TrevorR

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1478120745' post='3166968']
Lets face it, he sang one of the best rock songs of all time!
[/quote]

Not listened to this in a while but loving the great Clem Cattini's drumming and Alan Tarney's bass.

I've got a soft spot for ol' Riff Pilchard but if I'm gonna watch a superannuated rock star sing Roll Over Beethoven it's going to be this one!

http://youtu.be/RJRZcbqcYkY

Started with a 75W Laney Linebacker combo in 1982.

Graduated to a Trace Elliott Series 6 1215 combo in 1988 (thanks to some industrial sponsorship money which went along with my university research grant) which I played for the next 20 years.

An SWR Workingman's 10 joined as a practice amp in about 2002.

In 2007 the TE fell off a luggage trolley on a load in and died. Having a gig the following Saturday it was rapidly replaced with an Ashdown MAG300evo and Ashdown 4x10 (act in haste and repent in leisure) which over the course of a year I grew to loathe. I just couldn't get it to sound good to my ears. I bought it because my chum had an old, black (UK built I later learned) MAG300 which my bass sounded amazing through. So...

In 2008 I got a Markbass Little Mark II, a 2x10 Traveler speaker and a 1x15 Traveler speaker and now I'm in hog's heaven with my sound. I love that amp set up. Sold off the SWR (which I was really sad to see go) and the cursed Ashdowns on eBay. No inclination of changing amps again at the moment. Ask me in 2028...

All the discussions on here remind be terribly of what it was like in the early mid-2000s at Wal as Pete found his health deteriorating and his lease crumble from under him a couple of time in quick sucession. For a while he didn't have the heart to turn down orders (always assuming things would pick up, I guess) and of course that only left him further and further behind on orders being left unfulfilled. As I recall it was only when some friends and family convinced him to close the order book and just work on the orders he had that he started to whittle it down. Even then I also think that Paul ended up finishing off a few pre-existing orders when he took over the reigns in 2008/2009.

I do hope that Zon aren't entering into that kind of phase as well...

When we did La Bamba we'd alternate the chorus with the Beatles version of Twist and Shout, that worked well. And watching Shrek yesterday with the nipper in the karaoke party at the end the do a great mash up of Listen To The Music and Happy Together I'd love to try sometime.

Lots of "proper" tunes that ended up doing double duties as TV themes. Here are some of my faves...

Heartsong - Gordon Giltrap, Holiday
http://youtu.be/ktRsmHrLHU4

Billy Taylor Trio - I wish I knew how it would feel to be free, Film'XX
http://youtu.be/jlH_XFuf3wU

Kate Rusty - Village Green Preservation Society, Jam and Jerusalem
http://youtu.be/HGnNQ6PX-Mg

Siobhan Maher Kennedy - I wanna see the bright lights tonight, sitcom can't remember the name
Nantucket Sleighride's already been mentioned.

Light Flight - Pentangle, Take three girls
http://youtu.be/d9gCN9-

Theme and Variations 1-4, Andrew Lloyd Webber, South Bank Show (the original version features Coliseum as the backing band with Don Airey, Gary Moore, John Hiseman and John Mole plus Barbara Thompson and Rod Argent!) Most but not all on this vid...
http://youtu.be/TMCb90JpvxY

Here's a little video playlist for ya...
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGIYNBxcSZ3s4Q2qC42nv4yaQbP7KHKEd

I'm kinda in between. I always take good care of my basses and everyone comments on how great they look for instruments that get regular play. However, if one gets a bit of a ding, well that's life/entropy. I can't help feeling that if that's the worst thing that happens in a week or if that's the worst thing I have to worry about then life can't be too bad, can it.

I blame Markbass with their thoughtlessly named New York range of combos!

Not gigging at the mo, but this is my rig for gigs... sparkly curtain optional. Nowadays a pedalboard might be included. Might not though.





The Markbass replaced this fella who served me for a couple of decades...

We used to do The Joker by Steve Miller and slip in a touch of Don't Fear The Reaper.

