| Author | Message | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 384 Registered: 2-2003 |
Hello, Was just contemplating a possible scenario involving the "Alembification" of my Q5  I have a Modulus Q5 from 92 its got a beautiful cocobolo top, alder body, chips and dings here and there I was wondering if this was possible and what the cost would be? 1. Pickups and electronics upgrade Vol/Blend/Filter/Q switch 2. Brass "Bird" stlyed bridge with new tuners 3. Would you guys put your logo on something like this? 4. general cleanup (setup, ding removal?, new strings) Thanks. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1953 Registered: 6-2002 |
Sounds like an interesting project, however I would be very surprised if Alembic would be willing to put their logo on anything that they didn't make. I'm not familiar with modulus instruments the only one I remember seeing is Benny Rietveld from santana playing one when I saw them in 1992. Maybe I should look them up. Jazzyvee | ||
| keith_h
Moderator Username: keith_h Post Number: 1615 Registered: 2-2005 |
Tom, Your best bet it to call Alembic directly to get prices and suitability of using their electronics in your Modulus. Keith | ||
| adriaan
Moderator Username: adriaan Post Number: 2487 Registered: 6-2002 |
[moderator's edit: duplicate threads merged] | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 386 Registered: 2-2003 |
I dont want to bother the good people at Alembic keeping them on the phone at this point. Im not ready to do it I was just looking for some feedback. I think it could be very cool. - T | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 387 Registered: 2-2003 |
Thanks Adriaan! | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 388 Registered: 2-2003 |
This bass kinda planted the seed (not my bass) http://www.stephenramirez.com/images/modulus%20front.jpg Then I started reading about the history Alembic has with Modulus and it just makes sense to me to eventually make this happen or try to anyway. I love the simple setup of a single Filter control with a blend that is SO powerful. anyway .... | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 415 Registered: 5-2002 |
It's always interesting to try something different. On your points - you can contact Alembic for pricing on electronics. There are a number of Activator models that are sized to fit in standard pickup routings, and their normal models for which you would have to do some routing. Sit down before you read the pricing - top-flight mainstream bass pickups today are $60-140 each; boutique stuff like Dark Stars are $200 each; Alembics will be much more - a two-pickup+EQ Activator set is $1100 on the Alembic Yahoo! store. I'll be hard to fit a "bird" tailpiece on a Modulus. Modulus like most basses use an integrated bridge/tailpiece (Gotoh or Schaller usually) which is mounted at the end of the body. To use a bird tailpiece, you'll need to find a separate bass bridge as well, then figure out how to mount it. The bridge needs to be where the bridge pieces are now but this will leave little room for the tailpiece. The bird tailpiece is associated with the original Series body styles which are very different than the a Fender-style body layout - very large body, which a lot of the body past the bridge, so there's room for all this hardware. Nothing wrong with chasing a dream, but there are probably some limits on what can be done. David Fung | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 389 Registered: 2-2003 |
Hi thanks for the reply Believe me I was not expecting it to be inexpensive My thinking was to send the bass to alembic and have them work the bass up. Place the bridge if possible. I've had quite a few Alembics I know fairly well what I'm dealing with in comparison to other electronics and pickups. At this point its up in the air as I'm guessing I could find a nice used Alembic for the price of this upgrade but still.... | ||
| pace
Senior Member Username: pace Post Number: 539 Registered: 4-2004 |
But still.... even if you did find an Alembic at this price, it wouldn't have a 35" 5 string graphite neck! The only thing I'm not sure about would be the bridge~ mainly because the neck pocket on the Modulus isn't pitched at the proper angle to accommodate the bridge and tailpiece's height. I imagine the body would have to be routed to seat the bridge at the right height, and the tailpiece would have to have a super shallow profile. | ||
| echo008
Advanced Member Username: echo008 Post Number: 390 Registered: 2-2003 |
Absolutely! Just making the comparison in pice I love my modulus and I hear what you are saying. Having to figure out how to make it work could also make it cost prohibitive | ||
| keurosix
Senior Member Username: keurosix Post Number: 432 Registered: 10-2005 |
