| Author | Message | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Senior Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 501 Registered: 6-2012 |
Sunshine Daydream arrived last week on Thursday in near-mint condition. Pretty amazing for a 7-year old demo instrument. Weight is manageable – probably around 8 lbs, but haven’t weighed her. Certainly lighter than most LP’s I’ve encountered. She’s very balanced seated or standing with no neck dive, so that helps. Neck profile is comfortable, although a little on the small side for me - I like ‘em REALLY big – and string spacing is good for the size of the neck. Frets are big (I like that) and fingerboard radius is pretty flat compared to a typical Fender, Gibson or PRS – more like a jazz guitar. I asked the elves to put round wound 10’s on her because that’s my default gauge, but she plays so easy, they feel like 9’s – could probably go to 11’s without noticing much difference. Initial set-up was pretty good, but I may lower the action a bit after I get used to the fretboard radius. She’s pretty resonant and VERY loud when played acoustically. Used her live last Friday night for the first time with no rehearsal prior and only 1/2 hour (+/-) to become acquainted with the basic function of the electronics. Ahhh…the electronics…now here’s where things take a right turn straight to “OMG”. First off, amazing clarity – especially above the 12th fret - with no loss of tone / volume / clarity during string bends. Up until now, I have been unaware of how much clarity I’ve been losing during string bends due to the effect of the bent string passing the over pole pieces in traditional pickups. Since Alembic pickups do not have pole pieces, there is no loss of clarity due to string movement. After I got the hang of the switch & knob functions, I was able to dial in some pretty radical tone and volume changes “on the fly” – however waayyy differently than I’ve been doing it for the past 30+ years when using guitars equipped with traditional electronics. Each pickup can be on or off. When on, there is an optional frequency boost that can be engaged. The controls are very interactive and sensitive and a slight change can really have a huge affect on the tone. I was able to dial in a lot of convincing Fender & Gibson tones, plus some others that are unique to this instrument. No real good equivalent to the out-of-phase Strat “quack” tone, though. Sustain, punch and clarity were impressive – even some non-musicians in the audience noticed the guitar tone because it really cut through the mix. And one guy just had to know “what guitar is THAT”, so I was compelled to show her off a little during a break (he liked the LED’s…). I used my typical pedalboard: Fulltone Dejavibe into Ernie Ball mono volume pedal into Vox Clyde Wah into Crowther Hotcake OD into Zen Drive into Barber Direct Drive. Amp was a new PRS Archon 25 watt combo with a Seymore Duncan Vapor Trail delay in the FX loop. I used the “half power” (13 watt) switch and the “clean” channel of the amp exclusively - all drive tones came from the pedals. All of the OD’s sounded great, but, IMO, the Zen was the best. All-in-all a very impressive debut. The only downsides were a few miscues due to me either fumbling around with the controls (because of unfamiliarity) or, more often, because I was startled by being able to actually hear some of what I’ve been playing that I haven’t been able to hear prior. As with the Alembic basses, this guitar will make me a better player because it requires better technique and more thoughtful note choices – there’s absolutely nowhere to hide with this much clarity.   (Message edited by davehouck on April 30, 2015) | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 331 Registered: 6-2014 |
Nice post David - I like the detailed ones! FWIW, mine get a little long-winded sometimes too, especially the late-night ones trying to unwind after a gig. =) Looks like you're gonna get along just fine with the new addition. | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Senior Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 503 Registered: 6-2012 |
Thanks Greg - it's difficult to keep it brief when yer talkin' Alembic...! I've been doing some additional exploring on my own this week in preparation for another upcoming gig with a different project (which covers a lot of diverse turf ranging from Steely Dan and Argent to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple) and I continue to be impressed with this guitar. It's very well thought-out and I can't get over the clarity. I know I should've been prepared for that after 2 years of using Alembic basses, but I don't do string bends on a bass like I do on a guitar. And that's where the Alembic guitar electronics really have an "edge" - literally. |
