What was your first experience of Alembic?

[kenbass4]

I had only been playing bass about a year in '82 when a friend of mine and I were at Haight-Ashbury music. They had what I guess was a Distillate, and being a big Genesis fan and knowing Mike Rutherford played an Alembic, I thought I would check it out. Too bad I was poor then, because it sounded better than ANY bass I had played previously, and left me searching for years to find anything that came close. Twenty-odd years later and now I have my own Rogue.
 
Ken (TEO)

[bigredbass]

I grew up in East Texas, and had only seen ALEMBICs in pictures.  Those images of 4-string 'Points' stuck in my mind like a UFO sighting.
 
I went to work in a very progressive local music store in the late 70s, who, strangely enough, had an ALEMBIC brochure and pricelist.  Pictures of Series Ones with graphite necks, woods and shapes from another world . . . which it may as well have been.  Believe me, LA or NYC seemed like they were worlds away from there.
 
I moved to Nashville in 1990.  Biggest music stores I'd ever seen.  Gruhn's.  Corner Music especially had a fabulous bass department with Spectors, Pedullas, etc.  In no time at all, I'd seen somebody with just about every bass I'd ever heard of . . . except for ALEMBICs.  Then I saw that Rock Block had a SC, but it was short scale (Brown Bass)and I wasn't interested.
 
About five years ago, I walked into Rock Block, and the BigRedBass was hanging on the wall.  Five string, Omega shape, Crown peghead, and my favorite color (see thru red), a consignment (cheap!) and I bought it WITHOUT EVER PLUGGING IT IN.  I've never been sorry, and it fundamentally changed my entire outlook on my musicianship.  This was a power I'd never encountered in another bass.  In my piano days the only thing that moved me similarly were big Steinways and the one Bosendorfer I ever played.
It is such a magical instrument.  
 
It forced an introspection on me like few things EVER have before.
 
The power of dreams (or was it just lust?)multiplied over time is INDEED a powerful force.
 
J o e y

[nick_bassman]

My first experience was in the 70's. I was into Stanley big time and there was a British magazine called Guitar (IIRC). They were running a story about Stanley and his rig and the sight of the Alembic made me want one soooo bad, I had a really bad P bass copy at the time. Stanley had that plexiglass sphere speaker thing then too. At the time I was earning a pittance and so my first Alembic was a picture stuck up on the bedroom wall !!
 
It was some years later that I finally managed to get an SC model (wish I still had it) and then an Essence both have since departed from my collection due to my  love affair with basses of the six string variety.
 
However I'm now looking forward to the impending arrival of my custom 33 scale six string from the Alembic crew. I won't be making the mistake of letting this one go.

[palembic]

How I met Alembic?  
My first bass was a Fender Telecaster (CBS-era). I was a bedroom musician from my 16th ubtil my 25th I sold everything I got. That week a friend gave me some old Bass-player magazines and in that magazine was a tiny B&W ad for the most incredible looking bass I ever saw Alembic Series II medium scale with custom Omega cutout in Walnut. I said to myself: one day I will have such a bass. ANd i cut the ad out an put it in my wallet.  
Years went on and the urge to play again came back when I was 34. I showed the ad -I still got it than (the wallet was stolen unfortunately in Lisboa a coupe of years ago)- in different music stores in Belgium and always got the same reaction:  
Huh ...what's that ?  
or  
That 's way to expensive ...did you see our Yamasukiders?  
or  
That's too fancy for Rock & Roll ...try the Fendsonacker.  
Until -by pure coincidence- I was pointed to EVH's store in that time just over the Begian/Dutch border.  
A friend and I went over there and I came home with ...A mediumscale, pointed head Spoiler ...which was definitely NOT my thing.  
I went back -with more money (sure)- and bought the Coco-bolo Mark King signature Standard Pointed Body that now is filling Italy with her lovely low tones by our friend and brother Stephano Riges. That must have been 1990 or so.  
EVH and me changed the electronics a bit. We  changed the pan to a volume and added a mastervolume + a on/off switch with led.  
In 1996 I bought Bonnie which is basically a Series I with Series II electronics.  
Live hasn't been good to me financially since than and I sold everything I got except ...Bonnie. After long years of saving and only recently I was able to rebuild rig and add humble (non-Alembic) basses to my collection.  
 
