| Author | Message | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 1 Registered: 3-2007 |
I'm looking at getting the specialized alembic pickups for my musicman stingray 4. Its not on Alembic's website yet but it was recommended to me when I asked support about pickup installation. For the most part I'm unsatisfied with my musicman, it has some good tones, but not a lot of versatility which i need since I play jazz, funk, and r&b. I'm hoping that the alembic pickup will change things (since there's no way in heck i can afford a whole alembic). Has anyone bought and used these pickups for their musicman, and what did it do for your sound? | ||
| terryc
Intermediate Member Username: terryc Post Number: 105 Registered: 11-2004 |
Surprised that a musicman cannot get the sounds you want especially for funk & R'n'B. Mark King used one on one of his albums, then there is Louis Johnson, the late Bernard Edwards and many more. I put a pair of Alembic Activator P/J pu's with twin vols, bass & treble on a 1983 japanese Squier(now donated to my son) and it transformed the sound completely! Gone was the passive dull thud and lack lustre top, loads of bass and hi fi treble with all the stuff in between. I own a Mark King standard with the humbucker pu's and filters with 2 position Q switches, the higher alembics have variable Q controls, single coil pu's(plus dummy humcanceller) and they give a totally different sound although it took me the best part of six months to get to grips with the filters. There are some great threads in this section explaining how they work although they are complicated in the theory but using ones ears(as we all do) should get you there. The main difference with bass, middle & treble on your m/man and the filters is subtlety, only slight adjusting of the controls produces huge tonal variations. I guess the guys at Alembic didn't bother producing a replacement pu for the musicman as they must have thought that it was good enough already!! Anyway hope you fine what you are looking for | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1366 Registered: 6-2002 |
Terry, there was a recent posting from Mica announcing that they now offer Activators specifically for installation in a MusicMan bass. | ||
| keavin
Senior Member Username: keavin Post Number: 1087 Registered: 12-2002 |
CUSTOM SHAPES AVAILABLE***(note here where they can custom make to your liking) Fender P shape Fender JZ neck shape Fender JZ bridge shape (slightly longer than neck) Gibson Humbucker shape Rickenbacker neck shape Rickenbacker bridge shape Alembic AXY series Alembic MXY series Fender, Gibson and Rickenbaker are registered trademarks of their respective companies. | ||
| alembic_doctor
Advanced Member Username: alembic_doctor Post Number: 230 Registered: 8-2002 |
My musicman Fretless was actually the guinnea pig for this pickup I think. | ||
| olieoliver
Senior Member Username: olieoliver Post Number: 1203 Registered: 2-2006 |
I have a 78 Musicman Sabre fretless and I really like the sound I get from it. But I have never played an Ernie Ball. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1147 Registered: 9-2002 |
MM's are one of the few basses I wouldn't think of for trading out a poor-sounding factory pickup. That being said, a MM with FatBoys would be a knockout. Of course, a 2x4 with FatBoys would be a knockout! So ALEMBIC is offering MM shape Activators now? J o e y | ||
| lidon2001
Advanced Member Username: lidon2001 Post Number: 294 Registered: 4-2005 |
Mica stated earlier that it might be released by the end of this year; do a search if you wish. Of course, it would include the preamp section as well and not just a pickup. I believe she said it might have some sort of mid control. I think interested parties should stay tuned in. | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 3 Registered: 3-2007 |
Don't get me wrong, the MM pickups are very good at producing the sounds they're designed to. I certainly can get some cool tones with it (especially with my rig: bag end 2x10 and a mesa/boogie m-pulse 600) but I'm mostly concerned about dynamics (I guess I wan't being really clear). The MM pickups don't seem to be able to pick up dynamics as well as others (e.g. EMG in spector, MEC in Warwick, Alembic). Instead it tends to produce that dull thump. I don't necessarily want to loose that, I would just like that to be an option in addition to having nice dynamics. Would alembic MM pickups provide this variation? | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 4 Registered: 3-2007 |
Also, for those interested, what Alembic offers is the retrofit MM pickup with vol, high, pan, and low. I'm told that later this year they'll be offering one with a mid instead of the pan which is more typical of the MM electronics. They're waiting for the midrange control before they offer it on their website. | ||
| terryc
Intermediate Member Username: terryc Post Number: 107 Registered: 11-2004 |
Does any one have a theory over the 'dull thump' that juggernaught refers to?? Could it be the exposed pole pieces pulling on the strings, Am I right that it is a high impedance pu feeding into a low impedance pre amp with resistance conversion. My electronic knowledge limited as it is would explain this?? | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1371 Registered: 6-2002 |
