| Author | Message | ||
| smokin_dave
Advanced Member Username: smokin_dave Post Number: 369 Registered: 10-2002 |
So there I was setting up for an opening slot for some local big wig blues band.Unpack my bass and set it on it's throne/stand and go off to fetch my briefcase. I get back to find three or four stage hands and sound personnel surrounding my bass and commenting on it's looks and the inevitable question.... Who made this bass? A couple of these cats were in their late 50's,been in the "biz" for most of their lives and have never heard of Alembic.EVER. So I start in on the famous Alembic players we all know,a little about the history so on and so forth. After a sound check they come over and start in on how great it sounds,how much,where to buy one bla bla bla. I learned of Alembic when I was 14 or 15 and am now 52.It amazes me how this brand goes unnoticed. | ||
| tncaveman
Intermediate Member Username: tncaveman Post Number: 187 Registered: 2-2011 |
Not including Stanley's bass, I have only seen 2 in the past 35 years. I'm actually not sure if I have ever seen a player use one live, other than Stanley. One was in a shop in the early 80's and one was at The Low End. Most of the people I know used to not know about them also. This makes having 2 that much cooler. I sure would love to run into a great deal on a Spectrum guitar. Doubt that will happen though. Stephen | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 854 Registered: 2-2011 |
Dave, you & I are exactly the same, I too learned of Alembic my freshman year of high school at 14 or 15, & I am also now 52. It bothers me when I read articles about high end basses with no mention of Alembic, but at the same time, I would not want Alembic's popularity to grow so much they had to expand their operations & the hand made quality could suffer. Right now every instrument they make is made by a handful of craftsmen & women with Ron putting his stamp of approval on each one. If they were better known that might not be possible. Alembic owners are part of an elite group that much of the world has not heard of, but that makes it even more special when someone does recognize your instrument & can appreciate how amazing it is! | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3486 Registered: 6-2002 |
I'm learning not to be surprised and in a way quite pleased by that, as it is quite common for people not to know the brand. It's a good feeling knowing you are playing something different to the crowd and it still makes the music sound great. It's always good to be able to talk to other bass players about alembic basses. I have to say that if I am at a gig and see a bass that looks and sounds different I do try to have a chat with the bass player about their instrument as I have very little practical knowledgeable about non alembic basses. From what I see and hear at gigs I go to though, most bass players are still playing with a Fender sound regardless of the bass they are using. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that as if it's a bad thing. So an engineer is always gonna hear a familiar kind of sound and not flinch until you plug your bass in and they hear something different. :-) I hear what you say Rusty about alembic not getting too big and having mass appeal but you never know what the future holds. All it could take is another high profile, young influential bass/guitar player to discover alembic, turn down the big endorsement deals, and you could have a whole new generation of musicians looking for alembic. In that case alembic would be crazy not to respond to the market demand. How they choose to do that is another thing. But could Alembic afford to let all that potential income go to sellers in the used market or worse.... to ebay scammers and fakes that could tarnish the brand as well? Now if someone like Eric Clapton or Dave Gilmour started using a Spectrum instead of a strat on stage or even Keith Richards maybe started using a furthur that would change the ball game. Jazzyvee | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2098 Registered: 11-2004 |
I am the only person to own one in Teesside(North East of England). I first learnt of them when I saw Stan on The Old Grey Whistle Test with RTF..say around 74/75. They were virtually unknown then. There are still many people who have not heard of them as Fender still sell huge quantities and are so well known | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 3488 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hi Terry, Old Grey Whistle test must have been the first time I saw an alembic too but had no idea what it was so didn't really take much notice of it. It was a few years later when I joined a band as guitarist and the bass player was raving about Stanley Clarke that the alembic name became known to me. However I was just stunned that anyone could play the double bass like Stanley did. I only know one person who had an alembic where I live and that was only because I remember seeing a strange non-fender shaped bass at a jazz gig in the mid 80's but didn't know it was an alembic because I only thought alembics were like Stanley's or the large body ones. So it was only when I joined this forum about 10 yrs ago that I realised that shape I saw back then was an epic. Interestingly I now know who the bass player is and actually met his brother-in-law at the california meet last year. Small world. I'm sure there are a good few dotted around our country but not many at gigs that I go to. Jazzyvee Jazzyvee | ||
