Series II

We've been making Series II basses since 1972, and we are continually improving what we believe is the finest solid body electric bass on earth. With Alembic, there is every reason to have clean, clear, and complete tone. Why would you compromise?

Series II basses are the top of the line Alembic bass. When you order a Series II, you don't have to add anything to it, as it's already appointed with all the cool features: side LED position markers, continuous wood backplates and truss rod cover, 24K gold plated hardware, inlaid logo with abalone and mother of pearl.

Remember that you can specify the neck feel and bridge spacing at no additional charge. Each instrument is individually crafted, and so something as important as your interface with the bass must be exactly as you need it.

You'll see Series II basses with short, medium, and long scale, and in a variety of body shapes and even more custom features. What they all have in common is the Series II pickups and electronics system designed by Alembic founder and Chief Engineer Ron Wickersham, who pioneered the use of active electronics in guitars in 1969. Starting with single coil pickups, the most complete and pure picture of the string movement is passed to the electronics. Between the two pickups is an external "dummy" humcanceller pickup.

Our low-pass filter is the tone control, and it's what sets us apart from other producers of active electronics. The low-pass filter is the electronic equivalent of a naturally vibrating soundboard, and hence our electronics have a natural tone with none of the harshness or sterile sound sometimes associated with active electronics.

Then there is the CVQ, the continuously variable Q control. The Q is an attribute of the low-pass filter, affecting the frequency you have the low-pass filter tuned to. You can dampen the Q to near zero by turning the control all the way down, or get extreme with a 15dB boost at the maximum, plus all the subtlety in between. The CVQ control is only available on the Series II.