JG Special Pt 4b: Gallery - "Mk 2" JG Basses - the later models

JG1147 - Gary Tibbs' JG Bass

JG1148 - Theo de Jong's second JG bass

Our last two JG basses are a couple of celebrity specials and represent some of the latest JG basses to be made. Certainly they are the last two conventional JG basses to be detailed on the Wal bass order sheet. This also confirms that they were the last two of the batch of basses being built in February 1978. 

That period began to see the start of the transition towards what became the Pro Series bass. That "production model" carried forward many of the characteristics of the JG bass and one of today's basses shows an interesting transitional quirk.

JG Special Pt 4a: Gallery - "Mk 2" JG Basses - the later models

JG1128 - John Entwistle's fretless JG bass

JG1145 - “Snotburst” JG

In the second and third of the JG bass galleries as part of this special feature we'll take a close look at some of the later JG basses which were produced by Wal in late 1977 and through 1978. These are marked on the JG bass order sheet as being "Mk 2" versions. The changes in the basses are subtle but significant and set out the firm template for the Pro Series basses. All the elements are there - the multi-laminate neck and paddle headstocks (although some sported a fancy facing veneer), the distinctive chromed bridge, humbucking pickups and stratchplate shape. Check out the previous posts for the fuller specs.

So we've got a few real celebrity basses to share in these blogs... John Entwistle, Gary Tibbs plus a couple of other beauties... Two of the featured basses are very late models - one so late it already has a Pro Bass decal on the headstock. But it is still 100% JG series. These came to light when their current owners shared photos on the Facebook Wal fan page after JG1117 was put up for auction. Despite the heady final bid which that bass attracted (£7,400!) they were both very clear that their JG basses were definitely NOT for sale!

So let's just work our way through in numerical order...

JG Bass Special Pt 2: A tale of two basses

John Gustafson's original JG bass (JG1112) and Martin Elliott's solid ash Custom Series basses

John Gustafson in 1978 with the Gordon Giltrap Band

A few weeks ago I got a very interesting email quite out of the blue. It came from a bass player who is notable in his own terms but even more so in the inextricable links he has with the history of Wal basses. During the 1980s and 1990s Martin Elliott was a session player working on the London and wider UK session circuit. To carve out a successful living in that tough world one needs a range of skills – the ability to read accurately from a chart while simultaneously injecting real life and emotion into the notes rendered, the ability to come up with original and inventive bass lines on the spot time and time again and the ability to be the sort of person that people want to spend many, many hours shut in a claustrophobic environment with. In short, you need incredible playing skills and a winning personality.

Martin Elliott with the Michael Nyman Band
Forli, Italy, July 2016 (Photo by Francesca Lelli,
Kframe fotografia Bologna - www.kframe.it)

Across the course of his career he has played with many artists – from Petula Clark and Helen Shapiro to the Jesus And Mary Chain. However, since 1983 it is with the classical composer, Michael Nyman, that he has been most closely associated. And let’s face it, Nyman is hardly renowned for writing simple, basic bass lines. 

Elliott also has strong links with Wal basses which reach back to the early days of his session career. This has led to him owning two unique Wal basses, including being the original owner of one of the most notable Wal basses in existence – the solid ash Mk 1 which is now used to great effect by Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree.

However, his email wasn’t about his playing experiences or his basses (more of that later). No, it was about something much more intriguing…

JG Bass Special Part 1: A masterpiece of design...

Every so often something comes along in life that forces you to reevaluate. Sometimes it's something foundational and Earth-shattering and sometimes it's a tiny tweak in perspective. Over the last few weeks I've had a series of revelations about the nature of one of the early Wal bass designs. I'll leave it to the reader's discretion to decide which camp they fall into.

I have a confession to make. Having never actually had an opportunity to play a JG series Wal bass I had always considered them a bit of a homespun, stepping stone bass. A simple work in progress towards a more sophisticated, complete design - as embodied in the Pro Series bass. I now realise that assumption was very, very wrong.

Over the last few weeks there has been a strange coincidental domino effect of emails popping into my inbox and social media feeds. First an email arrived from a bass player I have long admired and whose playing with Michael Nyman scales pinnacles I can hardly dream of. In it a fascinating anecdote was related and photos of the first true JG, number JG1112 were produced. Then a JG bass suddenly turned up being offered for sale on eBay and flagged on the Wal basses fan group on Facebook. Finally, other JG owners, emboldened by the reaction to that bass joining in an online show-and-tell session showcasing their own instruments. What a treasure trove.

