Alembic bass for metal, looking for advice

[gridchin]

Hey guys! I’d like to share with you some exciting news I bought an Alembic Mark King V Signature Deluxe Cocobolo! It’s one of finest basses I ever played. The attention to the details and the woods are amazing, literally it’s a piece of art. Soundwise it’s gorgeous, love its huge deep tone. Also love its sound possibilities, much better then the typical bass, middle, treble config.

The only cons is the weight. I think it’s the heaviest bass I ever had Planing to buy a wide strap and remove the 4 batteries that are in charge of the leds to make this bass lighter.

Now I have to learn how to master the filters + switches Thank you guys for all the support!

[jwright9]

Wow, that bass got to you very quickly!

I personally don't think taking out 4 batteries will make much of a difference weight wise and you will compromise not having LEDs for a very small weight difference. But hey, you are the one holding and playing it.

Glad you like it. Awesome bass.

[growlypants]

Oooh, that's nice!!

[hieronymous]

Excellent! Congrats!

Quickie startup advice for the pickups/filters - it's probably a good idea to experiment with one pickup by itself first - get comfortable with how the filter works. I find that the Q switch set to 0 is a great sound - the Q boost has a very distinctive character. On my Alembicized P-Bass, I use the neck pickup with the filter set towards the middle, not too low to make it muffled - then dial in a tiny bit of bridge pickup to widen the sound. But your needs are probably very different than mine. Have fun!!!

[adriaan]

So you went straight in at the deep end, huh. Way to go!

Weight-wise, you might look into replacing those brass backplates with a set of plastic ones - best check with Mica, but I'd hazard a guess they could make you a set with shielding paint and all. Hm, they could probably do wooden covers in a nice contrasting or complementary species and grain.


The 6 string in my profile weighs in at like 12.5 lbs, but it's all worth it.

[StephenR]

Beautiful bass! Would love to have the same one.

I tried essentially the exact same bass in the showroom in Santa Rosa. When I picked it up it was heavier than I expected but once I put my Moody 4" strap on it felt very comfortable with nice even distribution of the weight. The Moody straps are made of extremely pliable Italian leather and feel amazing right out of the box, no need to wait for the leather to break in. Alembic used to sell Moody straps with the Alembic logo on them.

Agree that you are going to lose more than you gain by removing the batteries for the LEDs. My first thought was the same as Adriaan's, change the brass back plates. That will save you a lot more weight than removing batteries will.

One other thing to note about the Q-switch. It primarily is going to alter the attack at the frequency you have selected with the filter, the basic tone of the pickup is going to come from the filter setting. I find the Q-switch very helpful for cutting through distorted guitars. The combo of the filters and Q-switch is almost like having an arsenal of different basses/pickups to select from, all in one instrument. Takes some getting used to but well worth the effort.

[mica]

The plastic or wood backplates are twice as thick as the brass ones, 1/8" vs 1/16", so they will protrude from the back and look, well, not good! Because the plates are handmade, it might be better to try and make them locally. Using a 1/16" plastic would be okay, and as Adriaan notes they must be shielded on the inside surface. That's pretty thin plastic, but if you are careful, you can save a lot of weight that way, and you can keep the original brass plates safely tucked away.

[gearhed289]

Very nice, congrats!

[gridchin]

Thank you very much for your kind words and advices guys!!

Indeed, the brass backplates are very heavy. I will ask a local luthier for a plastic or wood 1/16" ones, shielded on the inside surface. I tried removing the 4 batteries, and you guys were right - there was no noticeable difference in the weight. So I placed them back. I think the ideal solution would be luminlay side dots (http://www.luminlay.com/featuresen.html) - thinking about a future build

[StephenR]

If your future build is for a Series bass the LEDs wouldn't need batteries they would be powered by the DS-5 as would the bass. You could take out the batteries that power the electronics as long as you didn't want to use the 1/4" jack. Since the battery life is short in an instrument with Series electronics the external power supply is the way to go.

Post some pictures of the new back plates once you get them made and installed.

[gridchin]

Sorry for my ignorance, what are the differences/advantages of series electronics compared to MKII? Thank you in advance.

[hammer]

Others here may be able to provide you with a more nuanced perspective on the differences but here is mine.
The two single coil PUs and hum cancelling PU allow for an even greater degree of flexibility in ones tonal palette than the Signature electronics. Series PUs allow for stereo or independent amplification so one can, if desired and with the proper amplification run each PU through a separate channel and cabinet. It's like having an SF-2 built in to ones bass. With the Series II one gets the flexibility of a continuously variable bass and treble filter, a master volume as well as separate volumes for each PU.

