| Author | Message | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2794 Registered: 6-2002 |
I got my first one in 2002 from the Bass Centre in Birmingham UK. It was this Stanley Clarke Signature bass which I still have and it's still my favourite.  Jazzyvee | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 788 Registered: 6-2006 |
1985 (86?) Ralph Hanzel's Music on Greenfield Avenue in Milwaukee, WI. The very same Distillate I still have today :-) | ||
| jazzboy621
Member Username: jazzboy621 Post Number: 59 Registered: 7-2011 |
Thats a beauty, Jazzyvee!!! | ||
| dannobasso
Senior Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 1435 Registered: 3-2004 |
1983 Spoiler solid koa body, Sam Ash 48th street NYC. $900 no case. Refinished by Alembic about 10 years ago. | ||
| mtjam
Junior Username: mtjam Post Number: 17 Registered: 11-2011 |
Just got my first one, an '83 Distillate, right before Thanksgiving 2011 from club member Bassthang. Currently trying to decide between an Essence, an Orion, or a Series 1 for my second! Any advice? Must sell some gear first... | ||
| fc_spoiler
Senior Member Username: fc_spoiler Post Number: 1341 Registered: 5-2006 |
I got my '88 Spoiler in '98:   Still in love :-) A few years later I got a very beat up '83 Spoiler that I foolishly traded in for a Gibson Ripper... I corrected my mistake asap and got the '83 Spoiler that's currently my favorite bass (she's so lovely) FF some years and I got the Stormburst Elan. Then came the time to go custom :-) But no response from Alembic :-( To kill the time I bought the fretless Orion, because I was in love with the looks of that bass ever since it was posted on that site (UK Alembic dealer) Then came the response from Alembic :-) and the realization of my 5 string monster Elan :-) :-) :-) | ||
| dela217
Senior Member Username: dela217 Post Number: 1107 Registered: 6-2002 |
I got my first one brand new in 1978. It was serial number 78 1058. It was a medium scale, point body, with purpleheart top and back. Zebrawood veneers on the headstock, ebony board, and shipped with Pyramid Gold flats on it. I do not have any pictures at all of this bass as far as I know. I would love to see it today. I traded it back to Alembic for a Small Standard. The small standard was serial number 78 1168, and was also a purpleheart top and back instrument. I regret parting with this one, but I went through a LOT of Alembics back then. Michael | ||
| room037
Senior Member Username: room037 Post Number: 436 Registered: 9-2003 |
I got my first bass "Alembic Distillate Bass" in 1981, and I was a guitarist until then. I cuddled this bass all through my bass life. Because, I never want Gibson and Fender basses except my daughter's Fender Japan Mustang bass. (But I love and own Fender and Gibson guitars. It's curious !) My second Alembic was 20th Anniv. Maple version in 1990 or 91. It was traded few years ago, but I regret it. I love the maple sounds ! Afterwards, I got my 5 strigers and shorties in last 10 years. Eiji | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 1797 Registered: 11-2004 |
I only own one..a Mark King Signature Standard retro fitted with SIMS LED's in red It does everything I want it to..the action is low and is so easy to play and the sound is the great. One drawback..it is very heavy..12lbs(UK) but a comfort strapp spreads the load | ||
| jacko
Senior Member Username: jacko Post Number: 3110 Registered: 10-2002 |
i bought my 96 epic new early in 1997 from the Bass centre in birmingham when I was working for cadbury's IT dept. The shop was a subsidiary of the London bass centre and has since closed. i bought the epic when I decided I'd like to start playing 5 strings and spent at least 4 months trying out every make and model I could get my hands on. For the price, the only one that came close to the Alembic was a pre-gibson tobias 5 string at a different shop but their credit terms were extortionate. I consider myself lucky as I doubt very much whether Gibson / tobias have such a friendly and informative forum :-) graeme | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2797 Registered: 6-2002 |
just read some of your thread Jacko via the link and you mention there a possible series project in 5 years and I think that is up now. Are you still thinking along those lines? Jazzyvee | ||
