A Wal mkII inspired Alembic?

[blackelan]

I went direct to Pual Herman who runs Wal now and they have no authorized dealers as of yet. I was on the wait list for close to two years and when it was time I sent my deposit and the bass was ready in 4 months time. I am ordering another one and there is no wait list but the build time now is one year.

[jazzyvee]

I just listened to the link to Jason Newstead playing bass with distortion. After watching it,  and may I add, each to their own, but distortion on bass still does nothing for me. It seems a odd to me  to have a bass that is primarily known for its clean hi-fi sound and then distort it to such an extent that that it's audio origin is invisible.
 
Yes I admit to adding some overdrive to my guitar sound and that includes my alembic guitars but only enough to give the sound a bit of edge in a bluesy way and not in a way that completely saturates and discolours the sound.
 
But on bass.... hmmm, for me the jury has passed it's verdict. However an appeal can be lodged by way of other sample video's that prove differently. :-)
 
I'm happy to be re-educated in this respect.
Jazzyvee

[blackelan]

Jazzyvee,
 
I am not a fan of Jason's distorted tone myself, in fact if you ever listen to older Metallica live shows when he used Wals it was quite a horrible tone. I recommend listening to Justin Chancellor's of Tools distorted tone because he runs a clean channel at the same time and the effect is amazing, Jambi is a song to give a listen to. Also checkout a band called Scubacult for a great distorted Wal tone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loJ_3hXHNBY

[edwin]

I would suggest listening to Jack Casady for bass distortion. Perhaps Water Song from Burgers with Hot Tuna (pretty over the top, but a nice sound) and then various selections from After Bathing at Baxter's, especially Wild Tyme. He used an amp called a Versatone that was designed for an ultra clean tone (it had two tube amps driving one speaker or some such thing) and he immediately cranked it and loved the tone. Apparently he had some input into the SWR Interstellar Overdrive, which was based on tube power amp distortion.
 
Edwin

[dadabass2001]

Oh my! How about Crown of Creation' and Greasy Heart (both on Crown of Creation)? Also check out Sunrise and A Child is Coming from the Blows Against The Empire Paul Kantner/Grace Slick LP. Sunrise is just Grace on vocals and at least three (if not four) overdubs of Jack on bass.
Jack's overdrive was obviously level dependent, I love (and for a while chased) that tone! Living in Iowa, I never saw his gear and didn't know of Versatone or tube overdrive wisdom, I was trying for it with a little 5 watt solid state amp driving the input to my Ampeg SBT (also solid state). Jack sometimes balanced just on the edge of overdrive, so that he could use distortion as an expression technique based on touch.
Mike

[jazzyvee]

Actually I have remembered a track with overdrive on bass that I really like. But i think it's a piccolo bass. It's the track. Quiet Afternoon on Stanley Clarke's I wanna Play for you live album. But that is playing a melody and not a bass line as such.
 
Jazzyvee

[tmoney61092]

My Generation and The Real Me by The Who, perfect distorted bass tone
 
~Taylor

[eligilam]

Hey blackelan, thanks for the scubacult link...I've become a fan since seeing that clip (and the others on youtube).  Great tone that guy's got.
 
Oh, and on the subject of songs with bass distortion, there are lots of great ones I can think of, but my all-time favorite is The Real Thing from FaithNoMore's 1989 album of the same name.  Bill Gould got that tone through an old Peavey amp (a Mark something? ).