[jackevorkian]

I'd love to get a pair of DarkStars, but I can't seem to get the guy to return a call or an email.

So, any other options? I have an early 60's Epi Rivoli that a previous owner routed in a P-Bass pickup in the bridge position. The humbucker is original, but extremely muddy...in fact without blending in the P, it's pretty much useless on its own.

I was thinking about two DS's. But, it might also be interesting to get a Dimarzio P, and then replace the humbucker, or maybe get it rewound.

Are there any good Darkstar alternatives? Any recommendations for someone to re-wind the humbucker?

Obviously I'm going for a Phil inspired sound.

[zambiland]

Depending on what era of Phil you are going for, I don't think there is too much of a choice. If you are going for a post 1971 sound, you might try some of the Bartolini options, some of them can be similar to what Alembic was making, but keep in mind that from 1969 on, his pickups were buffered in the bass, creating an active system. I think that's a big part of the sound.

Outside of that, Lane Poors would give you a similar depth and transparency as the Alembic and I've found the active duncan pickups to be very nice as well.

99% of bass pickups out there are going for a Fender vibe as that's pretty much a standard tone. What Phil had going on was very different from that, for the most part.

And don't forget, 90% of your tone comes from your fingers!

Edwin

[jackevorkian]

any other suggestions? fred seems to be mia, or just not interested in selling pickups.

[Rusty the Scoob]

any other suggestions? fred seems to be mia, or just not interested in selling pickups.

Fred's around, he just disappears from e-mail for a week or two sometimes. I'm waiting to hear from him right now to pull the trigger on a pair myself.

As far as alternatives, there's no substitute IMHO, although I'm using Bartolini's classic pickups with an ACG preamp in my main bass.. it gets a pretty good 76 and later tone, and the preamp is very versatile so I can get a pretty convincing tone from any era, except the raw tube warmth of the Dark Star-pickupped era. I use D'Addario Half Rounds and an Adamas graphite pick, although a regular 2 mm Dunlop does pretty well also.

Whatever pickup you use should be wide rather than narrow.. think Gibson Humbucker or Soapbar shape rather than J-pickup, which really focuses your tone too much IMHO.

Here's the sound I'm getting:

http://www.archive.org/details/Fennario

[jackevorkian]

that sounds good...i've thought about bartolinis or emg. but, i'd really like to get some darkstars. let me know if you hear back from him. it's been a month, three emails and a voicemail with no luck so far.

[Rusty the Scoob]

If Dark Stars are what you want, don't settle. I played part of a gig on a friend's DeArmond Starfire II with DarkStars installed and I think Pyramid strings - they were flats of some sort, and it completely ruled. The sound was punchy and thick, and cut right through the mix without overpowering it. I'm building an EB3 now to complement my later 70's to early 80's sounding Bartolini bass and my recently completed 90's sounding bass with very 90's sounding EMG DC40s and BQS preamp. Having tried all three tones, they're all good but not really interchangeable.

I just sent Fred a followup e-mail. I'll check back in when I hear from him.

[Rusty the Scoob]

Finally heard from Fred this morning. Basically he said "sorry, I've been busy. Where were we again?" He's holding up my whole project! But it'll be worth it!

[zambiland]

Hey Rusty!
I checked your band's site. I think your bass looks great! Nice piece of cocobolo. I'm curious if you got the first edition of the ACG preamp with separate filters for each pickup. I managed to get one of these and it's wonderful. Being able to filter the pickups separately and then have an active blend leads to a ton of different tones.

I also found out that it makes a difference what you play it into. I was using various Alembic pres and but then I got to try Brad's Classic and all of a sudden I could really hear what the tone controls were doing. The Classic isn't apparently too far off from an F2B designwise, but the sound is quite different, maybe my F2B (one of the SF ones) is due for a recap.

Anyway, you're getting a great tone!

Edwin
PS I have some nice cocobolo coming and the suspense is killing me.
PPS That isn't me in the photo.

S1front.jpg

s1nick.jpg

[jackevorkian]

edwin...what power amp are you using with the sms classic pre? i've been trying to justify buying the sms for guitar (since i already have a dual showman that i love) but lately i've been thinking it could do double duty as a bass amp. the key is finding a good power amp that can also do double duty. i'd be willing to go less wattage for bass, in order to keep it a manageable wattage for guitar.

that's a great looking bass. who's building it for you?

[Rusty the Scoob]

Very cool to hear from you Edwin, and thanks for the kind words!

Holy crap, you're having a Series II built??? That is exciting! What are the specs? What scale length?


Very interesting about the SMS vs. various F2B/Alembic preamps - those are the two preamps I'm most considering when I finally have the funds to go Pre/Power-amp. Please let me know more if you do get the F2B recapped!

I got one of the middle ACGs, I think, with only two filters, both after the pickup pan knob - and not bypassable or blendable with the passive signal - which is too bad... I'd be a little curious to know what my unfiltered Barts sound like, just for comparison.

[zambiland]

That bass is a short scale Series I Alembic. It was an order that had been abandoned by the original orderer and after posting at the Alembic forum that I was casually looking for a short scale Series bass in coco bolo, Mica got in touch and I was able to take over the order. Aside from the usual Series I specs, there are a couple of upgrades: abalone oval fretboard inlays continuous wood back plates and side and front LEDs (which are the laser variety, which means really bright and they do out a chunk of the abalone- I never would have ordered them myself so I had them add a dimmer so that I could have them off or very low most of the time). I don't know if I would have gone to all that. I wanted side LEDs (my eyes aren't what they used to be and I'm getting sick of LDs who think every band has to look like Pink Floyd), but the rest of the bass was so perfect, I couldn't resist. I'll be selling off some other stuff (a '67 Starfire II bass and a '77 Ibanez Professional that Bobby signed) to help pay for it. I'm also having it done with a vol/blend setup, which I guess gets a little tricky for a Series bass due to it being a stereo signal path and the two pickups have to maintain a certain relationship with the humcanceller.

