Anyone have a suggestion as to a pickup/preamp combination that would best mimic the tone of a Wal? Thanks.

Two Music Man Humbucking pickups and if you can get your hands on an Alembic preamp (Filter based like a Wal, although it is different) or an Audere 4 band preamp with Z mode with some serious EQing, MIGHT get your there. I'd like to try this myself, however I just need the funds for it...

John East ACG preamp and a pair of Kent Armstrong soapbar humbuckers

The ACG seems to be a bit expensive, any other suggestions?

a wal bass

The ACG seems to be a bit expensive, any other suggestions?

KA soapbar pair ~$150
ACG preamp ~$300

$450 for an extremely versatile sweet-sounding set of electronics...expensive?...depends on how "expensive" you want your sound to be, I guess.

With the current currency conversion rate, the ACG costs 400 USD.

With the current currency conversion rate, the ACG costs 400 USD.

my error...$550 all up...have you priced a Wal? ;)

John East ACG preamp and a pair of Kent Armstrong soapbar humbuckers

The same East preamp in skjold's?

The same East preamp in skjold's?

No it is not the pre-amp that John supplies to Skjold. I think that is a custom made retro.If it is not I am sure John will put me right.
The pre-amp mentioned is the ACG filter pre-amp.
Cheers
Alan

The same East preamp in skjold's?

Completely different to the ACG.

Pete Skjold's pre is a 5 Knob Deluxe Retro, which is customised to his requirements.

Completely different to the ACG.

Pete Skjold's pre is a 5 Knob Deluxe Retro, which is customised to his requirements.

Ahh ok, I am hearing good things about your pre-amps John.
I'll be a lucky Skjold owner in summer 07 :)

Anyone have any other suggestions for a set of pickups? The kent armstrongs look good, but just looking for more ideas.

The Kent Armstrong soapbars would work better than the Kent Armstrong MMs?

The times I've played the HH Musicman Stingrays, I have gotten a tone very, VERY close to a Wals. It just lacked the super midrange punch that Wal's have. I'd say mainly due to the pickup placement and obviously somewhat by the pre. Wal humbuckers are close by the bridge and close together, the Stingray/Sterling are farther from the bridge and from each other.

So I would suggest a MM style pickup before any soapbar. And If I were to go with any company, it would be Nordstrand before anything.

That "midrange punch" is what I'm looking for though. Possibly if they were wired in Series it would make a difference?

I really know hardly anything about electronics, but just from hearing the difference between parallel and series on my Music Man, I can tell you that you'll need more than that to sound like a Wal.

I'm sure you'll never get the exact sound, because if you hear a Wal acoustically, it sounds very much like it does plugged in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr42PrGKQYU

That THICK thumpy clicky, whatever you want to call it, sound is coming through without being plugged in. It's like a Stingray on roids.

With that being said, I'm sure a mahogany bodied, maple necked, rosewood boarded bass (I don't think the thin maple top and back affects the sound THAT much, but get that too while you're at it!) with the right electronics would come very close.

This is definitely something I'm interested in too, being that I'm in love with this tone. PilbaraBass, you seem to have the most complete answer, but what led you to this conclusion?

Thanks.

P.S. I can't find the ACG preamp on the John East site.

The ACG pre-amp is not on John's site it is on the AC Guitars site.
While the pre-amp was designed and is built by John he does not sell the pre-amp. I commissioned John to build the amp for my own instruments so they are available from AC Guitars.
Cheers
Alan

a wal bass

Hoho, yes! Thats how to get it 100% (likesay, there is more to it than the unique low-pass filter system of Wal basses and the fact that it has at least 16 pole pieces).

However, someday I'd love to hear some of the suggestions from this thread, as Wal's look to be good for good now (sadly).

Any other suggestions?

Previous discussions of this topic have been answered by owners of Wals and Bongos saying the Bongo comes very close. Do a search?

I may get shot, and its not super close, but something that completely reminded me of the two wals I tried was a DR Heartfield with they weirdo electronics, but man you can get that grind!

i'm sorry, but can someone tell me why wal ended production anyway?

Pete got sick, lost his shop (or had to move?) and was held back with orders. There are people who payed in full for their Wal's maybe even 2 years ago now that have yet to receive they're basses.

