Could a hx stomp emulate an alembic or wal pre-amp?

[WarmToneWank]

Just wondering if it is possible with mixing the right effects or not, something easily replicated?

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

I don't own an hx stomp but I'm certain it can do this. The Alembic preamp is a 12dB/octave lowpass filter with a peak before the cutoff frequency. A quick look at the Helix effects list shows a Q Filter, which has got to be what you're looking for.

 

[micguy]

Despite the "allure" of a Wal "filter preamp", This is not all that tough to do - this will do it (and a couple other things) just fine:

Resonant Filter Equalizer

The Resonant Filter Equalizer creates unique tone control by combining a high pass filter, low pass filter, and middle equalizer. Both filters have their own resonance control, allowing a bump at the cutoff frequency, accentuating the effect of the filters. The semi-parametric middle eq includes...

www.broughtonaudio.com

I have Source Audio eq 2 parametric eq's on my pedalboards - they will also do (and many more things) that just fine - there's a filter option with adjustable peak height, q, and frequency, which also does precisely what a Wal preamp does. The one thing the Wal has that the others has is the controls are on your bass - if you find a sound or two you like, and want to use that all the time, not an advantage, but if you want to fuss with it during a set, onboard might make sense.

Also of note, capacitively loading a pickup gives you the same response - a peak and a rolloff of the same slope above that. With a low impedance pickup (usually a hum cancelling one wired in parallel), you can get a decent peak height doing this, which can be tamed with a tone control, and switching loading capacitors can change the frequency of the peak. My basses are built with specific peaks in switchable modes - my designs usually have 4 "filter" responses available in various modes.

 

[stevensivak]

I will believe this when I hear it.....

Due to cost and scarcity, there have been many questionable attempts to replicate the sound of a Wal-
I believe that Octave basses (Fbook) come very close to the Wal sound. Part of the secret sauce are pick-ups
and part of the magic is the pre.

So since a few people have said that hx or the Broughton stomp box will replicate this sound, then please post
a sample....

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

The OP was asking about emulating the preamp, not the entire bass, with its special pickups, construction etc. The preamp is easy to emulate. There's no magic. A filter cookbook circuit.

 

[stevensivak]

Are you sure about that?

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

Positive.

 

[stevensivak]

If it’s so easy to emulate the preamp then why do all of the people who use filter based on board preamps never have bases that sound like a Wal?

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

Because it's not just the preamp. Pickups and bass construction play a major role.

 

[stevensivak]

Those people who have tried to emulate Wals are using the multi coil pick ups as well, and they still don’t get there. Don’t necessarily agree with you about the fundamental construction of the Bass as having a significant role in the sound of a particular bass….

 

[stevensivak]

When the OP says he wants to emulate a Wal preamp, you have to wonder what he’s actually talking about because nobody’s heard a Wal preamp without Wal pickups in a Wal body so it’s kind of a strange question from the get-go…

So I wonder how do you know that these outboard stomp boxes emulate a Wal preamp?

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

Simple. You analyse the circuit, see what exactly it does, and do the same thing in your circuit (or DSP, if it's a digital emulation). No need to even touch a Wal bass to make a preamp that sounds the same, as long as you can analyze the schematic. This would be basic to any qualified analog electronics designer, but might seem like magic to someone without the needed knowledge.

 

[Passinwind]

Just wondering if it is possible with mixing the right effects or not, something easily replicated?

IMO and IME the preamp is only one of many relevant aspects if you want to clone some particular instrument's sound. It's not like there's one Alembic sound or one Wal one. And to take that further, why didn't Jack Casady or Phil Lesh sound like each other or like Stanley Clarke when they were all using Alembic Series electronics?

Personally, I've been building and giving away designs for "filter" preamps for over a decade now, including a full blown open source DIY pedal design. Cloning anyone else's sound has never been a goal at all though. But if you want to emulate certain aspects of the Alembic or Wal experience they can give you a leg up in some circumstances.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Just wondering if it is possible with mixing the right effects or not, something easily replicated?

I've never known very many people to have an Alembic preamp (although I am one) or a Wal preamp, much less both and able to speak with experience how these might sound similar or different from each other, or whether an HX stomp which they also own, could sound like either in a side-by-side comparison. My feeling is until at least one player here has BOTH the HX stomp and at least one of these Alembic or Wal units and can speak from that firsthand experience, every response seems well meaning, yet speculative.

I don't own an HX stomp and have no experience with one, so I have no opinion on the matter, other than that which is required to answer the BIG question. Good luck.

 

[WarmToneWank]

Thanks for the tips, I think my question was poorly formed. More trying to get in the ballpark of a filter pre-amp than replicate exactly. The Q filter seems to hit right. I have a Lusithands F1 on backorder and am trying to see if I would want to keep the order open.

I feel this is one of those things that even the HX could, would not settle until a blind listening test.