Hey Tom, I own a Modulus Graphite Quantum 5 string TBX which is a neck-thru. It came with 3 Bartolinis which I converted to an Alembic custom Activator set with 3 p/u on/off switches and a vol pot and filter pot with 2 pos Q switch. It sounds really amazing, and is a hard bass to beat. I did not change anything else on the bass. Like Dave said, no room for a bridge tailpiece upgrade. Sorry, the pic is not a close up, but if you want one, I'll attach another. Kris  | ||
| mario_farufyno
Senior Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 623 Registered: 9-2008 |
Nice family you've got together... Wich Bass is the far right? | ||
| keurosix
Senior Member Username: keurosix Post Number: 433 Registered: 10-2005 |
Hola Mario, The bass to the far right is named negrito. He is a 6 string Dean Edge fretless. I have upgraded electronics to an ACG filter and am going to put better pick ups in it too. He is 35" scale, but not as nice a "singer" as my Alembic 5 string Epic fretless on the far left. Kris | ||
| mario_farufyno
Senior Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 624 Registered: 9-2008 |
Thanks, Kris. Is funny how we always hear about the better tone long scale basses have, but an Alembic seems to sound amazing regardless any scale lenght. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2369 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hi Keurosix what do you think of the ACG Filter and which one did you get? Jazzyvee | ||
| keurosix
Senior Member Username: keurosix Post Number: 435 Registered: 10-2005 |
Hey Jazzy, the ACG filter is a very high quality item. Very easy to install, and is amazingly quiet when playing. It's about 1/3 the price of an Activator set, but the Alembic circuit is still my favorite. The one I got was the ACG/East EQ-02 for 2 pick up 4 knob configuration: Vol/Balance stack, Bass Filter Stack, Treble stack, and passive tone. It has a low pass filter like the Alembic circuit, but the voicing is a little different than the Alembic. It is more like an SF-2 with a very broad range of center frequencies. I need to put better pick ups in the bass to match the quality of the circuit, but did rig up a bartolini p/u as a test, and it performed flawlessly. This link is to a page at Best Bass Gear in NC, USA where I purchased it, but you would have a more direct outlet in the UK, right? Anyway, check out the link and a very good description of the circuit and how it works is there. Kris http://www.bestbassgear.com/acg-eq-02-two-pu.htm# | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 890 Registered: 5-2002 |
I have an ACG Filter in one of my '67 Starfires and I love it. Mine is a very early one with a separate filter for each pickup, so it's kind of a like a Series II setup, although with different frequency points. Since you live in the same country as Alan, maybe you could pay him a visit and get an up close and in person demo of his pres and his basses! He was really great to work with. Mario is right about Alembic and scale length! | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2370 Registered: 6-2002 |
Kerosix, I have a confession. I had two of the ACG/East circuits installed in my Europa 5 bass last year around October. I met John East and Alan Cringran (ACG) at the Manchester Bass Day and had a long discussion about their circuits. After trying them out and mentioning to John that I had alembic basses and that I would be interested in having one circuit for each pickup on my bass. He offered to do a modification to cater for the low impedance pickups at no extra charge and I even took the bass to his home where he makes the circuits and he installed them into the my bass. He's a really nice guy and used to design mixing desks for Sony and other high end studio electronics. Anyway the bass still sounds incredible and alembic like and now as it has one low pass with variable-Q, one high pass filter with gain for each pickup, one master volume and pan. The upper frequency cutoff is the same as alembic but the low end of the low pass filter goes down lower than alembic to 80Hz. After John finished installing the electronics he told me that this setup is the same system he installed in one of Stanley's Spellbinder basess and mine is the only other bass with this setup. Although I've not spent anytime playing a series Bass, this one now sounds closer in tonality to the bass sounds I hear on Clarkee's records so I'm very happy. I really was considering having a series bass commissioned last year and had a few emails back and forward to Alembic to help the decision making process. But the price was still too high for me to feel comfortable with at the time so the ACG/EAST system was really a cheaper way of getting what I hoped would be a series sound. I wanted to mention it here ages ago but I'm very much an alembic puritan so still have a guilty streak about changing out the heart of the alembic sound. The bass does sound amazing and the variety in tone is astounding, clean and quiet, powerful. It has less warmth than my alembic basses but the scope for tone shaping is extremely wide. I need to get a few club gigs under my belt with it to hear it in context. Jazzyvee  |
