Alembic 1976 Series check...

[Seeds of Doom]

Hi everyone, this is my first post!
After 25 years of lust and gradual acceptance that it would never happen, I find myself about to buy an actual Alembic Series! If this was even called a Series then.
Honestly I am beyond excited.
Anyway, it's a slightly unusual model in that it appears to have a maple body - can I expect this to have any major impact on the sound?
It's been refinished by Jaydee so looks as good as new. The pickup selector has been moved but that's not a concern.
I'm going to go and see the bass soon but as I've never had the pleasure of playing an Alembic if this prestige it would be good to know if there's anything particular I should be looking out for.

[rv_bass]

Welcome and congratulations, that’s a beautiful bass!   I have a 76 bass and love it, especially the neck profile, very comfortable.  Both maple and Purple Heart provide a little more brightness to the tone, but the filters and Qs can help you find your tone, along with the amp EQ.  Others here have actual experience with maple core Alembics and can comment further. Here is a link with comments about wood types and tone:

http://www.alembic.com/info/woodsamples.html

Be sure to check the backstrap layers near the headstock for cracks or repairs and ask to look inside the back cover to make sure the electronics look original and OK.  And check all controls to make sure they work, including the five pin and 1/4 jack.  Note that the 1/4 jack on older basses were stereo, so with a mono cord you will only hear the neck pickup.  You will need a stereo cord to hear both pickups through the 1/4 jack unless it has been modified to be mono only output.  Does it come with the DS-5 power supply and five pin cable?

Good luck and have fun with it!

[rv_bass]

…and make sure the neck is straight and truss rods work.  And check to make sure the trim pots and output adjustments on the back cover work too (the four screws). 

This is a good reference to start with:  https://club.alembic.com/index.php?board=23.0

Make sure the nut, tailpiece and bridge look OK, and that the pickups are not cracked and work properly.  That’s what I can think of for now. 

[goran]

I remember this bass, I almost bought it from a guy called Marcus, really nice guy... But I ended up with same Series 1 just Omega shape which I prefer.
Beautiful bass!

[pauldo]

Ben,
Welcome to the camp!

Look out for love…
You may find yourself enraptured by the playability and tonal flexibility.

At the same time you will notice that an Alembic will reveal any sloppy playing habits.  If you approach it like something you never had before and explore the nuances of more and less pressure with fretting hand, varying positions with picking hand and really listen to what the bass is telling you, you should discover that your other basses will be gathering dust.

Paul (who concurs with Rob’s advice for “things to look at”)

[lbpesq]

Hi Ben, and welcome to the club!  Nice looking bass you have there.  I have a ‘76 Medium Scale Series 1 guitar that has a Koa core.   Regardless of the wood recipe, I suspect you will find the electronics will allow you to get just about any tone you want.  There’s a lot of tweaking power in those filters and Qs.

Bill, tgo (the guitar one)

[David Houck]

Beautiful bass!

[Seeds of Doom]

Thanks everyone, some really encouraging comments!

To answer some of your questions;
- the bass comes witn the power supply and cable, and case.
- I've been assured that the electronics have all been checked by Jaydee when they did the refinish so I'm sure they're all ok, but I will test it out exhaustively!  They've got two rigs so I'll be able to test drive in stereo.
I'm driving up on Saturday and they're going to set it up for me as well, which is very kind of them
I'll let you all know how I get on!

[jazzyvee]

I saw that bass in just after it was sanded down waiting for a respray when I went to drop off my bass at the Jaydee workshop to get my bass tuning peges changed.It looks great.

[StephenR]

Top is such a beautiful color and the understated grain is very cool, elegant looking. One last tip that seems to have been missed, bring a strap and play the bass standing as well as sitting. Alembics have their own ergonomic thing going, make sure you can play comfortably in all positions while standing. Fingers crossed that it is everything you want it to be and it comes home with you!

[Seeds of Doom]

And... I got it 😁

[rv_bass]

Congratulations, it’s a beauty!

[s_wood]

Congrats and welcome! That’s an especially beautiful Series bass.

[Seeds of Doom]

The tone is incredible  - my tonal touchstone has always been Entwistle and this bass shines with distortion! I don't have a stereo setup at home yet but I'm content with mono for now... When I tried it the seller had set up two rigs and it was just astonishing, fat and warm neck pickup and trebly overdrive on the bridge - absolute tonal majesty.

It's a fair bit darker than the seller's pictures suggested - it's not as vivid a red, but more purple, unsurprisingly!

Unfortunately I had a bit of a panic when I got it home - it just wouldn't stay in tune and the intonation was off, even though it had been adjusted prior to me bringing it home.

After speaking to the seller, and to my tech,  it would seem that the neck was having a bit of a turn adjusting to the 45-105 strings that had just been fitted - it turns out the previous owner usedan extremely light gauge.
Thankfully it's feeling much better now and holding tuning much brtter. I'm going to have my tech give it a final neck tweak to get the action a touch lower.

The case isn't original, I'm pretty sure. There's no form or support inside and feels very generic. Do we know if Alembic sell cases individually? I can't see any on the website...

[lbpesq]

Congrats Ben!.   May I suggest that prior to taking it to you tech you check out Joey’s post on setting up your instrument.  It’s as close to Holy Gospel as we get around here.   Alembics are surprisingly easy to set up and maintain due to some brilliant, yet simple design features.  Here’s a link to Joey’s post which, appropriately, resides in the “Must Reads” section of the forum.

Bill, tgo

https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=311.0