A chum of mine used to play organ at a church I went to and would improvise around a classical piece for the collection. After the service when we were having coffee I would be challenged to identify the "classic" on which his variation might be based... "Money makes the world go round", "Money, Money, Money", "Ain't too proud to beg", "Money" (Pink Floyd or Flying Lizards versions), "Ain't nothin going on but the rent"... convinced no one else in the congregation sussed.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1477653628' post='3163585']
Hi trev prob pending how much time they had on their hands at the time,
mine is 82 and is definitely wax polished finished, i remember pete talking about it when i had another refinished,
if i had another one made i would go for body stripes and a hand finish
[/quote]

Cool! That's the thing with Wals, being hand built there are loads of variations and anomalies. Partly because they were open to people making non-standard orders but also because they were the types who would try stuff out... vis the transition Pro/Custom models with the inlaid coach-lining etc. However long I've been geeking out over Wal basses there's still always something new to learn!

I suppose I should join in...



About 5 years ago...


About 10 years ago...


Before the flood!


Still own and play all those basses!

Just had a squint on their eBay shop and they're consistently selling mid range gear at £2-300 over the usual market price. A natural Cort A4 for £900 anyone? £800 for a Washburn AB10?

As others have said, nothing strictly illegal but it does make me frown a bit at that attitude, caveat emptor or not.

Actually, do you have any idea how little good audio/video quality footage of Japan post '81 is available on YouTube? Most of it is not available on mobile platforms or has been blocked by BBC Worldwide. And on their really good OGWT show Mick's playing oboe for half of it!! But have stuck on a few more verifiably Karn/Wal tracks...

[quote name='matski' timestamp='1477659437' post='3163652']


Not to be too much of a pedant, but actually the (original) version of Quiet Life on Trevor's Playlist features the Travis Bean and not the Wal shown in the video. This clip was filmed later when the song was re-released and Mick Karn was just swapping to using Wal at that point.
[/quote]

#shock! Surely you're not implying that he's miming in the video????? #lol

If I get your requirements right... main stereo out plus 4 separate aux outs per channel you do just need to go up in spec and up in price... there is a Behringer desk on GAK that has 4 dedicated aux per channel plus monitor and fx sends for each. However, that's in the £600 price range.

But a compromise might be this https://www.gak.co.uk/en/behringer-zenyx-qx2442usb-mixer/101213 , the Behringer Xenyx QX2442USB Mixer.

Each channel has 2 dedicated aux sends plus a monitor and an fx send. You could use the monitor send and the FX send as Aux 3 and Aux 4 (because that's all they are really). Price for that one is £327. Dearer but not that much dearer...

I've never had the opportunity but it would be really interesting to have the chance to have a compare/contrast between the two - esp if they were similarly specced . As you said, clearly some inspiration behind the design/approach (which is fair enough). I keep looking at ACGs and thinking that they look like really nicely put together, well built basses and very reasonably priced for what they offer at all spec levels. However, for me they're just one of those brands where the aesthetics of any of the models don't do it for me.

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1477341294' post='3161624']
73 is no age either. Always loved his version of 'Take good care of my baby', one of Carole King's best pop songs.
RIP.
[/quote]

I forgot that was a Goffin and King number!

If the OP has been playing trombone for years and has learned his way around a bass neck by ear I would have thought there was some simple cross application of knowledge. From trombone presumably he knows what major and minor scales sound like, and how the intervals within those scales work in relation to the tonic and each other?

A first step would be to learn the notes on the bass neck up to the 7th fret on each string and then expand that to the 12th. Then learn some basic movable scale shapes (major, minor, and pentatonic). Then from that work out the shapes for each interval in the major and minor scale.

In combination those would give a lot of info and codification of what was being played even by ear, what chord tones were included in the lines being played and what intervals. It would also provide suggestions for other notes within lines both for working out songs or creating lines.

Now I know... before anyone says, "Play the notes not the shapes". That's all well and good, but scale and chord shapes are a good way of starting to relate notes in lines to the physical space on the fingerboard, to internalise the board and build intuition and muscle memory. They have a very useful place in starting out.

In this context the transposing nature of the trombone vs the non transposing nature of the bass is a red herring. If the music or chord sheet says C then play a C. If the chord is a C major play notes and intervals within the C major scale, to begin with, adding whatever blue or grace notes feel right... Don't over think it.

