NickA
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Everything posted by NickA
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My mk 1 fretless was £820 in 1997, the MK2, bought a couple of years back, over £4k!! The way Wals maintain and increase their value is a mystery .. compared to Smiths, Alembics, Warwicks ACGs etc. But there you go, this is what they cost. Bass Direct had a MK1 in less good condition than this the other week. £5000, sold in hours .. likely to the US. -
Both sit closer than a fender or a stingray, nether as close as my dolphin. The MK1 is more comfy for me. Not sure why. The Mk 2 feels bigger but isnt really, and only 450g heavier. Nerd that I am, drew round both to find out. With the bridges aligned, the heels of the bodies also line up (hence the poor access to the extra frets of the MK2 unless you bring your thumb round). Don't know why JC favours the MK2; if I only wanted four strings I'd stick with the mk 1. I'd like to try a MK3 though! Anyway, I've hijacked your sales thread so will wish you luck and push off 🙂
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Curious; why do you want a Mk2 especially? The MK1 is more comfortable to play, lighter for one thing. The extra frets above the octave are fun but the access isn't great. MK2 makes sense for 5 strings of course. Hope you don't regret losing such a lovely MK1.
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Indeed ... that's where I got to try one. It was near Luke and opposite me. It was an enfield (cannon?) with a "super 8" pickup I think - two quads in one casing, but with less flexibility as to where you put the coils along the strings. Not sure they make those any more. I quite liked it set in Jazz bass mode, in which it sounded quite like a normal Jazz bass. So if I wanted that sound, I'd probably buy a jazz bass. Same bloke was selling an amazing red bass with three sets of american built pickups which sounded incredible, but looked ... just weird. Cannot track that bass or its maker down.
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One Sims quad = 3 ways (4 Inc off) Two sims quads = 15 ways (4 X 4 -1) Three Sims quads = 63 ways ( 4x4x4-1 ) He missed a trick by not having positions for a) reverse p, b) both j locations. Then you could have 6x6x6-1 ways = 215 different basic pickup options. Look forward to seeing it at the next Midlands bass bash!
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That one is real. Elite vintage guitars selling under one of their pseudonyms ... https://elitevintageguitars.com/2018/09/03/wal-bass-mk-1-1983/
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Played one at a bass bash. So many pickup options! Liked it best set as a jazz bass .. it sounded like ..a jazz bass. I guess if you want one baß to make all the standard sounds ( p jazz stingray h or HH ) then it's a good idea; but if there is one sound you want then buy the bass that does it anyway. This so called MK4 Wal that's up for sale (;if you have £8k) is interesting because you get the woods and solidity of a Wal with a lot more sound options ... Doubt it sounds like a Wal, but probably does a LOT of other sounds, some of them unique.
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Doubt anyone has a circuit diagram .. and the PCB is surface mount; not easy to repair. Maybe rip it out and go passive into a piezo pre-amp (sans amp or similar). You'd lose the on board tone control and headphone socket is all.
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Shall have to revisit those later releases ... got a bit stuck on the middle years ( aka the "stupid girl" phase ). No one like Don Juan's reckless Daughter then? Don't think I've ever made it through all of Paprika Plains ... but there are good bits in there. Weird Guitar tunings and one, otherwise great, track where Jaco just fails to think up a bass line.
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Ooooh. How very dare you! Though he's not on many (most) of the tracks I like best, he certainly adds to those he's on. Coyote for instance, would not be the same; though Amelia is none the worse for his absence.
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That is an issue, especially that ott whiny vibrato on the early stuff. She got better though.
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Album? Hejira No1 . No question. I rate Mingus higher too, maybe no 2 for me. They didn't even mention miles of aisles which is excellent and has many of the songs from blue done better. Anything after (and including) wild things run fast is not much good for me.. gave up after that. Best tracks? Edith and the king pin probably, hissing of summer lawns maybe (the rest of that LP isn't close to those two). Almost anything on Hejira ( Jaco on bass aside: he's not even on some of the best tracks ) Even without the great music, some of her lyrics are brilliant " Richard got married to a figure skater, bought her a refrigerator and a coffee perculator" a particular fave ( when I'm sitting up most evenings drinking beer with the TV on 😉 ).
