From what I remember of early write-ups about Wal pickups, there was never any mention of series or parallel. I had the impression that the normal position was parallel, while the switches added what they called "coil taps".
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in a 4 Strings E A D G polepieces are wired in series and rows are wired in parallel
Nope!!!
They are not a common ground and one wire for each string pair of coils. It's wired similiar to a four conductor humbucker. Each row of four coils is equivalent to one coil on a regular humbucker.
The schematic posted earlier shows 5 wires coming from the pickup, and at the preamp's connector the two rows of coils ARE connected in series.
Here are the different settings between each switch. From what I can surmise, it Seems that 'normal' state the coils are in series which is how the IE and IIE are wired up...which is first config in sketch below..... and when switched, it switches to parallel which is the second sketch.
this is how I interpret the wiring from the sketch....
Orange is row 1 start (hot output)
White is row 1 finish
Black is row 2 finish
Blue is row 2 start
Green is ground
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@KevMuso if someone wanted to add coil splitting as a configuration, they could simply ad a switch to toggle the black wire going from the hot output to ground to split the coil.
Oh heres a description from an old Wal bass Pro brochure describing the tonal differences posted in @TrevorR blog
A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: 1970s brochure for Pro Series basses
"The pickup response switches connect the coils of the pickups in two significantly different ways to provide two distinct output tones. In Position 1 the output sound is solid and heavy whilst in Position 2 the high frequency end is extended and the bottom end rolled off. This gives a more `middly' and cutting response"
A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: 1970s brochure for Pro Series basses
"The pickup response switches connect the coils of the pickups in two significantly different ways to provide two distinct output tones. In Position 1 the output sound is solid and heavy whilst in Position 2 the high frequency end is extended and the bottom end rolled off. This gives a more `middly' and cutting response"
Yes, I read this too. Still would like to know what the default configuration of the humbucker would be if you would remove that switch completely (I think default is series from what I read from kulit17's answers but I am not sure). Not that I intent to remove the switch. Some of the responses somehow confuse me and I just want to get this straight
. Also I would like to know if the Wal MK1 humbucker exactly the same one as the passive Pro humbucker?
Yes, I read this too. Still would like to know what the default configuration of the humbucker would be if you would remove that switch completely (I think default is series from what I read from kulit17's answers but I am not sure). Not that I intent to remove the switch. Some of the responses somehow confuse me and I just want to get this straight
I would say default would be how the Pro IIE (series)....because it CANNOT be switched since the switches control a different circuit i.e the mid boost.
No they are different. As shown, there are two rows - "north" and "south" to be able to change the configuration on the Pro style pickups.
For a custom Mk series instead of being a wired my row and "north" and "south" each wire is a dedicated string.... lol I'll need to find my notes on these too.
Lol here are my full notes.... I did the research when I was playing around with my spare Pro pickup I had.... I made drew up a third config for fun!
This is the color wiring for the custom pickup.... only thing I'm not sure of is if the two rows of coils are wired in series or parallel. This blown up pic of the custom pickup is hard to tell since it could go either way and cant really tell how the trace of the PCB goes.
This is the color wiring for the custom pickup.... only thing I'm not sure of is if the two rows of coils are wired in series or parallel. This blown up pic of the custom pickup is hard to tell since it could go either way and cant really tell how the trace of the PCB goes.
Ok thanks a lot! It's clear now. I always thought the pickup of the passive Pro and the MK1 where exactly the same and interchangeable. Thought only the preamp and wiring were different. Now I know these pickups are not the same. Great support and info kulit!!!
It's all good. It's a common misconception that everyone seems to make just because the casing is the same, but if you look at both pictures the PCB has all different tracing. Glad to help!
I believe that the pickup was the same in the active and passive versions. When the Pro series was first released there was an option to convert a II to a IIe and a I to a Ie via a conversion kit. The kit did not include a different pickup as far as I know. If it did, then the cost of conversion would have been a lot higher. As I recall, a Wal pickup was listed at £50 in Barratt's price list in 1979 and it was implied that there was only one version of this pickup. Of course my memory could be faulty.
Right! As far as the Pros go.
But what we were trying to point out is the Pro pickup is different from the Custom.
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@KevMuso Yes this is true between the Pro I, II (passive) and IE, IIE (active). If someone back then bought a passive setup and wanted to change their bass to a "E" Pro, they could back then just buy the scratch plate retrofit it with their bass and still use the same pickup. This is why both scratchplates look identical (passive setup would still have a battery cover). Look at my previous posts. Going in depth with the wiring.... all that is done in PCB not in the pickup.
The passive setup still had PCB board for all the switching to be done. See how they still route a battery in the passive setup?
One would just unplug the pickup harnesses and plug it into the new active board.
Now as far as Pro and Custom pickups....AGAIN completely different pickup. One cannot get a mk series pickup and expect to drop it into a Pro series bass. And vice versa. They are not compatible.
That was never mentioned at the time when the Mk series was introduced. Just new tone circuitry, pull-out pots, exotic timbers and slightly different neck construction.
New tone circuity dude... not sure what other way this can be explained to you.
Email dated 10/21/2015
Guess you can believe whatever you want to believe man.
**Mic drop**
Guess you can believe whatever you want to believe man.
**Mic drop**
Figured I should finally put up a proper pic of the Mk1, got some saddle screws and caps from @mikeswals and received my parts order from Paul this week. Got everything together and it's rock solid, love the 70's P-bass style neck on this.
Cheers everyone!
Cheers everyone!
I believe you. I was just saying that this is new information to me and explaining why I had been believing otherwise until now.
My goodness...
...a fairly accurate description of series vs parallel?
Wal pickups are where the magic’s at.