Paul TBO

[jacko]

My first experience of hearing alembics was in the late 70's. I was buying a precision off my drummers cousin and he was playing Stanleys double live album. This was the first time I'd really listened to bass playing other than Chris squire and geddy lee and I was absolutely blown away by the sound and skill. After that, I bought just about every stanley clark album I could find but didn't even see a real alembic until many years later.
Skip to 1997, I was working in birmingham and giging with a local band. Around this time I decided I could really do with a 5 string so spent many lunchtimes in the local guitar shops seeing what was available. I did find a 5 string rickenbacker that sounded fantastic but the string spacing was just too narrow. Eventually, i had a short list of three, a warwick thumb and an epic in the bass centre and a pre gibson tobias in the shop round the corner - can't remember the name. after a couple of days to-ing and fro-ing I settled on the epic and I'm pretty glad I did. Since then, I guess I've picked it up to play just about every day and it's still as pleasureable now as it was then.  
 
graeme  

[adriaan]

My first experience with an Alembic was sometime between 85 and 90 when the local shop, who did have a decent selection of higher end guitars in glass cabinets, among which one day stood an SC shaped Alembic. IIRC it had a single filter plus Q switch and I think a pan pot. I can't remember any neck laminates, so it was probably 3 piece maple; the top wood was dark, probably rosewood or walnut, and it probably had a matching back laminate. It was most definitely a short scale with a narrow neck, which I knew very well from starting out on a true H?fner violin bass for a few months, and then on to a (sorry excuse for an instrument) Egmond; luckily I had switched to a half-decent Jazz Bass copy at the time.
They allowed me to play it, though they knew that like most posters here I could most definitely only dream about owning an Alembic at the time. The rig they had was one of those awful Trace Elliot stacks: couldn't get anywhere near an open or even bright sounding tone. That's definitely not the right set of circumstances to find your way around the filter and Q switch options ...
I remember I was appropriately impressed with the woods, the workmanship, the punchiness and not least the amazing things it would make you play - but I couldn't get a decent sound, and I sorely missed at least an elbow carving - didn't really like the gloss finish either.
Fast forward to 94, when I saw the Bass Player review of the Epic: I really, really, really liked that bass. Later that year there was a big music fair in Amsterdam, and there was an Epic just standing in a booth so you could try out some BagEnd speakers, going through an SF-2 and a power amp. I had been lurking around the Wils booth who were the Dutch importer at that time (I think EVH already left them at the time) and they had some almighty Alembics on display - a dark 6 string fretless Series comes to mind.
IIRC, the Epic at the other booth was actually the same one that I picked out a few weeks later when visiting Wils, who were kind enough to let me try out a few Alembics. There was an Essence, which I didn't like because of the Q boost that you can't switch off. There were maple and walnut Epics, for which I did not care much - I just had to have that flame koa one!
Amazingly, as this was the first or second batch of Epics, the top wood was no extra charge, and the price was low - not counting inflation, it would now be around 1400 euro, so 1600 USD. Minus a 10% discount from my dealer - a very good deal in all.
The sad side to this story is that I bought the Epic with money that I should not have spent. I did manage to hold on to the Epic, but my budget was very tight for a few years after that ...

[palembic]

Hehehe ...niet beschaamd zijn broeder Adriaan ik speelde OOK ooit op een Egmond!!!!
Bwak!
 
(For English turn your computer upside down hehehe)
 
Paul TBO
 

[hifibassman]

I was about 17 years old at about 1978ish, and a friend of mine at that time was really deep into basses.  He was caught up in the funk bass sounds of that time, and he kept telling me that his mom was going to buy him this olympic bass for christmas.  He told me how impressive the sound was and he exposed me to funk groups at that time that were playing them (slave, mother's finest, etc...).  Yes- i was impressed by the sound too, but i didn't know much about the basses.  He never did get that bass for christmas... his mom didn't know how expensive they were.  He ended up getting a poor look alike that sounded like crap(a gibson grabber bass).  That was funny to me back then.  Anyway, at first i would see a bass shaped like a series, and in my casual way would immediately say there's an alembic proving my ignorance of those basses at that time and what they are all about.  then i kept seeing these ad's popping up in guitar magazines and eventually it peaked my curiousity.  So i started searching music stores for the elusive instruments.  My interest started wavering, and i went to college (1980).  I met another guy there that was an alembic freak, and he had introduced me to stanley clarke.  He had a playing style like stanley although he was playing a piece of junk bass with light gage strings tuned a,d,g,f- but he was very impressive emulating stanley.  So again this prompted me to look for the alembic bass that both my friends were talking about.  And my initial style of bass playing developed from both my friends and stanley clarke influences over a few years.  Finally i found several alembics at a fairly large music store, and immediately i drooled over this series 1 sitting inside a glass case.  i asked the sales guy could i play it- they would not let anyone touch it.  of course this just sent my curiousity and desire thru the roof.  I started collecting more stanley clarke albums and those sounds he was making with that bass just kept blowing my mind.  i would get very excited when stanley put out a new album- my wife thought i was crazy back then (but she eventually understood why i loved alembics because she became interested too).  Finally, sometime around 1986, that same music store changed management and i was finally allowed to play a series 1 for the first time.  It was plugged in thru the ds5, and the sounds i heard was not to be believed.  this to me was the most perfect sounding, perfect playing bass i have ever experienced.  i know this sound signature so well that i can immediately tell from any recording just by listening whether or not it's a series bass or not.  
 
