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Wal Bass Club.

oli@bass said:
Hi,

What do I need to do to ge a number? The GL MkII posted by elbassisto is now with me :D

It's been awhile since oddio has shown up here so the numbers thing kinda been in hiatus. I think the last number given out was 36 or 37 awhile back ago.

Not sure if anyone wants to take over the reigns or not but I don't have a number either.

How are you liking your new Wal??? Congrats too btw!! Please post some pics!!!
 
The only current MkII 4 strings I know about: The 2009 Shedua over at Bass Direct (UK), and the 1989 Wenge midi on basschat that doesn't come with the midi rack unit for much less (also in UK).
The Gallery in London also has a MkII midi, but they want something like 8k because Pino owned it. They also still have the MkI they been sitting on for over a year.
 
Hey guys I may be new to this club soon...sorry for the noob question but I'm trying to wrap my feeble mind around this highly cool preamp in the Wal's.

I have always loved the Flea tone in BSSM. I'm not a huge Flea fan but man that tone just does it for me. Question: for those that can cop that tone how did you achieve it on your bass settings?

Do you guys find the "pick attack" useful in that scenario or does it intro too much clicky-clack fret chatter?

I've read through the entire club thread and the Wal GAS just keeps building and building! Thanks guys.
 
Hey guys I may be new to this club soon...sorry for the noob question but I'm trying to wrap my feeble mind around this highly cool preamp in the Wal's.

Many folks have found the attached "Exploring the mysteries of Wal tone" document useful. It was put together over on the WalBassesNaturally Yahoo group several years ago, and it gives a pretty good overview of how to get different tones from the Wal preamp.

Do you guys find the "pick attack" useful in that scenario or does it intro too much clicky-clack fret chatter?

There's a trim pot inside the control cavity to let you set the amount of gain you want on the pick attack, so you can set it to be subtle or over the top. I always found it really useful for bringing a bit of clarity back to the top end in conjunction with some darker settings on the regular filter controls, and it added a nice edge for slapping as well.
 

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Hey guys I may be new to this club soon...sorry for the noob question but I'm trying to wrap my feeble mind around this highly cool preamp in the Wal's.

I have always loved the Flea tone in BSSM. I'm not a huge Flea fan but man that tone just does it for me. Question: for those that can cop that tone how did you achieve it on your bass settings?

Do you guys find the "pick attack" useful in that scenario or does it intro too much clicky-clack fret chatter?

I've read through the entire club thread and the Wal GAS just keeps building and building! Thanks guys.

When I finally got some decent home recording equipment, and a bit of free time, I made it my mission to try and cop this tone. My opinion is that this record represents the best recorded rock bass tone of all time. That being said, here are my thoughts on trying to get the BSSM tone at home:

1. If you plug in and expect that sound to come out of your amp / headphones / whatever, prepare for a disappointment. When you first plug in a Wal, you will hear hints of the BSSM sound, but nothing even close to exact.

2. A large part of Flea's sound on BSSM has to do with the fact that he records with GK heads. I may be mistaken, but at the time of BSSM he was using an 800RB and Mesa Boogie cabs. A lot of the tone comes from the unique sound of the GK circuit. Audiffex makes a great GK bass amp simulator, and picking that up got me a lot of the way there.

3. I never use pick attack personally. If you listen to tracks like "Suck My Kiss" and "Naked In the Rain" you may notice that there really isn't a whole lot of high end on that bass tone. It's the right amount of upper midrange, mixed with various degrees of saturation / distortion. I'm not talking distortion like an overdrive pedal on 10, but just a little bit blended in to add some crunch.

4. If you do some digging on the web, you should be able to find some of Flea's bass tracks from this record soloed. Then you can really take a listen to see what you may / may not be missing. I found it to be a fun project to work on, but ultimately I never got so close that I thought "THAT'S IT, I"VE NAILED IT." Eventually I found a couple of sounds that really worked for me, and I moved on. I may revisit down the road, but for now I'm happy.
 
2. A large part of Flea's sound on BSSM has to do with the fact that he records with GK heads. I may be mistaken, but at the time of BSSM he was using an 800RB and Mesa Boogie cabs. A lot of the tone comes from the unique sound of the GK circuit.