One thing that became clear across these communications - which encompassed the second JG ever made and one of the last - was that my presumptions about the basses were dead wrong.

Gallery - 1983 Rosewood-topped Reissue Passive Pro

1983 Rosewood-topped Reissue Passive Pro

One of the great things about a brand like Wal is that a mix of two inquiring minds and a laissez faire attitude to “standard models” throws up a whole load of interesting basses to scratch your head about. One such bass cropped up recently in an online discussion on Basschat. The then owner, Gary Mackay, offered up his 1983 reissue Passive Pro bass as an unusual example of the model. The history of the Pro Series deserves, perhaps, a little unpacking as its history isn’t necessarily straightforward.

The original Pro Series was the first standard model of Wal bass and was offered between 1978 and 1981. They offered four options – single or dual pickups and active or passive circuitry – solid ash, paddle headstocks, contoured bodies and large black scratchplates. These basses were superseded with the introduction of the Mark 1 Custom in 1981. The Pro Bass was no longer offered for sale.

However, realising that their new Custom Series were effectively luxury models Electric Wood saw that there was a space in the market for a budget Wal. But how to cut costs without cutting corners? The Reissue Pros feature a more or less standard laminates Wal neck but a slab, solid ash body and a single passive pickup (either in the bridge or neck position – the position changed over time) controlled via a small, tear drop-shaped control plate.

As a little extra bling they were often finished with a fairly plain flamed or birdseye maple veneer (and a sunburst finish to hide the veneer’s edge). Gary’s Reissue Pro, however, if the only one I’ve ever seen with a rather tasty, pale rosewood top and clear varnish. All in all a rather classy set of appointments for a supposedly “budget” bass.

Special feature: Wal Basses - the early years

Wal Basses the early years

Over the last half a century some incredible bass guitars have come from these shores. From the “yeah baby” grooviness of Burns, to the quirky ergonomics of Shergold, from the Alembic influences of Jaydee and John Birch to the macho 80s lines of Status… all classic designs in their own right. However, perhaps one other British bass stands shoulder to shoulder with them – the instruments made by Electric Wood in High Wycombe: the Wal bass. For much of the 1980s and 1990s a Wal was the must-have bass de jour for the discerning British session player and attracted a wide range of celebrity endorsees (all of whom shared one characteristic… they’d bought their own Wals - the company had a “no freebies” policy). A few years ago the brand ceased production when ill health forced the retirement of founder Peter Stevens. However, in the hands of luthier, Paul Herman, Wal has recently re-emerged so perhaps it’s perhaps an appropriate to have a look back at the birth of the brand. We’ve gathered together some of the characters who were instrumental to the story and picked their brains on those early years.

 Ian Waller - the Manchester years...

Ian Waller (second from left) in the Demons - early 1960s

Ian Waller was an enthusiast. A bass enthusiast and an enthusiastic tinkerer. From an early age he was adept with his hands - playing in bands around the early 60s Manchester scene and building instruments and pedals to power his own music. It’s a matter of record that, with US trade embargoes biting, the availability of decent instruments in the early days of the UK beat revolution was low. Many aspiring players plumped for lower cost alternatives like Hagstroms, Dallas Arbiters and Grimshaws. Others such as "Big Wal", as he had become known around the scene, went for the home-made route. Other members of those early bands recall him as a popular figure on the circuit, the quality of the bass he had made with the assistance of his father always drawing gasps of admiration from jealous musos.

Gallery - Wal MB5 5-String Midi Bass

The Wal Midi Bass has always been a bit of a rare beast. So when one turned up for sale at Bass Direct in Warwick with a sumptuous shedua/hydua top, a Mk II 5-string body and some stunning photos attached it seemed like the perfect excuse to feature this beautiful bass on the blog. Many thanks to Mark Stickley at Bass Direct for permission to use these photos. Whoever ends up purchasing this bass is in for a rare treat!

MB4s were on the more obscure and exclusive end of the Wal catalogue and were only available for a limited period of time. That said, over that short period from around 1990 they gained a reputation for being just about the only midi-bass that actually worked.

