Author Topic: Alembic a Cheap Knock off of Fender? (Read 789 times)

5a_quilt_top · « **Reply #15 on:** May 07, 2015, 11:50:15 AM »

Wolf -

AHA - so it turns out that my friend WAS correct:

...nothing to write home about, they're a lot like Fenders.

...with a little help from some creative mixing & EQ...

gtrguy · « **Reply #16 on:** May 08, 2015, 10:40:23 AM »

I am recording some country tunes right now and the P Bass is what works best. It all depends on how the bass supports the tune and the singer. A lot of the time the song can sound better overall when part of it might sound 'worse'!

sonicus · « **Reply #17 on:** May 08, 2015, 11:55:04 AM »

Specifically on the tune that I mentioned there was discussion with the song writer that my full frequency high fidelity target tone would be intended to have the aspects of The Alembic Sound That is what I supplied with an Alembic Bass with my interpretation of bass chops and styling from American Beauty and Workingman's Dead ( Grateful Dead ) The song writer mentioned he like what I played and the sound of my Alembic Bass . I heard the original playback on the day of the recording. What happened at mix down and mastering subtracted the sonic integrity and sound of our prior discussions . In my opinion someone in the post production phase failed to deliver the intended result discussed at the time of laying down the track.__ Just shameful ! No ears in my opinion.

I have a 1971 ASH BODY/ MAPLE NECK Fender P-Bass that I played for over a decade in a country band with two to three and more gigs a week . It can't touch any Alembic that I have played.

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #18 on:** May 09, 2015, 07:01:12 AM »

Once I was getting trouble getting my tone at a soundcheck. The sound guy was dissatisfied because it was sounding too bright and hot. As always, someone suggested that it would be better if I switched to an Fender (it was the drummer, who has a horrible cheap fender clone and thinks it is THE best thing in world...).

I went to the console and asked to see how he was set and it was on the digital desk's bass preset... (doesn't need to say what I thought about his engineering skills then). He never thought about hear my bass first, simply picked the EQ curve from preset list.

I've just begged him to flat out the chanel first and, suddenly, all major issues were solved! I've asked for some minor adjustment (attenuating some dB on mids - at 350Hz - to control some excessive room's mud at that venue, and a little lift at 120Hz to keep its body) and it was done.

He asked me how do I knew that discarding the preset would work better and I replied that I've wouldn't, just wanted to hear the original bass tone first. He never though that could give up presets (!!!!) and said that I've changed his life... I said that he changed mine: from that time on I never assumed again that they know their job just because they are seated in front of the console.

edwin · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2015, 10:05:04 AM »

Last night at the Fox in Boulder, I worked with an engineer I've worked with for decades. Always does a great job, especially with the bass. I brought a cab with a K140 and a Beesneez FET47 tribute mic. During setup and sound check he told me to put the mic where I wanted (for in ears and recording) because he wasn't going to use it. Well, at the end of the night, he told me he checked it out and ended up using 95% mic, which has never done before on a bass rig! He said the DI sounded good, but the real tone and character came out through the mic much more clearly. This guy knows his job real well, but he still listens and takes advantage of new opportunities.

Definitely no presets for him. As an audio engineer, I've got tons of plugins that come with vast libraries of presets. With a few exceptions (such as Exponential Audio's Excalibur. The developer was a designer for Lexicon at the end of their glory days, and his ideas of spatial effects are well worth checking out), they are completely useless and can do far more damage than good. Even when recording the same people playing the same gear using the same mics and pres doesn't mean that using the previous settings will be the best option the next time around.

samsamaha · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2015, 04:11:41 PM »

Well, lets put it like this.... asside from the collectible stuff from the 60's and such, I own what might be some of the most Expensive Fender bass gear you can get your hands on... I've got a Master Built Jazz Bass that I had custom made to my specs, with ebony fretboard, Sadowsky pre-amp, Joe Barden pickups, bla bla bla... all told I've got just south of $6000 into this bass... and it's still about half the price of my Mid range Alembic... so I'm quite sure this Friend is dead wrong, and you can let them read my post if they don't believe you!

Alembic makes about as many basses in a month as fender makes in a few days... Master built's are more rare, but still probably outnumber Alembic production.

Don't know how to post pics, but here's that Fender...

(Message edited by samsamaha on May 09, 2015)

zomnius · « **Reply #21 on:** May 11, 2015, 12:17:21 AM »

Until you blow the drummer away with your Alembic.
I can match any bass easily with an alembic & its filters.

growlypants · « **Reply #22 on:** May 11, 2015, 06:20:39 AM »

I've never even HEARD of a Lembic bass... said the world class drummer.

smuprof · « **Reply #23 on:** May 31, 2015, 07:00:52 AM »

A few years ago we were doing a show and recording and video, so the band leader brought in an expert above the sound guys to make sure everything was perfect. He spent a lot of time tweaking things, but when he got to me and asked me to play, he listened for about 30 seconds, said Nothing wrong with that, and moved on to the next musician.

An Alembic can sound like lots of other basses, but nothing else sounds like an Alembic.

gtrguy · « **Reply #24 on:** May 31, 2015, 10:10:37 AM »

Vintage Stingray, as per the Brothers Johnson

tncaveman · « **Reply #25 on:** May 31, 2015, 02:13:39 PM »

John. All I can say is heck yeah! Soundman is cool with DAT!

Stephen

bigredbass · « **Reply #26 on:** May 31, 2015, 10:26:00 PM »

Digital can be very seductive, even in sound reinforcement and recording, where you THINK these guys must surely be smarter than your average musician.

I had a friend here in Nashville that did lots of live and session fiddle. On the loud, honky-tonk gigs, he had your basic cereal-box BarcusBerry (read indestructible) fiddle, foam-stuffed, but with very good pickup and amp. The fiddle equivalent of a taking a Takamine instead of your D45 to a club gig.

He did a lot of 'B-Team' sessions, 'customs', around town, where he would travel light: A symphony grade violin and an AKG ribbon mic. He'd record utterly dry in a good live booth, done.

Some demos he played on went downtown, and a particular executive was VERY taken by his tone, and dispatched a flunkie to find out how he was getting that sound. Called Jim, told him to meet him in a few days at one of those sessions, and he could see for himself. You see, they were convinced and wanted to know what plug-in, etc., he was using.

He gets there while he's tracking, and asks the guys at the console what are they using. They tell him they're rolling off just a wee bit of high end for the bow noise and adding a little reverb, the 'rest of it, that's all him'.

He was so dumbfounded that after the pass was finished, he literally tracked the cable thru the wall and behind the console, as he was utterly convinced they were pulling his leg, that it HAS to be going through SOMETHING.

Nope.

Joey

hankster · « **Reply #27 on:** June 04, 2015, 05:04:51 PM »

Every session I did on an electric bass before I got my alembic meant a bunch of tweaking by the engineer trying to get some sound they had in their head - whether on my les paul, my stingray or my old favourite in the early days, a Ripper i borrowed. Every session since i went to the alembic - Thirty seconds, tops. sounds good.