I think that's the main reason, from what I've heard from some guys on here.

Anyone have a suggestion as to a pickup/preamp combination that would best mimic the tone of a Wal? Thanks.

I've found similarities to a Wal in the Ken Smith humbuckers.

I feel the pre amp is responsible for the biggest difference between Wal's and other basses and I'm anxious to play with this new ACG preamp that works in the same basic way.

Pete got sick, lost his shop (or had to move?) and was held back with orders. There are people who payed in full for their Wal's maybe even 2 years ago now that have yet to receive they're basses.

I think that's the main reason, from what I've heard from some guys on here.

The current status is that the shop is packed up and moving because the the place he was renting shop space from has gone bust. Word is that production will resume on the outstanding orders once Pete's settled into the new place. I don't know when he'll be ready to take new orders, but there's no indication from Pete that this is the end for Wal.

Mike

Previous discussions of this topic have been answered by owners of Wals and Bongos saying the Bongo comes very close. Do a search?

Colin Edwin (of Porcupine Tree) gets a tone similar to his Wal with his Bongo

Seems like Bongo PUs w/ the ACG preamp on mahogany body/maple neck would do the trick, but if Wal will be back in production it may be worth it to just wait.

That is a huge "if".

A lot of people have paid well over the odds if Pete does get back into the swing of things!

A G&L L-2000 I had could get a very Wal like tone with both pickups on and in series mode.

Buy an older Ibanez SR-505 or any other Ibanez bass with the Vari-Mid active EQ electornics system. I have owned 3 wals. This is pretty darn close-- and you can get one of these basses for $300 on ebay as the going rate. Worth a try. Trust me.

Colin Edwin (of Porcupine Tree) gets a tone similar to his Wal with his Bongo
Yeh, I just watched their live DVD (Arriving Somewhere...) and Colin is indeed using a Bongo instead of his Wals. The sound is a little bit muted and not quite as rich, but pretty similar. Shame they are so damned ugly, IMHO! :)

EG

Looks like it's the ACG pre for sure. Anyone have any recommendations as far as which brand of MM pickups would suit best?

Looks like it's the ACG pre for sure. Anyone have any recommendations as far as which brand of MM pickups would suit best?


www.delano.de

the MC-FE most likely (that is what I have in my 7 string.... mid punch for days!). Email Reinhard and ask which would closest mimic the Wal mids.

Hey James, would you mind telling me which recordings on your site are with your 7? If any of them are, that is.

I thought that G&L MDF pickups sounded VERY wal-like. If you could get your hands on a set of those and pair it with the ACG filter pre-amp, you may have some luck...but more likely, if you want a Wal, your still going to want a Wal.

My most Wal-like tones in recording have generally come from splitting the signal and using a resonant lowpass filter VST plugin on one of the channels, along with setting a compression plugin to put a sharp spike on the attacks of the notes (and, of course, using the 30-90 Funkmaster strings when I wanted that twangy Geddy Lee Wal thing).

But obviously that's not the same as being able to set different filter cutoff points for each pickup and blending between the two. The ACG filter-based preamp looks like one of the coolest things to come along in quite a while. Since my Lakland 44-02 has the Bartolini pre (which sounds warm but not very aggressive), I think I might be tempted to try an ACG in it at some point.

...ACG filter-based preamp looks like one of the coolest things to come along in quite a while. Since my Lakland 44-02 has the Bartolini pre (which sounds warm but not very aggressive), I think I might be tempted to try an ACG in it at some point.

you won't be disappointed! the AC pre is awesome. i'm running it with barts atm, but i just got word that my Delanos are close to shipping :bassist:

Hey James, would you mind telling me which recordings on your site are with your 7? If any of them are, that is.

http://www.myspace.com/justmyselfalone

"Princess's Groove" and "For What May Come"

Neither are mastered... both are scratch tracks at best and before getting a handle on the tones this thing has.

New stuff will be coming soon.

I have a Wilkins 5 string J bass that Pat Wilkins says sounds a lot like a cross between a Wal and a MM Stingray and I have to agree that it does.It has three custom Bartolini single J Bass pickups and a custom Audere pre.