Author Topic: Alembic Value (Read 1306 times)

ajdover · « **Reply #45 on:** April 30, 2007, 10:05:32 AM »

Bob -

Is Alembic really at the cutting edge of technology? As far as I can tell, they were there 30 years ago, but maybe not so much anymore. Outside of altering body shapes and tweaking specs on existing electronics, I can't recall the last time they introduced something completely new.

If being on the cutting edge were that important, your eight year old Alembic might even be obsolete by now. I would argue that Alembic got it right with their designs and that they have stood the test of time, not that they are at the cutting edge of technology.

Is Alembic at the cutting edge of technology?

I don't know.

We have to define what the cutting edge of technology is in terms of basses and guitars.

Is it digital, a la Line 6 and their Variax line of basses and guitars?

Is it Gibson and their digital Les Paul?

Is it digital effects and midi?

I don't know, honestly.

It truly doesn't matter what's cutting edge, only what sounds good.

Is the standard Fender Precision any different from those produced in the 50's? Structurally, not much.

Does it sound relatively the same? To me, yes.

Would I buy one for $20K? No only no, but L$K no.

Again, it's all about tone. If an Alembic delivers it, buy it. If not, seek life and bassdom and guitardom elsewhere.

I agree that they got it right the first time. For everything else, there's Mastercard.

My two cents,

Alan

(Message edited by ajdover on April 30, 2007)

chuck · « **Reply #46 on:** April 30, 2007, 10:33:54 AM »

If it a'int broke don't fix it.And I would have to agree with Andy

Chuck

olieoliver · « **Reply #47 on:** April 30, 2007, 10:49:38 AM »

Cutting edge technology and artistic impression, can they really work hand in hand? HMMMM?
I would think so, but when the technology over takes the art this could be a bad thing.

But on the flip side I?ve heard lazy players have an awful sound (due to either bad equipment or lack of talent or practice) and say it?s ?artistic impression? when in reality it?s their own apathetic approach to their ?music? that creates the ?monster? they call art.

We should have good equipment and hone our skills. I personally think that my Alembics are not only good but the best equipment out there. The only negative I can see is that I?ve had to really clean up my playing. Alembic instruments are very unforgiving when it comes to sloppy playing.

So to sum it all up, IMHO, Alembics the perfect mix of ART and Technology. Nice to look at but much nicer to hear. (and play)

811952 · « **Reply #48 on:** April 30, 2007, 11:09:50 AM »

My Series 1.5 is worth far more to me than the cash money it would attract in the marketplace.

In agreement with Olie, I think we're all quite familiar with having to clean up our technique when we got our Alembic(s)!

John

keavin · « **Reply #49 on:** April 30, 2007, 02:31:38 PM »

I turned down $8,000 Ten years ago for old Alembic Old #12.

bigredbass · « **Reply #50 on:** April 30, 2007, 04:34:22 PM »

I've often thought that electric guitars/basses are a 'mature' technology. Most practical construction materials/methods have been tried. Pickups run the gamut from mild to wild. Every conceivable amp/speaker rig has been built/tried.

There WILL be people that further tweak things, probably a few ingenious ones not surfaced yet.
Maybe onboard analog/digital conversion. Maybe a guitar with a plain midi output (NOT the proprietary things that Gibson and Godin among others are trying). Maybe onboard samples, like the VG Strat or the Fishmann system for acoustics.

But I'm still a curmudgeon: IF I want MIDI, I'll play keyboards. If I want to play electric and yet upright comes out of the amp, I'd just play upright. And of course digital guitars would require amps with digital inputs, the REAL CyberTwin, which isn't here yet.

But in a world where you can buy a groove box and a sampler and produce your own CD's after dinner WITHOUT KNOWING A DAMN THING ABOUT MUSIC, sometimes I feel like the old fool who misses steam-powered trains or planes with propellors.

Nap time . . . .

