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Without a doubt, this is probably the most special bass we've ever had at the shop

It's an Alembic Series II Bass with the Omega Shape, Omega Headstock and "Pistol grip" upper horn (made in 2018)

Alembic are true pioneers when it comes to modern electric bass, having introduced many features that are today considered standard in the industry. Alembic have a story as a brand that goes back almost 40 years, so we'll just tell you some details about the beginning of this now classic name:

At first Alembic was a consulting firm for some of San Francisco Bay area bands, and started to work on some instruments that needed constant repairs and also had noisy electronics. Ron realized high impedance pickups have a very limited bandwidth, so he designed low impedance pickups that had a much broader frequency response, but also lower output, so he also developed the first onboard active electronics to boost the signal. Alembic founders Ron Wickersham, Bob Mathews & Rick Turner used the instruments of Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane) and Phil Lesh (the Grateful Dead) to analize all the details and come up with improvements in electronics and more. The first Alembic bass was delivered to Jack Casady in 1971. By 1974 Stanley Clarke was starting to get recognition and he needed a better instrument, so when he chose an Alembic, he boosted the company's name significantly and this in part made Alembic a primary bass company (although they've always produced some guitars too).

Phil Lesh's Alembic Osage bass being buit & Phil using it onstage in 1974

Jack Casady & Stanley Clarke back in the 70's

Currently Alembic offer 10 electric bass models and one Electric Upright. It can be said they wrote the book on custom options, so these 10 models are just the starting point. Options include 7, 8, 10 & 12 string designs, as well as double basses.

The Series II is for many players and collectors the perfect Alembic in terms of sonic options, playability and pure joy to your eyes.

The original Omega shape and headstock are a strong statement when it comes to stage presence but it's not just a nice shape. As soon as you strap this bass on, it's all about comfort and ease of playability.

The medium scale (32") also makes it a perfect Piccolo bass for alternate tunings or solo playing but it actually sounds impressive in standard tuning. Best E string on a mid scale bass we've ever heard.

As we said before, Alembic were the first to develop some of what today are considered as standard features, and this bass comes with some of them:

- Multilaminate neck. In this case 13 piece sandwich of mahogany, maple, walnut, purpleheart and ebony, satin finish. Just amazing

- Use of exotic woods: matched to the center cocobolo front and back over mahogany with maple and purpleheart accents

- Height adjustable brass nut

- Bridge and tailpiece for better string angle

- Custom made active electronics: Two Alembic AXY4 humbuckers + dummy coil and Series II electronics with Master Volume, Pickup Volume x2, Pickup Selector Switch, 2CVQ Filter x2, 1/4" and 5 pin outputs (external power supply included)

- Two truss rods for perfect control of the neck's curvature.

ELECTRONICS:

Alembic are famous for their ultra effective electronics. This model comes with two Alembic AXY4 humbuckers and a very well thought out circuit. With a minimum number of controls you get an amazing variety of usable tones.

There's a Master Volume and Master Balance plus 2 Tone Controls (one for each pickup). We assure you won't be missing any extra EQ or Tone controls. This bass shows that when everything is done right, you get excellent tones with just a few controls. The passive Tone controls prove to be really musical and effective, so experimenting with them and the Balance control produce enough sonic variation to cover a lot of styles.

But there's more: 2 "Q" switches (one per pickup) transform the passive Tone Controls into powerful Low-pass Filters. This control tunes the low pass filter section, yielding sounds that are the electronic equivalent to the waveforms of naturally resonating acoustic instruments. The gain of this system can be controlled with a small trimpot in the electronics compartment.

The result is a bass that is powerful, natural sounding and also very versatile.

This is one of these instruments that actually encourages you to study and makes you play cleaner, as it does not "hide" any mistakes from the player.

You could buy this bass if you are a collector, but it is actually a "studio machine"; plug it into a high quality desk and you'll see why Alembics have been used for hundreds and hundreds of recordings.

It comes complete with Alembic's hardcase, Power supply and certificate.

Please note:

1.- This bass would be well over 40k, closer to 50k if you went to build it today and would take at least 18 months to be finished so you are actually saving a lot when purchasing this bass from us.

2.- This bass was made in 2018 but it has never been played. It has the original strings and they are 100% fresh. It's always been in its case. We just took it from the case to test it and take these pictures.