| jacko
Senior Member Username: jacko Post Number: 3113 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hah! I WAS pretty optimistic back then eh? Looking at the current quote generator I think I'd have to sell my house to afford a new series bass now. I'd maybe stand a chance if a reasonably priced 5 string series came up second hand!. I've just booked a 3 week trip to the states in September (which is costing a fortune) during which we'll be visiting the factory. maybe I can smuggle out a new bass down a trouser leg :-) Graeme | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2798 Registered: 6-2002 |
Yeah that quote generator is scary as it is without any non standard personalisation going on. So you can imagine the cost of something unique for a custom I'd have to sell my house as well then we can afford one between us with a time share arrangement 6 months each per year. haha Jazzyvee | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 10596 Registered: 5-2002 |
My first Alembic was my 1990 four string Essence, purchased used January 22, 1996. | ||
| rjmsteel
Intermediate Member Username: rjmsteel Post Number: 180 Registered: 7-2008 |
1981: Make `N Music when it was in Homewood, IL. I also still have this same Distillate - in Purpleheart - today just like Pauldo has his. | ||
| poor_nigel
Advanced Member Username: poor_nigel Post Number: 242 Registered: 11-2009 |
If the quote generator is scary now, imagine it after the price hike finally gets installed in it that was supposed to be done last January. Once the price hike goes into effect, prices on eBay will jump for used instruments. Luckily, I have all the basses I will probably buy in this life time. Otherwise, it sucks to get old! | ||
| wayne
Advanced Member Username: wayne Post Number: 202 Registered: 5-2002 |
1990 5-string 20th Anniversary (one of VERY few fivers with that moniker) http://alembic.com/club/messages/411/19580.html?1120832114 C-Ya............wayne | ||
| serialnumber12
Senior Member Username: serialnumber12 Post Number: 944 Registered: 12-2004 |
purchased in 1980 at 19 yrs old, this 1972 series I/with series II guts .....(Serial#12.)  (Message edited by serialnumber12 on March 20, 2012) | ||
| alembic76407
Senior Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 690 Registered: 5-2002 |
July 2 1976 I got my Series 1 and still have it | ||
| hieronymous
Senior Member Username: hieronymous Post Number: 1045 Registered: 1-2005 |
Hey jazzyvee, my first Alembic was in 2002 too! An '85 Spoiler/Exploiter bought at Blue Note Music in Berkeley, CA:  | ||
| unholyprawn
New Username: unholyprawn Post Number: 1 Registered: 3-2013 |
What an appropriate thread for my first post. My first Alembic was a 1983 Persuader (Single pickup). It is honestly and truly the best bass I have played. In fact, I liked it so much, less than a month later, I bought an Epic.   [moderator's edit for picture alignment] (Message edited by adriaan on March 25, 2013) | ||
| unholyprawn
New Username: unholyprawn Post Number: 2 Registered: 3-2013 |
What an appropriate thread for my first post. My first Alembic was a 1983 Persuader (Single pickup). It is honestly and truly the best bass I have played. In fact, I liked it so much, less than a month later, I bought an Epic. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3390 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hey Charles, welcome to the forum, and a grand entrance with two basses. Jazzyvee | ||
| that_sustain
Intermediate Member Username: that_sustain Post Number: 129 Registered: 8-2012 |
I bought my first at age 19. It was a 4 string Essence in natural finish...all maple(figured top). This was in 1994. I found out about Alembic through BassPlayer Magazine. They praised the company above all. Welcome, Charles | ||
| that_sustain
Intermediate Member Username: that_sustain Post Number: 133 Registered: 8-2012 |
Charles..that Persuader is somethin' else. | ||
| rjmsteel
Intermediate Member Username: rjmsteel Post Number: 197 Registered: 7-2008 |
1981 Distillate. Bought new at Makin Music, Homewood, IL ($1,400.00) Still have it. The guys at Bag End, (when they were in Palatine, IL), let me try out the Series I they had, and still have, threw a set of headphones plugged directly into the bass and I fell in love. | ||
