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- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
I just tried for the 1st time the Rotosound Funkamsters 030/090 for my MKI in honor of Geddy Lee's Rush Wal bass era ! Exactly like him ! Power Windows, Hold your Fire, Presto and Roll The Bones Albums , besides Moving Pictures are the best BASS Rock albums in history ! Twang , melodic , powerful , original and technical bass lines ever ! Good Bless Geddy and his Wals ! The famous MKII Trans Red and the Black MKI, all of them loaded with 030 funkmasters !
Wal-nuts. I'll admit that I haven't listened to a lot of presto or roll the bones, but what's your favorite geddy wal tune?
I really think Big Money showcases his wal really well. but I'd love to hear y'alls
opinions...
I really think Big Money showcases his wal really well. but I'd love to hear y'alls
opinions...
The Geddy Big Money tone is something I can get reasonably close to with my Fender PJ's so to me it's not the definitive Wal sound. For me the definitive Wal sound is anything Kev Hopper does, followed by Percy Jones in the Brand X days.
Some Kev Hopper...
Some Kev Hopper...
Arent your p's fretless?
Everyones idea of "reasonably close" can be subjective. But recordings are king!...and considering if you were to do a TB (or any other music forum) search on "P bass or J bass sounding reasonably close to a Wal" topics would be non-existant
Also take into account your a sound engineer and have easy access to great recording gear i would LOVE to hear your "reasonably close" PJ as far as Rush Big Money tone.
just sayin'
Arent your p's fretless?
Everyones idea of "reasonably close" can be subjective. But recordings are king!...and considering if you were to do a TB (or any other music forum) search on "P bass or J bass sounding reasonably close to a Wal" topics would be non-existant
Also take into account your a sound engineer and have easy access to great recording gear i would LOVE to hear your "reasonably close" PJ as far as Rush Big Money tone.
just sayin'
Good points and mostly true I'd say. My idea of "reasonably close" may be miles from what you guys all hear. 80% close on my fretted PJ is close enough for me not to be interested in shelling out thousands for a Wal. But even if I was 95% close on the fretless side (and I'm not) it wouldn't be close enough for me, so I still want to get a Wal someday.
When I hear "Wal" my mind automatically goes to those fretless sounds, you are very correct on this being a subjective topic.
I'll see if I can get a "reasonably close" tone together from my fretted PJ (Fender cowpoke) for you guys to pick apart, since I opened my big mouth.
I'll let you know what gear settings, eq, etc I use to do it also, with the caveat that we all know the majority of the tone is in Geddy's hands and I'm no Geddy. 
In the meantime here's a recording I did with an old G&L 2000e bass that I've always thought was pretty much a poor man's Wal.
The chain if I remember (15 or 20 years ago now probably) was bass->passive DI box->API 212 pre->La2a compressor->2" tape. No eq used I'm pretty sure because I was so impressed with the G&L tone ranges. I eventually sold that bass to "upgrade" to a newer L2005, boy was that a mistake, it felt and sounded nothing like the old one.
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Open Secrets is awesome IMHO for the Wal tone (MKI). Wheres My Thing is the deeper Wal tone (MKII). I just saw Rush and they played Wheres My Thing and it really didnt sound great with the buzzsaw-sansamp-no mids Jazz tone he has these days. Oh and Force Ten is also a great one too.
Good points and mostly true I'd say. My idea of "reasonably close" may be miles from what you guys all hear. 80% close on my fretted PJ is close enough for me not to be interested in shelling out thousands for a Wal. But even if I was 95% close on the fretless side (and I'm not) it wouldn't be close enough for me, so I still want to get a Wal someday.
When I hear "Wal" my mind automatically goes to those fretless sounds, you are very correct on this being a subjective topic.
I'll see if I can get a "reasonably close" tone together from my fretted PJ (Fender cowpoke) for you guys to pick apart, since I opened my big mouth.
In the meantime here's a recording I did with an old G&L 2000e bass that I've always thought was pretty much a poor man's Wal.
The chain if I remember (15 or 20 years ago now probably) was bass->passive DI box->API 212 pre->La2a compressor->2" tape. No eq used I'm pretty sure because I was so impressed with the G&L tone ranges. I eventually sold that bass to "upgrade" to a newer L2005, boy was that a mistake, it felt and sounded nothing like the old one.
IMHO, the closest I have gotten to Geddy's Wal tone is my G&L L2000/L2500's. However, in order to get that rubber band twang on the G&L's, I lose alot of bottom end. I know Geddy's MKI tones werent huge on the bottom end, I think it there was a lot more than I can get with the G&L's.
I put an ACG preamp into an L2000 a few years ago and made a recording I put up on TB (cant remember where exactly and too lazy to look
) that gets in the neighboring zipcode of a Geddy Wal tone, but I find I can get alot closer with the stock G&L preamp.Sorry for the derail, carry on.
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Good points and mostly true I'd say. My idea of "reasonably close" may be miles from what you guys all hear. 80% close on my fretted PJ is close enough for me not to be interested in shelling out thousands for a Wal. But even if I was 95% close on the fretless side (and I'm not) it wouldn't be close enough for me, so I still want to get a Wal someday.
When I hear "Wal" my mind automatically goes to those fretless sounds, you are very correct on this being a subjective topic.
I'll see if I can get a "reasonably close" tone together from my fretted PJ (Fender cowpoke) for you guys to pick apart, since I opened my big mouth.
