Author Topic: 94 Epic questions (Read 454 times)

allyourbass · « **on:** April 05, 2011, 07:57:48 AM »

Hey, guys. I've posted once in the wanted section, but this is my first post as an Alembic owner. I'm very excited about this. Unfortunately, though, it's been less than 24 hours since I've had her, and I already have noticed some discrepancies.

The bass is beautiful, but there's some significant wear, the first question I've got is, what is used as a finish on epics of this year? It's a quilted maple top with atleast a semi-glossy finish. I'd like to restore the finish to it's former glory, but I'm curious is that's going to be an easy process or not.

Next, electronics.
Now, the guy I got the bass from told me the pickups were the humbuckers, the same as in the higher end series basses but has a traditional Bass and Treble control as opposed to the filters
But they look exactly like every other Epic I can find online. Is there an easy way to differentiate? It's pretty clear these pickups have been with the bass since it's first use (thumb wear, it's actually pretty awesome) but I'm just curious.

Also, the knob configuation. I don't have any pictures currently, so I will attempt to text-illustrate what I'm talking about:

||||
||||
||||--1
||||----2
------3
--------4

Okay, so as far as I can tell, knob #1 is volume, 2 and 3 are tone, and knob 4 controls the amount of static I get from my cab.

WTH?

Turned all the way down, knob four gives me a pretty diminutive amount of static, not too big a deal, but noticable. Turned all the way up, it's enough for me to worry about my speakers, even at low levels. I can still hear myself play behind it, but the static takes the forefront. What is this knob supposed to be?

And last, this may in fact be a non-issue. I recently got a couple mini-cabs (2x8 and 4x6) to practice at home, and until now have only played my piccolo tuned bass through them, with no issues what-so-ever. Now, I'm running a drop C# tuning through it, and on my low sting, it farts and crackles. So, it's my cabs, right? Except that it farts at levels so low that I can barely hear the bass. Is it possible that this is a pickup issue? Could it be related to knob #4?

I've cracked open the back cover. My electronics experience stops at vintage P basses, which are about as simple as they get, so aside from not knowing what I was looking at in there, everything seemed in order. Nothing looked out of place, or burnt, or loose, so I'm at a loss.

Any help you guys can give would be much appreciated.

thank you,
Michael Spaulding

adriaan · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2011, 09:39:44 AM »

Hi Michael, welcome to the club of Alembic owners!

The finish is a couple of coats of polyurethane, and it's not as sturdy as the regular finishes. For the electronics issues, you could check out the FAQ & Must Read sections, but other members may chime in here with suggestions too.

Standard controls on an Epic would be:
#1 volume
#2 bass boost & cut
#3 pickup blend (center detent)
#4 treble oost & cut

Hope you get it up and running soon!

allyourbass · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2011, 10:36:47 AM »

Thanks, Adriaan.

I forgot to mention that it's a good possibility the 9v needs replacing, which may be the root of most of these issues. I plan on picking a few after work and I'll keep you informed.

Any info on series type pickups?

Also, good to know for the knobs. Thank you

Michael Spaulding

funkyjazzjunky · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2011, 12:38:12 PM »

Check out this from the FAQ/Must Reads section

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2011, 12:54:06 PM »

Hi Michael. Alembic doesn't actually make humbuckers as such. SC-1s (Series p/ups) are single-coil, used with a seperate humcancelling coil. Yours would most likely be MXYs, which are narrower than SC-1s & include the humcancelling coil internally. This differs from a humbucker in that the second coil has no magnet. This affects the electrical field, cancelling noise, but leaves the single-coil magnetic field. Cool, or what? Other possibilties are AXYs, which are the same guts as the MXY cast in the same shell as the SC-1, or Fatboys, which are like AXYs but with a wider magnet (I think). I believe the static-level control must have been a custom order

Peter

allyourbass · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2011, 12:59:34 PM »

Thanks, Peter. I actually just got done reading a couple must reads on Alembic pickups.

These are certainly the same size as the pickups in every other Epic I've seen, meaning they can only be MXYs, as Alembic doesn't offer any other pickup in that size.

Also, after reading up on pickups, Alembic pickups are awesome.

I'm not sure why someone would drop the treble boost for static boost, but hey. I'm not one judge. I just need to get it fixed.

Another question. Is it worth it for me to look into setting this Epic up with a Q filter? It's an interesting idea, and I think I could get a lot of use out of a Q filter.

mica · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2011, 06:50:46 PM »

The typical electronics layout is:

Since we don't make a static boost control, we definitely need to see what's going on under the hood. Can you post of pic of the electronics to at least see if the expected components are indeed installed?

allyourbass · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2011, 07:37:07 PM »

Thanks, Mica.
It looks like the problems with the electronics are due in part to my tiny tiny cabs, and in part to an old battery. Swapping out the battery got me about 70% good, and what's left sounds like it's coming from the cab. One thing, though, as I was playing, there was short, intermittent spurts of static, which, now that I think of it, were definitely coming from the bass. I was getting lights on the power amp when it happened. It's not loud, and fiddling with the dials didn't seem to have any effect on it, and it didn't matter which string I was playing on. Maybe a grounding issue?

