So I believe Flea and Justin both used a Wal on these albums, however their tone is very different. Whats causing the difference between these two tones? I believe Justin's pick style vs. Flea's finger/slap style will play one key role. I am thinking more about the metallic sound of Justin's tone and how he gets that and why Flea doesnt. I know there are a lot of threads, but I havent seen one on really comparing the two even though they are both using Wal basses.
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Wal Tone BSSM vs. Lateralus
- Thread starter jnevi9nr
- Start date
Justin's sound, imo, isn't really indicative of the "Wal" sound. He gets most of his tone from effects and heavy EQing.
oh ok. thanks. it just sounds SO different from Flea's tone on BSSM. what effect is giving him that metallic sound?
Like NineSpine said, there's a lot more to Justin's tone than just the Wal.
There's a really good thread on him here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=620296
I often see the demeter pre mentioned as a key factor.
There's a really good thread on him here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=620296
I often see the demeter pre mentioned as a key factor.
Also, how Justin applies eq is also very important. One thing I like about his tone is that because of the mid-cut, the bass track sounds like it's made up of two tracks, one with only bass/low mids, and one with only that particular high end midrange growl.
So what did flea do to get his tone on bssm? Is that straight wal with some en. Filter in there at times?
i thought flea used the wal only on "suck my kiss" everything else was his stingray... but i could be wrong
IIRC, Flea used the Wal on every track, except for Under the Bridge which was actually recorded with a Stingray 5, not a regular Stingray.
Actually, Flea has hardly ever recorded with a Stingray. I think that Aeroplane, off of One Hot Minute, is one of the only songs he actually recorded on a Stingray. The rest of One Hot Minute was an Alembic, BSSM was a Wal, and all the albums before that were done on a Spector NS2. The newer RHCP albums have featured his Modulus sig and the '62 Fender Jazz.
Actually, Flea has hardly ever recorded with a Stingray. I think that Aeroplane, off of One Hot Minute, is one of the only songs he actually recorded on a Stingray. The rest of One Hot Minute was an Alembic, BSSM was a Wal, and all the albums before that were done on a Spector NS2. The newer RHCP albums have featured his Modulus sig and the '62 Fender Jazz.
Flea has never had a complicated signal path and Rick Rubin (who produced BSSM) took a very raw and simple approach to recording. It was basically a Wal through his GK. I believe he blended direct and mic'd cab signals but I could be wrong about that.
IMO, Flea's Wal tone is MUCH more representative of what Wal's sound like than JC's. Of course, Flea plays with a very aggressive attack which you have to keep in mind, but generally speaking it sounds a lot more like a Wal to me.
The Wal was used on most of the album. Where it wasn't, a 5 string Stingray was. It's a pretty obvious change in tone when he does use the Ray. The Righteous and the Wicked for instance (where you can clearly hear the low B and EBMM tone) is very diferent from Mellowship Slinky which is such a classic Wal sound.
Mellowhip Slinky
Funky Monks
Funky Monks is DEFINITELY Stingray 5, it has those low D and C notes in it. I think he recorded at some point with his Musicman Cutlass, which is a Stingray with a graphite neck on the very early RHCP records
He did use the Wal on Under the Bridge. But the video for the song does show the Stingray 5 for some reason, probably because Flea thought it looked cooler. That's actually a big part of why he never played the Wal live, he didn't like the looks.
Yep. I had to go back and listen but you are correct.
Yep. Same one was used for Stadium Arcadium I believe.
jnevi9nr said:
Well from watching the Funky Monks dvd (which is the making of the BSSM album), it looks to me like he ran the Wal direct, with the occasional effects pedals.
CapnSev said:
No it wasn't abanoned, the owner of the mansion was interviewed for a minute in the movie.
thanks everyone from the input. i love the flea wal sound and have been just interested in how justin gets that metallic sound from the same kind of bass.
