Greetings from Canberra Australia

[rnolan]

Hi All, I just purchased a beautiful new Alembic Stanley Clark Brown from Bass Central (great guys to deal with BTW).  I'm a guitar player of <40 years but found myself in need of a bass as I recently bought 2 ADA MB1 midi Tube bass preamps and needed something to plug into them. Fell in love with this one just from the pictures on the Bass Central website, I gave it 24 hours to acclimatise (big change from Florida to Canberra, temp and humidity) and now I've set it up, I love it even more. If you want to check it out (http://www.basscentral.com/blowupsALEMBICSCBROWN4498.shtml).
So currently:
Bass > ADA MB1 > desk (TC M-One (mild delay, reverb) > Studio monitors, just sounds superb so far but I suspect I'll have some pick up height questions

Live rig will be based on the other ADA MB1 > power amp (maybe Carvin TS100 bridged, or ADA B200s (I have a ADA B500B but it's in Belgium)) > EV 3 way TL (15, horn, tweeter).
Cheers Richard

[growlypants]

VERY nice!!  Congrats.

[slawie]

Greetings from Melbourne.
I know of one other Alembic player in Canberra and
He has a beautiful 6 string
Alembic Oz gathering maybe?

Congrats on the beautiful bass

Slawie

[keith_h]

Richard,
Congrats on the new bass. I really like the continuous wood back plates.

I case you aren't aware the Brown Bass can be used in stereo mode. This is each pickup going to its own output via a TRS to TR Y cable. Since you have two of the ADA MB1's you might want to give it a try as it really opens up the sound.

[rnolan]

Hey guys thanks.
Hey Keith_h, interesting you bring up the stereo, one of the guys on the adadepot forum (has an Alembic series 1 (among many basses)) asked me about that tonight. Having 2 MB1s opens up some really interesting possibilities for it.  From what you say re opening up the sound I'll give it a go sooner rather than later  , although it was certainly on my horizon to try. Just now I'm trying to sort out the neck heavy and body tilt forward aspect (I didn't expect this of an Alembic, but according to my mate on the depot, it just goes with the territory). So far a 3.5" suede backed strap is helping

So far I've found that selecting both PUs is much louder than either on their own.  It's not what I'm used to on guitar.  Also the neck PU is set very low compared to the bridge PU. It's the last bit of the setup (the rest I've done) to look into.  But I want to get some more input about it, I suspect if I look around here I'll find some tips.

Hey slawie, just down the road LoL. Alembic Oz gathering sounds good, I'm in.  There's a few around Canberra, When Nunz started Pro Audio he brought in some really nice gear, Alembic (Nunz had a beautiful Alembic, first one I'd seen up close), ADA, Boogie, Anderson, Carvin etc.
R

[keith_h]

As far as balance goes the natural position of the bass is with the neck more around 3 o'clock. A few things help keep it more to the 1 o'clock typical on Fender style basses. The wider strap with ah suede backing. I also play mine higher up on the chest with the body tucked under my right arm. These together, for me, keep the bass in a comfortable playing position.

The volume change you see is natural for the volume/volume/filter/filter setup. When both pickups are on they are additive which is why you get he increase in volume. I always play with both pickups on and make changes via the volume controls so it really isn't noticeable. In fact there are a quite a few members here that do the same.

Alembic pickup adjustment is a bit different than other makers. If you wish to adjust the pickups you loosen the two screws on top and then raise or lower the two screws underneath. If you like the sound of the current pickup placement but they are not equal in volume or you wish to emphasize one a bit more you can use the gain controls inside the control cavity. They are the blue pots with white circle. These are also useful to match the instruments output to other basses you use. I have set all of my Alembics to be roughly the same output so I don't have to adjust my preamp each time I switch basses. 

If you haven't done it already I recommend visiting the FAQ section, Information Related to All Instruments. It has info on all sorts info about Alembic instruments. http://club.alembic.com/index.php?board=7.0

There is also Joey's setup post in the Must Reads. http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=311.0

[rnolan]

Hi keith_h, thanks for the reply.  I'll give the arm position a try  .  My SC BB has 4 trim pots, I started a topic in the Alembic Bass & Guit area for some info.  I'd checked the FAQ and read Joey's post.  I knew about the PU adjustment screws from the owners booklet (neat system).  My electronics seem to be a bit of a hybrid (the add said base on series 1 but different ?).  So far I've gravitated to the both PU position and love the tones I'm getting (and will probably stay that way and use the vol pots for variation).  I want to find out what the various trim pots do before I go adjusting them as mine don't match any of the pictures in Mica's FAQ post.

