Alembic Orion 4-String

Set-neck 4 string, maple neck, mahogany body w/vermillion top, ebony fingerboard. Brass nut & bridge. 2 alembic soapbar style pickups w/ vol, pan, treble and bass controls. Simple to operate.

The only thing I don't like about the bass is that in the first 4-5 fretting positions, the neck feels a little bit chunky.

IMO, the highlight of this bass is the pan control knob, which gives you a lot of different choices as far as tones go. Pan to bridge pickup & you get more of a tone reminiscent of Stanley Clarke, pan bridge/neck and you get a cleaned up Fender Jazz tone, and pan to the neck pickup, and a cleaner P-bass tone.

About the only negative is that sometimes the tone is sometimes too trebly, but that's easily correctable.

Bass was used and I do my own setups, therefore I have no opinion. I did notice, however, that the neck does tend to move a bit more than say a bolt-on. Just keep an eye on it and you won't have any problems.

I don't have any cute "I accidently ran over my bass with my truck and gosh darn it, the neck didn't budge a millimeter" stories, but this thing is built like a truck.

I have a feeling if there's ever a world war III, my alembic bass will survive, along with the cockroaches...

Not applicable.

I've been playing for about 13 years, own 2 other Fender basses and various other instruments. Basically in a nutshell, this instrument is a cleaner-sounding, more versatile, more hi-fi sounding Fender Jazz bass.

I love this bass because it will cut through just about anything, you can get tons of different tones out of it, and it's very customizable.. I read alot about Alembics having great woods, great quality construction, and that is mostly true.. but I also think one of the more underrated aspects of having an Alembic is how simple it is to adjust/tweak/maintain.

Beautiful set neck 4 string with a three piece maple neck with walnut stringers and a thick ebony fingerboard. 34 inch scale. Two piece, offset, double cutaway, mahogany body with 1/4 inch bookmatched flame maple top. Thin layer of purpleheart in between the mahogany and flame maple. 24 frets. Adjustable brass nut, bridge and tailpiece and gold Gotoh/Alembic tuners. 2 Alembic pickups wired to an active Alembic preamp with volume, pan, treble and bass controls. Beautiful, high gloss polyester finish. This bass could best be described as a high tech, high end Jazz bass.

Sounds great. More mids than my other Alembic. Mica says this is due to the set neck construction as opposed to neck through. Probably the easiest to use preamp from Alembic. Simple layout and controls common to most bass makers make it easy to find good tones. Does not have the same directional hum problems that my Essence 5 has. By the way Ron and Mica have been bending over backwards to help me find a cure for that one. Lots of good tones packed into this package. Panning between pickups gives many different usable tones.

I don't think this bass had a factory setup when I received it. I have seen a setup that was done by Alembic and this was no Alembic setup. Someone had tried to raise the nut without unlocking it and it caused a bow in the baseplate. The neck pickup was too low and the dual trussrods needed adjusting. After some tweaking it plays great. I do have two small complaints. First, the finish isn't quite as good as on my other Alembic. There is a small mark on the upper horn near the neck that looks like it is part of the finish and the polyester settled into the grain more on this bass than my other one. This is no big deal though because wood can be unpredictable. Still a top notch finish with a great, non-sticky feel. The only real complaint I have about this bass is the nut. After repairing the bow in the nut's baseplate and adjusting it all the way down it still seems too high. Besides the nut slots not being deep enough it also seems to be a little wider than the neck. It isn't bad it just isn't as perfect as my other Alembic. Maybe I'm just spoiled. I have already talked with Mica about replacing this nut with a new one. She is very helpful.

This bass is very reliable and durable. The polyester finish can take a lot of abuse. Very solid construction overall. The brass hardware is all very solid and the electronics are all modular which will make replacement a breeze. Very high ratings in this category.

The Wickershams are amazing people. Shortly after I received this bass I dropped into the factory because I was having trouble with the volume control. Mica took time out of her busy day to help me out. After verifying the problem she brought her dad down and he took my bass upstairs to check it out. While he was working on it Mica took me around and showed me what was new. A short while later Ron returned with the bass and a new volume control. He showed me how the casing had cracked and was causing the problem. He had already replaced it with a new one and they covered it under warranty. Amazing! Try and find another company that will drop everything else and fix your bass right then and there, for free and have the repair done by the founder of the company.

I have 2 Alembic basses now. Both are great instruments but what makes them extra special is the people behind them. They are friendly and helpful and go way above the call of duty to take care of their instruments and players. I love the body shape and headstock of this bass. The action, fit and finish is very nice. The sound is nothing short of amazing. This is my second Alembic but I doubt it will be my last.