Bass Culture

Apropos of these videos - why do reviewers hardly ever mention what strings they have on the demo bass?!  Drives me nuts.  Strings have a fundamental impact on your basic sound and they are hardly ever mentioned, so you have no idea to what extent you need to factor them into your response to the particular amp under review.  Clearly, light, steel round wounds are going to present a completely different sound to the amp compared to heavier flats (for example).

15 hours ago, JPJ said:

Oof 😍 what a beauty! Looking forward to hearing some sound clips

I think Mike wants to record some vid and sound samples when I collect it, so I'll post a link if we get that sorted.

Welll this has been the very pleasantist of surprises, and quite made my day!  Absolutely stunning work, @Cosmicrain - thank you!  Bring on Friday!

Latest batch of update photos from Mike, and time to start getting proper excited now, I think! 😊

Scheduled to pick up next weekend at present.  Mike's been testing the various pickup connections at each stage of assembly, but has not so far been able to sound test them.  I can't wait to hear them.  He's a true artist and I've no doubt at all they'll sound every bit as good as they and the bass looks.

1 hour ago, pineweasel said:

I'm not aware of the pickup wiring ever being changed. Where did you hear about it?

New wiring and old wiring are referred to in the Turner (I think, could be Herrick though) multicoil (I.e. 'Wal-type) pickup blurb and, I think, the Lusithand preamp copy too. I assumed it referred to Wal's wiring as these products are presented as very close alternatives to the Wal components on which they are obviously based. Funkle also refers to new wiring in his epic Building a Wal-a-like thread. Maybe I've misunderstood though, and these alternative wiring options apply to these new items only and not the Wal originals?  

9 minutes ago, NikNik said:

I thought the filter circuit was most of the Wal tone?

 It undoubtedly makes a significant contribution, but seeing as passive Wal's reportedly also have the same characteristic 'core tone', I believe the pickups (and how they are wired?) make an equal or possibly even greater contribution.

46 minutes ago, Cosmicrain said:

Great question Mark, and I, for one, do not know the correct answer.

I'm sure the hive mind will prevail, Mike! 😊

Can anyone explain to me how the so-called new wiring for Wal pickups differs from the old wiring, and when it changed?  Also, what difference does it make in terms of tone?  I found myself pondering on this question when reading the various threads on BC that reference the characteristic Wal tone, and it occured to me that, given this change in how the pickups are wired, is the Wal tone the same now as it was pre-change? 

EDIT - Mods, please move to Repairs/Technical if you think that's the more appropriate location.

Couple more photos which show the body after three (I think) coats of Mike's wax and oil mix.

51 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

Looks amazing! Soft V? Is that like \_/ with a kind of flat section? It's hard to see from the pictures.

More like a V where the pointy bit is less pointy, with a softer/gentler curve, but still provides a definite reference point for your thumb.

I thought I'd leave starting this thread until there was some reasonable progress to show.  When Rautia, who'd supplied the pickups for my my first Wal-a-like, closed down, Mike and I spoke about him developing his own multi-coil pickups and I decided to commission a new bass which would be the guinea pig for these in-house designs.  The first bass had been paired with a Lusithand filter pre, but I decided I wanted this one to be different and that we'd go passive - Wal passive models still have their own distinctive Wal tone, after all.  At around the same time I returned the first bass to Mike to swap out the rather cheap monorail bridge units I'd supplied to him when it was built for some more substantial Hipshot items.  During the course of this work it became apparent that one of the original Rautia pickups had developed a problem and that they would need to be changed, so he was now making two pairs of pickups for me.  This was to be the start of an extensive period of research which involved Mike investigating all aspects of the design, specification and topography of the Wal originals, which has only now culminated in him finally being able to start winding his own pickups - with the help of a new coil winder he's just invested in.

Specs for the new bass are:

Zoot Boudica body shape

Paulownia body with wenge top and back - wax & oil finish

Multi-laminate neck of roasted maple and mahogany with maple and wenge stringers. Soft V profile

32" scale with 38mm nut.