| 811952
Senior Member Username: 811952 Post Number: 2308 Registered: 10-2003 |
Growing up just down the road a bit from Smokin Dave's stomping grounds, we had access to the first Alembic dealer (Vic Zinn Music in Noblesville, Indiana) so it was not unusual for the big Indianapolis bands to be seen with an Alembic bass (I'm thinking of Ralph who played with Henry Lee Summer, for one). Of course, I knew what they were by then from Stanley and Entwistle. I believe the first time I ever saw an Alembic was on a video clip of Manfred Mann on perhaps The Midnight Special or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. The first time I ever saw one in-person was at a Harry Chapin concert in '76 or so, with Big John Wallace playing bass. There don't seem to be many Alembics floating around the area anymore, but occasionally someone knows what mine is and the drooling commences in earnest. I'm 51, so it seems we were all quite impressionable (and recognized quality when we saw/heard it) at about the same age. :-) John | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Intermediate Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 131 Registered: 6-2012 |
My story is similar. The first Alembic I ever saw (and heard) was #1 shown in the fuzzy back cover photo and more clearly in a few of the inner sleeve photos of JA's "30 Seconds over Winterland". I was 12 when that album was released. Shortly thereafter, I acquired "Europe '72" and saw and heard the "Godfather". I was mesmerized by the clear, articulate and massive bass tones on both albums and played them until they were worn out. A little later in the mid-70's I saw Stanley Clarke perform on Saturday Night Live using an Alembic. That sealed the deal - one day I would own one. | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 614 Registered: 9-2004 |
I remember the first one I saw was a guitar new in the 70's that was selling for some amazing amount of money. I did not see another one for years. Paul Reed Smith had to make hard decisions early on after his first guitars were so well made and Santana started to use his gear onstage and many people wanted them and he had to expand and still keep the quality up. Alembic partnered with LD Heater years ago to help sell the brand to a wider audience, but that must not have worked out. It is a niche market. Many companies choose to carry a lower price 2nd line to help support the upper tier products (think Porsche and the 914 years ago or PRS and the Korean guitars). Expanding a business is often stressful and expensive and does not always work out. Look at Leo Fender and how his products got away from him after CBS. Outside investors can rapidly end up with a controlling power in the original company and it becomes all about money. I bet the Fender plant in Mexico puts out more guitars in a month than Alembic did in a decade at first. | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Senior Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 860 Registered: 5-2007 |
I was a fan of 70's Funk and Jazz so I remember the Brothers Johnson, Lakeside, Rose Royce, Brick and Jermaine Jackson and a few other groups that had Alembic Bass players contribute to the groove. Marvin Isley of the Isley Brothers had the first Series II bass that I heard live. VMG | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 5464 Registered: 7-2004 |
I first heard of Alembic through the Grateful Dead. Then I played in a band (Cripple Finger) in Pasadena around 1975 with a guy who had an Alembic guitar. It was like nothing I had ever seen before what with the blue box and 5 pin cord, and it sounded amazing! Bill, tgo | ||
| tncaveman
Intermediate Member Username: tncaveman Post Number: 188 Registered: 2-2011 |
oops - almost forgot about Andy West (Dixie Dregs) and Greg Lake (ELP) These were the actually first Alembics that I had head of but I wasn't lucky enough to see them when they toured. Stephen | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 855 Registered: 2-2011 |
The first time I saw Stanley was in 1979 & the Dixie Dreggs opened for him, so I got a full night of my first Alembic sighting! | ||
| smokin_dave
Advanced Member Username: smokin_dave Post Number: 370 Registered: 10-2002 |
Well after all's said and done I'm just grateful to be able to turn people on to an AMAZING bass and guitar manufacturer whom may have gone on to never even hearing about Alembic or seeing one in the flesh so to speak. | ||
