I usually save the Alembic talk for other places. This post is mostly to try out Amazon Photos as a hosting service.
As far as the bass - I recently sold my '86 Alembic Distillate. I then bought the blue Epi, and this '91 Elan 5. I've been enjoying EADGC tuning, and Alembic is the right bass for this. There are so many little details that I like about this thing. The chrome tuners, flame maple, purpleheart laminates, oval fingerboard inlays, "big" pickups (AXY as opposed to MXY), the old "hat" knobs, and the bird tailpiece keep the Alembic vibe fully intact, even with the somewhat atypical finish. Honestly, it is striking to look at in person. I hate to say it, but my FireGlo Ric kind of pales in comparison (though I think they'll look great together once I swap out the white pickguard and TRC for black on the Ric). Hopefully there's a pic visible to all here...