Well, today i still don't have a series bass, but one fine day....  
 
 
 
(Message edited by hifibassman on August 06, 2004)

[the_mule]

The end of last year really was a strange time for me, musically that is. I was starting to lose enjoyment in playing my guitars, very strange as they were fabulous instruments, a 2001 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and a brand new PRS Custom 22 Artist, instruments I had worked and saved very hard for. But the passion was missing, I didn't know why, but it was...
 
I'd already become more and more interested in the bass after the two The Deep End albums of one of my favorite bands Gov't Mule were released. Being a wood freak pur sang I started browsing around the WWW for information and pictures of high end bass guitars. After some vague consideration of a Fodera or Elrick, I luckily visited Bass Connection's website, which featured some fabulous pictures of even more fabulous instruments: Alembics! The prices at that moment were just YIKES! to me, but then my eyes were drawn to a beautiful bass with a very interesting but understated look, and a price that was much more in my league. I contacted the owner of the shop via e-mail, one Edwin van Huik (never heard of him!), and we agreed on a trade in: my Les Paul and some spare cash for the pictured N.O.S. 1999 Alembic Orion 4 in 'grafted' walnut. But no deal until seeing and playing it in person off course. At the store, which is located quite a long way from where I live (the Dutch sense of distances, not the American!), me and 'senior management' were welcomed by this extremely nice guy that talked a helluvalot, played some absolutely shredding bass, took the time to answer every question I could think of and to show patiently how the controls worked. He also gave us all the coffee we wanted, and we really wanted some after a long drive through pouring rain! He played the bass on the 'home system', a Glockenklang Heart Core, and I listened while preventing my jaw from dropping on the floor every three seconds. It sounded amazing! Then I tried it, and it felt wonderful. It looked amazing too, and I immediately fell in love with it. It played like a dream, wish I could say that about myself, but there's some progression noticable I hope...(!)
 
So to conclude this long story: my 'Alembicism' started because of two releases by Gov't Mule, the great help and passion of Edwin van Huik and the beautiful Orion bass I was lucky enough to meet on my quest for the Holy Grail of Tone.
 
Well, that was the first one! I'm almost ashamed to admit that since that the purchase of the Orion last January, two more Alembics have come into my life. The EVH was also bought from Edwin after selling the PRS and the Series I short scale was an unplanned 'lucky', a fabulous pawn shop prize. The spark has become a roaring flame while playing and really enjoying these three instruments, and certainly also because of the Alembic Club, this fine community I'm very proud to be a part of today.
 
Wilfred

[somatic]

I walked into a store in 84 and saw an Alembic Distillate hanging in a glass case. I asked what it was, and if I could play it, but received a snotty 'no' for a reply. But I was in love with it, and went to the bank to get a loan intending to buy it (unplayed mind you). The loan came through and I marched into the store with the cash but it had a sold sticker on it. Dejected, I went to work and told my workmates about the day, and they were like well, you've still got the Ibanez. A day or two later, I received a call from the store saying that the sale had fallen through and was I still interested. Hell yes, so I went in and got it. In my excitement I didn't realise that I'd never given the store my info. A workmate said he'd been in there next day and mentioned I was sad I'd missed out on buying it and had passed on my contact details 'in case'.
Some time later, I found out that said workmate's family had qite a bit of influence with the store's owner, and even knew the bass' buyer and had done some arm twisting behind the scenes to get the bass into my hands.

[bassman10096]

What a nice workmate.  Getting involved with Alembic and Alembics seems to be related to good fortune and good people all the way around.  Don't know if that makes sense, but yours is a good story to hear.
 
Bill

[hollis]

I'm a Deadhead and proud of it.  So for many years I heard Alembics without getting any closer to them than the stage of a Grateful Dead concert.
 
