Dingus

If you are looking for an alternative "tight" -feeling string then Picato stainless steel roundwounds are pretty taught ( and pretty cheap ), or maybe a balanced tension set from another manufacturer with a 106 E string might counteract the worst of the floppiness problem without feeling like being much heavier gauge.

If you are already using DRs maybe some of these would help: http://www.bassplayer.com/article/DR-Strings-Announces-New-Drop-Down-Tuning-String-Sets/4814 I know a lot of bands in the late 60s/early 70s such as Black Sabbath used to tune down a half step , and from distant memory I think Stevie Ray Vaughan did too, so its more common than you might think. I would think that just tuning down a half step would be easily compensated for by slightly heavier gauge strings , but any lower than that might neccessitate a bit of truss rod adjustment and even a new nut ( maybe) . As for the neck relief and action, see how the bass performs without changing anything and then evaluate any changes that need making from there. If you aren't getting too much buzz or rattle then all good , but if you do find certain notes choking a bit then if they are at the first few frets and/or in the middle section of the fretboard you migh want to loosen the truss rod a little , otherwise raise the action a bit . You will probably need to experiment to find a happy medium.

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1349456061' post='1826626'] That's what I'm thinking of doing now. I have priced just a neck, but it still may take up to a year for Paul to deliver. My white Wal in my profile pic used to be a fretless, and Mike Lull did the fretted conversion on it. But it cost more than an arm and leg to have it done, so I won't have that neck defretted, but I may just put a feeler out for a used spare fretless neck to swap on that bass. [/quote] Sounds like a good idea if it will take Paul a year to come up with a fretless neck It just shows you the amount of orders he must be having to deal with at the moment. I know that there are plenty of fretless necks out there, and it might well be worth asking on Basschat if anyone knows of one that might be available. I have seen plenty of ads over the years for Wal basses with spare fretless necks. It's probably not what you want to hear, but here in the U.K up to the end of the 90s/ early 2000s you could pick up a used mk 1 Wal bass for £600-800 pounds and they were relatively difficult to sell ; people were glad to get that kind of money for them. There will be plenty of folks who have got a spare fretless neck who will be glad to cash in on Wal basses resurgence in popularity. If the Wal bass in your profile is white from the factory then that makes it very rare indeed. The only other white one I can remember seeing was used by ( if my memory serves me correctly) John Illesly of Dire Straits back in the 1980s. In my dim and distant memory I think I can remember seeing a picture of him with a white Wal on the wall in the old Wal workshop in High Wycombe when I went there to have one of my basses serviced. It sticks in my mind because I think it's the only white Wal I have ever seen, up to now that is.

A lot depends on what kind of things you would like to do on your holiday. In terms of music , both Memphis and Nashville have plenty of music venues that cater primarily for tourists with what I can only descibe as mixed results , but if you want to see genuine local talent and some world-class musicians I would say Nashville is a better bet. Whereas Memphis will always be an important town in the history of American music , the fact is that the music industry all but abandoned the town by the end of the 1970s. The close proximity of Nashville meant that it was impractical for companies to have two bases so close together , and Nashville has long been one of the four most important cities in the world for music. The great thing about Nashville is that there are loads of clubs and venues where you can go and see some amazing musicians play in a relatively intimate environment , as well as see some shockingly good unknown players and performers. Places like the Bluebird Cafe and The Station Inn , or for more alternative bands The 5 Spot , offer a slice of what the real local music scene is like rather than the usual kind of down-home pastiche that is all too often served up for tourists in cities famous for music. Particulaly at the country music venues you can often see players that you have read about in Bass Player magazine ( presuming anybody still reads it ) backing up the local acts. Nashville is very much in vogue for "alternative" acts at the moment , and loads of rock stars like Jack White and The Kings Of Leon have moved there , and while there is still a huge touristy side to the city, it is also a lot more diverse than it was twenty years ago. There's also a very big student population in Nashville and as you can imagine, just like students everywhere they demand clubs, bars and nightlife to keep them happy. The good news is that the whole region you are looking at visiting is a beautiful and fascinating part of the world, and if you do a bit of research and get a bit of of an idea of some things you would like to see and do then I'm sure you will have no problem putting together some kind of an itinerary .Memphis is well worth a visit and is an easy commute from Nashville , and the Smoky Mountains are a stunning backdrop to any visit to eastern Tennesee ( if you fancy a bit of that nature stuff). If you eat meat then you should be forewarned that you are entering arguably the barbeque capital of the world, so be prepared to join Weight Watchers when you get home. If you do feel like driving around a bit then you can drive straight down from Nashville to Memphis and then further on into the Mississippi Delta and visit historic towns like Clarkesville. Have you thought about looking at some travel guides like Lets Go...ect? They are fully up to date every year, well -researched , and can be very helpful for practical local information about accomodation and at finding places of interest that usually only locals would know about.

