Alembic Essence Bass

1999 built, purchased in November of 2000. Quilted Maple top with Purple Heart veneer underneath. Mahogany body with 3 piece maple neck (walnut stringers)and Ebony fingerboard. LED fret markers are a nice touch. You can see where you are on a dark stage! Soapbar pickups with standard, active Essence electronics.

I play mostly classic and hard rock and this bass does it very well. The tonal range you can get from this bass ranges from a clear piano sound to a warm, woody growl and just about everything in between. It took a bit of time to get familiar with the controls, but was well worth the effort. Before owning this bass, I played through a G-K 400RB. After a month or so, I decided this quality of instrument needed a high quality amp. I now use an Amper SVT Classic and am even more impressed with the sound I can get. You just can't beat the sound of a great bass through tubes!

The setup from the factory was very low and quick. Intonation all up and down the fingerboard was excellent. Had to make only a few very slight adjustments. I tend to play a little agressively, so I had to raise the action up a bit to avoid a lot of fret slap and buzz. The adjustments at both the bridge and nut made this very easy. The finish on this instrument is rather incredible. Beautiful wood and accents. Even the back of the headstock is impressive. I showed it to one of my associates at work who is a master woodturner, and even he was very impressed.

So far, so good. I usually play my instruments pretty hard and this one doesn't seem to mind at all. The harder I play it, the more it growls back at me. I use this as my primary bass and feel comfortable without having a back-up.

Haven't need any since the purchase. I did, however, have a nice talk with Mica Wickersham the day after Thanksgiving on the different basses and options Alembic offered. I believe she was extremely honest with amswers to my questions and offered some good ideas on the models and options. You certainly didn't steer me wrong, Mica!

I've been playing for 26 years. I started out on string bass and played in Orchestra through High School and College, but my love has always been the hard stuff! I also own a hotwired '72 Jazz, a '90 Mexican Jazz, and old Kramer DMZ 5000, a Steinberger copy and a Fender acoustic bass. These other basses have been collecting dust since I purchased the Essence. The playability, sound, flexibility and appearance of this bass have very quickly turned this into my #1 love. (The wife is a very close second) I knew I was going to spend some serious $$$ on a new bass and looked at and played just about every high end bass there is. The decision to buy this one was not difficult at all.

I recently bought a used 1991 Alembic Essence bass for a ridiculously low $750. Four strings, flame maple top on mahogany body w/walnut verneer, three piece maple neck through body w/two walnut verneers. Red translucent finish. (first alembic that i have ever seen that is not natural in color) Flame maple verneer on top and back of headstock with walnut laminate. Great Gotoh tuners. Everything on the bass is of the utmost quality even after it seems to have gone through alot of use. Active electronics made by Alembic cannot be topped. Simply amazing

I play rock/metal, and this bass is perfect. It's also perfect for funk style slap bass, blues, and just about anything else that anyone can think of. Ridiculous ammount of tonal varience. By far, the best sounding bass I have ever heard.

When I recieved the bass, the action was a little high, but once I had it lowered, it was extremely easy to play without a buzz anywhere on the neck. Perfect construction, amazing quality wood, but the hardware was a little tarnished. (only flaw on the whole bass)

Solid as a rock

n/a

I own a 1997 Fender Am. dlx. p-bass, 1999 Jazz bass, 1998 Gibson Thunderbird (my former favorite bass), a 1997 gibson les paul deluxe bass with active bartolini pickups, a 1999 Rickenbacker 4003, a '86 Guild Pilot, and assorted vintage Gibson basses (eb-0's and eb-3's) and this bass blows all of them out of the water. Never have I played or heard a better bass, and I doubt anyone else has. No Modulus, Tobias, Music Man, or anything else compares to this bass, believe me, I have owned them searching for the ultimate bass. Alembic is the king of basses

This is a '95 Essence with a vermillion top, mahogany back and three piece maple neck with walnut pinstripes. Active pickups with roll-off pot. Ebony fingerboard with vermillion veneer on headstock. Brass nut (adjustable!!)... Class all the way. My only complaint is in the electronics. I would have liked to have more "eq" function. Also, I found it odd that on a bass with truly outstanding quality components, alembic elected to have a chrome input-jack-screw as opposed to a gold one. My rating should not be valued as a number, on the contrary, I would most realistically rate the bass features as 9 (due to lack of active component amenities) but I find that I did not like the input jack on the face of the instrument. These two points aside, the essence is truly an outstanding instrument-anyone who plays bass should try one!!

