Reviewer Jonathan mosher
Experience 10+
Review date December 12 2002
Manufacturer Alembic
Model Epic 5
Price 799.99
Item owned for 1-2 years

Bass type 5 string fretted
Neck join Set Neck
Neck construction glued
Fingerboard 24 frets ebony board 35 extra long
Body wenge face
Finish semi gloss laquer
Pickups alembic active
Hardware brass nut and bridge
Electronics active
I picked the Alembic up used for 799.99. I liked it at first because it had a real singing tone and beautiful looks. The sales person at the time offered me a Pedulla thunder bass for fifty dollars more, but I decided on the Alembic( still kicking myself in the ass for that) Sure the Epic five was a beautiful bass and played rather nicely. It has a wide finger board that was suitable for my large hands, but after playing it for a while I noticed it sounded alot like a piano. the active pickups can be controled from inside the cavaty, although you cannot turn it up past 3/4ths or it will distort? they are very powerful!!! The long scale makes the low B sound like a freak'n subsonic fart and the bass only provided what seemed to be 2 tones; an ultra bassy piano tone or a Jaco style singing tone, neither of which sounded to good while jamming. Sorry Alembic, you're a cool roots company with alot of great stuff but stop taking things to such an extreme.

Construction 90%
Appearance 98%
Playability 90%
Sound 50%
Customer Service 100%
Value 75%
Overall 75%