[quote name='barend' timestamp='1349448845' post='1826512'] ok, no offence taken whatsoever. I was just trying to avoid confusion. Also I am curious for what purpose you guys use the up position of the filter knobs. Because to me it doesn't sound good or useful with the knobs in up position. Maybe someone has some sample settings? [/quote] For useful sounds with the knobs in the up position, I used to love the sound of my Wals with the rear pickup knob set at 3 and the front pickup on 7 or 8 with the attack boost engaged and the pickup pan pot set with both pickups on full. I found this setting gave a great version of a kind of Gibson EBO bass sound like Jack Bruce or Felix Pappalardi - rubbery and deep but with a slightly nasal edge. Alternatively, just the neck pickup on 3 with the attack boost on gave an amazingly good deep reggae bass sound.

I thought the Victor Wooten version was good , but when it comes to funky versions of Eleanor Rigby, this will always be top of my tree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coESqhEbSQs Bassline by David Hood.

[quote name='barend' timestamp='1349447630' post='1826495'] Yes you are right that the down position sounds more passive then the up position. But the bass/electronics is still active. The filter controls are more complicated then a passive bass. And also the bass won't sound without a battery. I feel that with the knobs in the up position a Wal doesn't sound like a 'normal' active bass. I never use the knobs in up position because it those frequencies don't sound very natural or useful to me. So always down position on an Mk1 for me. [/quote] I take your point. I know from experience that with a dead battery a Wal is out of action. What Wal has done is design an active bass that can effectively mimic a passive one, if you see what I mean. I only meant to point out to the o.p that if you have got a Custom that you can get it to sound passive, similar to a Pro bass. Whereas a Pro bass might sound slightly different in some way, it's potentially a lot of money to spend on another bass when his existing Wal will do a very similar job ( fretless neck not withstanding) .

[quote name='barend' timestamp='1349441407' post='1826376'] No that is not true. With the knobs in the down position the bass is not passive. The knobs in the up position are there just to enhance the frequencies you dial in. In the the down position the electronics are still active. There are no MK1's that are passive. Only the one that is for sale on basschat but that one is an exeption or custom design or something. All are other Mk1's are active. [/quote] It all depends on your definition of passive. It may be that , nominally at least, the preamp is still engaged in some capacity when all the controls are clicked down, but the e.q controls in effect operate to replicate the sound of passive tone controls with the bass in this mode. It may not be what is referred to as "true passive" but it is essentially passive in apparent operation to all intents and purposes . As you quite rightly point out, clicking up the e.q contol engages the quasi-parametric boost at that given frequency point on the control , which in effect gives access to the active e.q . Wal designed it like this so players could choose between more traditional passive sounds and the more modern active tones that were becoming increasingly popular. With the controls in the clicked-down position you can use the bass as if it were passive, even if it is , technically speaking , still an active bass. I suppose it all depends on how you envisage the practical use of the tonal options available on these basses.

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1349381841' post='1825662'] Thanks Dingus. Yes it is a factory unmarked freltess. But since it's a Pro, I thought they only used ash on them, no? The price is very reasonable to me. But while pondering over that bass, someone just offered me back a former fretted MkI I used to own that I wished I never let go. Ahhh, decions-decions! [/quote] A factory fretless Pro at a decent price would be a very good proposition . Regarding cutting through in a rock band context, in my experience it a bit harder to get a fretless heard over loud guitars because of the somewhat more muted tone they produce compared to a fretted bass ( same problem with flatwound strings on a fretted bass with loud guitars), but all I can say is that generally speaking, if a Wal bass can't cut through a mix then nothing can. The consistantly strong mids on a Wal make it more clearly audible than most other basses. You are right that Pro bodies were ash, and that is a great sounding body wood for these basses. I have seen one or two Customs with solid ash bodies over the years , and I know that Wal offered solid single-wood bodies as an option for the Custom basses if the customer requested it. I remember a well known session player in London called Rob Burns who had a solid schedua body Mk1 , and I think Geddy Lee's black Wal has a solid lightweight alder body. Have you considerd the option of buying back your old MK1 and buying a new fretless neck for it from Wal ? Paul could make you one , lined or unlined according to your preference, and send it to you and if neccesary you could have someone local like Mike Lull fit it for you. Back in the day plenty of people bought fretted Wal basses with an additional fretless neck to swap between the two whenever it suited them.

