I think the challenge is owning a series bass simply because that tends to become the "go to" bass. I'm fortunate that all of my Alembics are different and tend to get used for different things. Love the Balance K body shape, my main bass is the S2 5 string, so the Signature Balance K 5 string is an easy change - different sound, less heavy, "simpler" to tone shape. Have been rediscovering the joy of using that one lately.
The SI is a 4 string, and, to my ears, really has a different sound compared to the SII (35 year difference in the electronics age, certainly different structure and wood package). Very light strings, just a joy to play.
The 8 string Exploiter with Europa electronics has less to do with the electronics than the 8 strings - it's a specialty instrument with awesome tones, i.e. have never tried tried to get series tones out of it because the string courses are the bigger factor in the tone.
And my first Alembic, the 4 string Exploiter with Spoiler electronics. I was working on something years ago on this bass and recorded it to work on it. Listening back through a good set of headphones, that same, filtered quality tone that I hear in my Series instruments came ringing through and I was delighted, even thought it's the simplest Alembic electronics package I have.
I'm sure it's subjective for everyone, and while my SII gets first call most of the time, I tend to use the other basses for specific reasons and I've never struggled to get what I want out of them. Perhaps it's because I use them for what I perceive they're good at that I've never felt limited in getting what I want out of them.
Now if I could just convince my wife that I really, really, really need a Stanley Clarke because it's different, my collection would be complete . . .
