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essenceman
Junior
Username: essenceman

Post Number: 13
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 5:18 pm:   Edit Post

I've had my Bocate-topped 5 string (Serial Number 96K10210) for 5 years now. She looks beautiful and plays like a dream. I added the Q switch very easily (thanks, Mica, for the instructions) and opened up a whole new palette of sounds.

My Bocate Essence V

Rob

If you're thinking about doing it. Do it!!!!



(Message edited by essenceman on February 25, 2004)

(Message edited by essenceman on February 28, 2004)
davehouck
Senior Member
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 402
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 1:31 pm:   Edit Post

That's a very nice looking top wood!
essenceman
Junior
Username: essenceman

Post Number: 15
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 2:54 pm:   Edit Post

Yeah, thanks Dave, it is isn't it?

It was one of those moments that we've all experienced. I went into the music store to audition amps and walked out with this beauty.
bassman10096
Intermediate Member
Username: bassman10096

Post Number: 165
Registered: 7-2003
Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:07 pm:   Edit Post

It really is nice looking wood. I wasn't too familiar with Bocate, but your bass looks sweet!

Bill
hollis
Junior
Username: hollis

Post Number: 42
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:51 pm:   Edit Post

I walked onto this websight and ended up with my beauty....One of the best walks I've ever been on!
BTW Beautiful Bass!
endryq
New
Username: endryq

Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2004
Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 3:00 pm:   Edit Post

This is what I call a good looking top!!!

This is very interesting. How did you add the Q-switch?

Thx
Endryq
essenceman
Junior
Username: essenceman

Post Number: 16
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 3:14 pm:   Edit Post

Hi Hendrik,

Thanks for the compliments - she is pretty, isn't she?

Adding the Q switch was very simple. At the time that I did it, the parts were about $45US. The instructions that came with the switch were very easy to follow. It involved a little bit of drilling to fit the switch and the removal of one of the components on the filter circuit board and soldering the two leads from the switch into the same holes that the component came from. Alembic supply all the instructions, so even if you don't feel upto doing the work yourself, a local repairman could do it for you.

My advice is to do it, because it really does give you a whole new range of sounds.

Cheers

Rob
bassman10096
Advanced Member
Username: bassman10096

Post Number: 278
Registered: 7-2003
Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 8:29 pm:   Edit Post

Hi Rob!

Glad the Q switch worked out easily. It's amazing how well the Alembicians help owners avoid a trip to Santa Rosa while still getting a real Alembic upgrade. Maybe I'm not well informed, but which other manufacturers do that??

Sounds like you're really enjoying the difference with the Q. Good luck!

Bill
essenceman
Junior
Username: essenceman

Post Number: 17
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 3:11 am:   Edit Post

Bill,

It really has made a big difference to the versatility of the bass.

In repsonse to your point about Alembic service. I live in the UK, so a trip to Santa Rosa would have to be a family holiday and I don't think my wife and daughter would be too impressed if I dragged them on a bass safari, even though Northern California is beautiful. I couldn't trust myself to stay away from 3005 Wiljan Court!!!

All the best

Rob
bassman10096
Advanced Member
Username: bassman10096

Post Number: 281
Registered: 7-2003
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 5:41 am:   Edit Post

Rob: It's funny that you said that. I'm fortunate to be including a visit to Alembic into a family vacation over the Easter holiday. We have to be in San Diego for my son's marching band, but I managed to build in a weekend in San Francisco (a real crowd pleaser) and a drive south down the California coast to San Diego (great oceanfront scenery). My wife has made an event of it - She bought Alembic shirts for us all and says she plans to use a group photo taken at Alembic along with images of my new bass (under construction) for our family Christmas card this year. Personally, I think she's overdoing it with the Christmas card idea, but who am I to complain??

Bill
essenceman
Junior
Username: essenceman

Post Number: 18
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 7:15 am:   Edit Post

Bill,

Lucky you. We were in California in 1997 (before I bought my Essence). We finished a 3 week holiday by taking 3 days to drive from San Fransisco to LA. Magic!!

I'd love to be able to fly to Frisco and go North and pay a call in Santa Rosa. Maybe one day.