[quote name='barend' timestamp='1349388705' post='1825837'] There are no active/passive controls on Mk1's. Also they have made fretless Wal basses with rosewood boards, not only ebony as you say. Also I don't consider a one pickup Pro inferior to a Mk1. If you only use the bridge pickup of the Mk1 the sound is almost the same. A Mk1 has a bit more bite and a Pro a bit more low end but the tonal character is very close. Just check the last video I have posted. If you like simplicty you might even prefer the tone controls of the Pro. If you need a second pickup than a Mk1 is obviously a better choice. But if you only use the bridge pickup they are very close. [/quote] I had three MK1 Wals and they were all switchable from active/passive. With all the control knobs clicked in the downward position the bass is in passive mode, and the e.q knobs operate as passive tone controls. It may be that there were a few fretless Wals made with rosewood boards -Pete was very open to special requests to accomodate players individual preferences- but the preferred standard wood for the fingerboard on a fretless Wal Custom was always ebony, and the vast majority were made that way. Regarding the Pro being inferior , It is certainly not my intention to give the impression that I think these basses are second-rate in any way- I think they are fantastic basses in their own right and I would love to own one myself nowadays - but in practical terms , if you have got a Custom you can replicate most of the sounds the a Pro can produce. You are right that the two basses can sound very close , and I think a lot of that is to do with the unique Wal pickup design that plays such a big part in giving all these basses such a distinctive tone.

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1349372042' post='1825457'] The Pro I was considering is fretless, where all my Customs are fretted basses. My very first MkI was fretless, but no longer, and I do miss having that sound. So that's the reason. [/quote] O.K , fair enough, but just a word of caution ; find out if it was a factory fretless or a subsequent fretless conversion . Because Wal basses became synonymous with excellent fretless basses during the 1980s, a lot of fretted Wals got converted to fretless by people wishing join the trend for fretless basses. The drawback to this is that a converted fretted Wal is in ultimate terms a second-rate fretless compared to the real deal. Pete and Wal had special stash of exceptionally dense mahogany for the core wood on the full- spec fretlesses, and used ebony for the fingerboards whereas a converted bass will have a rosewood board . They also recommended the softer top woods such as walnut and paduak for fretless Customs . A defretted Pro could still be an excellent fretless compared to most other basses so I'm not neccesarilly trying to put you off , but won't give the complete Wal fretless experience. A factory fretless Pro would be a very nice fretless bass indeed, though , and if you can get one at a reasonable price I would say go for it.

I used to play Wal Custom basses back in the 80s/90s and can remember playing a few Pro Basses with the single rear pickup. If you have got a Custom ( as I know you have) I can really see very little point in owning a single pickup Pro bass as well. The rear pickup on a Custom will do most everything that this Pro bass will, and a lot more besides. If you have got you're heart set on a vintage Pro then be my guest, of course , but I can tell you that in effect it will be an expensive ( and inferior) way of duplicating what you have already got. The fact that you can run the Custom active/passive , with or without the attack boost and use the variable e.q means that your existing Wal can outperform the Pro in practical terms. Put simply, whatever sound you would get from the Pro, you can get a similar or indeed better version of it from the Custom. Don't get me wrong, the Pros were great basses in their own right, but the Customs are so powerful and so flexible in terms of sound that if you've got one of those then you've already got an instrument with the definitive Wal sound.

I 'm pretty sure I remember playing one or two of these in the early nineties and that they were made in Taiwan ( specifically the Pattucci model ) at that time, as were most of the BBs by then , I think . I could be wrong , of course, but I can remember people commenting that it was a lot of money for a bass made in Taiwan. If they were in fact made in Japan, let me acknowledge my mistake in advance now, and ask your collective forgiveness. People told me that these kind of memory lapses start to happen in middle age, and I am starting to realise they might be right.

I can remember when they first came out in around 1990 and they were all 34 inch scale, and were quite a sleek-looking and futuristic departure from the BBs that had been the staple of Yamahas range for so long. They were a bIt controversial in as much as they weren't cheap , were made in Tiawan, and had a fairly noisy preamp . Much was made of the fact that John Pattitucci played one, and I seem to remember that Mike Rutherford of Genesis was also sporting one for their live shows around that time. Later in the nineties they were revamped with humbuckers instead of pj pickups , simplified somewhat in construction with a bolt -on neck , made in Japan and also went over to 35inch scale exclusively. I always preferred the earlier ones. The later ones always sounded colourless and relentlessly dreary to me. I haven't played any of the more recent incarnations after that and so couldn't comment on them.

