NBD - Alembic Elan 5

gearHed289 · August 17, 2022, 10:04:20 AM

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...

gearHed289 · August 17, 2022, 10:06:34 AM

Well I guess THAT didn't work!

gearHed289 · August 17, 2022, 10:08:46 AM

And just to satisfy anyone's curiosity...

morrow · August 17, 2022, 10:32:41 AM

I've only seen a couple up close , and get a little weak in the knees when I see one.
Congratulations !

ilan · August 17, 2022, 11:44:55 AM

Oh wow. That's a nice bass. Love the finish - akin to a burst LP, more rocknroll than their typical crazy exotic tops.

4stringer77 · August 17, 2022, 12:13:14 PM

Nice, it looks like straight fire. Gives me 90s Pedulla and Modulus vibes too. Enjoy.

gearHed289 · August 18, 2022, 09:09:08 AM

Thanks guys. It does remind me of fire! And def more R&R than the usual dark wood look. The clear coat isn't nearly as pristine as the one I sold, and I'm OK with that. I can gig this thing without so much worry about putting a scratch on it. I generally only use the Alembic with my original band, and we only gig 6-8 times a year, so it will see low mileage.

BTL · August 18, 2022, 05:48:54 PM

Wow, that's really nice...congrats! I just went down an Elan rabbit hole. I'm smitten.

gearHed289 · August 19, 2022, 08:31:57 AM

Quote from: BeeTL on August 18, 2022, 05:48:54 PM
Wow, that's really nice...congrats! I just went down an Elan rabbit hole. I'm smitten.

I'm kind of an Alembic nerd, but realized I didn't know a lot about this model previously. It wasn't produced for very long. Seems to bridge the gap between their Europa and Essence models.

ilan · August 19, 2022, 09:30:59 AM

I like that it doesn't have a knob bank. It's fancy in the right places.

What does the bridge pickup sound like? It's very close to the bridge. In Hofners this location renders the treble pickup very thin, weak and useless on its own.

gearHed289 · August 22, 2022, 09:10:20 AM

That seems to be the standard Alembic bridge pickup location. Same as the one I sold, and they both sound very much like Stanley Clarke's soloing tone. It's actually a more useful tone than a lot of other bridge pickups I've heard. Controls are simple - master volume, pickup blend, low pass filter/Q switch. There are trim pots inside the control cavity that control output level of each pickup.

slinkp · August 22, 2022, 08:42:35 PM

I've no idea how much of each pickup he blended in, but whenever I see that bridge pickup I can't help thinking of 76-82ish Entwistle tone - it's certainly not all neck pickup! A pretty weird tone, but I quite liked it, very distinctive. (He went downhill from there in my taste, but that's another story).

gearHed289 · August 23, 2022, 09:18:46 AM

Entwistle's Alembic tone blew my mind when I saw the Kids are Alright around 1981. His tone did go downhill after that though, possibly due to his diminishing ability to HEAR. He got into a lot of mushy chorus and weird dirty tones.

gearHed289 · October 06, 2022, 09:13:00 AM

So I'm shipping this bass off to a new owner in FL today. I still feel that it's an incredible instrument, but it's not really fitting the role I had planned for it. I'll be sticking with my Chinese Warwick for my high C string adventures for now and going back to a 4 string Alembic. Live and learn! I may be joining a Who tribute band, and a 4 string Alembic would come in handy, along with my Fenderbird and P Bass. I've got a line on a factory refurbished Exploiter Distillate, but it's not cheap.

slinkp · October 06, 2022, 02:23:50 PM

Quote from: gearHed289 on August 23, 2022, 09:18:46 AM
Entwistle's Alembic tone blew my mind when I saw the Kids are Alright around 1981. His tone did go downhill after that though, possibly due to his diminishing ability to HEAR.

Yeah I think that's why his overdrive got more and more fizzy, I suspect it was out of his range!

QuoteI've got a line on a factory refurbished Exploiter Distillate, but it's not cheap.

DAMN that is pretty.