That was largely down to the genius electronics provided by Australian Steve Chick. The stroke of genius was to remove the need for the bass to midi converter to rely on a hexaphonic pickup to sense the pitch of the note being sounded. The beauty of a keyboard synthesiser is that the keys are effectively just switches. As soon as they are "on" they are "on" - there is no delay in getting them engaged. Hex pickups, on the other hand, take a few cycles of the note to sense what note is being played. For the loser notes on the bass that could potentially take more than a tenth of a second. Definitely noticeable for the listener, positively off putting for the player. Add to that the potential that overtones in the note could be interpreted as an entirely wrong note. For this reason midi basses gained a reputation for being tricky to play and badly glitchy. At the very least they demanded a very precise playing style.

Pro Series Advertising Materials Featuring John Entwistle and Percy Jones

Pro Series Advertising Materials From the 1970s Featuring John Entwistle and Percy Jones

In many ways Wal Basses grew out of Ian and Pete's friendships with the musicians who passed through Trevor Morais' Farmyard Studios. And similarly across the London session scene. Certainly a lot of musicians ended up becoming Wal's official design consultants - John G Perry, Rupert Hine, Pete Zorn and a host of others... However, in those early years only two of their muso friends actually became "official" endorsers of the brand through appearances in formal advertising materials. And the guys couldn't have asked for two more respected and influential spokespersons than John Entwistle from The Who and Percy Jones the Welsh Wizard who played the fretless bass for Brand X.

Both John and Percy had been purchasers of the early JG Series basses but it was propounding the Pro series that they appeared in print.

Wal Pro II bass review by Jimmy Bain of Rainbow and Wild Horses (Beats International, July 1980)

Jimmy sticks his neck out

The latter weeks of 2015 and the first few of 2016 have been a sad period for the music world, with so many great musicians from the heydays of 1970s rock passing away over a short period of time. So it was with great sadness that I read only a few days ago of the passing of bassist Jimmy Bain. A member of Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, Dio and Wild Horses and a collaborator with the likes of Philip Lynott and Gary Moore his distinctive bass playing and songwriting was embedded within the hard rock landscape of the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

His passing, reminded me of an article from the July 1980 edition of Beats International which I had picked up a few years ago on eBay. In the article Bain gives his opinion, as an experienced player, on the passive Wal Pro II bass. The article is reproduced below and I hope is some sort of fitting tribute to him as a bass player. Rest in Peace, Jimmy. 



Hi-Res scans of the original article can be found here:

WAL Pro ll Bass

Price: £529 inc. VAT

Reviewed by: Jimmy Bain

ALL PRO'S - NO CONS

What we have here is the second in a range of four basses made and distributed by Electric Wood in High Wycombe (Tel: 0494 442925/6). In all honesty it's one of the most powerful basses I've ever tried out. I normally turn the bass up full and set my Marshall on about 6. With this bass full on, 2 on the Marshall is easily loud enough.

Getting down to details, the head on the bass is very square in design, very sturdy, and fitted with Schaller machine heads which are the best heads for basses you can buy. They're accurate and keep their tuning well. The strings run through metal pieces on the head which keeps them down low for a smooth action.

The neck is a lovely piece of work. The centre section is hornbeam and the outer section is maple. The neck is inlaid with red stripes which are made of a sympathetic wood from the Amazon called mukalunga. It's chosen because it's totally non-porous and remarkably straight. On top of all this lies an Indian rosewood fretboard which is shipped from Bombay to Germany. In Germany the wood's cut (Germany have the best cutting equipment) and it's then shipped to England.

Published obituaries for Ian Waller and Pete Stevens

Published obituaries in the music press for Ian Waller and Pete Stevens

This post gathers together some of the obituaries for Ian and Pete which were published in the music press. There are three here, two for Ian (from the UK's Guitarist Magazine and the US Guitar World magazine) and one for Pete in the UK's Bass Guitar Magazine. If my memory serves, I am aware of one more which marked Ian's passing and was published in the UK's late, lamented musos' free-sheet, "Making Music" but my copy of that vanished many years ago...

Gallery - Reissue Pro Bass

Gallery: Early and mid 1980s reissue passive Pro basses

Andy Baxter, of Andy Baxter Basses in London takes some amazing photos to display the basses which he has on display in his shop. This includes a number of lovely Wal basses. He has kindly given permission to display some of these on this blog. This gives a really good representation of the various models in the Wal range over the years. The ones displayed here give a really good representation of how the details of these basses changed over the years...