Maybe the treble control is broken? You should be able to get some ear-splitting treble out of any (active) MM. If it's an old StingRay, perhaps it has the foam mutes in front of the bridge saddles all the way up? | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 5 Registered: 3-2007 |
No, its not an old Stingray and the treble (as far as I can tell) is not broken. (Forgive my lack of language in accurately describing the sounds coming out of my bass.) The treble can be very present but it sounds very dry to my ears (and pooly shielded. oh, the buzz!). The lows and mids are quite nice though. The "dull thud" that I'm referring to may have something to do with the quality of the treble, but I'm not sure. I'm basically trying to say that I hear insufficient response when I try to put dynamics in. (Maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about :P) However, I tried out an Alembic at a used store and felt that I heard I much higher *quality* of tone overall (including dynamics) which was very appealing to my ears. This influenced me into looking into pickups for my MM. But I'm uneasy about making a commitment b/c of $$$. Thanks for your comments so far. | ||
| olieoliver
Senior Member Username: olieoliver Post Number: 1211 Registered: 2-2006 |
Something else to consider is the wood and construction of the bass itself. These too will heavily influence the tone and overall sound of the bass. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1372 Registered: 6-2002 |
The "dull thud" is probably the signature accent on the low-mids. Not sure how much of that is in the electronics - pickup placement is probably a big factor in that as well. | ||
| 0vid
Member Username: 0vid Post Number: 72 Registered: 4-2003 |
I have an Eb stingray from '95/96. FWIW, I don't know what 'dull thud' refers to either..... maybe dead strings? I didn't like the output so I changed the pickup to a Bartolini, which helped a bit but when I changed the the stock preamp a whole new world was opened....for me the problem was not the MM pickup in itself ( which I have transplanted into several other project basses and it is my main test pickup when I build a bass) but the EB preamp which I thought was rubbish. I like the MM style pickup and built a couple of basses around the capability to have parallel ,series and single coil. Tried a pair of Kent Armstong MM pickups but have since replaced them with Bartolini MMCs which I really like. I eagerly await the release of the Alembic MM style pickups.... | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 6 Registered: 3-2007 |
Ovid, the MM pickups are available now! Just with a pan instead of a mid and you have to email them to order it. Some of their dealers might have discounts on them. So the main benefit you see of the Alembic MM pickups is not necessarily the pickups themselves but the preamp? Is it possible to replace the preamp only with an Alembic one? | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 4361 Registered: 6-2000 |
Alembic pickups and preamps are designed to work as a system. I know of people that have mixed and mitched, but it's not something that we offer support on, we have no direct experience. The best instrument to use an Alembic system on is one where you like the unamplified sound. Since we don't use pickups as tone controls, you have to like the general sound of the bass. If the bass sounds good until you plug it in, the Activators will probably do nicely. What I have now are the MM4 string pickups. You can install an AE-3 system with bass and treble controls, the volume control and the output jack on the faceplate of the bass. If you want to keep the jack sidemounted, you can add a filter control (there isn't anything to pan with just one pickup, sorry for any confusion there). I am working on a useful midgrange control for this system with my dad. With some other interesting projects we're working on, I don't think it will get enough attention to be completed until near the end of this year. | ||
| juggernaught
New Username: juggernaught Post Number: 7 Registered: 3-2007 |
Thanks mica, that's really helpful. Yeh, I actually really like the unamplified sound on the stingray fretless and not so thrilled after I plug it in (depending on what i'm trying to play though). ~Maybe I should just buy and try out the pickups since Alembic has a 30 day return policy... | ||
| 0vid
Member Username: 0vid Post Number: 73 Registered: 4-2003 |
<So the main benefit you see of the Alembic MM pickups is not necessarily the pickups themselves but the preamp? Is it possible to replace the preamp only with an Alembic one?> I was referring to the stock EB music man preamp, which I think is not very good. I used the NTBT Bartolini preamp. The stock Eb MM pickup is fine to my ears. If you use the Alembic MM pickup, get some Alembic electronics. I will enquire re: Alembic MM pickups. A vol and a filter would do me just fine these days. I have several basses with onboard Active EQ and find that I prefer not to use onboard EQ. (Message edited by 0vid on March 28, 2007) (Message edited by 0vid on March 28, 2007) | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 4365 Registered: 6-2000 |
You don't have to fill up all the holes on the front plate, so you are free to use a simple volume / filter arrangement. You could add a Q switch if you wanted the flat filter response available. |
