the ears of the engineer until I pulled out the Lakland JO. I thought my original tracks with the Starfire were the best. Oh well.
So, my point is that Alembics can really reflect their player in a very direct way, so that rather being limited to imitation of another bass that always sounds like that bass no matter who is playing it, it can create a broad spectrum of tone, often merely by variation of touch. No other bass can really say that.
I can't wait to get another!
I hope I'm being somewhat lucid, as I am bedridden with H1N1 and between fever and vicodin, am feeling pretty dreamy.