I have watched the whole Funks Monks DVD, and i dont ever recall anyone in the video describing Flea's "recording" rig. Im just wondering where you got your information from..... that he recorded this particular album with GK heads and not direct.

Having a couple Wals i also know how much the set-up, p/u pole adjustment, p/u height, pick attack and tone knob adjustments effect on overall sound. I could easily completely change the recorded sound of my Wal, by just adjusting what i described above, without EVER touching my GK amp settings or my microphone placement on the cab. You would never know audibly that i was using the GK ....which makes me scratch my head on your comment.
 
I don't think he used an amp on BSSM, which is my favorite bass tone too. I've also watched the Funky Monks film and to me it seems the bass is fed direct, and the driven sound to me sounds alot like a Sansamp was used. I have nothing to verify that other than my experience using the same in the studio.
 
I have watched the whole Funks Monks DVD, and i dont ever recall anyone in the video describing Flea's "recording" rig. Im just wondering where you got your information from..... that he recorded this particular album with GK heads and not direct.

Having a couple Wals i also know how much the set-up, p/u pole adjustment, p/u height, pick attack and tone knob adjustments effect on overall sound. I could easily completely change the recorded sound of my Wal, by just adjusting what i described above, without EVER touching my GK amp settings or my microphone placement on the cab. You would never know audibly that i was using the GK ....which makes me scratch my head on your comment.

You are right. To clarify then, it's just my opinion given the experience I have in a recording studio. Flea was playing with GK heads and Boogie cabs in that time frame. Revisiting the soloed tracks, I can say with a high degree of confidence that there is no way you are getting that tone just by plugging into a DI and going straight into a console. GK amps have a very distinct tone of their own (IMO) and to my ears that fingerprint is audible on BSSM. In the event that a Sansamp was used instead, that's essentially a hardware version of an amp simulator anyway.

I apologize if I mislead anyone, but would absolutely eat my hat if the bass tone on BSSM was just the Wal recorded direct. Hell, I'll eat TWO hats! I'm not denying that the Wal is capable of an enormous variety of tones on its own, but in trying to directly replicate the tone of BSSM, it is my opinion that you are going to need an amp sim as part of your signal chain (or better still, an actual amp!) :bassist:

I've been meaning to do some soundclips of the Wal for a long time...Maybe this will inspire me to get going on that. I'll do DI and amp sim and blended. Maybe that will be the next project I tackle!
 
Thanks guys for all your responses. I'm definitely trying to replicate that tone live. I know it's always an uphill battle trying to get recorded tone vs. live but if the 800RB helps then I'm good with that. I should be able to find it in my tower of power somewhere.:D

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You are right. To clarify then, it's just my opinion given the experience I have in a recording studio. Flea was playing with GK heads and Boogie cabs in that time frame. Revisiting the soloed tracks, I can say with a high degree of confidence that there is no way you are getting that tone just by plugging into a DI and going straight into a console. GK amps have a very distinct tone of their own (IMO) and to my ears that fingerprint is audible on BSSM. In the event that a Sansamp was used instead, that's essentially a hardware version of an amp simulator anyway.

I apologize if I mislead anyone, but would absolutely eat my hat if the bass tone on BSSM was just the Wal recorded direct. Hell, I'll eat TWO hats! I'm not denying that the Wal is capable of an enormous variety of tones on its own, but in trying to directly replicate the tone of BSSM, it is my opinion that you are going to need an amp sim as part of your signal chain (or better still, an actual amp!) :bassist:

I've been meaning to do some soundclips of the Wal for a long time...Maybe this will inspire me to get going on that. I'll do DI and amp sim and blended. Maybe that will be the next project I tackle!

I agree with you...i had failed to mention that if i were to guess, any "grit" added to get the sound on BSSM was added after. Or re-amped

Yea, Wals do not have that same grit as BSSM D.I'd to the board. Here is a D.I'd Wal with some chorus added
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2YFUIuN_po&list=UUSuWmhRkoB2Ey6qntDNnvKQ&index=8&feature=plcp





:bassist: