Alembic Vs Fernandez

[gtrguy]

One thing I have never heard mentioned on here is 'do the older series basses sound different than the newer ones', which leads me to believe they they really don't. Do folks here agree?

[flavofive]

Jimmy, you're absolutely right, the Fernandes uses (3) 4558 dual-opamp chips instead of the (5) single-opamp chips that Alembic Series 1/2 uses.  I traced everything out and confirmed that the Fernandes simply doesn't use one of the "halves" of one of the opamps.

gtrguy, I recall that in the following thread (link below), Mica indicated that there have been no changes to the sound of the Series instruments over the years.  The only changes to the electronics are to reduce noise, and according to her post these do not change the tone.  So I assume the portion of the circuit that actually processes the tone has never changed.  I don't have a Series instrument with the upgraded electronics to check this myself though - wish I did!
[link to topic at current Club]

[goran]

Notice the 5534 op amps in my 82' series 1. Is the 5534 better than the 5532?

I wouldn't say one is better than the other. They are not interchangeable. The 5532 is a dual op-amp where the 5534 is a single. The 5532 is internally compensated where the 5534 is externally compensated. There are other electrical and pinout differences.

The thing to keep in mind is an engineer designs their circuit with a particular chip in mind. They know what results they are expecting and design towards that goal. In the case of Alembic I feel they design their circuits to sound like an Alembic regardless of the op-amp and other components they will be using in the circuit. So in the end it isn't the question of is one chip better than another but does the instrument still sound and play like an Alembic.

I do wonder if there is a difference between the original chips and those manufactured today. While they are functionally the same electrically the manufacturing processes have changed such that they aren't built the same way which might have an effect on how they sound to the human ear. But that is a conversation for another thread.

Sorry for hijacking this post but,
interesting thing about that topic, my friend who is a tech guy said "I'll put you newer chips in the bass, battery should last longer and if you change the difference in sound let me know, we'll switch it back..."

I came home, never noticed the difference, even recorded the same lines with new chips, couldn't tell the difference, but battery on my Series 1 now lasts much longer.

Here is a pic of the chips now in the bass, maybe someone will have some ideas about that.

Usually I would never do this to a bass, that someone rather than people that made the bass make some changes, but I really trust that guy.

[flavofive]

Interesting - great to hear from someone who tried a different chip.  Personally, that doesn't seem like a huge surprise.  Theoretically, at least, opamps shouldn't really be adding much "coloration".  Granted, Jimmy J is absolutely right that Alembic uses ones that are high-quality, even among audio-grade opamps!  (They just consume more power.)  And as Keith noted, some of them do make a difference.  But my general impression is that it shouldn't make nearly as much difference as (for example) changing the transistors in a Fuzz Face pedal, where those components DO make a big difference to the tone.  There are probably dozens of popular audio-grade, low-noise opamps out there that are "close enough" that the audible difference is negligible.

I think the biggest credit for the Series 1/2 sound is to Alembic, not the individual components.  E.g. even the Series 1/2 high-grade opamps are only ~$1 each in bulk.  I bet Ron Wickersham would probably agree that the "magic" is in the DESIGN of the circuit, not any one "magic" part!

[flavofive]

In Alembic Series 1 / Series 2 instruments, I have seen both TI NE5532AP and NE5532AN chips.

Correcting my typo - I meant to say NE5534AP and NE5534AN chips.  As Keith noted, the 5532 is a dual op-amp where the 5534 is a single.

[gtrguy]

I recently built a copy of the vintage Vox Tone bender using sockets for the transistors. I tried various ones from my collection and they did make a huge tone difference. I didn't really mess with the voltages much though, but for the one I picked I did adjust the other components to give it what it liked to see. It sure has that old time snarky fuzz sound.


Back in the day the enclosure must have cost way more than the electrical parts they used.

[mica]

These chip do work, they do have longer battery life, but they are noisier.

[keith_h]

Goran, I was thinking more of 1970's era manufactured 5532/5534 compared to the ones you can buy today. Manufacturing processes and equipment have changed considerably since then and I would expect so has the internal construction of the chip.

 Mike, The reason I got into chip swapping had to do with parts availability. At the time I built the preamp 5532 chips from Signetics were constrained and reserved for the military. 4558 chips on the other hand were readily available. I was working for a defense contractor at the time so was able to order a couple of 5532 chips through them and while I waited I used the 4558 chips to test out and play around with the preamp until my 5532's arrived. 

[goran]

@Mica.... swaping them ASAP... no longer need for batteries, haven't notice the noise, but I trust you.

@Keith, yea my Series 1 is 1980, I didn't thought you were thinking of really old Alembics