Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	Darrin Loken
Manufacturer	Alembic
Model	F-2B, Stereo Tube Bass Preamp
Price	$250, shipping included

Dimensions	1 rack space
EQ	Bass, Mid, Treble, Bright
Controls	Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Bright Switch
Other	2, 1/4" inputs per channel. 3, 1/4" outputs; A, B, and Mix

The F-2B is a stereo tube preamp based upon the Fender Dual Showman. The F-2B that I bought was made in Sebastopol, CA and is light blue on the top, sides and bottom, has a black face and back with red inserts on the knobs. Check out http://www.alembic.com for more information. I bought my F-2B because I was looking for a simple tube preamp to warm up my BassFex. When I received it I was pretty disappointed because it was not even close to the seller's claims. Since I was stuck with it I decided to totally rebuild it; I even had to buy new tubes! If anybody is interested, email me and I'll give you the details. Anyway, $70 later I had a great preamp. I'm running it after my BassFex and it warms up my tone and smooths out the digital effects. It has a nice edge when pushed a little, but does not distort easily. Tone-wise it's full, warm and clear with some bite when I push it a little. The tube compression really seems to smooth and tighten up the sound as well. I'm running each channel at 5-2-10-2 with the bright switch off and that setting is pretty flat. I have noticed that the mid control will really make a difference. I'm using a pair of matched Sovtek 12AX7WA's in it presently. As far as customer support goes, none other than Ron Wickersham helped me troubleshoot a hum problem that I had. He also gave me some setup tips on it as well. The only thing that I don't like is that it's somewhat noisier than my solid-state preamp; although I've been told that tube equipment will be that way. So far, it hasn't been a problem recording and I don't expect any trouble for live performances.

Construction	100%
Clarity	100%
Tone	100%
Size/Bulkiness	100%
Value	85%
Customer Service	95%
Overall	97%