I think Marcus bass has an Ash body and a bolt on Maple/Maple fingerboard for a start. Then, it is not easy to get a Jazz Bass sound out of an Alembic, if you really want that sound, you'd better get a Jazz Bass, and ash body makes a BIG difference next to a Jazz Bass with Alder body. I'd say, keep your Alembic my friend, nothing can sound, feel or play like an Alembic! My old Persuader which I had to part with unfortunately, had an amazing sound + feel that I cannot replicate with my Arialembic (Aria body/wood, Alembic PUs/electronics).
Further, unfortunately Alembic Filters are LOW PASS Filters only and the switch is the equivalent of the RESONANCE parameter on an old Analog synth (MOOG, ARP), while it's amazing what you can come up with, you are limited in a way, the BEST and ONLY option would be for ALEMBIC upgrade the LOW PASS filter and offer the option to select PEAKING or BAND PASS Filter as well as low pass, equivalent to a fully parametric EQ, so you could shape the sound directly from the bass itself.
My Aria SB sound for instance, is impossible to reproduce with my Arialembic, because the Aria sounds mid range and the Alembic sounds bass + treble, even if I use the filter to sweep down to a point were I can get close (more mid range because of a Q-switch boost for instance...), there are still a couple of issues; 1) I cannot roll-off the bass, unless I use an external high pass filter, 2) the Alembic Low pass filter rolls-off everything above the selected cut point (obviously, it is a low pass filter), so you'd loose the higher frequencies, shame. That is the only complaint I would have with it. I don't think we need series 3 to get this implemented, the low pass filter is designed to act as low pass filter, yet, it is possible to make it a selectable low pass/band pass out of the same board, of course it would require some knowledge to do so, I don't have that knowledge unfortunately...
On the other hand, if I were you, I would keep my Alembic and would purchase a cheap Fender Jazz bass copy, and order a set of US fender pickups and you are sorted. Don't go for Bass wood for the body, Ash is snappy, Alder is more mellow/warmer. The good thing with Fender is that every single parts are very easy to find, purchase or replace/upgrade. I wouldn't sale my Alembic if I were you, give it some time, play it more, spend more time with it, try different fingering technique, you will find that the Alembics are like no other Basses on the market and they require a very different approach when you play them, I am only starting to understand + experience that, although I am to Alembic.
Regarding dynamic processors + EQs, I'd say that you can get a beefier tone out of your bass if you boost EQ between 40HZ and 120HZ max, and do not use shelving type EQ unless you can roll off below/around 40Hz, in fact, always roll off around 30/40Hz when you record the bass. Compressor are very helpful for slap, or fingering as well, especially if you record, in fact I'd say that if your compressor has the right setting, you can get an amazing tone out of your bass, and depending on how you set it, if you play for a while through it, and then switch it of... you my tell yourself, SCARY! LOL SLOW attack will be more aggressive and FAST attack will be more soft and boomy.
My other little complain, is that Alembic low pass filter, only goes down to 350Hz, I wished it could go lower than that, it would be very useful, especially to get some huge sub-sonic tones in conjunction with the Q-switches.
For those who are tempted to say: get an SF-2, my answer is:
let me win the lottery first
HTH,
LG
(Message edited by lg71 on October 10, 2006)