Rob
811952
Intermediate Member
Username: 811952

Post Number: 134
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 8:23 am:   Edit Post

My wife actually humors the idea of a family trip (personal pilgrimage for me) to Santa Rosa at some point in the next couple of years. She knows I'm stoked about an Alembic gathering. Maybe I'll have divined a way to have another Alembic in-process by then... :-)

Back on topic (that sounded, well, fun), the filter/Q is an amazingly versatile combination. You can get an infinite number of sounds by simply being able to tune the filter. Enjoy!
John
keavin
Intermediate Member
Username: keavin

Post Number: 146
Registered: 12-2002
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 9:35 am:   Edit Post

hey! now if you added one more filter(for each p/u) to that set-up thats a whole new can of worms!...the possibilities are endless!
keavin
Intermediate Member
Username: keavin

Post Number: 147
Registered: 12-2002
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 10:04 am:   Edit Post

what does the actual letter (Q) stand for?
effclef
Member
Username: effclef

Post Number: 98
Registered: 1-2004
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 10:28 am:   Edit Post

Keavin, Q stands for "quality". It's an archaic term which basically describes how a tuned circuit operates. Think of the shape of a volcano. Let's say that the peak of the volcano is a resonant circuit peaking at 1 kHz (1000 Hz or 1000 cycles per second). To the left, the peak drops off at frequencies lower than 1000 Hz. To the right, it drops off above 1000 Hz.

Q is a number which represents how "steep the sides" of the volcano are. Higher Q means steeper sides.

You actually hear this when you turn up the CVQ, or Constantly Variable Q, knob on a Series 2. As you increase the Q, you hear a sonic difference in the response of the filter. It's steeper, therefore sounds more "vocal" and the sharp peak stands out more.

Lower Q settings give you a less steep peak and it is more of a gentle roll-off above and below the resonance. On the Alembic filter, it's a lowpass, so the rolling off is done on the high side.

If you imagine a graphic equalizer it may help. If you push the middle slider all the way up, and the others all the way down, that's high Q. If you make a gentle slope peaking at the center frequency, that's low Q.

The Q switches on the Series I and other instruments means that instead of a variable Q with infinite steps (a pot) you have a switch that selects one or two levels.

Does that make sense now?

It all dates back to when inductors (coils of wire) were first wound in the vacuum tube days. People needed a term to tell what the coil was specified to be, with steep or gentle roll-off at the resonant frequency of the circuit it was used in. Nowadays, Alembic filters use integrated circuits instead of coils to make these peaks, but the term sticks.

EffClef

PS - does anyone here have the capability to put their Series bass on a spectrum analyzer? I would love to see this stuff in action, visually. That would be a great thing to post. (I am sure Ron's lab is full of them, but maybe someone here has one. I wonder if one of those computer sound card spectrum analyzer programs would work well enough.)
keavin
Intermediate Member
Username: keavin

Post Number: 148
Registered: 12-2002
Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 10:42 am:   Edit Post

gocha!!!brilliant!!!!!
endryq
New
Username: endryq

Post Number: 5
Registered: 3-2004
Posted on Friday, April 02, 2004 - 1:55 pm:   Edit Post

Hi essenceman!

Thanx for the help with the Q!

Endryq
joram
New
Username: joram

Post Number: 10
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 12:11 pm:   Edit Post

Hi there. Sometime ago I've purchased activator electronics (just the electronics, though, no pickups) from a fellow dutch club member. It works pretty fine with the pickups I already had in my bass, my bass now is incredibly versatile. But... I'm missing my vintage j-bass tones, so I have the idea of adding a Q-switch. Since I'm not to keen on ordering stuff from overseas now, although the parts from santa rosa undoubtedly are of much higher quality then (than? Why did I always sleep in english class? LOL) anything I can produce, I'm thinking of soldering the whole lot myself. If that's okay with our friends at alembic, of course! So, my question: can anyone give me the schematics for the q-switch adding? Thanks in advance
marcm
Junior
Username: marcm

Post Number: 43
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 5:30 am:   Edit Post

joram

i can't help with your q-switch installation, but i can tell you two things

it's 'than'

and your english is very good for anyone, even a nederlander, who claims to have slept through english class

very good indeed


marc
joram
Junior
Username: joram

Post Number: 11
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 5:59 pm:   Edit Post

Very well, Marc. You've got me! I wasn't really looking for q-switch schematics, I'm just 'fishing for compliments', as a Nederlander would say. ;-) I guess my teacher had his hypnopedia tapes running. Too bad my german teacher didn't use those for his lessons! LOL

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