alembic mania

[Chris P.]

I like the vind, Hieronymous!

[hieronymous]

Thanks Chris! Here's another one, just audio this time (and no turntables):



This time played with a pick, and with the new Moog Taurus 3 bass pedals.

[Chris P.]

Cool! I heard about the new limited edition Taurus pedals. I wanted to review one, but I believe there's only one for Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg...

[Highlander]

Ahh, the Benelux Coalition...

[chromium]

Got some video footage of my Stanley Clarke 5-string

The bass sounds great- assertive and punchy.  That one is a short scale, correct?

I thought the DJ fit well in there, too.

Oh- and congrats on the new Taurus!

[hieronymous]

The bass sounds great- assertive and punchy.  That one is a short scale, correct?

I thought the DJ fit well in there, too.

Oh- and congrats on the new Taurus!

Yup, short scale it is. I like the clarity of it, even with flat wounds.

The Taurus is very cool as well, but it is very large and heavy - don't really have space for it at home! Haven't had a chance to really play around with it yet - when I do maybe I'll post in the effects section...

[hieronymous]

Studio version! Telembic bass, Greg DeGuglielmo on drums, DJ TAKA on turntables again. Any comments on the mix appreciated - not used to working with turntables...

[chromium]

Studio version! Telembic bass, Greg DeGuglielmo on drums, DJ TAKA on turntables again. Any comments on the mix appreciated - not used to working with turntables...

Hey I just got a chance to listen to this.  Nice job on the mix re: the turntables.  I thought the panning, delay, etc was spot on.  Another thing that might be fun is bussing them out and processing them with your Moog LP or the SF-2.  

I was trying to think of groups that incorporated turntables in an actual band setting to give you ideas.  You might check out Beastie Boys' Check your Head.  There was a Dutch band called Urban Dance Squad that used tables, and I used to like some of their downtempo/psychedelic stuff (Careless, Piece of the rock, Alienated... come to mind).  Maybe check out DJ Cam, DJ Shadow, The Dining Rooms, Mu-ziq, Blue States, Action Figure Party... for more recent stuff (although its mostly electronic drums or ambient)

For the bass, I kinda favored the Alembic sound in the live clip.  The Fender sounds more middly/billowy to me here, compared to that tight punchy sound in the live clip - which fits better to me for this track.  That's being really nitpicky though.  Your playing sounded great.

Cool stuff!  Look forward to hearing more.  

[Barklessdog]

Got some video footage of my Stanley Clarke 5-string:



The turntables may not be to everyone's liking, but I really enjoyed it! The bass is strung with Chromes, played through a Glockenklang Soul Head, Custom Audio Japan tube compressor, and Epiphani 2X10 cabinet.

Nice video, I like the turntables. The bass a has a great warm tone to it, but still sounds like you.

[Freuds_Cat]

Got some video footage of my Stanley Clarke 5-string:



The turntables may not be to everyone's liking, but I really enjoyed it! The bass is strung with Chromes, played through a Glockenklang Soul Head, Custom Audio Japan tube compressor, and Epiphani 2X10 cabinet.

Great voicing on the bass and rig.  What I also loved was the sound of the snare in that hall, did something for me

[hieronymous]

Thanks for the comments guys!

@Chromium: I actually briefly entertained rerecording the bass part with the Stanley bass - you have me considering it more seriously now!

Unfortunately DJ TAKA is moving to Japan in September, but hopefully we will have a few more chances to play before then. We have something in the can that is pretty cool, but I have a bit more editing and overdubbing to do.

I actually saw Urban Dance Squad live - I really like them! Saw 'em open for Living Colour in Worcester, Mass., probably around '90 or '91.

@Barkless: Thanks John! I know you miss the mudbucker bass! 

@Freuds_Cat: I've had a few people comment on that snare - it's a piccolo! I definitely like the spaciousness of the room sound too, I tend to go dryer on my studio stuff...

[hieronymous]

So I created another opportunity to jam with DJ TAKA today! I videotaped it, but haven't had a chance to listen. Since I was disappointed with the way my bass recorded the last time I played, I decided to record the bass by itself direct! I plugged one of the effect loop outs from my Glockenklang Soul Head into my Tascam DR-1. Even when you set the gain on the Tascam pretty high so that it looks like it's almost peaking out, the actual recording volume is pretty low, so I did some compression, EQ and loudnessing with Ozone 3 (not to mention some reverb) and came up with this:



I should have a better title than that! It's my 5-string Stanley Clark Sig. Standard with newly-strung Chromes, into an MXR M82 Bass Envelope Filter and Glockenklang Soul Head with CAJ V-COMP Tube Compressor in the effects loop - I'm not sure where in the signal chain the effects-loop out I used is, so who knows how much effect the amp and compressor had on the sound? Plus, I didn't have the time to fine tune the filter, so I think I'm hitting it a bit too hard, but I kind of like it.

Hopefully the video came out at least half-way decently - if so, I'll post some more!

[hieronymous]

The audio from the video tape recording came out pretty good, minus the bass, so good thing I made the direct recording of the bass!



I'm kind of surprised at how sloppy my playing is - well, no I'm not, I'm rusty! But I like the energy of the track. DJ TAKA on turntables - he's moving to Japan in September - I'm bummed!

[Chris P.]

I don't think Alembic lovers will like me now, but I'm reviewing a nice bass these weeks:





I guess Warwick and Alembic don't like eachother that much. Alembic makes the Tears Of John (or something) Buzzard clone and Warwicks makes the Spyder clone.

This is one hell of a bass though!!
- Mirrored active P pic ups
- 3-way EQ
- Quilted maple top
- Mahogany bodywings (Hollow!)
- Maple neck through
- Ebony fretboard
- 24 frets
- Buzzard headstock

I'm enjoying myself a lot until I have to send it back again...

[Highlander]

Now that is what I call posing, but you haven't yet learnt the true art of the blag... 

(ie you have to send her back...?)