In the meantime here's a recording I did with an old G&L 2000e bass that I've always thought was pretty much a poor man's Wal.
The chain if I remember (15 or 20 years ago now probably) was bass->passive DI box->API 212 pre->La2a compressor->2" tape. No eq used I'm pretty sure because I was so impressed with the G&L tone ranges. I eventually sold that bass to "upgrade" to a newer L2005, boy was that a mistake, it felt and sounded nothing like the old one.
Cool...if you do get a Wal...be prepared for LOTS of unwanted gas for your second and third one lol
There are lots of talk of a G&L being a poor mans Wal...but that distinctive low end growl is always missing
TMB
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All of the electronics/pups/preamp/circuit board and wiring are exactly the same in a MKI and MKII
A longer horn and two extra frets is not going to give you a "deeper Wal tone" unless you set the bass up and eq it to do so
TMB
I dont have one so I cant say from first hand experience, but from interviews I read back in the day from Geddy (not definitive, just a quick google, but scroll to the bottom and this is what Ive read before: http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19920600bassplayer.htm or this: http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19911200guitarworld.htm), as well as hearing the difference...Wheres My Thing is a much deeper tone than Big Money.
He also says "the difference is VERY subtle"
Which could mean different type/gauge strings (he used .30-.90 Funkmasters on the MKI) or a minutely different setup or pup height
My point here is...to say the MKII is warmer than a MKI is extremely misleading to someone who is in the market for their first Wal and have never played one
TMB
- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
Show don't tell
Middletown dreams
Roll The Bones
Big Money
Time Stand Still
And all the others form this Era lol !
- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
I really don't agree with you ! Wals and Fenders are so different basses and such different tones ! I can easy recognize by ear each sound ! If they had the same sound and tone, there was no reason to Geddy to change the Wals for Fenders. I'd been playing Wals for 20 years, and Fenders are a standard bass for everybody and it's easy to listen the tone differences between them ! But ok, you can get a reasonable Wal sound with a lot of kind of basses, but the perfect WAL sound, just Wal has !
- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
Wal Sound Live with no effects , compressors ou eqs ! Audio from camera, but you can have an idea ! 045/100 Elixir strings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSMmbBbLlNc
Opinions sought. If you were getting a black MkI with ebony, which hardware would you go with - gold or chrome?
Thanks
Thanks
Since i just had to order over $400 worth of replacement gold hardware because of "flaking" i would go with the chrome.
It also seems to oxidize less than the gold
for me, Chrome. it then becomes the Harley Davidson of wals.
I wouldn't kick gold out I bed though.
on the geddy subject, thanks for the feedback. I'm firmly in the nothing sounds quite like a wal camp. I've owned a bunch of fenders, G&l's and exactly 1 Wal. I listened to blood sugar sex magic so much in High school that I wore out the cassette. that tone is burned in my head. as soon as I got my wal (which is probably my 60th bass in my life) I knew that the sound was right there, in that bass. no amount of eq, compression or fingers will get you that last 10% of that sound.
I wouldn't kick gold out I bed though.
on the geddy subject, thanks for the feedback. I'm firmly in the nothing sounds quite like a wal camp. I've owned a bunch of fenders, G&l's and exactly 1 Wal. I listened to blood sugar sex magic so much in High school that I wore out the cassette. that tone is burned in my head. as soon as I got my wal (which is probably my 60th bass in my life) I knew that the sound was right there, in that bass. no amount of eq, compression or fingers will get you that last 10% of that sound.
- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
and a very important thing :
Wals were" mass " showed to the bass player's world through Geddy Lee, no other player in these planet promoted Wals like Geddy Lee did at that time , and this is true. Before Geddy , Wals were some kind of illustrious unknown bass ! With Geddy we could see Wals on the cover of the biggest Musician's Magazines Like Guitar Player, Guitar World and Bass player. Even a platinum DVD was recorded , Show of Hands . Does anybody here know any other live DVD recorded with a Wal bass ? Any Dire Straits one ? Dire Straits bass player used to play a Wal MKI , also the Spandau Ballet's bass player but I don't know if they recorded a DVD using Wals ! I have the" LIVE AID " Dvd and these guys were playing their Wals. But just Geddy put the WAL tone on the face ! Please Mr Lee , come back to the Wal ! LOL
Cheers
Wals were" mass " showed to the bass player's world through Geddy Lee, no other player in these planet promoted Wals like Geddy Lee did at that time , and this is true. Before Geddy , Wals were some kind of illustrious unknown bass ! With Geddy we could see Wals on the cover of the biggest Musician's Magazines Like Guitar Player, Guitar World and Bass player. Even a platinum DVD was recorded , Show of Hands . Does anybody here know any other live DVD recorded with a Wal bass ? Any Dire Straits one ? Dire Straits bass player used to play a Wal MKI , also the Spandau Ballet's bass player but I don't know if they recorded a DVD using Wals ! I have the" LIVE AID " Dvd and these guys were playing their Wals. But just Geddy put the WAL tone on the face ! Please Mr Lee , come back to the Wal ! LOL
Cheers
- Nov 6, 2012
- 954
- 246
- Disclosures
- Endorsing : Elixir Strings, Digitech , Eden Amplification
Gold for a Black MKI will look great. just try to keep it clean removing all fingertips after play your bass. Always use a flannel to clean the gold parts and you'll have a long life to your Golden Hardware. Everybody knows this trick, but we never do it, LOL !