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^^ indeed. I do like and own some "coffee table" basses; but wooden knobs and pickups ...bit odd. Like do they have wooden windings and pole pieces .....
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David 😉 . They seem to do their own deliveries in a big van. You'd think they could arrange DHL or something. There are other rental agencies .. eg I went to try out some basses at Thwaites ( Watford) and was told that, unfortunately, most of the basses in my price range had been rented out! Some searching needed. Think bass bags have the monopoly on renting out affordable factory made basses tho.
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I was told it was the same, but "Closely resembles" according to the manual. Different then. Lots more octave shifting for starters!
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Obviously 🙂 🙂 Tablet typing, couple of whiskies ... it would have to have a treble recorder mode for me as it's the only wind instrument I've ever played. Doesn't it feel a bit wrong way round to a flautist?
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My bro has an EW 15000. Plays it in sax mode but the fingering can be changed to flute or oboe, think you can even put it in "brass mode" with simulated valves. Makes every sound under the sun.
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I wouldn't buy a double bass I hadn't played. Too many variables. In these days when you can't spend several hours trying lots of them out, rental is the way to go. Bassbags is 10 minutes from my house ... had several bits and pieces from them over the years. Tried a few of their basses and can't fault the setup ( that Eastman VB503 is nice, though the 1910 English bass was better .. I nearly bought it ). They'll probably talk you into spending more than you planned, though ... maybe it's just me being a soft touch 😉
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Or a Sandberg California. Less character than a stingray but the B string sounds much tighter. The only 34" scale bass I found to match or better the Sandberg B was a Wal ( bit more than £1k though! ).
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TRADED PENDING - Warwick Streamer $$ 5-String Nirvana Black £800
NickA replied to maxrossell's topic in Basses For Sale
Gosh, that's cheap. Rockbass price!! What year and build spec? Serial number? -
I defretted my first bass ... got the frets out with a kitchen knife (no heat required), filled the slots with plastic wood and sanded it all flat. Disaster really; it had badly aligned plastic "mother or pearl" inlaid blocks and it always buzzed on certain notes. Got an ebony board fitted by a proper guitar maker and it was just fine - and not that expensive really. On a neck without inlays it can be done OK, though the real way to fill the fret grooves is by hammering in little slips of wood ( not easy) ; some kind of epoxy filler (plastic wood or resin) will do the job ... sand flat and then put a coat of epoxy varnish over the top. The BEST way to do it is to have a new board fitted. Due to the bad taste of most of humanity, removing the frets does indeed reduce the value ... stupid, as fretless basses are so much better.
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The best controls on that Alembic were "lead guitar volume" and the "mute vocalist" switch. John McVie's ebony one was nearly as complex as that photoshop jobby and can't think what all the controls did: https://reverb.com/au/item/6414168-alembic-series-graphite-john-mcvie-actual-bass Had a trace elliot GP12SMX amp once ... so many knobs and sliders I spent hardly any time playing rather than tweaking!
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Too right ....... Pencil marks on the fingerboard 😉 big help in difficult tuning situations
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Sound travels 340m/s so 100ms is a wall 17m away. I played in Perborough cathedral once, ( HUGE space ) lt felt like forever before the first return of sound .... Which then reverbed forever and muddied the following notes - could use more damping frankly! Those Norman builders weren't hot on acoustic modelling. Think what I'd like is indeed close to an echo, but followed by random reverberation and with the initial transient smeared out. Sure I can program it somehow between the hall of fame and the flash back boxes. Just enough to sound a clear note before the effect kicks in. Meanwhile subtle plate or ambient work well.
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Got a TC Electronics Hall of Fame in the post on Saturday. "What's that do then?" said my other half. "Makes it sound like I'm playing in a huge cathedral" I explained. "Oh, right" she said " guess you don't need one to sound like a middle aged man playing all by himself in the spare room" True enough 😁. As to the little red box .. as with all TC stuff, maybe too many options, especially when you hack into the tone print editor. Seems to start the reverberation very quickly, ( max of 100ms delay ) so lacks a bit of breathing space before things get effecty. Cathedral fun aside, using it less works best. It's only for fun really, doubt I'd ever use it in a band.