18mm string spacing at bridge

2 x new Zoot multicoil pickups

V/T and series/parallel switch per pickup

Zoot solid brass bridge

Hipshot ultralite tuners and string retainer

Here's some progress pictures:

On 13/02/2024 at 09:08, three said:

I’d no idea re: Wal and the Hellborg power amp. Fascinating and I wonder if it remains in place? I’ve had quite a few of these amps and still have one. Massively heavy and according to a well known studio tech, the most over-built power amp he’d seen. That said, they are not at all a transparent amp - there’s a gritty baked-in tone that surprised me initially, to the extent that I thought it was a fault. Four or five units later, it’s evident that the grit is designed-in. I wonder whether this has any influence on the calibration of contemporary Wal electronics? Back on topic, i’ve watched in awe at the stratospheric price increases. I’ve owned a few Wals and played a lot (I’m a fan of the tone and the v profile, especially on the earlier basses) but found them a little uncomfortable, and in some respects a bit agricultural. The prices in the ‘90s - relative to other basses - seemed about right to me

I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who likes the Wal-type V profile!  I see it decried quite frequently but it absolutely made sense when I played a friend's Mach* 1 fretless back in the 80's and I've had all my Zoot Customs made with it since.

*I seem to remember Mach being the correct designation from an old marketing leaflet some decades ago, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility I'm misremebering...or have simply dreamed it!

21 minutes ago, Russ said:

I love what I've seen of Mike's Zoot Wal-a-likes. I'd like to get my hands on one and give it a try. Lusithand's preamps are great - they're missing the "pick attack" control, but he sets the frequency sweep on the filters to extend to higher frequencies to compensate. 

 

If your next Zoot is going to be more like an older Wal, can Mike do a leather scratchplace?  

I remember seeing that bass (the JG prefixed serial number ones?) being featured in one of the mags at the time.  But to me that was the thing about Wal's when they first became popular (as a now 60-year old,  I'm talking about the early 80's), they looked quite different to anything else around at the time too.    The oiled natural finish of the Customs especially wasn't really something anyone else was doing, I recall.  Mind you, as appealing as I found them, I wouldn't be enticed inot parting with the kind of five figure sums now they can fetch now.  My Zoot Wal-alike gets me quite close enough to scratch that particular itch.

On 05/02/2024 at 21:42, Russ said:

There's a lot of options right now for players who want some of that Wal flavour - quite a few companies producing multi-coil pickups (Herrick, Turner, Bassculture, and apparently now Nordstrand), filter preamps (Lusithand, ACG), and ever a couple of companies that will make you a lookalike! There's a US-based company on FB called Octave Basses who make straight-up Wal copies for Justin Chancellor fans who have neither the money nor patience to get a real one! They're supposed to be pretty good though.  There's some demo videos up there of someone who has one playing Tool tunes, and it sounds spot-on. although it probably doesn't hurt that the guy in question has spent a fortune on getting all Justin Chancellor's other gear - the same amps (Demeter/GK/Mesa), the same speakers, all the same pedals, etc, so I suppose that helps.  

 

Not sure any of them will have the cachet of the real deal, but, if you love the sound, you should be able to get pretty close. 

 

I remember passing on a Wal Mk2 in the Notting Hill Music Exchange back in the mid-90s for £250 because I thought it was too heavy. I guess nobody had any idea of what they'd end up selling for!  

Very true.   I have my own Zoot 'Wal-alike', made by MIke Walsh, which is so much more comfortable to play than the real thing.  One of the original pickups developed a problem and this has inspired Mike to start making his own multi-coils, which he's going to offer on his own range of Wal-alike basses.  Knowing the research he's done, I suspect they are going to be as close to the originals as it is possible to get (having had many conversations with him I'm now much more aware than previously of the complex and multiple specification and topographical considerations involved).  The latest version of the Lusithand pre is also voiced slightly differently too, I believe.  So - as Russ says - there's plenty of options out there for those hankering after the Wal sound without having the patience and pockets deep enough to go 'full Wal'.  My own next 'Wal-alike' will be using MIke's new pickups too, but will be passive, so it will be interesting to hear how close it gets without the filter preamp.  Still it's own variation of a Wal, of course, but from a much earlier era and iteration.

What the hell does 'world-leading pickups' mean?  Leading the world in what exactly?!  I'm blaming my age, but the nonsensical bo**ocks that is employed in the name of marketing and that is so ubiquitous these days is really starting to grind my gears...

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. BC

I'm surprised no one's mentioned either of the TC Plethora models.  I'm an effects numptie though, so maybe they are lacking something the OP is specifically looking for?

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

The little Mooer Ensemble King sounds band on to my ears, with the advantage of having a level control.

 

I have an old CE-2 from 1989 and the Mooer and they can be dialled in the same.

Thank you.  I'll check that one out for starters.

