I currently own three Ken Smiths
and one Alembic Series 1 graphite.
Plus I've also owned an Elan 6
Alembics are very idiosyncractic instruments and people usually fall in love with them because of that distinctiveness. The Series basses are great - lots of thunderous power and clarity plus snap when you need it. You can just hear what a well made, structurally rigid instrument any Series bass is simply through the wide frequency response. FWIW, I've found my Elan along with older Spoilers and Persuaders I've tried sound darker than the Series basses. My Smiths tend to have a warmer, instantly mix friendly sound which for me is very important. You can just plug the basses in and go because not a lot of eq is needed for them. The Alembic Series basses are the opposite - you can fine tune with the mid sweep until your heart is content if you need something special for a situation. The options are slightly more limited on the Signature basses but they're closer to the Series sound than the other Alembic ranges I've tried. The other thing is feel. My Smiths are very consistent and supple in feel and I get a LOT of growl out of them. However I need to be quite gentle with them and use a light touch. The more modern Alembics are also quite supple but I understand they're designed to isolate the string, not resonate with it, so I've found that they feel very different to play. The Smiths are also fragile while the Alembics are engineered so solidly that they're capable of taking all kinds of treatment without complaint. The necks on the Alembics I've tried have been simply superb - the best fretwork and action I've found in any US made instrument, and that includes my Smiths. Status is the only other manufacturer who can produce a neck of comparable quality and they don't have to work with the inconsistency of wood
. Tone wise, Smiths tend to be more growly in my experience. The older Alembics I've played don't have a lot of growl but their solidity sounds great in a rock trio or similar outfit, esp Led Zep covers
Additionally, I was very impressed with an nearly-all maple new Mark King Sig I played once at the Bass Centre. That was an outstanding bass and I would have snapped it up if I had the ?2500 it cost at the time. Oh and the last thing is that I've found that Smith pickups are microphonic in high gain settings. Ken Smith was a bit indignant when I mentioned this but I've double checked it on all three of my basses and they're identical in how they respond. At the end of the day, I look at Alembics as a kind of swiss army knife. The Smiths are basses I bought for a specific setting and I think they do the job better than the Alembics could have. The bass you think will be best will depend on what kind of music you play and what kind of sound and playability you want. (Message edited by crazykiwi on January 25, 2007)