| guineapig
Junior Username: guineapig Post Number: 34 Registered: 9-2005 |
A 1993 Spoiler. I bought it in 2005 in a small music shop. The owner of the shop had bought the complete stock of another shop that stopped it's activities. According to him the other shop bought it new and never sold it. So that would make it NOS I guess... I don't play it very often, so it still looks like new...  | ||
| georgie_boy
Senior Member Username: georgie_boy Post Number: 1057 Registered: 8-2005 |
Got my Series 1 1976 model from the Bass Centre in London for my 47th birthday........present to myself. I still have her and she is even better now, just ask Jacko, he's played her. It's her birthday tomorrow 31st March 1976 | ||
| georgie_boy
Senior Member Username: georgie_boy Post Number: 1058 Registered: 8-2005 |
You can see a pic on my profile page | ||
| senmen
Senior Member Username: senmen Post Number: 1092 Registered: 7-2003 |
It happened back in 2004 after the JE Limited Spyders had been launched. My first one, Spyder No. 04-50, 4 string My second one, Spyder No. 08-25, 8 string My third one, Dragon Wing "Tears for John", my first custom Alembic. All sold unfortunately, but soon to be replaced by something new....    Greetz, Oliver (Spyderman) | ||
| mavnet
Junior Username: mavnet Post Number: 18 Registered: 2-2003 |
1977 - 2 custom small body, long necks (2 of the few that Alembic ever made). One fretless, one fretted. Ebony on fretless from the same log as one of Stanley Clark's basses. Same electronics in both of mine - one superfilter, one series filter w/cvq, with a bunch of switches that let me switch high/band/low for the SF, filter in/out for the series filter, and let me put the two filters in series, plus the normal mono/stereo switch. Really amazing instruments, finish on the fretted showing its age, though. Need to get at least the fretted back for refin. I don't have good pics but will attach a few I have.   [edited for picture alignment] (Message edited by adriaan on March 31, 2013) | ||
| tbrannon
Senior Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 1548 Registered: 11-2004 |
That maple inlaid fretted SI is amazing. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 2845 Registered: 5-2009 |
Now these two are really KOOL !!!__ Ja das ist aber KOOL !!!!!!!!!!!! I like these , I like them alot ____ | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2070 Registered: 11-2004 |
January 1998, bought at Rudy Penshur's Music Stop New York. Gigged all the time and retro fitted with SIMS LED's in 2009. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1973 Registered: 9-2002 |
So in the late 70's I worked in a terrific 'mom and pop' music store in a little town in East Texas. I've always been a catalog nut, and this place had several file drawers full of everything from Conn horns to Mutron to . . . Alembic. I would take the few sheets out and just stare at these Series instruments and was just mesmerized. I knew what I was looking at, just how big a jump these were. The new Precisions and Ricks hanging on the walls suddenly seemed so . . . . prehistoric alongside these things. Fast-forward 15 years. After I'd moved to Nashville, over time I got 'round to all the music stores here. Gruhn's was an eye-opener after having read about them for so long. I walked into one of the 'too-cool-for-school' shop at that time, Rock Block, full of graphics-painted Jacksons, Steinbergers, the then fairly new Taylors, and so on. I look up in the midst of all the axes hanging six-high up the walls, and . . . . there a five-string Alembic, Series-shaped, in see-thru red. The room began to spin . . . Eerily, this was what I would have custom ordered. At that time, I didn't know enough Alembic-ese to realize it was a Spoiler, all i knew was it didn't have that 'middle pickup' ! I didn't know Spoiler from Spamola. Didn't care. Had to have it. I'd never seen one in the flesh. Bought it. Done. I still have it, and will never be without it. Spooky . . . . .  J o e y | ||
| jacko
Senior Member Username: jacko Post Number: 3345 Registered: 10-2002 |
