Essence

Many have asked how they could get the Alembic sound without the size and weight of the classic Alembic instruments. Our answer is the Essence.

We took the lead for the design from right half of the Small Standard body. We slimmed this down until it was barely big enough to hold the electronics. For the left half, we extended the horn so the bass would balance as a long scale. For 5-string and 6-string versions, the upper horn is longer yet to retain the excellent balance. The Essence bass is our smallest body – a scant 12 inches across.

The heart of the Essence’s tone is the Alembic low-pass filter, the same tone control we pioneered in 1969 when Ron Wickersham first introduced active electronics to the musical world. With this one tone control, a wide range of sounds from deep to bright are available with a simple twist of one knob. Even a small amount of rotation can produce a big change in tone.

The Essence bass gives you all the essentials of Alembic: neck through body construction, Alembic pickups and active electronics, solid brass hardware, all crafted in Santa Rosa, California, USA, the only place that Alembics are born.