Change of pickups

[Valentino Villevieille (valvil)]

Malachiah,
 
generally speaking, yes you should adjust both rods at the same time, and by a similar amount (but not necessarily identical), as long as the neck is not twisted ( rare on a high end bass). As I said earlier, it depends on the tension of the strings you use and other variables. . You want to wait a few minutes ( 15 or more) after you make the adjustment, to let the neck settle, before you decide weather you like the result or not. Start with small adjustments, and see what you get. You can always mark the orgiginal position of the rods in some way, so that you can go back to the old setting if you don't like the results.
 
For further reference on mantaining your Alembic bass, and truss rod  adjustments, check out this link.  http://www.alembic.com/support/care.html
 
Sorry but I don't know what to tell you about the taper end question.
 
Valentino

[Joey Wilson (bigredbass)]

(M)y:
 
The taper-end (AKA superwound, exposed-core, etc.) WILL lower your action.  How much will vary by how 'tapered' the string is at the bridge saddle.  I remember the original Superwounds from James Howe really were just the core wire at that point.  Most makers these days will have one wrap at that point.  
 
But like most things in life, this 'cuts both ways':
 
First, this type of string can feel a lot more loose under your fret hand.  And second, they can be very difficult when it comes to adjusting your string lengths at the saddles to intonate properly.
 
How LOW do you want your action?  REALLY low?  
 
Over time, I've come to a VERY low action.  Read this check list to see what it required:
 
I had to learn to play very lightly, and let the volume knobs do the work.  If you're really flailing at strings, stop right here.
 
I had to find one brand and guage of string and stay with it (Thomastiks for me), because for action we're speaking of clearances in the thousands of an inch making a difference.  Still buying different strings every time you put new ones on? Stop right here. Or be prepared to re-tune all of your adjustments to cope with a different set of strings each time.
 
Be prepared to study and put some time in on this.  There is a subtle and complex inter-relationship between nut height, neck relief, and bridge height that is gradually learned.  These three values change in corresponding fashion; rarely will a change in one not affect the other two, all the while assuming that all of the frets are the same height.  This isn't rocket science.  But until you can learn this for yourself, be prepared to make LOTS of trips to a guitar tech.
If you're not willing to invest this time, stop right here.
 
BUT . . . . as I said earlier, ALEMBICs are about the easiest basses for anyone teaching themselves to adjust their necks.  On MOST basses, you'd have to unbolt the neck to adjust the truss rod, and also adjust the down-angle of the neck by shimming the neck pocket.  The bridge would be generic and you'd have to adjust the bridge heights separately.  And if the nut was wrong, you'd have to replace it.
 
ALEMBICs skip all these unpleasantries.  The nut is adjustable, the radius of the bridge saddles is already matched to the fingerboard curvature, and the neck is already set at the right angle.
 
Listen, if I taught ME to do this, ANYBODY can do it.  It gives me lots of pride that I've done it, and I get a real buzz when my friends comment on how EASY the BigRedBass plays.
 
When you begin, I can't repeat VV's advice enough: Start with SMALL adjustments.  In this business, a LITTLE goes a LONG way!
 
Best Regards,
 
Joey Wilson  

[Paul Lindemans (palembic)]

Brothers and Sisters,
Malachiah,
 
what brother Joey and Moder Valentino (LOL ...moder sounds as mother too!) say is SO true!
Being on this board for about 7 months now (I'm from the post-yahoo-era) learned me a LOT about my bassplaying.
I say bassplaying in purpose and not Alembic because in my opinion it passes beyond the brand name what happens here. Things I learned here I can use as well in handling my Fender JB, as a Stagg or Hondo or Suyawacko  whatever.
However ...playing an Alembic helps a lot in bassplaying.
Let make myself clear: before meeting the people here  I hit the strings and played.
Now it's about how can I adjust my guitar so I can get the sound that's really me.
That's a completely different concept... it's about being Alembicious as a bass-player.
And believe me: you can be that with a Warwick (as proves brother Dino) too!
Only: with an Alembic is easier.
 
The texts of Joey (and Valentino, and Michael, and Bob, and ...well the whole family here) made me change in full consiousness change strings from d' Addario to DR.
Oh man-oh man ... it just didn't work for me. I couldn't get the strings right for me. So i went back to ...d'Addario. It took me 3 (three) months (MONTHS) to go there and back again (I read definitely to much Tolkien these days).
The result however is that Bonnie never felt better with the d'Addario's.
Now I'm gonna make the change to Thomastik as soon as I can spend the money and give it another try again.
I will be with trial and error (oh man .... what errors!!) but I guess I wil be manage the job with more comfort and work on it with more focus and so quicker!
 