As far as amps with the SMS, I've used both the power section of a Euphonic Audio iAmp 800 and more recently a McIntosh 2105. I tried the Mac kind of as a lark, as I hadn't used it in a bass rig in probably 25 years or more. It sounded so good that these days it's what I use all the time. My gigging schedule is a little curtailed right now due to law school, but if I were on the road, I'd be using the Euphonic Audio or perhaps a QSC if I wanted to stay in stereo. I am looking forward to running a stereo rig when the Alembic shows up, with the front pickup into one channel of the Mac and into a McCauley 15 and the other into a JBL K-120. Should be interesting! Running the same amp for bass and guitar shouldn't be an issue. Just turn down the power amp!

I talked to John East a little bit about trying to set up the ACG preamp with an unfiltered vs. filtered mix but he seemed reluctant to open that can of worms. I would be willing to give up the treble filter to use that as an unfiltered signal mixer, but I haven't really pushed it with him. I also love his J-Retro preamp. I also did an experiment with a Bartolini quad buffer to try to get an unfiltered v. filtered mix going, but it didn't work and I didn't have time to trouble shoot it. I think that the ACG run as flat as it can be is pretty representative of what the pickups sound like. I do wish that the lowpass filters would go a little higher and the treble filter would go a little lower. I had visions of dismantling my Superfilter and installing it into my Starfire, but have been essentially too lazy to try it. It would fit, so if I could get another one cheap, I'd probably do it.

[Rusty the Scoob]

That series 1 sounds awesome! Good call on the dimmer - when I saw Furthur Phil was still using the Ritter and the LEDs were often the brightest thing on stage. I found it a little distracting - they were bright enough to cause trails even to my completely psychedelic-free eyes, and I wasn't even all that close to the stage.

Interesting about the trouble with the Vol/Blend setup - I would have thought that all their basses were set up that way! It's so much better than Vol/Vol.

How short is it, 30.75" or 32"? I thought I read that Phil's Alembic was 32"... just curious if it's my exact dream bass or just close to it.


That's really interesting that you prefer the Mac to even the iAmp... I've heard only raves about those. We need a more roadworthy alternative to the Mac. Are QSCs your favorite soundwise or just what you happen to own?


I'll be curious how your stereo setup turns out, if you do it! I'm pondering it myself for my EB3. Even if I end up summing the signals into the regular input of my SWR for now, it could be cool... maybe add a little grind to the bridge pickup, etc. Or even send it to a guitar amp.

That's good to know that the ACG does go reasonably flat... I never really got to hear my pickups without it so that's reassuring. I would not want to give up my treble filter, though! I can come fairly close to the 90's Modulus tone by adding some highs, and I like it for the few JGB songs we do.. it doesn't quite get a P-bass tone but it helps it sit in the mix a little closer to one. I agree though - I'd like to be able to boost some of those mid frequencies that neither one reaches.

Very interesting idea about putting a Superfilter into a Starfire! That's really a cool idea. I bet it's one of the few basses where it would fit. Alembic sells their bass electronics for $1100 or $1200 - how would that compare?

[zambiland]

My new bass is a 30.75" scale. I was thinking it would be nice to have a 32, but I really like the way my Starfire feels, so I decided to go with it. In a way, it's like an ultimate EB3!

I'm not more partial to QSC. I had my Mac in my home studio and once hooked up a QSC PLX 2402 figuring that 25 years of amplifier technology improvements would mean that the QSC would blow the mac out of the water. I experienced the exact opposite. The soundfield flattened out, the reverb tails disappeared, the low end got cardboardy and it generally sounded like ass. I had gotten the QSC to replace a Mackie power amp and it was a huge upgrade, but sound quality wise, it didn't come close to the Mac. I think my iAmp sounds better than the QSC, but I haven't put them together to test them side by side. So, I'm still looking for the right power amp. I hear some of the Yamahas are nice. There's also a Sansui which was their equivalent of the Mac 2300 that would be interesting to try out. Apparently it had great signal to noise ratio and very low residual noise.

Alembic electronics would be nice, but they aren't really enough of an upgrade from the ACG to warrant the expense when for the same price I can get a Superfilter, which gives a much wider frequency response, 3 filter types and an ability to mix filtered and unfiltered signals. Putting it into the Starfire would be a challenge, but an interesting project. There are a few out there that have a similar setup to Phil's Starfire with Pluto filters, but they are really hard to come by. There are some pictures at the Alembic site and the old Dudepit had some great pictures before it disappeared into the ether.

[jackevorkian]

Finally heard from Fred this morning. Basically he said "sorry, I've been busy. Where were we again?" He's holding up my whole project! But it'll be worth it!

how did you finally get in touch with? i'm about ready to call it quits...it really shouldn't be this difficult to give the guy $400. as much as i want a pair of these, this experience is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.

[Rusty the Scoob]

I finally got an e-mail back from him, out of the blue. We'd had a decent conversation about my project, and he'd forgotten all about it.

He needs customer service help, no doubt... but it's because his pickups are in huge demand. There is no substitute.