| smokin_dave
Advanced Member Username: smokin_dave Post Number: 371 Registered: 10-2002 |
Oh and John,I do remember Vic Zin very well and going up to Noblesville from time to time in my youth and drooling over the latest Alembic acquisition they had to offer and wondering to myself if I would ever be able to come up with enough scratch to purchase one for myself one day. | ||
| that_sustain
Intermediate Member Username: that_sustain Post Number: 166 Registered: 8-2012 |
I first read about Alembic in a 1992 edition of Bass Player magazine. The publication was centered around Alembic and Jaco at the time, at least that's the way I took it. The first time I remember hearing one clearly was probably Jason Newstead(without realizing what it was at the time)..then I had to go out and buy 'School Days'. I'm a proud owner of today's Strad. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1994 Registered: 9-2002 |
The first one I ever saw was a 'rode hard, put up wet' Series One, VERY used and abused, in a Nashville guitar shop for a grand. No power supply, 5-pin cable, not even the case. This is back when I didn't know squat about these things, and entertained thoughts of buying it ('what the hell, how expensive can it be to fix this thing up and buy the other stuff ?'). Luckily it didn't work out, there's NO telling what it might have taken to restore its airworthiness. I once got called to fill-in for a night in a bar band, and the drummer friend who set it up told me, 'I got a bass for you to play, trust me'. I show up and it's a blue burst Essence, a five-string. It was neck heavy as all get out, I couldn't get a tone out of it, and kept thinking, 'I thought these were better . . . ' the second Alembic I ever saw. I bought the third one one I ever saw (the BigRedBass) as everything worked, it was in great shape, and it took a regular guitar chord. It DID sound like I expected with AXY's, and sound even better with its' FatBoys. When Will Gunn was still here, I saw several, and he even let me play one ! And then Susan and Mica got me the five string Elan, the fifth one I've ever seen. P/J Activators, a great counterpoint to the BRB with the FatBoys. ( . . . . WHY Alembic does NOT adapt FatBoys into a MusicMan shell is beyond me: They can sound like the BEST MM pickup you've never heard. . . . ) I've been around guitars and basses by the zillions, but there's always a handful of 'Flying Dutchmen' you just rarely see. A Super 400. The teardrop D'Angelico (actually, I have seen one of those . . .). An Atlansia bass (well, I saw one of those too . . . ). Nashville is a music town CRAWLING with guitars and basses, from god-awful to fabulous, and there are still certain things even here that you just don't see every day. Anyway, Alembics are just rare. I'm tthinking they've made around 30,000-ish since 1976. Fender makes that in a few months. And they are their own world. Try to explain to your musician friends the merits of filters and watch their eyes glaze over. You either get it or you don't. Most don't. I'd like the Wickershams to be as successful as they want to be: If that doesn't involve 'cornering the market', I'm sure they crossed this bridge a long time ago, and it's their business, personally and literally. Besides, I LIKE having something of a legend, a whispered question, a uniquely amazing axe that's as good as it gets, built by friends. Can't ask for more than that. J o e y | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Intermediate Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 133 Registered: 6-2012 |
Shhhh...we'll just keep the "secret" to ourselves, thank you. Speaking selfishly - if you don't "get it", you don't need to get it and that will leave more available for those of us who do appreciate it. Re: Fat Boys in Music Man - SIGN ME UP FOR THAT MOD. I've got an MM 4 and 5 that sound pretty d*mn good "as is". I can only imagine how much better the Alembicized versions would sound... | ||
| that_sustain
Intermediate Member Username: that_sustain Post Number: 168 Registered: 8-2012 |
I agree with the Shhh. It's a lot easier to get your own personal tone with an uncommon instrument. | ||
| bassilisk
Intermediate Member Username: bassilisk Post Number: 123 Registered: 4-2009 |
When I take mine out I will sometimes get "Oooo...Custom bass?" Well not really (MK Std) but when you have no point of reference it may as well be. So I proceed to talk it up, and slowly reach the crescendo where I say, "Oh, and check this out..." and flip on the side LED's...... Love it! | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 857 Registered: 2-2011 |
The LED's is definitely a magic moment for someone who has never seen an Alembic in person! | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2104 Registered: 11-2004 |
LED's..oh yes, I have them in the fretboard and it always impresses when I switch them on...poseur value or what LOL |
