Okay, I've been playing for over 3 hours with a short break, so I'm going to tell it like it is. The bass safely arrived about 1/2way thru my shift at work... I got the call, punched out on break, confirmed it was safely there, and drove my girlfriends Jeep the 2.2 miles. Seconds later, I had it in my hands, and about 90 seconds later -most of the time going to contain and transfer the styrofoam peanuts- I has the case out... and open.
First I inspected it for damage, carefully -especially at the omega tips and at the headstock... didn't find any. Then I looked it over good and close...
Like many (if not most or even all) Alembics... the pictures simply don't do it justice. It's a stunning beauty -in many/all respects. The Coco Bolo is fabulous, a gorgeous deep rich wine red color, with lots of brownish-black figuring, and subtle variations and transisitions of coloring; it also has a similar (though not as dramatic) visual characteristic to various Figured Maples and Koa in that the coloring shimmers/changes a little as you move it around. Everything about it is incredibly, stunningly beautiful.
The rest goes for the rest of the instrument (that being the neck, and the Mahogany body). The Mahogany body has a more humble -yet impressive- beauty compared to say the my Flame Maple-bodied Europa; but it's awesome -especially in the overall context. It IS very beautify, especially it's honey color, but also it's subtle structure, grain, and shimmer -especially being sandwiched between the dark wine Coco Bolo. The contrast is really neat; and I really love the overall darkness of this bass (though it has overall balance with some lightness in the overall color). And the pinstrips look great, noticable but subtle, and they provide a small, thin, but very noticable accent line... it looks so great! And they did something especially cool for me with the accent laminates... they stop when they hit the body... they don't go over the neck... the Coco Bolo lies directly on the neck... the pinstripes are only on the Mahogany body wings. This looks extra cool -especially at the omega. And the omegas another extra cool thing. I didn't ask them to do this, but I wanted it, and it's like they read my mind; the part cut out for/of the omega on either side (of the whole) doesn't completely divide the physical wood of the tips from the rest of the neck. MY omega tips are actually continueous laminates of wood... and I prefer this.
Of course, the continueous back woodplate looks great as they do. As does the peghead on both sides.
What is left, of course, is the neck. It looks fantastic, exactly like what I had in mind... yet even better than I conceived, because (again) overall context...
Despite the broad range of colors in the neckwoods, it really blends in, yets stands out; it's understated, yet bold and supremely confident in it's appearance; it has a... typical/classic Alembic appearance... and yet a distinct and memorable show-stopping appearance.
And it's exactly what I wanted and imagined... only better. It's an unsurpassed gem... at least in my eyes. I'm especially grateful to their attention to detail with the woodworking. They just nailed the disguised BTC on both sides amazingly. I can only see it if I look REALLY HARD -and then it's barely visible. It's basically impossible to see unless I put it right up in my face and take my glasses off, and turn it at different angles under a light!
And the tailpiece... is perfectly (or so close it doesn't matter) centered around the Omega... this is the most important thing. Thinkin about the tailpiece thread a while back, and my own desire for a centered tailpiece, I looked at it very closely. It looks great, period. If you look closely, the layout and relative centeredness of the (a)tailpiece, (b) bridge, and (c) pickups don't exactly line up; yet, as I looked at this, I saw that, due to the different size and functions of these three things, you CAN'T have them all line up perfect with each other. But what they gave me was pretty perfectly close to the best reality could allow -given the specifics of the components. They're only slightly imperfectly out of line, yet the overall balance of these 3 things makes perfect sense. It works, and looks great, and if I look closely, I don't see something perfect symmetrical -but rather something which looks great and works perfectly. The control layout is awesome.
IT JUST LOOKS ABSOLUTELY, MIND-BOGGLINGLY AWESOME!!!
Well, when I opened up the case, after I inspected it, the next thing I did was tune it up. Immediately, I noticed 3 strings were badly rattling. I knew an adjustment or two was in order. I called Alembic on my cell, and Jason answered; I was having a hard time hearing him and communicating (my cell) but he confirmed it had been tested and set up (of course) and that it was probably due to a humidity change (very humid there, not like here and the desert along the way).
So I calmly and patiently followed Alembics instructions for adjustment. I loosened the truss rods in increments of 1/6th of a turn sessions. After about 4 of these turns, I only noticed a slight improvement, so I loosened the strings a bit, and very slightly raised the adjustable nut according to instructions -just a little on the bass side, and then did three more separate 1/6th turn sessions, after which is sounded a little better -but was still buzzing.
So I detuned the strings a second time, VERY slightly raised the nut a little more on BOTH sides, raised the bridge SLIGHTLY, and then did 3 more 1/6th turn sessions, each of which was noticably better than the last... by the 3rd additional (10th) turn, the buzz was gone. Then I checked the tuning, and proceeded to play... first to hear the overall tone -I've been so curious- and to check the tone system to see how versatile it really is, and how much variation I can acheive with it.
First, the sound is absolute amazing. Just dynamite. For years, I thought my 8-string Europa is the best bass I've ever heard... and it's fantastic. But this bass rivals it, and even blows it away soundwise in certain respects.
The wood recipe is a total success!!! I wanted this 6-string built with 6 or 7 woods. I considered asking for Walnut for the outer neck laminates... it was a hard decision, but I decided to leave Walnut out of the recipe, because there wasn't a good place for it... I wanted other woods everyplace else.
