Author Topic: My new custom: 10K14136 (Read 1578 times)

briant · « **on:** February 06, 2011, 03:53:42 PM »

I can't even begin to put into words and properly articulate how pleased I am with this bass. At some point I'm going to try to. For now I'll just be dropping off these pictures from its inaugural show last night. There were roughly 300 people on hand to witness the splendor.
The band is Platinum Spandex. We?re a hair metal tribute band if that isn?t painfully obvious from the awful clothing.

briant · « **Reply #1 on:** February 06, 2011, 03:55:36 PM »

...and a few more

skyboltone · « **Reply #2 on:** February 06, 2011, 06:57:07 PM »

Not to be obnoxious (well sort of obnoxious) are the chin whiskers painted on? Lord it is hard to make a living in music eh? Still, looks like fun. I've been taking pictures of guitars for years and I haven't figured out any foolproof way yet. Early morning or evening sunlight is often best for some guitars. Others like full sun. Mica seems to have a knack.

artswork99 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2011, 07:42:04 PM »

Congrats on the inauguration! Must sound great with those Mesa cabs back there

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #4 on:** February 07, 2011, 03:34:44 AM »

Glad for you Briant, it looks that you really enjoied it

charles_holmes · « **Reply #5 on:** February 07, 2011, 06:35:33 AM »

I dig the blue dot markers on the neck man!
That rig of yours looks like The Wall Of Death
Are they all 15's that your using? Please tell me about your rig too!
Groovy dude!
Keep it Low Homie & Rock On....Hard!

Chalie

tmoney61092 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 07, 2011, 06:59:29 AM »

i love that Alembic changed the standard headstock on the Essence. that's a real sweet bass and love the look of the black quilted maple. keep rockin' her!!!

~Taylor

briant · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2011, 07:31:38 AM »

Not to be obnoxious (well sort of obnoxious) are the chin whiskers painted on?

Ha! I did a crap job of applying the temporary hair dye is what is happening there. Or it smudged some. My hair color is naturally brown/sandy blonde and sadly more and more gray. I dye my facial hair for gigs so it matches the wig.

Totally agree that the Orion style headstock looks better on the Essence. Truth be told I ordered that option and found out that it wasn't an option anymore - it was standard.

My rig: yes, those are two Mesa Boogie Diesel 2x15 cabs. To share a secret I only plug in one of them. The dummy cab has a blown speaker that I haven't bothered getting reconed yet. One of those things is just absurdly loud. That band is all about over the top. That was kind of the point of that awful hair metal stuff from the 80's. Currently it's being driven by a Stewart World 1.6 power amp and an Aguilar DB680 preamp. It sounds like thunder.

briant · « **Reply #8 on:** February 09, 2011, 12:38:30 PM »

I have been making attempts at getting some good shots of this beast. What a pain in the ass! I can't believe how difficult it is to capture how the finish actually looks in person v. how it decides it likes to be photographed. Like most/all Alembic transparent black finishes it looks purple apparently whenever it feels like it. This has been Photoshopped a bit to try and get the color more "real". This is fairly close but still not perfect.

The rest are unaltered pictures with varying degrees of success

briant · « **Reply #9 on:** February 09, 2011, 12:49:17 PM »

How does it play and sound?

Amazing. Incredible. Outstanding. Inconceivable. Unbelievable. More words that are like those.

It sounds exactly as I wanted. If you read back far enough in my FTC thread I mentioned that I got the idea for this bass from my existing Essence. I just wanted to give it a little more flexibility with the bass boost/cut knob. It has a vicious attack when you want it to that can make that Entwistle type of sound just explode out of the speaker cabs. However with the right touch and some adjusting of knobs it can be mellow and easy going as well.

It plays itself. Really. The neck is so comfortable and fast that it?s absurd. I immediately noticed that the neck/body joint is shaped different now than it was in 1993. I like the new variation much better. Access to the last 4-5 frets is far easier and just feels smoother.

In the end I couldn?t possibly have been more pleased with this bass. It is everything I hoped for and I had very high expectations. I can?t thank the wonderful people at Alembic enough for yet another job well done.

artswork99 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2011, 12:54:55 PM »

Brian, That's a really beautiful bass! Glad to hear how pleased you are with it. Play it Healthy! Art

rjmsteel · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2011, 12:45:35 PM »

Brian,
Your Logo looks insane.. so Cool!
As does the (I assume) nearest neighbor backplates. I\m diggin those blue LED\s and that BTC looks great.
Beautiful bass and awesome setup too! Rich

briant · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2011, 06:37:00 PM »

Thanks guys.

The logo is so amazing. It changes radically depending on the light and angle you are looking at it.

Rich - I'm really looking forward to seeing yours done as well!

bigredbass · « **Reply #13 on:** February 12, 2011, 12:13:24 AM »

That's easily the very nicest Essence I've ever seen, bar none.

My favorite 'small' Alembic. Doesn't require size 46 reach like a lot of them.

And while I realize I'm treading perilously close to blasphemy, I HATE the 'cone' pegheads !!

Sustain block, LED's, abalone logo, matching covers, just really, really nice. Well Done !

Yeah, I figured 'Platinum Spandex', you know, probably not a country band . . . just beware of the occupational hazards !

J o e y

FC Bass · « **Reply #14 on:** February 12, 2011, 01:10:58 AM »

Best Essence ever for sure!

Freakin' awesome and looks like a killer band also!
Such an Alembic through 4 EVM15's, how many casualties you have on average per gig?