New bass day!

[David O'Heare]

I'm the proud new owner of a 1999 Alembic Orion 5-string bass, yippee!

It seems to be pretty standard, for an Orion: ebony fingerboard with no fingerboard face inlays, 5-piece maple set neck with darker brown (mahogany?) accents, lacewood top, mahogany body, all that sort of thing. It's in quite nice shape, some playing wear and a couple of small dings, nothing major. I do have a couple of concerns, though...

A minor one is needing new strings. It currently has a set of DR Black Beauties on it which need changing. By purest coincidence (honest!) I have a set of Pyramid Gold 5-string bass strings, which might be my first change. Does anyone have other suggestions that they like or don't like?

A more major one is that the electronics have been modified; a previous owner "upgraded" the electronics from the 2-band EQ to two Boogieman filters, apparently, though the original electronics are in the case. I have not even opened the control cavity yet, I'm both intimidated by the bass and a little scared of what I might find in there... Does anyone hace thoughts pro/con the Boogieman stuff, the original EQ, or should I just tear it all out and put in a couple of EMGs    ?

This is my first Alembic bass, though I've had an F-2b for freaking ages and love it.

[rv_bass]

Congratulations and beautiful bass!  I used to have a five string Orion, loved it, they are very comfortable, great sounding basses. 

My 2 cents:  I love the sound of pyramid golds on Alembics.  Others like TI flats, Sunbeams, etc., all depends on the sound and feel you like.  As for the electronics, if the originals are still functional I would lean towards restoring with the original electronics.

Enjoy!

[mario_farufyno]

Boogieman looks like doing a kind of Alembic inspired filter clone so, despite here being not the best place to be complacent about potential copyright issues, may be something worth to give a try. If it works as it should, it may give your Orion some Series qualities, but to be honest is kind embarrasing imagining the Wickershams reading about a potential Ron's lifework steal...

[mario_farufyno]

I'm not trying to criticize your buy, maybe Boogieman is a original LPF project and not a full copy. You can be inspired, as I imagine Alembic did with Fender eq section on their own preamp, and I'm no expert about authoral intelectual propertie american/international Laís.

[David O'Heare]

I'm not trying to criticize your buy, maybe Boogieman is a original LPF project and not a full copy. You can be inspired, as I imagine Alembic did with Fender eq section on their own preamp, and I'm no expert about authoral intelectual propertie american/international Laís.

I too worried about that. The few dealings I've had with Mica and everything I know about the Wickershams and Alembic make me want to treat them with utmost respect and honesty.

That's also kind of why I put "upgraded" in quotes. Considering that Alembic doesn't really consider what parts cost when designing, I find it hard to consider making something better with 3rd-party parts.

And yes, I'd love to have a Series bass, but finances precluded that (I did investigate a few, and I wasn't able to put the cash out).

[jazzyvee]

Your bass looks great and congratulations on a good buy. Strings i use D’addario pro steels and Alembic strings on my alembics. As for the electronics, i did install non alembic filers based electronics in my europa bass some years ago in an attempt to create ‘a poor man’s series 2’.
 Whilst they sounded fine  and it gave me control of frequencies down to about 80hz, there were many aspects of the alembic sound missing so i put the original alembic electronics back and vowed not to do that again. But it’s your bass and your choice. I would say that the true alembic experience is in having the whole package body and electronics so if the original electronics are there, my advice would be to put them back in the bass. If you wany more alembic goodness an SF-2 is your friend. 🤩👍🏾

[edwardofhuncote]

*originally meant to be posted on 6/24/2019*

I usually put up a post on my anniversary date here, but this seems like an appropriate place to post.

What a coincidence.

I came to this forum exactly 5 years ago today with an Alembic bass (also my first) that someone had swapped out the electronics for "upgrades". My first post here at the Alembic Club is reply #19 from this old thread, shortly after I discovered I'd been somewhat taken advantage of in an ebay deal- http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=601.0

Rather than tell you what I really think about the Boogieman or other aftermarket equipment, I'll just share some of what Mica told me when I called the Mothership for that first time.

[paraphrasing] "Yeah...", she said, "That's a really pretty bass... we've been wondering where it would end up. You can play it and enjoy it just like it is, but it won't sound quite like it was intended to." This was followed by a patient, but detailed explanation of how Alembic electronics differ from what I currently had. She continued, "The best news is, if you ever want to put it back to spec, we have everything here to do it... it's easy, and we'll talk you through how to do it!" This next part really stuck with me; "I would much rather you had a good experience with your first Alembic." Well, I didn't have to think about that very long before new parts were on the way. "After you get those new activators installed in there and you've had a chance to play it for a while, I want you to call me back here and tell me what you think about that bass." I thanked her and hung up.

There it is. They care about the instruments they build long after the fact, and perhaps more importantly, the experience of the people playing them. The rest is insignificant. It took another 14 months to order my Custom fretless build, but that brief phone conversation was the moment I decided to do it.

You have a nice bass there, David, one of the finest made on Planet Earth. Congratulations & Compliments, and Welcome to the Club.

[pauldo]

 

[David O'Heare]

Confession time -- I've not played the bass since I got it home, not even taken it out of the case. This was on purpose...

It's Ottawa Jazz Festival time here, and I'm the daytime FOH guy for one of the stages. This really uses up all my brainpower for the day, and I don't want to do something dumb.

I've really decided to switch back to the original electronics. My plan is to connect with the mothership some time next week, and ask nicely for help. I don't expect it to be difficult, but I want to check in first before taking any tools to my new instrument.


(BTW, if any Alembic fans/players are in town, c'mon by; I'm there every day from around 8AM to 2PM.)