The CVQs for bass and treble on the Series II provide the capacity for a much finer range of filter adjustments than the two or three position switches available in other Alembic basses. More filter when you want and less when that's needed. The drawback is these that basses tend to be a bit heavier than what you already own.  The alternative, which results in less weight on your shoulder, is to buy a Superfilter 2 (SF-2) which provides just about everything but the stereo capacity of a Series bass. I've got both Series I and Signature basses and with the SF-2 I can basically duplicate any tone I can get from my Series bass with my Signature running through the SF-2. The only difference is that the SF-2 is sitting in my rack as opposed to hanging off my shoulder.

[gridchin]

Others here may be able to provide you with a more nuanced perspective on the differences but here is mine.
The two single coil PUs and hum cancelling PU allow for an even greater degree of flexibility in ones tonal palette than the Signature electronics. Series PUs allow for stereo or independent amplification so one can, if desired and with the proper amplification run each PU through a separate channel and cabinet. It's like having an SF-2 built in to ones bass. With the Series II one gets the flexibility of a continuously variable bass and treble filter, a master volume as well as separate volumes for each PU.

The CVQs for bass and treble on the Series II provide the capacity for a much finer range of filter adjustments than the two or three position switches available in other Alembic basses. More filter when you want and less when that's needed. The drawback is these that basses tend to be a bit heavier than what you already own.  The alternative, which results in less weight on your shoulder, is to buy a Superfilter 2 (SF-2) which provides just about everything but the stereo capacity of a Series bass. I've got both Series I and Signature basses and with the SF-2 I can basically duplicate any tone I can get from my Series bass with my Signature running through the SF-2. The only difference is that the SF-2 is sitting in my rack as opposed to hanging off my shoulder.

Thank you for the detailed answer hammer! I think I still have lots of possibilities to explore with the Signature electronics, but definitely will take a look into the SF-2.

Already ordered an extra wide strap and spoke with a local luthier about the possibility of creating lightweight backplates. Will share photos once I’ll have them

Have a great weekend guys!

[s_wood]

Gridchin, that's a fine-loooking MK Sig. Congratulations! As far as the weight goes, get the widest strap you can find (at least 3") and you will get used to it.  Part of the reason Alembics sound as massive as they do is the weight.  So think of it as a good thing!

I have both Series I basses with the 3 position q switch and Series IIs with the QVC.  I actually prefer the 3 position switch over the QVC for live work, as it's easier to find a tone on the fly.  As others have said, the best way to get a handle on what the filters do is one pickup at a time. Roll the balance so that only one pickup is working.  Leave the Q switch down. Play around with the the filter knob, going from one wide open (bright) to closed (very bassy).  Then, do the same thing with the Q switch up.  Then, roll the balance to shut that pickup off and repeat with the other.  Then, repeat the process -pickup by pickup with both pickups on.  You will get the hang of it fast.

By the way, the main difference between the Series basses and the MK Sigs (or any other Alembic) is the pickups.  The Series basses use a wide aperture single coil pickup which are made hum-cancelling by the use of a dummy coil that sits between the 2 pickups (which is why some people think Series basses have 3 pickups).  Your MK Sig (and all Alembics except for the Series basses) uses humbucking pickups. The pickups on your Sig are called AXYs.  There are 2 different AXY pickups- the "regular" ones and the Fatboys.  The Fatboys are wound to have a bit more bottom end to them.  I have a MK Sig that began its life with 2 regular AXYs.  I swapped them out for 2 Fatboys, but honestly it was too much... the bass wasn't punch enough for me that way.  Now, I have a Fatboy in the bridge position and an AXY in the neck and it's perfect.  But I also loved the bass with 2 regular AXYs, too.   

Your MK Sig is an amazing bass and with a big amp at stage volume and new strings it WILL kick major ass.

[gridchin]

Thank you S_wood!! I think you are right. Lightweight basses sounds fine, but not as massive as Alembics.

I really like the concept behind the filter knobs. So different from most other basses, where I usually have the tone wide open.

I’m curious about Fatboys pickups. Couldn’t find any comparisons on youtube. Some day I might get these pickups to try them out.

Already thinking on the next Alembic, non-stop GAS!