Vintage Bass Guitar

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Alembic became known as a maker of ‘boutique’ bass guitars for customized high-end basses with active electronics. If you owned an early Alembic bass, chances are you were already a successful performer as these were pricey instruments.

Sound Is Everything

Alembic was founded in 1969 by Ron and Susan Wickersham. It was originally a consulting firm that worked with bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, etc. Their initial purpose was to improve upon sound quality both in the recording studio and for live performances. The design of the Alembic logo was definitely symbolic of the era.

Alembic created low impedance pickups as well as electronics that had greater bandwidth than the typical pickups during that time. Since these new pickups had such low output, Ron Wickersham designed an onboard amp to boost the output. So in 1969, Alembic became the first company to add true active electronics to the instruments used by Jerry Garcia, Jack Casady and Phil Lesh.

With the great sound these active electronics produced, Alembic became very popular as they added them to a number of basses and guitars owned by other artists as well. But adding this modification often meant that the instruments had to be fitted with new hardware and new necks. Eventually they decided to begin producing their own instruments using the technology that they had developed.

Basses for the Masses

The first production line Alembic bass came out in 1971 and used single coil pickups which incorporated a hum-cancelling coil which was placed between the pickups. This design is still used today as it eliminates the noise associated with single-coil pickups. The basses using this design would be called Series I and Series II which were made in different scale lengths as well as different body styles.

The first-ever graphite neck bass was produced by Alembic in 1976 which continued until 1985. During this time they would also introduce 5 and 6 string bass guitars as well as custom 8 string bass.

As mentioned before, Alembic instruments were expensive. Some of their new basses were triple the cost of the most expensive Fenders. In order to make a lower-cost model they introduced the Distillate in 1979. These instruments included active electronics (of course) with a single pickup until 1982 when 2 pickups were offered, and they were offered in different types of wood. Production of the Distillate would continue until 1996.

Alembic would come out with more models during the 1980s such as the Elan, Exploiter and Spoiler basses. Current newer models include the Epic, Excel and Orion, but they still don’t come cheap.

Collectibility

It’s extremely hard to place any sort of value on an Alembic Bass. What makes it complicated is that their basses were typically custom-tailored. You could get them in a variety of woods (including many exotic varieties), different scale lengths, inlays, finishes and hardware.

A ballpark figure of $5,500 – $6,000 for all Series I model years, in excellent condition, is just a guide. The Series II bass could be higher by at least another $1,000 as many of these were custom built.

The “budget” Distillate bass could run you $2,000 – $2,500 for all years 1979-1991, if it’s in excellent condition.

If you wanted something that wasn’t part of their standard production line you could opt for the custom 1978 Dragon Doubleneck (picture below). Its value would probably start at $10,000. Or you could get a custom Spyder or Flying V. Alembic makes some awesome looking basses.

Each bass is unique, even the standard Series I and II models could be tailored to fit the desires and wallet of its buyer. Therefore, each Alembic bass really needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

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Categories: Alembic bass
Tags: active electronics, Alembic bass