1982 reissue Pro bass:  

Wal MB4 midi bass review from Guitarist magazine - February 1990

Wal MB4 midi bass review from Guitarist Feb 1990

ELECTRIC WOOD
Wal MB4 MIDI Bass

As MIDI controllers grow in type and in complexity, one instrument seems to have been overlooked - the bass guitar has always been the 6- string’s poor relation... Review by Ollie Crooke.

AS A BASS PLAYER who works a great deal in a MIDI pre-production studio, I have spent the last few years gnashing my teeth in jealousy as controllers for drummers, guitarists, saxophonists and trumpeters have come on to the market; there just didn’t seem to be much commercial interest in making MIDI accessible in any acceptable form to bass players. I contacted Yamaha, who make guitar and saxophone controllers (both of which I have bought in frustration) to ask if they had any plans to develop something to help me, and was told that although the technology was of course available, such a development was highly unlikely, as there was not a sufficient market to make it worth their while. Well, I hope this instrument proves them wrong.

I am hardly unbiased, but I believe that the potential of a MIDI bass controller is immense - even more so when coupled with a machine like the Simmons SDX and a good drummer. Whole rhythm sections can be recorded into a sequencer, edited, looped, tightened up and generally manipulated, giving whatever balance of human feel and computer precision you require. Exciting, eh? Like drums, although great bass parts can and have been programmed from a keyboard, most of them don’t sound the same as if they’d been played by a real bassist or drummer. Neither is there any of the spontaneity or interaction generated by a good rhythm section playing together. And as there just happens to be a Simmons SDX lying around in my studio, perhaps you can understand my desperation for a decent MIDI bass controller...

Wal Pro Series basses article from The Guitar Magazine, early 2000s

Article from the UK's The Guitar Magazine on the Wal Pro Series basses from the early 2000s

Wal Pro-1 Bass 

Review category: Basses

A great opportunity to get your hands on a genuine Wall for a fraction of the price you may have expected

Founded in the mid-'70s with a commitment to high-quality design and construction, Electric Wood (the company that made Wal basses) was responsible for some of the best machines ever to grace the woofers of your hi-fi.

The Pro range of basses, from the entry-level Pro-I, to the top-of-the-line Pro-IIE, encapsulated all the ideas and innovations that Wal was known for.

You may not be able to buy a new one, but all the Wal Pro series are excellent second-hand buys. Of the four instruments in the range, the Pro-I offers the least in the way of refinements, though you still get a handmade pro-quality bass guitar. The others in the range are the Pro-II (two pickups), The Pro-IE (active), and the Pro-IIE (two pickups, active circuitry).

In action, the Pro-I is a beast of distinction, easy and comfortable to play, with a lovely thick, woody tone. It gives a very chunky 70s sound, but with some adjustment to the pickup, a wider range of sounds can be achieved.

Wal custom built basses, rarities & oddities...

Wal custom built basses, rarities & oddities

Throughout their history, Electric Wood were known for their custom builds alongside their production models. Whether it was the iconic triple neck or a tweak to the established formula, if you could convince Ian or Pete then the world was your oyster. However, they had to be convinced it would work. They remained craftsmen, dedicated to building beautifully crafted working tools for working musicians. The weird and wonderful but frankly silly basses could be left for other builders. 

When visiting their workshops in High Wycombe it was not so unusual to see the odd Strat shaped guitar (albeit sporting the characteristic Wal laminated body) hanging from the guitar rack. Alongside might be a Jazz bass in for renovation. However, despite that their passion remained for the basses for which they had become known.

There were a few oddities, though. This page showcases a few of Wal's more unusual creations.

Wal Double Neck Basses

Double-necked Wal basses.

Over the years Electric Wood have made a number of double-necked basses.  Although not exactly common there are a good few examples out there.  

 

The original idea for a Wal double neck came from renowned bassist, Jonas Hellborg, who approached Wal in 1983 with the idea of building a unique bass which
combined fretted and fretless necks. Of course, Wal had some history with multi-necked basses having built the iconic Wal Triple Neck for Roger Newell in Rick Wakeman's band in the early 1970s. The triple neck was, however, somewhat "agricultural" in its lack of finesse. It predated the development of Wal's proprietary pickups, electronics and bridge using off the shelf components. Hellborg's double neck was to be a rather slicker affair.

