Author Topic: Knowing what you know now..... (Read 705 times)

malthumb · « **Reply #15 on:** November 17, 2013, 09:48:54 PM »

I ordered my 5-string Mark King Dlx / Series II in 1999, received it in June 2000 and have been thrilled with it ever since. Even so, there are a few things I would change if ordering new.

1) Balance K Heart Omega with contours instead of large Standard Point
2) I ordered it with Amber LEDs. This time around I would either go with Blue or stay with Amber, but I would have red at the 12 & 24
3) Beveled Omega headstock with inlaid logo
4) Stereo / Mono switch

That's it!

5a_quilt_top · « **Reply #16 on:** November 18, 2013, 10:37:31 AM »

Re: basses - I'd change nothing, no regrets. Each one has more than met / exceeded all my expectations

So, knowing what I know about them, I've decided to push the envelope a little further with a guitar.

This will be a real leap of faith for me as I've never owned a guitar with active electronics. All my 6-string companions are traditionally-styled passive instruments loaded with either humbuckers, single coils or P-90's.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #17 on:** November 18, 2013, 10:49:00 AM »

Hi David, i took a leap of faith with my Orion guitar in 2005 which again was a bargain NOS purchase. I knew nothing about alembic guitars and up to that point I only had passive guitars and used the strats for most my gigs and touring. I did take the orion on the road with me on a number of tours and it proved to be fantastic purchase. The only difficulty I had, which is pretty well documented on the forum somewhere was finding an overdrive/distortion pedal that would work successfully with it. I gave up in the end but last year I bought a radial tonebone classic pedal which has a valve in and it works much better than a solid state pedal. But I'm not doing much on guitar these days.

Jazzyvee

5a_quilt_top · « **Reply #18 on:** November 18, 2013, 11:23:09 AM »

Jazzy -

Thanks for the tip. I was wondering about the OD pedal thing.

I'll be getting a stage Further and it has a built-in FX loop, so that might alter its interaction with ODs and other FX.

The other thing I was considering would be to use the guitar's active electronics to overdrive the amp - ie: set the amp slightly dirty so that it cleans up with the guitar volume low, has some drive with the guitar volume set 2/3 up and creates mayhem with the volume full up.

If that works, it would negate the need for a pedal to achieve OD.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #19 on:** November 18, 2013, 02:32:44 PM »

Yeah that works too I have a fender twin but the reason I needed a pedal was that when I was on tour I couldn't be guaranteed the guitar amp I wanted (fender Twin), and more often than not i got a roland JC120 which is a great clean amp but no good for overdriving it.

Jazzyvee

5a_quilt_top · « **Reply #20 on:** November 19, 2013, 09:13:12 AM »

JC120 = super clean & huge headroom. That coupled with an Alembic guitar = hyper clean.

I can see why you were having difficulty with OD.

I'm thinking about using the Further to beat up on some low-powered tube amps (Vox AC-15, Mojave Coyote 12 watt, Fender Princeton).

Also, I have a solid state Henrikson Jazz Amp 112ER that's clean and warm - sounds like a clean tube amp - that I'm hoping will deliver some clear, articulate andt fat jazz tones.

lbpesq · « **Reply #21 on:** November 19, 2013, 04:37:15 PM »

I am very happy with how the Pigtronix Aria Disnortion plays with Alembic electronics.

Bill, tgo

5a_quilt_top · « **Reply #22 on:** November 20, 2013, 10:48:03 AM »

Cool - thanks for the tip, Bill.

I'll have to check that out. Got to have a fat lead tone.

lbpesq · « **Reply #23 on:** November 20, 2013, 02:24:07 PM »

I also love their Philospher's Tone compressor. It replaced an Analogman modified MXR Dynacomp on my pedal rack.

Bill, tgo