| Author | Message | ||
| essenceman
Junior Username: essenceman Post Number: 13 Registered: 10-2002 |
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.  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 |
That's a very nice looking top wood! | ||
| essenceman
Junior Username: essenceman Post Number: 15 Registered: 10-2002 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
what does the actual letter (Q) stand for? | ||
| effclef
Member Username: effclef Post Number: 98 Registered: 1-2004 |
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 |
gocha!!!brilliant!!!!! | ||
| endryq
New Username: endryq Post Number: 5 Registered: 3-2004 |
Hi essenceman! Thanx for the help with the Q! Endryq | ||
| joram
New Username: joram Post Number: 10 Registered: 5-2004 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