It's worth considering if the money your planning on spending to upgrade your MIM P bass might be better spent on a better quality U.S.A Fender instead. If you consider what you could get for your bass as it is now if you sold it and put the upgrade money to that sum, think about what you could buy for that . It's always a questionable course of action to spend a lot of money on upgrading a relatively inexpensive instrument ; if you're not careful you can end up with what is in actuallity still a cheap bass with lots of expensive parts on it which don't in themselves remedy your initial dissatisfaction with it. If you are determined to go the upgrade route on this bass , then my advice is keep it simple and relatively inexpensive. I actually do think a Baddass is a worthwhile upgrade on a Fender bass. It's not just a question of sustain; I find a Badass adds definition to the overall sound of the bass and clarity to the notes on the D and G strings, particulaly as you move higher up the fretboard. The problem with the Badass is it's a fiddly job to get it filed , installed and adjusted properly and really needs to be done by someone who really knows what they are doing ( i.e a luthier familiar with this bridge) to get it to perform at an optimum level. One of the other cheaper and more straightforward aftermarket bridges is probably a much better option on your bass and will sound just as good. The problem with the bbot bridge is the saddles can tend to move around on the baseplate, which messes with the intonation. As for pickups, the Duncan and Dimarzio ones already mentioned are favorites of mine, along with the Lakland/Hanson Neo Punch. When it come to Precision pickups , I would always tend to favour brute power over subtlty.

The four string 2012 American Standards have now got Custom Shop Vintage 60s pickups. These are great sounding pickups , up there with some of the best boutique pickups on the market. The post 2008-11 basses sound fine as well, and are some the nicest Fenders I have ever played , and you can always upgrade the pickups for a few quid if you feel like you want to ( but I personally see no need). Find a good one ( the big proviso with any Fender bass) of these and you have got great sounding and very solid feeling instrument that will last you many, many years .

Jimmy Haslip tearing it up on a BB2000 on the first Yellowjackets album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6FRrR3upE

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1349166309' post='1822498'] I think our healthcare is a bit of a bargain compared to the USA though, makes up for slightly dearer bass strings... [/quote] You have hit the nail on the head here. It's one thing to look at cheaper consumer goods in the U.S.A , but how much did you have to take out of your last paycheck for medical insurance/ doctors fees ect in the U.K ? In Britain , if your kids need dental treatment, it's free. If your wife is having a baby, pre and post natal care is free. If you need IVF to even have kids in the first place , it's free! Not so long ago higher education was nearly free here. These and a myriad of other things that we think are rightfully free in this country are all things you would have to find money for in America. Life in the U.S.A is underpinned by a simple equation that says : no work= no money , and no money= tough luck it's your own fault and you deseve whatever happens to you. At least in the U.K , for the moment at least ( but probably not for much longer) , we have some semblance of a safety net for the less well-off.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1349172228' post='1822617'] I generally avoid J's because of the scoop. My Roscoe Beck has sorted it, with the neck set to parallel and the bridge set to series. It's marvellous. [/quote] That Fender Roscoe Beck was a brilliant design, by all accounts . I never managed to get my hands on one, but I remember reading that Roscoe helped Fender design a setting on the bass that emulates the sweet spot you get on a Jazz Bass by turning the neck pickup down a fraction when both pickups are on full.

Are you absolutely sure that this guy isn't some kind of John Pattitucci tribute act thats gone a bit too far off the rails ? If I went to a gig and someone got that thing out in front of me I would be worried as to the mental health of the bass player in question , especially if you think about what this thing must have cost. He doesn't give off the air of a happy and well-adjusted man.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1349110935' post='1821984'] Even in Brighton there is little call for pink strings. [/quote] My nomination for post of the day.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1349108212' post='1821915'] It works the other way too - stuff manufactured in Europe is a lot more expensive in the USA than it is here. Pyramid & Thomastick strings are incredibly expensive in the USA for example. [/quote] They're pretty bloody expensive here nowadays , too!

This thing is basically a Steve Harris Signature P Bass with a narrower nut width and overall slimmer neck dimensions. Looks like a good prospect to me. I like it.

The reasons why goods are cheaper in the U.S.A to begin with ( I could try to explain if anybody is really interested ) are quite complex , but the practicality of importing stuff from the America is that yes, in some cases even with duty and vat you can get things a bit cheaper, and on things like strings and accessories , and this can be worthwhile, especially if you are ordering in enough quantity to make a significant saving. The problems can come when you are buying higher cost items such as basses, where you can find yourself without a U.K warranty and without anywhere to turn to if the goods are faulty or don't live up to reasonable expectations. Even if you buy goods from a reputable retailer in the U.S.A who will accept a return for whatever reason , you have got a job on your hands to claim back the tax and duty you have already paid, as well of the question of who will pay for the return shipping. As to the U.K retailer selling goods cheaper because you can get them cheaper from abroad, as others have pointed out, shops have completely different overheads to pay and different profit margins to achieve in order to stay in business. U.K retailers are also most usually obliged to buy the goods they stock from official U.K distributors, who of course charge a markup for this service. Trust me when I tell you that if you lived in America you would have other demands on your overall income which would easily outstrip any money you might save on some strings, or indeed any other bass gear you might buy. It's a easy trap to fall into to look at the prices available on some goods in the U.S.A and feel envious, but overall ( at least until recently and some of the changes the current government is trying to force upon us) I would say that, all things considered , we get ( or got) a better deal here in the U.K.