Author Topic: Another Activated Fender! (Read 3828 times)

jbybj · « **Reply #15 on:** April 24, 2012, 12:06:57 PM »

Hey Rusty, speaking of your visit. That evening I went across the street to my friends house for dinner gathering. My buddy Bruce told me that his 18 year old son had commented on how I had been playing some awesome riffs earlier in the day. Really cool stuff he said........... Then I had to tell Bruce that it wasn't me, but my visiting Alembic cohort. His son hears me playing all the time. It was the first time he ever commented about my playing.. :-)

rustyg61 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 24, 2012, 12:47:35 PM »

Hey James, that is too funny! Tell him I appreciate the compliments! :-)

Harry, sorry about hijacking your thread! Your AlFembic is awesome! I'm thinking about getting some activators for my 62 reissue Jazz Bass.

hieronymous · « **Reply #17 on:** April 24, 2012, 02:57:03 PM »

No problem Rusty! I was wondering if you posted in the right thread...

Anyway, it gives me the chance to post another picture, this time Nate playing the bass - look at him thwacking that thing!

By the way, I think it was Victor & Mica that came up with the AlFemBic name for this one - what an honor!

rustyg61 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 24, 2012, 03:51:44 PM »

That's a cool name! I replied to James' posting here because he mentioned my visit to his house. Sorry for the sidetrack! :-)

hieronymous · « **Reply #19 on:** April 24, 2012, 05:55:51 PM »

At last - video of Nate thwacking this bass!!! (video is unlisted, only this link will take you there)

hieronymous · « **Reply #20 on:** April 26, 2012, 03:23:37 PM »

While I'm at it, the amp/speaker combo was Nate's GK MB800 through a AudioKinesis Thunderchild 112 - you can see it in the picture of me on the left - tiny package with amazing punch and sound!

slawie · « **Reply #21 on:** April 27, 2012, 04:32:42 AM »

OK I'm in. Here is my 77 Jazz AlFemBic
slawie

hieronymous · « **Reply #22 on:** April 27, 2012, 10:17:14 AM »

Nice! Do you still use it? I bet it sounds awesome!

slawie · « **Reply #23 on:** April 27, 2012, 05:49:52 PM »

I am currently playing in a 70's cover band.
I use the Jazz bass as a backup only.
I use my Alembic as the main bass everyone
Loves the fretless' tone that I cannot match
With the Jazz bass.

slawie

hieronymous · « **Reply #24 on:** April 30, 2012, 10:48:10 PM »

Just a heads-up everyone, it looks like the white basses in this series (Classic) are no longer being made in Japan, they have switched over to Mexico. I had noticed on the Sweetwater website that the white one wasn't available, then they were again, but I noticed the serial number looked different. Sweetwater has a nice feature where they often have pictures of the actual instrument in stock, and saw that the serial number was no longer at the base of the neck where they usually are on MIJ stuff - instead, it's on the back of the headstock now.

0vid · « **Reply #25 on:** May 16, 2012, 05:33:34 AM »

This is my Lefty fretless warmoth with 2 P activators, two filters and two vol pots.

hieronymous · « **Reply #26 on:** May 16, 2012, 08:36:05 AM »

Wow - mono or stereo output?

0vid · « **Reply #27 on:** May 18, 2012, 02:32:47 AM »

Mono summed. It started with Bartolinis, then EMGs and then I got the P Activators for it. The Barts sounded terrible, and the EMGs didn't work well either, I think I had the pickup routes an inch too far away from the bridge for those to work well - they sounded overly bassy. The Activators have the clarity to counter that and they work well.

Here is my Fly bass based on the Parker guitar shape rather than the bass shape. Self made. 2 activator Js, one filter. Neutrik socket. (Yes you can do a mod to the circuit to use these). Not a Fender I know but it sounds better than two Fender Js I have (one with EMGs and one with Willi Stitch pickups). The mini switch controls the LEDs in the neck side dots. Stainless steel washer under the Neutrik was due to some wood damage from a gig. Very light and not proper J spacing but I like it.

0vid · « **Reply #28 on:** May 19, 2012, 09:46:25 AM »

Don't know what happened to the pic of my warmoth so here it is again

hieronymous · « **Reply #29 on:** September 10, 2012, 09:50:50 PM »

Just spent a little bit of time with my Alfembic - I recently picked up a GK MB-112-II as a practice amp, and was using the headphone output. Sounded nice! One thing I noticed was that when I was pulling on the E string really hard with my finger, I was getting some distortion. I started to get bummed out, but then I started experimenting, and it definitely only happens with the volume knob on the bass maxed. Gotta remember, active electronics, I don't have to max out the volume, I can keep it closer to the middle. Want to compare the output to some of my other (passive) basses and figure out where to set it to match them. The other bass I've been playing a lot is my '71 Guild M-85 II fretless with the Guild humbuckers - those seem to have very high output, though again I haven't gone about figuring out where they stand in relation to some of my other basses.