Bassist magazine feature, January 2000 - "My bass(es) are... Four Wals"

My Basses are...   Four Wals

Steve Weston wanted a Wal. Then he wanted another. And another. Then? Well, we'll let him tell you...

I will never forget the first time I heard a Wal, it was in 1983 and being very ably played by Colin Bass of Camel. I'd had a number of basses over the years, Rickenbacker, Fender, Ibanez etc, but had never quite managed to capture that elusive sound that I wanted from any of them. Anyway there I was watching Camel and I was suddenly being blown away by this amazing bass, loud in the mix without being overpowering, driving, clear and very tight. I decided then and there that I had to have one.

Anyway as it turned out, deciding I had to have one was the easy bit. It actually took me two years of saving, gigging on reduced curry and beer intake (slightly) before I had enough cash to realise my dream, a 1984 Custom 4 string purchased from a reluctant seller in London.

The bass as it was then had a Mahogany body, Electric Wood standard, with Walnut facings and an ebony fretless fingerboard, great looks, and yes, it had that great fretless Wal sound which suited me exactly at the time due to the material we were playing. I later had luthier Pete the Fish at Electric Wood make me a fretted neck so I had some opportunity to change style from time to time. In one form or the other it was my only bass for the next 6/7 years and it never let me down once.

Wal MB4 midi bass

The Wal MB4 MIDI Bass.

The Wal MB4 midi-bass was a relatively short lived collaboration between Electric Wood and Australian bass player/designer Steve Chick.  The system allowed a bass player to control a midi synthesizer directly from the bass with both accurate note tracking with immediate sounding notes.  A common problem for early guitar and bass to midi converters was the so-called "midi-delay" – the almost imperceptible (but still noticeable and distracting) delay between hitting a note and the note sounding. This was down to the physics of the leading technology used at the time for sensing the notes.

The main sensor on most synth controllers at the time was the so called "hex pickup". These thin pickups could usually be seen squeezed in between the bridge pickup and the bridge itself - indeed, kits were available allowing you to stick a hex pickup on your own favourite guitar. The triggering delay was caused by the time taken for the midi hex pick-up to sense the note being played. All the information about that note was conveyed to the midi converter by the hex pickup and therein lay its weakness. To sense the pitch of the note, the pickup needed to listen to a few full vibrations of the string. This wasn't such a problem when shredding away at the top of a guitar neck. The time taken for the string to vibrate a couple of times was minimal and imperceptible. 

My basses: non-Wal basses...

Not all my basses are Wals (or even British) but they all have a story to tell. Featured here on this post are my Frankenjazz project bass which was based on a Signature Jazz Bass I bought off eBay, my Tony Revell hand build acoustic bass and my first ever bass, an Aria SB700 from 1981.

Signature Jazz Bass copy: my Frankenjazz...

My basses: 1978 Wal Pro series bass - PB1291

1978 Wal Pro series bass - PB1291: 

 

   

My Pro bass is a "Pro IIE" which was, according to records at Electric Wood, completed on 24 September 1979.  The Pro Series was Wal's first production bass line (hence "Pro") and the IIE signifies twin pickups and active circuitry. Like my Mark I Custom Series Wal this is another beautifully built bass. It has a translucent (strawberry) red finish over a solid ash body that the photos simply do not do justice to.  It is so rich! The body shape and size is similar to the "Custom Series" basses although the forearm chamfer is much more angular than on the Custom Bass. The neck is much the same construction as the newer Wall basses, although with a larger "paddle" style headstock.  However, the neck profiles are quite different - the "Pro" has a comfortable and fast C shaped neck while the "Custom" is rather more "V shaped".  In addition, the neck features carbon fibre stiffening rods within the construction of the neck.

My basses: 1985 Wal Custom 4-string bass - W2601

I am lucky enough to have what I consider to be a small but perfectly formed collection of bass guitars. First of all I'm the owner of two bass guitars from one of Britain's most respected builders... Wal Basses by Electric Wood.  These are a beautiful red "Pro series" bass from 1979 and a schedua topped  "Custom series" bass from 1985.  I also have another British-built bass, a custom built acoustic bass made by the luthier, Tony Revell, from the south of Wales. Alongside that I've got a couple of other lovely basses, an old Aria SB700 (my first ever bass - awww!) and a customised Jazz bass copy with an interesting story to tell. First up is my main bass for over twenty years, my 1985 Mk I Custom series bass.

 

1985 Wal Custom 4-string bass - W2601: