Alembic my £$%^

I have seen a few threads alluding to BAPU's alembic and while a finer piece of Bassological trickfinery its harder to find. I would like to share my two mains squeezes in a thinly veiled p'ing contest, all in the best taste of course.

I like body shape number 2... it's like a wonderful piece of sculpture.

I also go nuts for the look of straight grain in wood.

First one is Swirly bubinga, and in fact my personal bass its not quite as severe as that anymore its kinda blended over time with oiling.

The second one is my latest purchase and its just amazing, the shape looks amazing but is also ridiculously comfortable to play, that combined with switcahble Musiman style pickups gives so many tonal options and thats, just using pickup switching and the blend knob, there is still a active treble and bass circuit on this baby.

It really is the nuts, the only depressing thing is I have nothing left to GAS over, well in the bass world anyway.

Oh and here is a picture of no2 and me in action :) Just in case you thought this was a CJ moment :)

If i am lucky its an entirely different axe that gets beaten after gigs :)

Oh and here is a picture of no2 and me in action :) Just in case you thought this was a CJ moment :)

I don't wish to ruin your CJ moment, but... No:2 in the orriginal post has 4 strings, (as does No:1) but the No:2 with "somebody" playing it clearly has 5 strings.... 

Thats right because Warwick don't have a pretty picture of the 5 string version on their website sadly and I am not at home with my digital camera :)

I don't think its quite a CJ moment, because I do actually own a UK Special edition Warwick Zebrano $$ Streamer, i just have the 5 string version not the 4, they made 10 of each I think.

Oh and any UK sonarites can really lay this one to rest by coming to my next gig on the 27th April at the Waterrats and see me playing it live :) Shamless plug for my gig as well :)

http://www.facebook.com/g...hp?eid=140036679399510

See below

Bolt-on Available as 4- or 5-string US Swamp Ash body with Zebrano top Flamed Maple neck Ebony fingerboard Scale length: 34" (long scale) 24 frets Passive MEC MM-style humbuckers with large open pole pieces, coil switching for each pickup: serial, parallel and single coil Active MEC 2-way electronics Natural Oil Finish Warwick machine heads Warwick 2-piece bridge Warwick security locks Black hardware Just-A-Nut III

Gordon,

Very cool looking basses. And I'm sure they sound great.

But.... do you have a custom made spacey (our own) 5-String like this?




It just so happens that I do.


Spacey only made one of these!

Let the p'ing contest begin.Very nice!

@old55 - But Count Basie does!

Custom Smustom

Seriously beautiful wood on that bass.

However i bought my first warwick (no1 in the post above) about 9 years ago, my first 'real bass' up until then i had played £150 quid pawn shop fender knock-offs (and I am a better player for it)

I had just got a tax rebate of £1500 (thank you the HMRC) and was ready to spank it on a Musicman Stingray

The guy was like you could spend £1300 on the stingray or I have this, I picked them up of the Australian distributor (apparently the aussies did not like em) for cheap, and pulls out the warwick, its list price was £2300 at the time, i got it for £1200.

I then played it at every gig for 9 years and when it was time to try a 5 string last year I tried everythign (including an alembic Rogue) and loved this warwick, but could not afford it £1600 so settled for a lakland which is a fantatic bass, plays well sounds amazing.

Nothing against lakland but i struggled with it for a year, it just did not feel quite right and then about 4 months ago i saw my bass on Ebay for £800 played only 3 times by the owner, the rest as they say is history :)

The moral is, I just like the way warwick feels, they seem to just fit and i find i am more creative and more fluid on the warwicks than anything else i have ever played and you can't put a price on that.

If you're alembic give you that, then its the best bass for you, and I guess that's really the moral of this thread. Play what feels right not what look spanky.

As a further proof to this, my guitarist is still playing the knocked about £70 Japanese strat copy he bought about 15 years ago, and he is one of the best guitarists i have ever played with and sounds immense :)

G

Fair play Bapu, and I never really thought of it as a p'ing contest, you're much lauded Alembic was merely a convenient and thinly veiled segue into me being able to show off about my lovely warwicks :)

I used to have a Variax to take care of the variety side of things sadly it had to go during a period where I was free time rich and cash poor, the joys of self employment. I rated it very highly in terms of giving me lots of different colours very easily, I still have a Variax guitar which I have added a midi pickup to.

I also used to own a EUB also sacrificed at the alter of mortgage and am very interested in the Kalu U-bass, whats it like?

Might give it a whorl before dropping cash on the NXT Amber burst i have been salivating over :)

G

Pssh, not even close to my bass.

5 year old $300 Entry-level Washburn Taurus with 6 month old rusted strings counterfeit strings and screwed up potentiometers. (P.S - It's the only thing I use to record bass, got nothing else)

I'm too rich to buy a pack of new strings and fix those pots. Beat that!

I'm also too rich to replace my entry level guitar.

(Sarcasm aside, lack of money ain't stopping me!)

gordonrussell76


Fair play Bapu, and I never really thought of it as a p'ing contest, you're much lauded Alembic was merely a convenient and thinly veiled segue into me being able to show off about my lovely warwicks :)

G

I knew that. It's all fun and games here (except when it comes to Mooch)

Looks very tasty, its a bit along the lines of the AShbory http://www.basscentre.com...bass/ashbory-bass.html

Just not as naff looking, will wait for the furore to die down and check it out.

I am currently re-furbing the studio so bass purchases are way down teh list.

I am getting married next year, do you think sticking a bass on the wedding list is in bad taste?

gordonrussell76

I am getting married next year, do you think sticking a bass on the wedding list is in bad taste? 

I'd be ashamed of you if you didn't!