Listen: Alembicians are tweakers.
They like to do BOM on their basses but it has to be a BOM with an edge, a BOM with an attitude. We like to have control and the BOM has to be produced under OUR conditions.
 
Alembic guitars and basses allow you to plunge even in the physics of your guitar (the neck-setting) when you want to create YOUR BOM. It's not difficult but it takes time to get acustomed to that fact.
Now if you have F.i. a bass with Europa or Series electronics, you plunge into a large world of electronically shaped BOMS.  
Can you imagine the brothers and sisters adding TO THAT a F1-X or F2-B and a SF-2 also from Alembic??
You can shape a BOM into a PIN !
AUGH!!
 
Paul

[gale barchus (gbarchus)]

Paul,
 
Have you tried the d'addario CHROME flatwounds? They're stainless steel (meaning, not nickel) and the tension is higher than thomastic. Use the 100 E-string set (not 105). They're definitely not as warm sounding. I use them in Japan since I cannot get the thomastics. Some people hate them.  
 
I tried the thomastics on my alembic 20th anniversary and couldn't get the neck adjusted with the truss rods completely loosened. But I love their feel and sound on my Fenders, especially my fretless.
 
Gale

[Paul Lindemans (palembic)]

Hi Gale,  
 
how are you brother in the (really FAR) East?  
Good to hear from you! I DO use the 'd Addario Chrome flatwounds on my Fender JB. Even further: I use the 100's. I use them for the work with the Big_band I'm playing in. Untilk know I'm happy with those.
So you consider the Thomastik flatwounds to be warmer if I read your message well? I will try them.
The problems -well, not really problems but a report of how I manage to find out the DR's weren't working- were for Bonnie, my SII-5string and for that bass I use roundwounds.  
I'm gonna try the Thomastik what must be not THAT problem because hey are EU-brand. Brother Mikey promised me a set of Elixirs 5 to try too! I sended him the DR-set I didn't use (by buying 2 sets I could heve a serious discount on that moment in the shop).  
Keep me posted on your string experience!  
 
Paul
 
BTW: I'll check some stores over here if I can find the Thomastics: price, gauges etc ... . Please let me know what you want. I know for shure that we can work something out so that I can send you some sets if you like.
 
(Message edited by palembic on February 28, 2003)

[Werner Witzel (thebass)]

Hello Alembic-Club,
 
since this is my 1st posting here allow me to introduce myself first. I am 40 years old and work as an electrical engineer and live nearby Cologne, Germany. I've been playing bass for 25+ years as an amateur musician in several local bands. Since I recently bought my 1st Alembic Mark King Signature I know that non of my 20+ previous owned basses has the sound and tonal flexibility of my MK Std (not to mention the fine craftmans wood work).
 
Regarding Alembic PUs: I always though that the Alembic PUs are low impedance type with a resonance frequency much higher (> 20kHz) than all other PU brands on the market. The special Alembic sound is also a result of the active electronics which is basically a state variable filter by which you are able to modify the resonance frequency (the Wah-Wah effect you hear when you turn the filter frequency pot). The PUs itself have no noticable soundcolor at all because the resonance frequency is too high to have any effect on the tone. In fact the Alembic circuit and PUs emulate the resonance curve of other PU brands but with the important advantage that you are able to change the resonance by the simple turn of a knob.
 
Thus a PU replacement of the Alembic makes no sense to me because the limited transmission characteristics of other PUs would only limit the tonal flexibility of the circuit.
 
Werner

[Russ Carreiro (zappahead)]

I personally would see no reason for what I do to change the pickups in an Alembic. I think though, that personal preference always takes precedent over everything else. Its easy for me or you to say that its a waste, but if someone has used a brand for a long time or has latched onto a brand that they feel is their sound then I guess I would see their point.
 
I do, however, think that my answer would change depending on whether you are talking about a guitar or a bass also. I am no expert on either, I am a guitar player though, and I know of many guitarists who really just want a certain brand or a certain sound or voicing that they are used to or familiar with. I could see them wanting to change to another PU other than Alembic simply because its very hard to find any other maker of guitars who has access to all of the tone woods and expertise that Alembic has in making custom instruments. I could see them wanting the Alembic look and style and wonderfull craftsmanship, but with their own PUs that they are used to.
 
