Paul -
It is quite understandable that you would be concerned. Keep in mind that what you are asking is highly subjective - there is no absolute truth that will satisfy all who ponder that same issue. Therefore, how you will ulimately feel about it once you have first hand knowledge is dependant on many other factors.
What I (and I am not expert) have found to be the main factors that influence how a bassist with no bias on Alembics (either for or against) responds to them once they do play them is the type of sound that they have become habituated with (ie - the Fender sound, the middle of the road sound, or the quality luthier product lines sound). Next is the kind of action that they are used to - though Alembic will custom build a neck (along with anything else one desires) to any musician's specs - when a non-Alembic player has his/her first experience playing an Alembic it will not likely be because they custom ordered one - it will be someone else's axe or at the store (off the rack). Unless they are used to what I would otherwise consider the generic specs (non-custom ordered) for the dimensions of the neck (the thickness, the width at the nut, the width at the 24th fret) etc that are typically supplied by Alembic, they will invariably resort to measuring against what they are used to. Fender players, or Rickenbacker players (due to the those instruments' neck dimensions) may likely be the ones that have the most difficulty adjusting. I find the Alembic necks to be very even, not too thin, nor too thick. It is for this very reason that I had great difficulty when playing Fender & Rickenbacker basses - I did not like the width, and could not adjust well to the disparity in dimensions between the nut and last fret (22 most likely on those basses).
As far as the sound goes - there are those players that I know that are not Alembic fans but like the Alembic action - the reason being that they do not like the Alembic sound. Many players I know claim that Alembic is too sterile/clean or high tech sounding..... usually hardcore old school Fender players. There is even an interview with Marcus Miller where he mentioned that he shows up frequently to session(s)to be told that they want him to put that fancy bass down and pull out the old Fender Jazz because 1) that is the sound that many of the older cats associate with the traditional electric bass guitar sound; 2) or (my personal opinion) that it is the sound that many have come to know as the Marcus Miller Signature Sound.
You have heard more Alembics than you probably even know. Suffice it to say, that unless you are really really narrow in terms of only 2-3 sounds that you want that are usually associated with Fender, Music Man, Ricko-sound, or midrangy active pick-ups (a-la-EMG sound), then you are likely to be very pleasantly surprised that even the most basic electronics set-up that Alembic offers far supercedes the useful range of tonal possibilites offered by all other manufacturers -
I am not a good candidate to address how to measure the sound of Alembics as weighed against the sound of a Stingray - as I do not feel that the Stingray sound is the benchmark for comparison or that it establishes the ideal tone that all others need to be compared against.
Today you may want to drive the Ferrari or Lamborghini (the Alembic) - tomorrow you may want to drive the Cobra or the Mustang (Fender & the like). It's all about - if it gets you off when you play it, chances are people will hear your pleasure in your playing.
(Message edited by kayo on January 13, 2004)
