Author Topic: Hello from Toronto... (Read 181 times)

honninscrave · « **on:** April 13, 2009, 06:17:51 PM »

Howdy, everyone. Just a quick introduction from a long-time lurker and even longer-time Alembic owner. I'm Gord from Toronto and I'm the proud owner of this lovely, bubinga-capped, medium-scale Exploiter (Spoiler) picked up from Steve's Music in June of 1987. After seeing The Who's farewell concert in December of 1982 (at the age of 16), I was utterly blown away by John Entwistle's playing and resolved that the bass guitar was the instrument for me. I rented a bass (a Precision clone) the first month; bought it for $110 the second month; stepped up to a JV (Japanese Vintage) Squier Precision in 1984; and then finally, with the proceeds of my previous two summer jobs in hand, bought my Alembic just a few months shy of my birthday (I was "pushin' twenty-one"!). Although I've never risen beyond being a lunch-pail player and my band - The Three Neat Guys +1 - are legends in our own minds only, I've always felt like a rock star every time I've picked up my beloved Alembic. With its beautiful, clear tone, its super-fast neck, and its arresting good looks, it has a permanent lock on my mind and my heart. I'm not much of a photographer, sadly, but I've included a few pictures below for your amusement. I'm not certain I captured the subtle three-dimensional depth of the bubinga very well but you can at least get some small sense of its rich, warm colours. I'm looking forward to lurking less and contributing more! Thanks. Gord

artswork99 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 13, 2009, 06:27:51 PM »

Beautiful! Welcome to the forum Gord.
I too work in the wonderful world of databases.
Play it Healthy!
Art

gregduboc · « **Reply #2 on:** April 13, 2009, 06:28:27 PM »

Welcome Gord!
I love the Exploiter shape... It has so much presence!!
I'm sure you will be able to contribute here. It is one of those places where everyone is helpful and nice, and we all share a passion here.
But hey, you already know that, right?

Greg

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2009, 05:34:07 AM »

Hello Gord and welcome!
That's a very nice Exploiter. What kind of rig do you run through?
Mike

honninscrave · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2009, 06:12:58 PM »

Mike,

Rig is far too generous a term for what I have chosen to plug my Alembic into over the years.

For more years than I care to count, I ran my basses through a Peavey TNT 65 solid-state combo. It was quiet, reliable, and utterly without soul. A fishwife's fingers possessed more warmth than this amp (and that's no exaggeration). I also had an assortment of cheesy foot pedals (chorus, overdrive, even a nasty 8-bit digital reverb).

When sanity and good taste finally gained the upper-hand, I upgraded to a Mesa/Boogie Buster 200 (1X15) combo. I find its sound to be very warm and pleasing and it finally revealed the tone of my Alembic in a way that my Peavey never, ever did. It's nothing fancy, but I like it a lot.

My latest guilty pleasure, however, is my Line 6 POD X3 (see my picture below). With its 28 bass amps, 22 bass cabs, and tons of pedals, delays, and mics, it's just a ton of fun to play with. The 8-channel, 24-bit, 96 Khz USB audio is awesome for recording and I can crank up everything in the headphones and never bother my wife who's sitting a mere 10 feet away. Are the amp models accurate? I don't know - I've never owned an early 70's Acoustic 360 or a 1968 Marshall Super Plexi. Regardless, having that many high-quality tones in one small case (authentic or not) is too tempting to pass up. (Heck, it even models the F-2B!)

Gord

peoplechipper · « **Reply #5 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:33:09 AM »

Hey Gord, welcome to the club!!! nice bass!!!

the Bubinga on my Distillate looks totally different...batteries died, maybe tomorrow I'll post pics?

I have an Acoustic 370(360 with power!) and it is a killer amp...Toronto should have them for sale fairly regularly, as they show up in Vancouver from time to time...GET ONE!!! they are seemingly bombproof and louder than hell...mine's never been over 3, and even that was scary loud; and I like loud...Tony.

honninscrave · « **Reply #6 on:** April 15, 2009, 09:24:05 AM »

Loud + Student Wife = Trouble!

peoplechipper · « **Reply #7 on:** April 15, 2009, 11:09:54 PM »

Oh, I don't use that at home; would scare the cat! That rig is for the rehearsal space and gigs...I just got back from practice and I'm amp-pummeled, so maybe tomorrow for photos...Tony

gregduboc · « **Reply #8 on:** April 16, 2009, 05:40:37 AM »

Tony, Tony....
Get us the pictures already!!!!!!!

Greg

bracheen · « **Reply #9 on:** April 16, 2009, 02:20:21 PM »

Hi Gord, beautiful bass. And the Squier looks remarkable to be 25 years old. The Japanese Squiers from the 80s were pretty nice instruments. Well done on both.

Sam

honninscrave · « **Reply #10 on:** April 16, 2009, 03:07:03 PM »

Sam,

Thanks! Yeah, the Precision is still in pretty nice shape after all these years. What's even more amazing is that if I were to sell it, I might get more for it than I would get for the Exploiter. It's a pretty low serial number (Oct. 1982 to Jan. 1983) and ranks not too far below the really early Squiers that sported the big Fender logo. (Not that I'd ever sell it....)

Gord

David Houck · « **Reply #11 on:** April 19, 2009, 01:00:06 PM »

That Exploiter looks great! Love the top wood!

honninscrave · « **Reply #12 on:** April 20, 2009, 09:14:31 PM »

Dave,

Thanks a lot. It'll never compete with some of the stunning tops I've seen on the custom Alembics, but for a so-called low-end model, I've always thought it was pretty amazing. Depending on the angle and the intensity of the light, the colour can range from a walnut-like brown to an almost vermilion-like orangey-red. It's a bit of a chameleon...

Gord