Being familer with an all-Maple Elan, and my awesome 8-string, I know both the sound of a standard Maple/Purpleheart neck... and also of an Ebony-fortified neck. My 6-strings custom still has 2 of the Maple neck laminates, but the big outer two are switched for Mahogany, while the inner two are switched for Vermillion -which is said to sound similar to Mahogany, but a little more brilliant and warm.
So this neck is very different sounding... from a standard Maple/Purpleheart neck... and also from my 8-Strings neck, which is dominated by Ebony, with Maple being the secondary overall sound. I can hear it, and I love it. The flavor of this neck is complex, with a very noticable and pleasant Mahogany (with a Vermillion component, balanced with/against a noticable Purpleheart/Ebony component -with Maple as a 3rd (but noticable) component.
It's an awesome balance. The Mahogany/Vermillion component is warm, rich round and full; the Purpleheart does what it's supposed to do, adding stiffness, sustain, and low-end response... yet the sole Ebony laminate in the center seems to blend with and dominate the Purpleheart sound. It's nowhere near as powerful and dominating as the SIX Ebony lams on my 8-string (plus the 3 Purpleheart lams)... but there is NO missing it... the single Ebony lam kicks ass, and contributes to the overall tone/sound considerably.
I think the Mahogany/Vermillion component is about 40% of the neck sound, the Purpleheart/Ebony is about 40%, and the Maple is about 20%.
And then there's the Coco Bolo -wrapped around a semi-hollow Mahogany body... Alembics house recipe. BTCered on both sides to get the maximum Coco Bolo visually, and sonicly.
Now I KNOW what Coco Bolo sounds like -in a big way- and it ROCKS. Just AWESOME!!! I gotta say, compared to the Maple-topped and bodied Elan it's replacing, the sound of the Coco Bolo just BLOWS THE MAPLE AWAY.
It sounds so rich and snappy, just like described... it's incredibly clear and bell-like in it's tone, with a rich and complex tone, with full, round and powerful lows... yet balanced and not overpowering.
When I think of the few times I heard other basses that I envied because of a great sound they had that my bass didn't seem to be able to get... THIS BASS BLOWS 'EM ALL AWAY. It's got a whole different tone... and it's a monster! This bass has incredible authority!!!
Finally, the last detail that brings it all together and makes it perfect is the tone control system. My 8-string has 16 controls, 12 of which are tone controls; this has exactly half that... 8 controls, six of which are town controls.
The system is just absolutely perfect, and mind-bogglingly versatile. The 3-position Qs are perfect! 6dbs is a nice Q level as a reference, and I can either boost it a little more to 9dbs or cut the Q to O. It's so simple to select sounds with the filter, boost or cut the Q, and mix the sound from the two pickups... it's just awesome. But the kicker is the extra bass & treble knobs. The versatility they add is absolutely amazing, and perfects the filters, since anytime I take away trebles with the filter -to get a certain sound with the Q- I can compensate with the treble control.
All I can say is it works perfectly, and makes great sense. The individual filters, Qs and blend control are incredibly versatile; the bass& treble controls complete it, and make it perfect, allowing me to do anything. Something I've already done is just totally leave the filters open with the Qs off, and just boost the extremes of the bass & treble controls... like it only had Epic controls... it sounds awesome!
It's exactly what I hoped for in appearance AND sound. The information and feedback I got from other club members and Mica made me highly educated when I very carefully designed this bass, and the combination of woods and the sound they deliver... delivers.
It has an incredibly warm, rich, detailed and complex sound... while somehow being very neutral and centered somehow in it's sound. My 8-string sounds great... but it's natural sound -before I use any of the electronics- that it starts out with is an extreme of sorts to begin with.
In that way, this bass is certainly more versatile sonicly in some ways; the existing tonal/sound landscape this bass has to start with when I roll the filters is very different from that of my 8-string.
So, in summary it's awesome, and seemingly perfect -or so close I can't tell/it doesn't matter- in every way. The design and physical beauty is outstanding, unique, and awesome, an absolute drop dead knockout, exuding class and many captivating attributes; the sound quality is phenomenal, just an incredible warm rich snappy versatile sound you can't help but to just love and smile when you hear it; and the tone control system perfects it, and brings the bass' sonic potential out far more than just filters alone. It's so incredibly easy to tweak the sound any way I want it. I already completely understand how to use my tone controls, and have total mastery of them; they're like on my Europa, only more simple: 3 Q positions instead of 4, no mid controls, and only one set of bass & treble controls. It's so easy.
And the Balance K is just the ultimate body... it's SO comfortable, balanced, and accessible! It's so easy to play. I am just totally ripping on this thing... it's like going to Mars, where the gravity is only 38% of Earths (it's red like Mars, too).
So that's it. It's awesome beyond words, beyond description (but I tried).
Thanks again, everyone! Thanks to Mica, Bob, Susan, Ron, Mary, and all the other fine folks at Alembic who helped make this incredible instrument! It's an utter masterpiece, incredible in every respect, appearance, sound, versatility, playability, and comfort.
Appearance, tone, comfort, versatility, and playability...A+++ it just couldn't get any better!!!!!!
(Message edited by the 8 string king on September 21, 2007)