I am really a guitarist (No please don't skip to the next article!!). I do however, appreciate fine instruments. The essence is rather thin sounding but is none the less a very rich sounding bass. One "hears" tonal nuance not found in other basses. Most impressing is the sustain as well as even string response. My only gripe, as I have mentioned above, is lack of "eq" shaping.

Most outstanding!! Truly, masterfully crafted!!

This bass will survive Y3K!!

I have rarely ever contacted a manufacturer. I read that Alembic "care" about their customers and also update a database of new owners of basses purchased second hand. I thought therefore that I would contact Alembic and register my bass. I called at least four times and spoke to two people who said that I would be registered and that they would furnish me with adjusting tools that come with the bass. I have never recieved anything from them and each time I call nobody knows anything about my previous calls. They are very friendly on the other end, but never follow through with support materials.

A truly outstanding instrument. I feel that being a guitarist, renders my overall opinion somewhat less objective that a bassist who has been playing for 20+ years! I do however "feel" the quality and uncomprimising craftsmanship in this bass. My rating is sincere.

'92 Essence, Made in the USA (like all Alembics). Long scale (34") 3 piece maple thru-body neck with a 24-fret, marker-less ebony fingerboard (thank goodness for the side dots). Solid maple body with a thin walnut accent veneer sanwiched under a natural, flame maple top. The same sandwiched walnut is used around the headstock. It has a clear, high-gloss polyurethane finsh. It uses brass for its tailpiece, bridge and height-adjustable (!) nut. Unfortunately you cannot adjust the height of the individual bridge saddles, just raise or lower each side of the bridge itself.
It's body is smaller than a typical P-Bass and weighs about a pound less than my '65 P-Bass. The bass feels remarkably balanced and the string action is low and fast.
The electronics are simple and more than effective. Two Alembic active pickups, volume knob, pan knob and a low band-pass filter knob (acts like a Q-filter).

Incredible sustain! The electronics ensure the bass can do hi-treble slap to thunky stand-up bass sounds and everything in between (yes, this includes rock). You can pull off harmonics anywhere on the neck! I'm no funk player, but this thing begs to be slapped. Unlike my P-Bass, it's VERY easy to do so on the Essence.

Almost perfect! If I had to nit-pick, my only complaint is with the 3 piece neck. If you run your hand across the back of the neck, you can feel where the pieces join. Other than that, flawless.

It's build like a tank. A solid maple body and thru-the-body neck pretty much guarantees that. The finish is very durable. The brass pieces are not coated, so they do oxidize over time and need cleaning ocassionally.

Alembic keeps track of the owners of their guitars (even the used ones). I bought mine used, so there's no warranty on mine. I've only dealt with them via email to register mine.

I've always lusted after an Alembic after seeing Stanley Clarke play one on Saturday Night Live back in the 70's. When I saw a used one at a cheap price, I leaped at the deal and haven't regretted doing so. If it were lost or stolen I'd be heart-broken, but hard-pressed to buy a new one at their normal price ($2,700).

Loads of features; Neck thru contruction, excellent tuners (Grotoh?), beatiful wood detail, Flame Maple Top, fine Ebony fingerboard (this is a four stringer), quite possibly the best stock pick ups I have ever heard. The electronics are active, there are only three controls; volume, p/u pan, and tone sweep. Quite frankly, they give you many options to work with. The combination of neck thru body, brass bridge and tailpiece, make for incredible sustain. These guys were the first to put out a custom bass, thru the years they have maintained superior quality. Body shape is a little puzzling, although extremely light. Neck is fast and smooth. Would have like to have gotten fret board markers, understand that is an option.

Other than playability, the sound is what sold me on the Essence. These pickups are better than many aftermarket p/u. They are versital, punchy, warm, clear, in a nutshell outstanding.

Workmanship on this bass is superior. I would stack it up to any custom bass. Let's face it, you don't see many Alembics for sale used. Doesn't have the classic bass flaw of seventh and ninth fret 'dead spots.' You could slap like a mad man, (Stanley Clarke?) The wood work alone is fantastic, Norm Abrams would gush like a seventeen year old on prom night.

Haven't had it long enough to comment on reliability.

Haven't had to contact customer service. The dealer is very important though. If I felt I was in a spot, I beleive the dealer would hook me up

I am very pleased. Would recommend the line to any one, as every piece I tried (new and used) was awesome. Body style is weird, but I still love overall playability/sound. If you are looking for a superior bass, try the Essence, its worth it.