Around 1977 I was living in the Santa Rosa area.  A friend of mine invited me to a party somewhere around Sebastopol.  It was a weeklong party, at a very cool house that had a creek running through the property.  The music that was played there was magic.  The people at the party were artists of every sort.  I?ve often wondered who exactly these folks were...
 
On the first night, the owner of the house brought out a case that looked bulletproof.  In it lay the most beautiful instrument that I had ever seen.  It was an Alembic series bass (I know now).  It looked like pirate?s plunder.  The wood was surreal, and the hardware was hand pounded.  He said it was a sister bass to a guitar that had been built for Bobby Weir.  I have no way of corroborating that, but it seemed very likely at the time, because it was indeed an Alembic bass, the man who owned it was a very gifted musician who had no reason to be blowing smoke. Well, maybe he had a reason to be blowing smoke, but that?s another story?  
 
I?d never seen anything quite like it since then until I stumbled onto this website.  I?ve never forgotten that party, and the first time I held an Alembic instrument.  It?s very cool to read others stories in this thread.  I feel honored to be a part of this community.
 

[malthumb]

I don't remember what year it was, but I'm thinking late '70s early '80s 'cause I was either in high school or had come home from college for a weekend.  Saw Rose Royce in concert.  The bassist had this HUGE bass with a HUGE sound.  Tucked that away in my memory.
 
Shortly thereafter picked up the Brothers Johnson Right On Time album with Louis waving a beautiful bass over his head.  Looked just like the Rose Royce bass I had just seen, except it had an innie instead of an outtie (Omega instead of a Point).
 
Now, I had been tuned into Stanley Clarke for years, but didn't really know how he got that sound.  Until I recognized that the headstock on his bass looked just like the headstock on the Rose Royce bass.  Then I saw Greg Lake's bass and watched a concert video of Fleetwood Mac and,  whaddaya know, there's that bass again!  That's when I finally put some energy into finding out what they were.
 
Fast forward to 1995.  I'm in a Guitar Center in Southfield, Michigan and they had about half a dozen of those basses.  Including a couple of the HUGE ones.  Both outties, no innies.  I finally got to play one these mystery basses that had been haunting me for close to 20 years.  A seriously breath-taking experience!  
 
Finally, in '96 or '97 I saw an ad for a used '83 Spoiler and snapped it up.  I liked everything about the bass except the placement of the neck pick up.  I eventually traded it for a Stanley Clarke Deluxe.  Four Alembics later, I've finally settled down to the two I currently have.  Two HUGE basses with HUGE sound, one is an innie and one is an outtie
 
Peace,
 
James

[rraymond]

IMHO, this has got to be one of the most interesting threads to come along in a while! Brilliant! So here's my introduction to Alembic:
 
Like so many others here, my first Alembic awareness was via Stanley Clarke, about 1974. Then there was Greg Lake, John Entwistle, Joey Something-or-Other the bass player for Crack The Sky, Andy West of the Dregs, Phil Lesh, Louis Johnson... I never saw an Alembic in a music store in Memphis; my first playing experience was after I moved to Portland, OR. In 1996, I got to play an Epic. I'll never forget the experience. The tone, the look, the TONE, the way the frets extended over the edge of the fingerboard! I was blown away by the sound, but I noticed that the frets kept tugging at the insides of my fingers. I went to put the bass down and found that my fingers had bled so much, there was blood in the palm of my hand! They want HOW much money for that bass, and I'm bleeding?! Two years later, I bought an Orion 5 string sight unseen from Bass Northwest - now that's a leap of faith! I explained what I'd experienced and they described how the ebony continues to shrink for a while, and they guaranteed me that I wouldn't receive an Alembic from them like that. They were right and I bought 5 more since then, and have one in the oven even now!

[alemboid]

1978, Larry Carlton and Joe Sample leave the stage. Sticks Hooper and this skinny guy named Alphonso Johnson are left playing. Sticks backs off, giving Alphonso some space, and he plays this solo on a bass described by my friend as an Olympic. The sound was so pure, for the first time I really heard BASS. I was so awestruck, I went home and drew about a dozen pictures of what I saw and heard.  
 
I'd seen several famous violinists play incredibly beautiful sounding instruments, several horn players perform wonderful solo pieces, and then this bass solo- a sound so pure, it was as if we were being annointed by its sound.
 
Twenty years passed, and in that time, several Alembic wannabes came and went. Finally, my dream came true with an SC Deluxe that hung on the wall of a local music store for about three years. The manager and sales staff gathered around the counter to look at it for the last time before I took it home. There is a lot of cool stuff out there, but nothing like Alembic. If I am ever remembered as playing anything, may it be an Alembic.