Cheers Richard

[edwardofhuncote]

Congratulations & Compliments on your new Brown Bass Richard, and welcome to the Forum.

I see the others have already directed you to the FAQ section, so I'll just send a friendly howdy from Southwest Virginia to another Australian Alembican.   

[keith_h]

Hi keith_h, thanks for the reply.  I'll give the arm position a try  .  My SC BB has 4 trim pots, I started a topic in the Alembic Bass & Guit area for some info.  I'd checked the FAQ and read Joey's post.  I knew about the PU adjustment screws from the owners booklet (neat system).  My electronics seem to be a bit of a hybrid (the add said base on series 1 but different ?).  So far I've gravitated to the both PU position and love the tones I'm getting (and will probably stay that way and use the vol pots for variation).  I want to find out what the various trim pots do before I go adjusting them as mine don't match any of the pictures in Mica's FAQ post.

Cheers Richard

I own both a Brown Bass and Series 1. The Brown Bass uses Anniversary electronics. This is about as close to Series 1 electronics as you can get on a non-Series bass. 

My 2004 BB only has two trims pots. They are located on the filter pc board for each filter. I am not sure what the other two trim pots are for but suspect one is to adjust the neck LED's brightness. The other I have no idea what it might be. If it has a sticker over it then that indicates it is not for user adjustment. Maybe Mica will chime in as obviously the electronics have changed some over the years.

[rv_bass]

Richard,
Gorgeous bass!  A photo of the inside of the electronics compartment showing the trim pots might be helpful as well.
Rob

[rnolan]

Control Cavity.  I think keith_h is on the money with what the trim pots do.
And many thanks for the warm welcome.  Pic of cavity attached (I hope)  on the adadepot site I've opened up the attachment size to 20MB so we can post clips (but we allegedly have unlimited storage). If any of you are into ADA gear I've been using it for nearly 30 years, although these are my first ADA MB1 preamps (bit of a new learning curve).  Also I'm an audio engineer and I used to build and repair guitars (bad for ones hands however so I dabble these days).

Hope the attachment works...

[rnolan]

Finally got to give it a decent play tonight, found a really nice sound So both PUs, vols around 3/4 ish (which I played around subtly with), both Q switches on but filters off/full up, simple patch on the ADA MB1, tube input, -12 @380hz, Hi shelf -6, desk / monitors (add a little lite delay and reverb (TC MOne).  Loved the sound.  This bass is a dream to play, I'm really enjoying it.  Also started to work on my right hand technique a bit 3 fingers and thumb, my 3rd finger needs some strengthening, but I'll get there.  Tried a bit of slapping, seems to work better when I don't think about it (if that makes sense). I'm also starting to find my way round the neck in a more "bass" way (and less guitar way). Same with the right hand.  If your a guitar player (like me) and you want to play some Bass, these SC Brown basses are perfect.

[rnolan]

So now I needed an amp.. So preamp covered with ADA MB1s, I picked up a carvin DCM200L (200w bridged into 8 ohms) and a Mesa Powerhouse 1x12" with horn (300w cab).  So this should work well for small to medium needs and fit in the car.

[rnolan]

So minor update, I picked up another Mesa P112 (1x12/horn) cab yesterday, these are now EOL and allegedly the new version isn't as good ?, the shop had 2 left so I grabbed another while I could to have a pair.  Ran it in stereo last night, awesome.. though only 100w per channel from DCM200L, I need to get my ADA B500B from Belgium (postage sucks..).

Next - I have a pair of new in box 15" Altec musical instrument speakers which I need to build cabs for to sit under the P112s, so if anyone has some good ideas for a compact box design for 15s I'm all ears...  Probably end up similar to an EV TL no doubt.

I'm about to make a stereo (TRS) to dual mono (TS) lead so I can use the SCs stereo out into 2 ADA MB1 preamps > Desk (+TC MOne delay/rev) > DCM200 > 2 x P112s. And loving playing this bass, learning a few bass lines, destroying my right hand guitar fingernails  , and trying to get my fingers to do what they are told LoL.  When I fell in love with this "particular" SC Brown on bass central is suspected it would be a very enjoyable journey, and it definitely is!

[zomnius]

great!!, Now a sound cloud update ? 

cheers, Zom