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What happened to WAL?

#41
hippiesandwich said:
I would be carefull about using the term "endorsers" too loosely here - AFAIAC it implies that somehow Wal players are either getting paid to play Wals, or getting free instruments, or both. To the best of my knowlege, Wal does not do endorsements of any kind, and all players (up to and including Sir Paul) pay for their instruments.

Tone is a very subjective thing, and Wal electronics ARE very complex. I would suggest that before anyone auditions a Wal they read up on how the electronics and controls work, who knows, you may even find some useable tones hiding in there somewhere! :p Wal Electronics & Controls
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damn you! i always thought they were ugly and i had zero desire to own one but those sound clips sold me and now i have major GAS!
 
#43
The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
I think so- he's playing it either fingerstyle or thumb-plucking on Turn the centuries turn
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The Wal sound is increasingly growing on me: big and crunchy at the low end, and the mid-range notes have a certain "something" I can't quite describe but I love the sound. Reminds me a lot of the bass-playing on Gary Numan's "Pleasure Principle" (I originally thought that was Pino Palladino and his Stingray but he didn't play for Numan until quite a while later). Maybe that was a Wal as well. If I did get one it'd have to be the mk. 3 or whatever they call it as the original one looks too bloody heavy!


yeah, probably Dave- also I think that's him on "Genetix" on The Raven.
the Hugh Cornwell book "Song by song" (not "Song stories"- that's the XTC book :o ) says a few things about who sang on what.
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I'll have to grab myself a copy of that! As for Dave's singing, he's got a really odd voice; don't really notice it when he's doing backing vocals but it sounds really weird when he takes the lead. Used to good effect, though.


I've been listening to an excellent live recording of Simple Minds from 1984, and I'm pretty sure Derek Forbes used fretted and fretless Wal's for most of it (I think his old P bass is in use on Big sleep and Book of brilliant things- both slap songs, strangely enough)

the version of "Glittering Prize" shows off the Wal tone with a pick quite well-
Invalid Link Removed
Idisk>simple minds audio>Irvington may 27 1984
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I'd never really listened to Simple Minds as they had too many connotations of being a "yuppy" band, but maybe I'll take this as a recommendation!

Talking of '80s bass players, I still want to know what Ultravox's Chris Cross/Allen played. Seems that information about his bass arsenal is pretty elusive, at least it's successfully eluded me so far. :confused:

Chris.
 
#45
cbh said:
Reminds me a lot of the bass-playing on Gary Numan's "Pleasure Principle" (I originally thought that was Pino Palladino and his Stingray but he didn't play for Numan until quite a while later). Maybe that was a Wal as well.
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was that Mick Karn, as he's famous for his Wal fretless, and he played on a Numan album.

Talking of '80s bass players, I still want to know what Ultravox's Chris Cross/Allen played. Seems that information about his bass arsenal is pretty elusive, at least it's successfully eluded me so far. :confused:
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LOL- I take it you never saw the thread I started on Chris Cross + Curt Smith in bassists?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42796

Cross used a Gibson EB3 on early John Foxx material- on an Old Grey Whistle Test re-run he had a fretless P-bass.
apparently he had a Yamaha too- in the thread there's a link to an interview with Ultravox drummer Warren Cann, and he lists the equipment they used.

on a TOTP appearance he had a Steinberger cricket bat headless.
 
#50
Sorry, I seem to have experienced a temporary existence failure (well, that'd be preferable to what I've actually been doing - moving house :( )


The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
was that Mick Karn, as he's famous for his Wal fretless, and he played on a Numan album.
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It does sound a bit like that sort of thing, but I think it was a guy called Gardiner on that album. I haven't been able to find out what bass he used though; he died quite a few years back I think.


LOL- I take it you never saw the thread I started on Chris Cross + Curt Smith in bassists?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42796

Cross used a Gibson EB3 on early John Foxx material- on an Old Grey Whistle Test re-run he had a fretless P-bass.
apparently he had a Yamaha too- in the thread there's a link to an interview with Ultravox drummer Warren Cann, and he lists the equipment they used.

on a TOTP appearance he had a Steinberger cricket bat headless.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I missed that thread: for some reason I got the idea that I was being more efficient by only searching one forum at a time. :rolleyes: So it sounds like depending on the song, era or whatever he could've been using quite an assortment of different basses! At least it's cleared up the "fretless" mystery for me though as I've been wondering about that for quite a while as well.

Chris.

PS getting back to the main subject of the thread, I feel myself becoming worryingly afflicted with Wal GAS. This could be expensive and try my patience all at once!
 
#53
To the question about the late Paul Gardiner, he did use a fretless Precision bass as I recall, as did Derek Forbes when he started out with Simple Minds. Mick Karn played on the Numan album "Dance" with his Wal bass, while Pino played on the album "I Assassin", with either the Stingray fretless or a precision fretless (I haven't heard the album in years and don't recall which). Another fretless Wal connection with Numan would be the most excellent Andy Coughlan, who I recall had tremelo equipped Wal, probably a Pro model - check out the live White Noise album and a track like "We take mystery to bed".
 
#54
oddio said:
I could be wrong, but I believe that the biggest mistake one can make with the Wal controls is not realizing that you have to "finesse" them. A small adjustment can make a fairly big difference compared to traditional controls. Combine this with the fact that in many cases you will use the balance knob more as your tone control... (Wal players will understand this statement). After that it comes very easily.

PS - that's a fairly nice looking SEI up there.... ship to Canada?? *hint, hint*
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Hey Oddio... if I'm ever in Ottawa, do you think that I could check out your Wals?

Geoff
 
#55
JDGA fan said:
To the question about the late Paul Gardiner, he did use a fretless Precision bass as I recall, as did Derek Forbes when he started out with Simple Minds. Mick Karn played on the Numan album "Dance" with his Wal bass, while Pino played on the album "I Assassin", with either the Stingray fretless or a precision fretless (I haven't heard the album in years and don't recall which). Another fretless Wal connection with Numan would be the most excellent Andy Coughlan, who I recall had tremelo equipped Wal, probably a Pro model - check out the live White Noise album and a track like "We take mystery to bed".
Click to expand...

interesting about Gardiner- on some of the songs the tone is ambiguously fretted/fretless.
a lot like Derek Forbes sound on the songs on Simple minds' Empires & dance he used a fretless P on (Celebrate, this fear of gods, today i died again).

re. Pino, "music for chameleons" sounds lot like his trademark Stingray.
 
#56
MT, I know what you mean about an "ambiguous" fretted-fretless sound on record (ermm CD). I can only recall seeing Forbes play a fretted (cherry burst) Precision live (though with a black, maple-necked fretless waiting in the wings). Maybe it's the playing with a pick on the laquer coated maple fingerboard that gives it that quality. Whatever it is, I really like Forbes work on Sons and Fascination, Glittering Prize, New Gold Dream, etc. Those were good times for some great in your face fretless playing (Palladino, Webb, Gardiner, Karn, Coughlan, Forbes, Giblin, etc.). Wistfully, an ageing new waver.
 
#58
I think I may well be having g4ui83tp2's Sei fretless with the Wal pickups/electronics... I played that bass in The Gallery a couple of years back and was flabbergasted - amazing sounding bass. I've never been that keen on fretted Wals, but the fretlesses are unreal and have the best fretless tone I've ever heard. Thick, warm and with "mwah" for days...

The fretless Sei/Wal will go nicely with my singlecut fretted Sei 5... :D

Russ :bassist:
 

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