Another top voice of the early years of rock and roll has gone. Maybe never in the league of the Presley's, Vincent's etc but he recorded some fine tunes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37756170

Like others, all are important to me. However, my prime concern would be the bass. That's the primary interface between me and the sound and so I really want it to feel right under my fingers. It's the sound source... GIGO...

Amps I have almost always run flat or near flat anyway. Cabs I've had less experience swapping and changing. But all my gear is Of at least a decent quality. That's a must for me.

Thing is I don't want any of the items in the signal chain to be completely rubbish. And with any averagely good gear, of course I'd be able to play fine although maybe with less ultimate pleasure in the playing. However if it's a choice of 1 brilliant element and the rest perfectly servicible I'll go with a great bass every time. If it's a choice of 1 brilliant element and the rest of the gear absolute dogs... I'd probably still go for bass...

Thanks. It was great fun to do. Nick's idea for last year's Bass Bash. Some unashamed geekery!

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1477261199' post='3161020']
Which is the case for many other basses at a quarter of the cost. I'm starting to smell Wal-elitism (Walism).
[/quote]

Nope, those of us who love Wals love them because we really rate them and they do it for us look, feel and sound wise. Others may hate them (and there are plenty of threads here that espouse their fuglyness), consider their tone controls too complicated or find their design or neck shape ungainly. There are plenty of basses that for me have been hit by the ugly stick too whether they are Bongos, ACGs, Foderas or pretty much any modern single cut. Doesn't mean that those who extol their beauty, playability or sound are elitist either... they're just fans too.

Cf the response to any other enthused after bass on here whether it's P bass fanatics... "They just sit in a mix like no other bass", "Its only one sound but, boy, what a sound." "It's not just a one sound bass, they're really versatile." etc etc or whatever. I'd call that enthusiasm not snobbery (inverted or otherwise).

As to Wals. I'm a fan. No arguments there. Does that mean I look down on other basses or those who play them? Don't be ridiculous. However, I will say that, for me they play beautifully ("for me", underlined twice in red pencil with a ruler) and I am able to get a range of tones out of my Wal bass that I've genuinely not found on any other active or passive bass I've tried out. They are exquisitely hand built in small numbers using almost only proprietary hardware (the tuners, strap buttons and fret wire being the only off the shelf items I can think of on a Wal).

The OP asked what it was that Wal fans love about Wal basses and why they seem to be so highly rated by many. In that context a bunch of posts from past and present owners saying, "I know I'm biased but in my eyes they're fab because..." really isn't elitism. It's justifiable enthusiasm in response to a request for enthusiasm from a bunch of enthusiasts. I love my Wals and I love playing them but it doesn't mean I look down on the Aria SB700 I was playing this morning and this evening - though I will concede that, as lovely as it played and sounded in my eyes the Wal is a better more versatile bass. Just is.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1477218475' post='3160578']
We are told (with some vehemence...) in another topic, that, with judicious EQ from a Good PA System, one may get a more-than-adequate bass drum sound from a humble biscuit tin (this may be slight exaggeration...)...
[/quote]

Yeah, but you didn't ACTUALLY believe that did you? ;-)

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1477223609' post='3160628']


There are some sounds a wal can get that no other bass on the planet can get.
here is one if your into dub reggae or ragga,

pick up pot to neck pick up only
neck tone to "0" pot pulled out
vol pot 10 also pulled out for pick attack.

that sound is the lowest bass sound i have ever heard but still has a high click to it, but still tight sounding,
you wont find that on any other bass.
wal players will know what i mean
big fat and lush,
[/quote]

Used pretty much that sound (though I had the tones on 2 and 8) every time we ever played Roxanne, Walking On The Moon, No Woman No Cry, One Love or It Must Be Love!

A lot of people talk about "The Wal Sound" which it true but they often kinda follow that with "But what if I don't want to sound like Geddy Lee in the late 80s?" which misses the point completely. The Wal is a hugely versatile bass with an astonishing range of amazing tones which it can produce. It can bark but it can purr and roar too. Compare Percy Jones with Geddy with Bruce Thomas with Lol Cottle with Colin Moulding, with Macca, with Colin Edwin, with Colin Bass, with John Illsley... many colours of chalk with many flavours of cheese.