djaxup

great compressor! Just give it more gain and turn down the volume at the end. This definitely adds some "tubey stuff" to the sound.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354197503' post='1883418'] I can't understand why any musician would want to limit themselves to a single instrument. [/quote] The Bass Guitar is the only instrument that truly appeals to me. I absolutely love guitars and the sound they can put out, but for me to play and delve into - bass all the way. Before knowing that Bass Guitars even existed i always wondered what was doing that "mood shift" in the songs, even when the main melody was the same... hard to describe. And i just tended to play bass parts with every instrument i picked up, i would make a lousy melody player.

amen to all that. He is surely not a new Jaco or something along those lines, but i absolutely like his creative thinking and for being such an important part to his bands sound and feel.

i certainly do, thanks man. It was kinda obvious that you are mainly having a gripe with the music and the in your opinion unwarranted acclaim the guy is getting. His bass sound got me to pick up a bass guitar in the first place, if that's all the good he has done in his musicans live, i still have a lot to thank him for. Best decision ever, really. To be honest - everytime i hear Geddy playing i am completely unimpressed. He sure has skills, but his tone is obnoxious especially with that jazz bass. The Wal on the other hand... it made the best it could out of his robotic mid heavy sound. I love Mick Karn and his sound, it is so unique. Everyone noticed the Bass guitar in the songs if he played it, always one of the main attractions. But really, he went overboard with the tone controls and "drowned his sound" by cutting away any treble the bass had to deliver. But it fit with the music extremely well and was just unique. I am having a problem with people dismissing the use of effects just for the sake of it or make it sound like JC is using them to hide his flawed playing, because really, thats what you make it sound like. He has sick right hand technique, and the sound just fits very well in a band composition like this. And i think his usage of said effects is artistic and unique to say the least. I know... bassists don't need effects, and playing with a pick is the way of the devil open your mind man. I prefer playing with my fingers, but if the song calls for it i play with a pick. It's all about making the band sound best and i think he does that very well. I have three final Songs for you to listen to, if you can spare the time. Interesting because JC is not using a Wal on two of them and in the last one he plays with his fingers: Forty-Six & 2 (Stingray) H. (Stingray) 10.000 days / wings part 2 And i feel it's quite easy to tell that he is not using the Wal for the first two songs, even over all the processing and mastering and in case of forty-six & 2 the heavy flanger. Stingrays have their signature sound, too - but they were copied to hell and back. I didn't mean Timmy Commerford, my fault. That's totally Jazz Bass / Stingray area. I meant Rise against - John Principe is the name of the guy, very hip with the younger bassists. Classic overdriven P-Bass / SVT sound.

It's fine to disagree. Whatever exact range of the sound you favor, the characteristic treble and high mid sound of the wal is just that - very characteristic, and i challenge you to record a piece with another bass and replicate that very voicing. Trust me, it is not easy if not impossible. I had one bass that is said to be very close to the Wal sound, an EBMM Bongo. While being a very nice bass it didn't give that voicing at all. You can easily get into the same territory with just about any bass, and if you stop there and won't listen to details then that's it pretty much. Listen to some Disposition Bass Covers on Youtube: [url="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=disposition+bass+cover&oq=disposition+bass&gs_l=youtube-reduced.3.0.0i19l2j0i5i19l2.85410.88285.0.89023.10.10.0.0.0.0.77.671.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.xa-Kv1WEU0M"]https://www.youtube....c.1.xa-Kv1WEU0M[/url] And then tell me the other basses sound anything like the two guys who do the cover with their wal. Remi Zik, the first one, is a sick bassist and plays in a successful and internationally touring tool cover band, and has gone a long way to achieve the tone. His bass is basically a custom made Wal Mk2 rebuild, and still it sounds nothing like it. Sounds good, but not like a wal. Mick Karn is acutally a very good example because one can hear the G and D strings sing very nice in that froggy squarky way that only a Wal can produce, in my opinion. And i say the Tool bass sound is too a typical wal sound that is hard to achieve with another kind of bass. Just like both Jamerson and that Rage Against Guy - both sport a classic and typical P-Bass sound, yet they could not be more different in sound. Mick Karn and Geddy Lee also sport completely different sounds in character, still both are superb wal sounds. And please elaborate where Reflection or Schism are "drenched in effects", i just don't hear it. My Wal sounds exactly like this, as i told... without any effect pedal.

I don't really know where this "Justin drowns his sound in effects, so the bass type is irrelevant" misinformation comes from. Schism, Disposition... well just about every song without the distortion effects display the Wal sound quite nicely i think. And tbh, every kind of harsher distortion/fuzz pretty much makes the type of bass involved not too important. My Wal sounds a lot like Schism just with a pick and a sansamp. My other basses sound nowhere near it. If i play with the GK RB1001 with Mesa cab the sound is very close, too - without the sansamp. If i use the Warwick $$, guess what i get a much cleaner sound with more bottom and snarl. I use the P-Bass, exact same other settings, and get that hollow metallic bark you would expect from a P-Bass with pick and rounds. The Wal is the essence of his sound. Just using a pick and a sansamp and any bass with two pickups will get you into his direction though, but without getting that special voice. Use a pick, a clean modern amp and a wal, and you will get "that sound". Wals have a strangely unorganic, a tad muffled sound without pick attack (a special button) engaged, but imo a pick really brings them to live with a crisp and powerful sound with a very special ringy yet squarky tone especially on the G and D strings. I never heard anything like it. Listen to "the pot" intro, or that Stinkfist breakdown at 4:05 mins "Reflection" bass part starts at 20 seconds into the track, thats just what a Wal sounds like with a pick. No plethora of effects... i wonder what kind of effects ppl suspect here? He has a lot of effects, true. If you want examples of that, the Schism bass solo at 04:00 mins or the beginning of "Right in Two" are good examples. Or that Jambi signature riff at 01:03, where you still unmistakably hear a Wal scream.