I bought a Boss CE-2 probably 40 years ago, which I used extensively in earlier bands, and then mothballed for years when my band activity reduced.  Stupidly, in a fit of generosity, I gave it to the guitarist of a band I was playing in about 10 years ago.  Predictably, in more recent years I've been enjoying using chorus when noodling at home, especially on fretless, and have tried 2 or 3 others since - including a CEB-3 (I think) and, currently, an EBS Unichorus - and none have sounded as good as the CE-2 (to my ears).  Short of asking for it back again, is there anything out there that sounds like or emulates the CE-2?  I'm not asking for your favourite chorus pedal recommendations, I'm asking if there's anything that sounds the same as a CE-2.  Thanks all.

Sorry all, those links weren't to the strings I was particularly looking at, it was more of a 'a oner - for strings?!'-type comment.  I've actually ordered some off Newtone now.  I appreciate flats tend to be more expensive than roundwounds traditionally anyway, but even so...

Maybe I'm just out of touch! 🙄

Need a new set for my medium scale Zoot Custom bass, and happened to alight upon Strings Direct, where they had a 4 string set of suitable scale length Jim Dunlop's: https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/collections/bass-guitar-string-sets/products/jim-dunlop-flatwound-bass-strings-45-105-stainless-steel-medium-scale?_pos=5&_fid=55994f256&_ss=c

Thank f**k my Zoot isn't a five string: https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/collections/bass-guitar-string-sets/products/jim-dunlop-flatwound-bass-strings-45-125-stainless-steel-5-string-medium-scale?_pos=6&_fid=55994f256&_ss=c

BY whatever yardstick one chooses to apply, that is bonkers!!!

Thanks everyone for your interest and likes - these are now SOLD.

I'm selling my Purple Chili two 1x10's mini-stack, made for me about 5 years ago by Mike Walsh of Zoot Bass.  As many will know, Mike offered his own line of cabs a few years back under the Purple Chili banner, and at one time had the UK license for the Fearless/Green Boy cabs, so he knows how to put a great cab together.  There's one tilt-back cab and one box - as you'll see from the photos, the tilt-back sits nicely on top of the square cab to form a great little 400w stack that can be angled so you can hear yourself in tight stage spaces.  The tilt back also has a discrete strip of material (it's not wood, more like a hard, artificial bone-type) attached to the top, which meant I could locate my (TC RH750) amp on it without any risk of it falling off when angled.  Each cab is loaded with a high quality Celestion Neo BN10-200X driver, rated at 200w at 8ohms.  Neither cab has a tweeter.  The sound is nice and full, but punchy and articulate too.  Dimensions are slightly different to compensate for the cut out for the tilt back (see below), but they are the same widths and complement each other perfectly.  They've been used for no more than about 4 or 5 pubs gigs in that time, and have only seen service at (our smoke-free) home other than that, and are in excellent condition.

Dimensions:

Tilt back - 38cm (w) x 37 (d) x 38.5 (h): 7.7kg

Box - 38 (w) x 35 (d) x 36 (h); 6.8kg

The recessed handles combined with light weight make these a very easy carry.  Reason for sale is that I'm clearing the decks ahead of my (hopefully) planned retirement soon and simplifying my set up, as I'm currently bandless and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.  I've no packaging so can't offer delivery at present but Chester is well connected for trains (it's only one stop from Crewe!) - less than an hour from Manchester and Liverpool, and only a couple from London - and these are so light and manageable they could certainly be carried on the train.  I'll happily pick up and return any would-be purchaser to the station too.

So, there we have it.  These are great quality, 'bespoke' cabs, commissioned as a stack but I'm happy to split also.  Priced to sell at £200 each or £375 for the pair.  Thanks all.

16 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I wonder if there is some manufacturing spread? I would describe my Gnome as whisper quiet and certainly quieter than any other amp I've owned, you should hear my Peavey taking off. At last years SW Bass Bash we looked at all three of the micro amps, we were looking at frequency responses and tone controls so not specifically the fans but I didn't notice any differences at the time.

 

That's interesting. My Gnome certainly isn't whisper quiet.  I wonder if there's any simple checks I could do to establish if the fan is working correctly?  It's not that quiet but nor does it sound like it's not functioning correctly - no noises that sound like interference or anything.

Thanks for the replies so far.  A friend has a BAM also, and I can't remember hearing the fan on his either when he brought it round for us to A/B a few months ago.