That being said, I like the Alembic sound and if I wanted voiced pickups or a PU brand that Im in love with, I would probably just buy another brand of guitar because I do agree that its a waste to take apart an Alembic.

[Michael Walker (rockandroller)]

maybe the series pickups are Lo-Z, but the AXYs are pretty much normal impedance (i have one that measures about 8.4K ohms)
 
Subjectively, it sounds 'clearer' than most other pickups, and its faraday cage shielding gives it superlative noise rejection!  
 
I have been experimenting with the AXY & filter in a 'test instrument' ( different pickup placements, heavy-duty noise testing, etc) - to help with my eventual custom order decisions, and in the course of this I played around with several other pickups in conjunction with the Q-filter. None sounded anywhere near as good as the Alembic one!

[Bob Novy (bob)]

Michael - as long as you're set up to experiment, and thinking about what to do for your custom, you should try to get your hands on a FatBoy. Same physical size as an AXY, but with a much wider aperture, and quite a few people feel they sound better.

[Paul Lindemans (palembic)]

Hi guys,
 
and in the middle of this high-technical and serious wabble I'd like to welcome a new member from my side of the pond, welcome Werner.
I like your explanation but to be honest: you are related with Bob, Joey and Michael and a few others: when they write something in a thread I immediately feels the urge to print it out, tit are really things to learn about but otherwise it doesn't seem readable to me.
;-)
 
Paul

[Werner Witzel (thebass)]

To Michael:
 
Sorry for using the term Low-Z as a synonym for high resonance. I didn't measure the PUs impedance (I am playing too much on my new beauty to have time enough to rip it apart ;-). The important property of the PUs is their high resonance frequency to catch every harmonic from the string. Above their resonance all PUs have a roll-off of 12dB/Oct.
 
To Paul:
 
Thanks for welcome and sorry for writing too much tech stuff here. My only excuse is my profession as an EE eng which has become second nature to me. But my passion is the bass. I don't know why but it seems to me that the connection between engineering and music is very likely. Many of my engineering collegues are musicians.
 
now back to bass play mode again
 
Werner

[Joey Wilson (bigredbass)]

WW-  
 
TERRIFIC to have you with us.  
 
My favorite quote from Mica reminds us that . . .
ALEMBIC was started by an engineer (Ron, her father) and an artist (her mother Susan). ., so  
you should feel right at home.  And if you're like me, when I play my ALEMBIC, that quote is confirmed by my hands and ears every time I do so.
 
Joey Wilson

[Paul Lindemans (palembic)]

Tag Werner,
 
no apologies brother. I envy people lik eyou who can actually explain what is going on electronically. Understanding is the way to mastering. Alas I REALLY have no technical mind and not quick in understanding.  
Example:  
 
Above their resonance all PUs have a roll-off of 12dB/Oct.  
 
I don't have the faintest clue what that sentence means.
I want to learn but I guess you all have to learn to write Palembic-english =  using twice the space to explain something than you should use to a normal bass-player.
LOL
 
Paul
 
BTW: I KNEW Joey would like you Werner!

[Werner Witzel (thebass)]

Hi Paul,  Ok, so here?s the short story: 12dB/Oct roll off means that the output voltage of the Pickup drops by 12dB each Octave above the Pickups resonance frequency (the frequency where it has the highest output voltage).  No clue ? Ok, here is the long story:  A pickup (PU) mainly consists of the the magnets surrounded by a coil of mostly copper wire. Some PUs use silver wire because of the slightly reduced ohmic resistance of the wire, but that is very unlikely. This coil has an inductance (called L) which is measured in Henrys. But that?s only half the business because it neglects that the coil is non an ideal coil. The windings of the coil also have a capacitance (called C) which is measured in Farad. More likely you will see the capacitance value is expressed in micro (equals 10^-6) or nano (equals 10^-9) Farads because one Farad is a very huge capacitance. But it gets even more complicated. The resistance of the wire is not zero (unless it would be superconductive, which would require Alembics cooled down by liquid nitrogen and would make playing a bit uncomfortable). This resistance (called R) is measured in Ohms and is a series resistance to the inductance from above. If you consider all this you are able to substitute a PU with its equivalent circuit (only electrically of course) that looks like this:

 Well we are almost there but again there is a bit more. A PU is not a quite unit, right ? If you hold the PU near a plucked string you can measure a signal voltage between it?s terminals. So there is also a signal voltage source which is in series to the coil wire (represented by the Inductance L and its Resistance R). Ok, let?s redraw the circuit diagram:

 The signal from the strings is represented by the little circle with the wave inside and the PU is represented by its Inductance L, its Resistance R and the Capacity C between the windings.  Ok, now that you now what is the equivalent circuit of the PU what can you do with it ?  The signal from the strings in the above picture is considered as ideal which means that there is no distortion, no filtering or whatever. But this signal is only theorethically available because we need a PU (with given R, L and C) to get the signal from the strings. So if you now the values of R, L and C in the circuit above, you can calculate how the PU affects the sound from the strings. Ok, ok I know there is much more which forms the sound but lets concentrate on the electrical characteristics of the PU.  Ok, so how does it sound ?  Any Inductance L also has a Resistance (called XL) which is dependant on the frequency of the signal voltage. It doubles each octave, e.g. the Resistance at 200Hz is twice the Resistance at 100Hz. And again at 400Hz its twice as large as at 200Hz. To express this in a compressed form technicians express this with logarithmic values called decibel or "dB". A value of 6dB per Octave simply means that "something" (in this case the Resistance of  L) gets doubled if the signal frequency gets doubled too. If you see something like "minus 6dB per Octave" this means that something is half of its original value if the frequency is doubled.  The capacitance C behaves exactly the opposite as an Inductance: it divides its Resistance (called XC) by two each time the frequency gets doubled.  Pooh, much math, eh ? Don?t give up, we are almost there.  Look at the circuit diagram again: The Inductance L and the Capacitance C form a voltage divider from the signal voltage (coming from the strings) to the output terminals of the PU. As the signal frequency inreases, the Resistance value of L gets larger and larger and the resistance value of C becomes smaller and smaller. This results in a voltage divider which is dependant by the frequency of the signal voltage e.g. by the frequency of the strings. In this case it acts like a low pass filter. Because the inductance L causes the output voltage to decrease by 6dB/Oct (divided by two with each freqeuncy doubling) and the capacitance C does the same as well you can simply add both which results in ? Correct, 12dB/Oct. It still a lowpass but the signal decreases twice as fast as a simple lowpass. Since there are two frequency dependant components (L and C) this is called a second-order low pass with 12dB/Octave roll off.  Since the resistance of L increases with the frequency and the resistance of C decreases with the frequncy there must be a very special frequency when the resistance values of L and C are equal. This frequency is called resonance frequency (called f0). At this frequency the PU has its highest signal voltage output, it can even be larger than the input voltage ! (To understand how this is possible you need to get into complex number mathemathics but then I will be killed by all board members.) At the moment it?s enough to know that above the resonance frequency the output voltage of the PU will decrease by 12dB/Oktave e.g. gets quartered by frequency doubling. The filter curve of the PU now looks like this:

  So what do you have now ?  By knowing the values of L and C you are able to calculate how the PU affects your sound. You know at which resonance frequency you will get the highest output, which basically means the PU will "colour" the sound with a filter curve. The resonace frequency of normal PUs is in the range of several kilo Hertz which you can hear very good.  The resonance frequency of low impedance Pus (like the Alembics) is very high, in the range of several ten kilo Hertz which is almost outside the audible range. The Alembic Q-Filter simulates the effect of the resonance frequency were Q is a value that determines the amplification rate at the resonance frequency. The higher Q the the higher the curve at the resonance and the more you can hear the filtering effect.  When you now change the filter frequency by turning the Q-Filter you can simulate almost any filter curve of any PU on the market which is why the Alembic PUs and Q-Filter are so flexible and versatile.   I apologise for the long story, lots of electronics and physics. I promise I?ll be more carefully next time wasting bandwith with tech stuff ;-)   Werner  

[Michael Walker (rockandroller)]

great post, Werner!    
 
I noticed some time ago that even rather 'bright' pickups like EMGs have a resonance spec listed at about 4.5 Khz.  
 
Which somewhat explains why an Alembic with the filter set to about half, still sounds clearer than most anything else with its tone control on full, and also why turning the Alembic filter up FULL results in a tone thats almost impossibly brite (because we are all so used to listening to those muddy Fender pickups....)
 
(Message edited by rockandroller on March 13, 2003)