nice story Joey. And equally nice bass :-) Graeme | ||
| lembic76450
Advanced Member Username: lembic76450 Post Number: 330 Registered: 5-2002 |
Bought my Series I in 1978 and never looked back. I picked up a few more along the way, but, this will always be my baby...  Joey, the bigredbass is a beauty... | ||
| alembickoa
Intermediate Member Username: alembickoa Post Number: 140 Registered: 5-2002 |
Mid-Nineties...somewhere in there...  | ||
| jshull138
Junior Username: jshull138 Post Number: 31 Registered: 8-2012 |
Last year actually, a 1983 spoiler all koa. Ordered it from the Guitar Center in Arizona, best purchase I could have made. | ||
| tomhug
Intermediate Member Username: tomhug Post Number: 103 Registered: 7-2008 |
1977 Series I, which I purchased in 1986. Here's a picture of it's most recent outing:  | ||
| slawie
Senior Member Username: slawie Post Number: 539 Registered: 8-2002 |
1988. Bought it from the Starving Musician in Santa Clara. I was in the US from Australia on a training course walked into the shop had no idea what it was. I just fell in love with it when I tried it out and had to have it. slawie  | ||
| rami
Senior Member Username: rami Post Number: 1029 Registered: 6-2002 |
Around 1999-2000 I was looking for a fretless at my local music store. I NEVER expected to find this:  The Excel was still a new model at the time, it only cost $1499. It was love at first sight and play. I still have it and I still adore it! Thanks again Mica for designing it!  (Message edited by rami on August 31, 2013) | ||
| alembic76407
Senior Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 734 Registered: 5-2002 |
July 2nd 1976 I paid $1817.00 Worth every dollar . I still have it and still play it it  | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Intermediate Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 177 Registered: 6-2012 |
Monday, June 18, 2012 Stanley Clarke Signature Deluxe:   Why did I wait so long - ? | ||
| superlow
New Username: superlow Post Number: 4 Registered: 9-2013 |
1993.brand new serie 1 in Bass center, Paris. It was in the back of the shop, I asked if I could try it, I was 19, and the guy was very upset to let me play on this beauty. He asked me to put out my belt!! I've played 2 minutes, with the guy standing in my back, and say "OK, I'll take it". The shop owner was near to have a stroke..... Well i've payed three years for it, that was 20 years ago and it still mine, I've make 600 gigs with it and I'm still in love.VERY in love.  | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 958 Registered: 2-2011 |
 My 1st Alembic was this early 80's Series I that I bought used in 1986 from Music Emporium mail order, sight unseen for $1500. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3792 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hey rusty I didn't realise you previously had a series bass. How long did you have it? | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 1073 Registered: 2-2011 |
I had it for about 3 years. I was young & dumb & didn't realize what I had & sold it. I wish I still had it! Here's a better picture -  | ||
| aeijae
Junior Username: aeijae Post Number: 18 Registered: 12-2010 |
 I bought this one on 31 Oct 1997 when I was 17 years old. I worked for about a year and a half to save up the 2,000$ for the bass. I still love it. | ||
| aeijae
Junior Username: aeijae Post Number: 19 Registered: 12-2010 |
I bought this one on 31 Oct 1997 when I was 17 years old. I worked for about a year and a half to save up the 2,000$ for the bass. I still love it.  | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2161 Registered: 11-2004 |
I really like the sticker on the Strat!! LOL | ||
| aeijae
Junior Username: aeijae Post Number: 20 Registered: 12-2010 |
I would have put one on my Alembic, but my guitar player only had one ^^ | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2162 Registered: 11-2004 |
aeijae...Is that a bubinga top, looks the same as my MK Signature?  | ||
| aeijae
Junior Username: aeijae Post Number: 21 Registered: 12-2010 |
That is indeed Bubinga as the finishing touch of coalecsed woods carefully carved to produce a superior instrument. I always liked the look of Bubinga, it surely inclines one to make a double take. |
