That black Mk3 belongs to Kulit here on talkbass. The switch turns on the LED fretboard lights.
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^yup this is mine. what caca said. it turns the LEDs for the fretboard.
the bass even has a cool gold SIMS battery cover.....
Absolutely Exquisite bass you have there, Kulit! One of the early “matching control cavity” Wals . On another note, does anyone have any information on how many midi Wals were made and about how many were five stringers. Also, any idea on what the last production year was? Anybody still own their Midi manuals?
I guess the red one got to you
if I had to guesstimate it had to be less than 50 total....number of 5 strings prob would be alot less - 10-15 maybe.. only other rare MIDI i seen was the double neck one. I believe up until Mr. Chick sold off the tech to Peavey, it had a run of maybe 3-4 years.
D
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I guess the red one got to you
if I had to guesstimate it had to be less than 50 total....number of 5 strings prob would be alot less - 10-15 maybe.. only other rare MIDI i seen was the double neck one. I believe up until Mr. Chick sold off the tech to Peavey, it had a run of maybe 3-4 years.
Did Steve Chick sell the midi tech to Peavey or just license it? Last I heard he was still in business.
per @TrevorR blog
"Unfortunately, after only a few years, the rights to Chick's midi-bass system was bought up by US guitar giant Peavey for the development of their Midibase and then Cyber-bass. "
A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: Wal MB4 midi bass
he has his own company called industrial radio making midi basses using Warmoth basses but routing them specifically for his MIDI tech.
Rumor had it that Geddy's black poly Mk1 had maple facings over a mahogany core, and the sound of that particular bass was a touch brighter than those without facings. FWIW to others who have heard that rumor, I asked Philip over at Electric Wood about it a couple years ago when quoting a black Geddy... he confirmed Geddy's original had no maple facings under the poly.
I have my manual. The book is actually what Steve Chick supplied to Electric Wood, and Pete or someone else at Wal scribbled out and hand wrote things that would pertain to a Wal instead of the 'generic' kit the MB4 originally was. I need to find a way to copy these pages. The binding rings are too tight for the pages to open all the way and lay flat.
The one thing the manual specifies is nickel strings are a must, that ss strings dont connect as well as nickels. It also says make sure the frets are clean of any gunk buildup.
It also points out the MB4 system does not work in poly mode with just any 'ol synth module. So don't be alarmed if all you're getting is mono playing. It gives a list of known synths it can work in poly like a Roland D550 but not a D50, Yamaha TX802 but not a DX7, which of course are old skool. I'd like to try it with a modern pc based program (Abelton??) But I dont even own a laptop.
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There are apps both for iOS and Android that allow you use your camera to take pictures and convert them into one big PDF. I use TinyScanner on my Google Pixel XL and it works great!
Hmmmm.... I know how to push 'start' on a copy machine.
LOL. In that case if that binding comb is the kind where the fingers aren't fused shut you could carefully pull it off, make your copies, and put the book back together again. You'd have to be careful not to tear out the rectangular holes in the pages, but with a bit care it's totally doable.
D
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I guess he is using different technology now then, unless he's licensed his own tech back from Peavey? I had a Peavey midi bass for a while and the system worked really well, but ultimately I didn't use the midi sounds enough to keep a bass just for midi.
My understanding is the new system isn’t compatible. I’m sure some have contacted him about this...
None of the systems are compatible to each other as far as the MB4/Wal won't work with either Peavey midi, and none work with the current Chick system. The only similarity is the wired split frets.
The MB4 interface kit was originally installed in a generic plastic box. Wal simply took everything out of the box and re-housed it in their own nicer rack mount housing. An old MB4 box will work since its the very same parts. But Peavey changed the wiring style and it looked like more circuts built into the bass and isnt compatible.
The MB4 interface kit was originally installed in a generic plastic box. Wal simply took everything out of the box and re-housed it in their own nicer rack mount housing. An old MB4 box will work since its the very same parts. But Peavey changed the wiring style and it looked like more circuts built into the bass and isnt compatible.
1. the shape is pretty generic, it's not really a Wal shape
2. Yes the pickups look very similar, and are more or less Wal pickup copies. I figure that after 40 years, it's OK for people to make copycat pickups commercially.
3. From what I can tell, the electronics are not that close to Wal. It's an East preamp, and while East makes a filter-based preamp for ACG, this isn't it.
4. The bridge is pretty standard too.
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