Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	Rex Jackson
Manufacturer	Alembic
Model	Series II Exploiter
Price	$2800 (1984)

Neck Type	Maple/Purple Heart (Seven Piece with Fifteen Piece Headstock)
Fingerboard	Ebony with L.E.D. Position Markers
Body Type	Walnut/Mahogany/Maple (Five Piece)
Finish	Matte
Pickup(s)	2 Ceramic Monolith plus a Hum Cancelling
Controls	Pickup Selector; Master Volume; Neck Volume; Neck Tone;
	Neck CVQ; Neck Master Gain; Neck Hum Balance;
	Bridge Volume; Bridge Tone; Bridge CVQ;
	Bridge Master Gain; Bridge Hum Balance

I bought two of these basses in 1984. First I bought a four string and later a six (which was destroyed in an accident a few years later). Ron and Susan Wickersham were unbelievably patient with me. The first day I called Alembic Susan told me "We can build you whatever you want. We make a few basic models, but we're open to whatever will make you happy." I was 19 at the time and didn't come close to appreciating the kind of people I was dealing with. The four string's neck is a copy of the Rickenbacker 4001 I was playing at the time. I was a real pain about that and they went to extremes to make sure I was happy. They shipped the first one to me in a case a lot like the Rick's and I bitched and whined until they had Anvil make me cases for both of the basses. At the time they offered the option of a neck-through Modulus neck and I tried to talk them into building mine with graphite necks until Ron told me that he could fill a cavity in the necks with graphite to change the resonant frequency of the neck to get rid of any dead spots. I even complained on my registration cards about the method Alembic used for pickup height adjustment and their oval fret markers. Well, 14 years have passed and with each year I have been able to appreciate more of the features and construction methods that Alembic used in the contruction of my basses. It's very seldom that you buy something that creeps into your life and makes you aware that you are better off because it's there. This bass is a work of art. The range of sounds is amazing. The CVQ (Continuously Variable Q) gives the Tone control the range of a good parametric. The pots are all smooth and of audiophile quality. The brige sits on a chunk of brass in a routed cavity in the semi-hollow body and the nut is height adjustable. The five-pin cord takes the sound of each pickup out on a seperate channel and brings power in for the electronics. If I had it to do over again I would skip the Explorer body and get a traditional Alembic body with an Omega Cut. I was in full-on Entwistle mode when I decided to buy an Alembic in the first place, though, so it's obvious why I went that route. Right after delivery I had a problem with the neck pickup cutting out on the four string and they had someone at my apartment the next day who fixed the problem and planted some musical/lifestyle seeds that eventually managed to take root. I could write about this bass for another hour or two, but I'll stop short and say that it's the best musical instrument purchase I've ever made. I just hope that if Ron or Susan ever read this they'll forgive the impatience and ignorance of the teenager that they had to deal with all those years ago.

Construction	100%
Playability	100%
Appearance	100%
Sound	100%
Value	100%
Cust. Service	100%
Overall	100%