Alembic Excel

This Excel was made in 2000 and made in USA. The Excel has 24 frets and is a 34" scale bass. This is a 5 strings with a solid-top. The bass has a fatboy pickup which is about the best you can get, very high output. This bass has V/B/T control and a active preamp.

The neck and body is maple and the bridge is easy to adjust. Has brass hardware and wood tone knobs.

I play gospel music and let me tune in the sound I need. I use a Carvin BX500 head with my Ampeg SVT12HE cab or my Epifunky 210. This bass is quiet as a church mouse and is rich and full. It's one of best sounding bass that I sold my other two bass. Now I have two, one four and this five. I feel it's can handle both stage and studio with no issue.One thing I did notice is that the Treble tone knob do not over react to + or - gain.

I got the bass used and just did some minor adjustment. Action is great on this bass and the neck fits your hand like a glove. The bass came in excellent condition and workmanship.

This bass weight in about 10 lbs can take a beating. The hardware is great will last. The finish on the bass is beautiful doesn't show finger marks from playing. The straps buttons are on good and you can depend on this bass to get the job done. I never had to adjust the neck truss rod which has two them. I did many gigs without a backup bass.

I been playing bass since 1965 and had many basses, some good ones and some bad. When I got this one I knew this was going to be my new main bass. My rating is high on this because it very well balance with no neck dipping and very nice to play. I just love this bass for all the right reasons for owning a great bass like this. My main bass before this was a 2005 MM5 stingray. This blew it away. When I got the bass It didn't have LCD to let me know when the battery was getting weak so I put one myself. This bass is Alembic low end model but it could compare to a more expensive bass costing more.
I would replace this bass in a blink of a eye.

Built 10/04
Set neck, 24 frets, Pau Ferro fingerboard, maple neck, mahogany body, Coco Bolo top laminate. 32" scale, 2 Alembic Fatboy pickups, low pass filter plus active treble and bass controls. Body trim is maple and purple heart, hardware is gold and brass.
I custom ordered this bass..as many Alembic owners do.
This is Alembics 'entry' level instrument, but that by no means detracts from the quality in materials or craftsmanship.

I play mostly classic rock, prog, and classical. It gets played thru Mesa 400+ and M-2000 heads into Schroeder cabinets, a TC Electronics G-Major ,and BBE maximizer.
You can'y really compare an Alembics sound to others like Fender etc. The wide aperture pickups give it a nice full round sound. The filter, treble, bass, and balance controls, give a wide varerity of sounds from warm and round, to growly, to bright and thin, plus the amps controls. I generally run the EQ in the preamps almost completely flat. Plus, with the filter and active controls it is easy to overdrive a preamp, if thats the sound you're after. And, the electronics are quiet, quietest I've heard.
The best way to describe the sound is clear and well defined.
Since getting this bass my Rickenbacker and Spector get little to no use.

The instrument from the factory was setup up nice. But, I like low low action. A nice thing about Alembics is they're very easy to setup once you get the hang of it. The Adjustable nut and duel truss rods make it fairly simple to adjust things to your liking.
Overall, the bass was flawless when I got it.

The fit and finish are excellent , the hardware is brass. It's also comes with straplocks. Adjustments are only needed seasonally or when changing string gages. Seems to stay in tune forever.

Customer support is top notch. While still in the planning stage, I talked to the factory several times, anything they were even remotely unsure of was checked and verified. Nice talking to the owners and designers.

Having played since the mid 60's, like others I've gone thru alot of instruments and equipment, from Fender to Alembic. I consider this the best yet and plan to add a fretless version in the future. Even as the Excel is their lowest priced bass, which by todays standards would be considered expensive, (think Squire), custom options seem to be their specialty. Of course the luxury comes at a price. But there's really nothing like an instrument made to your liking and needs. This bass is a real sleeper in the Alembic lineup, well worth checking out if you're in the market.
If something were to happen to it I'd replace it immediately without a second thought.