Who thinks an alembic can't capture that Marcus Miller Tone?

[jazzyvee]

The closest i've heard an alembic capture that essence of the Marcus Miller tone. 
I do a few Marcus tracks in my band and I haven't tried to get that kind of fender tonality.

[mario_farufyno]

As heavily compressed as Marcus Bass is.

[David Houck]

...
I do a few Marcus tracks in my band ...

Which tunes?

[jazzyvee]

Detroit, What is Hip?, Blast, Silver Rain and a fair number of the ones he did for Grover Washington Jr like the Winelight album.

[jazzyvee]

I just get a good slap tone that works with the track but it isn't a Marcus Miller type of sound.

[jacko]

From a purely personal perspective I'd hate to sound like Marcus Miller. Sure, he's a gifted technical player but I find his over-compressed tone lacks emotion but then, I'm really not a fan of slapping anyway.

Graeme

[Bantar]

I like Marcus Miller, both his slap and non-slap.  Sometimes I find myself trying to dial in Fender like tones from many genres on the Essence, but it's just a different sounding bass than a Fender.  It can get kind of close, but I end up wondering why I'm trying. Maybe other Alembics can do much better on that than mine, but if I really want a Fender sound I need to use a Fender or something more similar.  I have an inexpensive Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar bass with 32" scale that has awesome Fender tones, I'm better off using that. Kudos to you for trying bro! Keep up the good work! Right now I'm trying to dial in a good metal sound on the 'Lemby, but am a little lost.  Anyone have any suggestions for metal settings on an Essence with a 3 position Q?

[jazzyvee]

Yes i agree, why try to make an alembic sound like a fender when you can buy an actual fender and use that. Having said that, before I got wise to the logic of that, I get the closest on my standard Europa bass which has a single filter.
For a good metal sound I would think FC Spoiler ( Flip) would be the man for that advice  being in a Metallica tribute band and has a single filter alembics.

[keith_h]

Construction has a lot to do with the Fender sound. The bolt on neck and woods used are a large part of the Fender tone that tend to emphasize the mid range and highs over the bass range. It is possible to get close to a Fender sound out of an Alembic with filters but it becomes more of a process of using the amp EQ to tailor the full range output of the Alembic than relying upon the inherent characteristics of the instrument. When  I had my fretless built I purposely went with a set neck and ash body as I was looking for the Fender mid-range bump from the instrument itself. Between that and the bass/treble controls of the EMW electronics I think we hit the mark pretty well. This lets me swap instruments without having to diddle with the amp EQ each time. I'm with JV on the part of if you really need that Fender sound why not use one? If push comes to shove and nothing else will do I can go to my guitar closet and pull out my old reliable 76 Jazz Bass. Then there is no argument that I'm getting the "Fender tone". 

[gtrguy]

I recently picked up a 2017 Fender MIM Mustang short scale PJ bass and it really nails that Fender tone. I modified it to have dual tone/volume controls for each pickup and made up some custom knobs on my TAIG lathe for it. These PJs don't cost that much and are a budget friendly way to add to your bass arsenal..

[edwardofhuncote]

Fender tones. [sigh] What the ham-sandwich... I'll play.

I have nailed the Fender thing that literally no one else wants. It's reputed to be mud-on-mud. (it ain't, but that is another argument) Mine is an Indonesian Squier Precision Vintage Modified, but it's really a pretty close representation of a 70's Telecaster bass. I love it. Especially with Fender black-tapes.

So whose tone was I going for with this thing? Who else... McVie in the pre-Alembic days.