J o e y

richbass939 · « **Reply #51 on:** April 30, 2007, 04:52:17 PM »

Olie and John,
I couldn't agree more about clean technique. My Alembics are the first basses I've had that didn't, to a large degree, hide sloppiness. At first it was kindof distressing. I could hear the clear, beautiful tone and also hear the crap when I got sloppy. I can imagine that some people don't like the way they sound on Alembics.
Rich

jsaylor · « **Reply #52 on:** April 30, 2007, 04:55:16 PM »

Personally, I think digital stuff is crap. Doesn't sound good at all. Plus, whats the point of converting digital to analog back to digital? No point. Analog always sounds better. Music is getting retarded lately, thanks mostly to the internet. People are thinking more strings=better,etc. People are too gear orientated anymore. The continued sucess of the Les Paul, and Stratocaster just goes to show you, gear really isn't that important. Just play the music.

hifiguy · « **Reply #53 on:** April 30, 2007, 05:48:07 PM »

Kevin: no problem if you've copped a riff or two of mine, prose wise. Occasionally I do the same thing unintentionally, and Jonathan Scull has given me some good natured ribbing about it over the years. Heirloom - dammit, that's just the word I was looking for. And you're right on about not treating musical instruments as investments for a monetary return.

Bob, I still think that Alembic electronics are far ahead of anything else out there. Nothing else sounds remotely as good as Ron's electronics, and I've never even heard a Series in person. My Jazz and Warwick do three basic things: both pu's on played with pick or fingers, mostly bridge pu played with fingers. Those three sounds are easy enough to find on my SCSS along with hundreds of other distinctive tones, all in the highest of fi.

Olie and Rich: Brother Alembicians, I am with you. It took me a long, long while for my playing to be good enough for my Alembic, and it only happened when I sort of fell into a pretty serious band about a year ago. Finally I got rid of that case of Jazz fingers that Olie has spoken about so often.

dannobasso · « **Reply #54 on:** April 30, 2007, 07:28:39 PM »

To revisit the clean technique point, heck yeah you have to be accurate and deliberate. Now that being said, if you want to sound sloppy, no problem there. Garbage in- garbage out. But it is all subjective in the end to those who don't get it. i do get a kick out of the sounds others get when they play my basses. It's a truth dector of musical sorts. Like drummers who can't play with a click or metronome cause time is just a magazine baby!
BTW IMHO I prefer the crisp clear noise free sound of digital product. I can't even stand to listen to tape or vinyl anymore. I wasn't crazy about it before digital. Heck I still have my discwasher gear with anti-static gun.

olieoliver · « **Reply #55 on:** May 01, 2007, 06:56:07 AM »

I went in the studio Saturday morning to lay down some bass tracks for a rather large church in our area that releases a cd every year. I took my 4 and 5 strings MK's. It was only the second time to use them in the studio.
When I pulled them out of the cases I could see the engineer raise and eyebrow. He said the same thing we've speaking of here, I sure hope your playing is clean.
Well I did a total of 4 songs. I got the first three in 2 takes a piece and the 4th in one, all in about an hour. The MK's sounded AWESOME too. They are more than capable of keeping up with todays digital technology. I'll post some links to the tunes as soon as I can.
It also looks like I'll be getting a lot more work form this guy.

keavin · « **Reply #56 on:** May 01, 2007, 07:31:04 AM »

Ive asked Marcus miller does he have any alembics in his bass collection & he said he's not really turned on by them.but you would think every famous bassplayer would have atleast one!

David Houck · « **Reply #57 on:** May 07, 2007, 11:58:13 AM »

Danno quoted Time is just a magazine.

Love it! LOL!

oujeebass · « **Reply #58 on:** May 07, 2007, 12:39:39 PM »

Having done my 2 weeks at Guitar Center a few years ago, the industry standard trade in is 25% of retail, and they try to get 40% on resale. They use the blue book for the figures. Good thing is that standard instruments are treated roughly the same as wild customs. The bad thing is that most don't know what an Alembic is. I got a Mesa Boogie MK3 for $250 because they had it listed as a .22 Come to find out they had $350 in it originally

jason · « **Reply #59 on:** May 08, 2007, 11:55:49 AM »

Using this neat calculator I found online

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

And doing some price searching for early alembics, here are some interesting figures:

Adjusted for inflation, Jack's $4,000.00 Custom in 1972 would cost $19235.62 in 2006.

A new series II should set you back at least 12000 or so through a dealer.

A Spoiler, Alembic's more affordable price than ever before bass cost $1650 in 1981 would cost $3892.60 in 2006.

An Orion new should set you back about 3500.00, again, through a dealer.

How to make your bass appreciate after purchase?

Well, I hope you play it. Become famous.. or at least respected in your circle. Keep it clean. Oil the fingerboard. Let random people at jam sessions play it. Wouldn't you like to say someday that Joe the now famous guy played your instrument? Let it stop a bullet for you. It will you know. What were Doc Holiday's words? I'll make you famous