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Alembic Club » Alembic Basses & Guitars » Archive through January 07, 2011 » Archive: 2009 » Archive through January 05, 2009 » Telembic Bass - activators in a Fender « Previous Next »

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hieronymous
Advanced Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 318
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 10:36 pm:   Edit Post

So my early/mid-'70s Fender Telecaster Bass is refinished and rewired! Apparently, it was originally walnut, refinished black by my foolish friend, and routed first for an old-school single-coil P-Bass pickup, then for a regular split-coil P pup. I found some P Activators for sale here at our beloved forum, and knew they were what I wanted. SO - here's the bass, refinished by Krishna Jain:

telembic 1

telembic 2

The color is a bit redder and darker than the original Fender color, but I like this better, though it's hard to photograph well. The chrome knob controls the volume of the Fender humbucker (I decided to forego the tone knob since I never use passive tone knobs), and the two Alembic knobs are volume and filter. Actually, the knob next to the chrome knob is the filter, and the one closest to the end of the bass is volume - kind of backwards from normal, but I like it!

So how does it sound, you ask? Fortunately, I was able to record with it, and I must say it sounds amazing! I have the bass strung with D'Addario Chromes flatwounds, and to me it just sounds like the perfect Precision Bass - warm, with that midrange honk and bite. Here's one sample, just bass and drums:

sambhava

And here's one with guitar (by my buddy Damon, who owns the studio where this stuff was recorded) and synth (me) overdubs:

8B4X4

I should also mention that they're recorded through an Alembic F-2B and a Urei LA-4 (I think) compressor. On 8B4X4, I didn't realize that I had the bright switch engaged, but it really works for slap - I never would have thought that I would be satisfied with slapping on flatwounds. Didn't hurt that the filter was maxed too!

Here's one more shot, this time of me playing it and getting used to the feel:
telembic 3
rami
Senior Member
Username: rami

Post Number: 815
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 7:21 am:   Edit Post

FANTASTIC!!! You've made a real fan out of me Harry! Cool funky Jazz. I save everything that you post.

:-)
hieronymous
Advanced Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 319
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 9:23 am:   Edit Post

Wow thank you so much rami for the kind words!

I should give credit where credit is due - the drummer on the tracks is Greg DeGuglielmo - he is just so musical and inspiring, besides being a master of groove.
tbrannon
Senior Member
Username: tbrannon

Post Number: 797
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 5:56 pm:   Edit Post

Awesome stuff Harry- I've said it before, but I really like your style of playing and the bass sounds great- P thump with that distinct Alembic tone.

Toby
hankster
Intermediate Member
Username: hankster

Post Number: 176
Registered: 6-2004
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 8:12 pm:   Edit Post

Now, I like that. A Tele bass is always special.

Rick
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 6710
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 8:17 pm:   Edit Post

Click on the link Harry provided at the top of his first post; there's a detailed diary of the project with pictures!
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 6711
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 8:29 pm:   Edit Post

Nice grooves Harry!
hieronymous
Advanced Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 320
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 10:08 am:   Edit Post

Thanks everybody!

Here's an interesting tidbit about the guitar parts on 8B4X4 - my friend Damon - who owns the studio, engineered the recording, and played the guitar parts - has always wanted an F-2B, because David Gilmour is his idol and Gilmour uses one that was apparently modded to be more effective in the guitar range. Well, Damon plugged in to my F-2B and was blown away! So all the guitar parts on there were recorded through an F-2B as well as the bass and synth!
hieronymous
Advanced Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 336
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 5:45 pm:   Edit Post

Found this track that I had kind of forgotten about. It's a full-band version of the soundtrack to my Buddhist podcast (which you can hear here at the DharmaRealm if you're interested). This is just a demo to show what I want to do, but I like the way it came out. Once again, Greg DeGuglielmo (or DeGug as he is affectionately referred to by those who can't pronounce his name!) on drums, I'm playing the bass and synth, engineered by Damon Burke, etc.

rays of sound

The Telembic is doing both the bass line and the distorted part that doubles the synth melody. I was thinking of rerecording the bass line with my Exploiter.
hieronymous
Senior Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 439
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 1:15 pm:   Edit Post

Finally completed "rays of sound" - a lot of it is the same as the version in the previous post, but I got rid of the "Rhodes" sound and replaced it with organ (which, by the way, is meant to echo the sound of the Japanese sho, a mouth organ that is played with circular breathing and used in Gagaku, traditional Japanese court music).

rays of sound (podcast theme)

I should also add that the distorted bass line that doubles the synth is the humbucker through a Budda Phat Bass distortion and Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser.

(Message edited by hieronymous on October 09, 2008)
rami
Senior Member
Username: rami

Post Number: 855
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 1:55 pm:   Edit Post

Just awesome Harry!

:-)
hieronymous
Senior Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 442
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 2:09 pm:   Edit Post

Thanks rami! I'm pretty proud of how this one came out. I'm still working on editing it to fit in to the podcast a little better...
hieronymous
Senior Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 496
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 10:28 pm:   Edit Post

Been gradually cleaning up 8B4X4, and just got a mastering program called Ozone3, so here's my first attempt at mastering:

8B4X4

I talk about it earlier in this thread, but basically it's me on bass & synth, Greg DeGuglielmo on drums, and Damon Burke on guitars - he also owns the studio we were recording at. Let me know what you think about the overall mix, EQ, etc.
tbrannon
Senior Member
Username: tbrannon

Post Number: 953
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 9:36 am:   Edit Post

I love it- my 4 year old daughter is doing some serious booty shaking too!
keavin
Senior Member
Username: keavin

Post Number: 1533
Registered: 12-2002
Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 4:51 pm:   Edit Post

my computer speaker outputs are hooked into my Bose home theatre surround-sound system along with my powered JBL sub-woofers & those jams are "killing" coming thru my system.........that bass tone is clean as Hell!
hieronymous
Senior Member
Username: hieronymous

Post Number: 498
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008 - 10:34 am:   Edit Post

Thanks guys!

On listening to the mastered version in my car, I realized that the low-mids were too tubby, and the frequencies that the guitar & synth occupy were low in the mix. So I redid it - at some point I must have boosted and cut certain frequencies in the compressor so I fixed that and I think this is more balanced:

8B4X4 remastered

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