It's too late in the day for me to worry about pictures right now. The work schedule out here just shifted into high gear, so for the next two weeks I'll be working 0630-2300, so pictures are pretty much out of the question until the weekend. But tomorrow after work I'll take another quick look, see if there's any obvious problems with the ground. As I said, I'm used to pickup, volume, tone, output and that's it, so looking inside this control cavity is a bit... distressing.

Anyways, Most of my questions have been answers so far, and for that, I thank everyone for their quick responses. Especially Mica, who I've only ever heard good things about, and now have the opportunity to rave about myself.

So the Pickups are certainly MXYs, the finish I'm going to leave alone for the significant future (until I get a serious bug up my ass and have a few weeks to tear it down, strip it down, and put a tung oil finish on it.)

All that's left is getting the electronics up to par, which is now on me to post pictures. I'll get to that as soon as I can, guys. I swear it.

Michael Spaulding

mica · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2011, 07:51:26 PM »

Maybe the gain is cranked up a little bit too much for your cabinet. Does the static sound happen even when you have the volume on the bass turned down pretty low? There's an overall gain control on the inside of the cavity that you can set lower if it's overdriving your amp.

Glad to help!

allyourbass · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2011, 05:09:02 AM »

The thing about the staticis that it wasn't dependant on my playing anything. It would come through even with all strings muted. It sounded a bit like when you leave a cell phone too close to a stereo, but a bit more.. droning. Never lasted more than a second and a half or so.

Also, I apologize for any blatent spelling mistakes. Updating from my phone.

allyourbass · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2011, 03:29:59 AM »

Okay, last night I fiddled with it a bit, and made sure it was a brand new 9v this time. The farting on the low end is definitely my mini rig (tear!) but the static is still coming off the treble knob. This time, with treble cranked, it's intermittent bits of very quiet static (just enough to be annoying) and by rolling off the treble, I can eliminate the sound (and all my precious treble). I'm assuming it's a grounding issue, or just a loose wire. I know which pot it is, so this weekend, assuming I have enough free time, I'll crack 'er open and see what her guts look like again. Hopefully snap some pictures.

gtrguy · « **Reply #11 on:** April 07, 2011, 10:50:11 AM »

Also clean the output jack. I use a pistol cleaning rod with a standard 9mm bronze (brass?) brush and a little alcohol on it.

allyourbass · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2011, 08:23:32 PM »

Okay, so here's a question.

I want to replace the current electronics package with one with a Q-filter. Would it be prudent for me to just replace now, as an upgrade? If I went this route, what package would be most compatible? I imagine this swap has been made before. I'd like a master volume, and a blend, maybe Q and tone? Or a stacked bass/treble?

What are my options here, and how much would something like this run me?

Thanks guys

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #13 on:** April 09, 2011, 07:50:41 AM »

Hope I'm not starting to sound pendatic here, Michael, but my wife's watching American Idol, so I'm hiding in my office & have time to pretend I'm an expert.......Q and filter are related, but seperate, things. On most of their instruments, Alembic disposes of traditional shelving tone controls (which vary the roll-off slope above a set frequency) in favor of low-pass filters (which vary the frequency at which a set slope kicks in). The filter knob adjusts the frequency at which the roll-off starts (I disremember the exact numbers, but I think something like 350Hz-6KHz). The Q switch (or, on Series II, the Constantly Variable Q knob) adds a boost at the cut-off frequency. They do use tone controls on some instruments, but the Q wouldn't go with that. There is an amazing Alembic doubleneck with stacked controls, but Mica says her dad won't do it again. So, (assuming you don't want to drill more holes and maybe route the cavity out) it sounds like what you'd want would be volume-pan-filter-Q.

Peter

allyourbass · « **Reply #14 on:** April 09, 2011, 08:55:11 AM »

I have done a very small amount of research into the technical details of the Q. What little my tiny brain could Comprehend. I had seen that mostly the q on a toggle switch, as opposed to the knob. That being said. I would be happy drilling a hole for the toggle. Im not without luthier skills, though by no means am I an expert. So what would the package look like if I drilled a hole for the toggle? Would it remain the same as What I have now, but with the q addition, or would I still need the filter knob? I have to admit I'm still not tracking how a q works, so I'm mostly roaming blind. I just know that I want one.