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NEW WAL WEBSITE UP AND RUNNING!

#81
john turner said:
a shame about how folks who are not interested in these instruments anyway feel the need to post their dissatisfaction with the price. really unnecessary. :eyebrow:

interesting story about wals - i wrote them a letter in october of '86, my freshman year at ga tech. i asked them if they would build me a 6 string, and how much would it cost. they sent me a very cordial response telling me they did not build guitars, only basses (heh - i was pretty clear about wanting a 6 string bass, but guess it didn't click in my letter) and they also sent a copy of their catalog at the time. i still have that catalog - same one they have pictures of on their website.

i wonder how different my life would have been if they did, back then, build 6 strings, and i got em started on building me one - i was working part time while in college, along with actually making money at gigs, and could have put the money together i would have needed.

man. a 19 year old me with a 6 string wal. that would have been neat.
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That's a pretty cool story, ironic now that they're about to make 6er's huh.
 
#82
Great great news!!!

I have four Wals and I'll gladly pay for a fifth when (and if) I have the money (In fact that is an objective for next year, hopefully). They are that good, IMHO.

I would even say that Wal is the Ferrari of bass.

It's a lot of money, indeed, but you simply cannot get that tone with any other bass: The main secret is the electronics, which are proprietary and unique. I don't think that aspect of Wal basses has changed a bit throughout the different eras: At least one of my Wals is from the mid-80s (when Ian Waller was still alive) and I would say that all of them have that great tone and versatility (although there are slight differences among them because of other factors, including the woods).

Not the cup of tea for many, agreed, but if you want to get that tone from Tool, Rush (in several albums), Failure, RHCP (in Blood Sugar Sex Magik), Porcupine Tree, Mick Karn, Percy Jones, Laurence Cottle, XTC (also in several albums) and many others, only a Wal can deliver it. Period.


In Absentia said:
I can finally get that early Porcupine Tree sound (I hope). This is very exciting news for me.
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I saw Porcupine Tree in Baltimore last week (they were touring the U.S. in September), and Colin Edwin was playing his two Wals (which is uncommon - until recently he was touring only with his Spectors). What a show and what a bass sound. It was amazing!
 
#87
Luis Arturo said:
I saw Porcupine Tree in Baltimore last week (they were touring the U.S. in September), and Colin Edwin was playing his two Wals (which is uncommon - until recently he was touring only with his Spectors). What a show and what a bass sound. It was amazing!
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I can't believe that you got to see the fabled Wals. Colin Edwin is my bass hero. He can do no wrong in my eyes.
 
#88
In Absentia said:
I can't believe that you got to see the fabled Wals. Colin Edwin is my bass hero. He can do no wrong in my eyes.
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Oh, yes! I saw them also in Baltimore (at the Rams Head) almost two years ago (Fear of a Blank Planet tour) and Colin had only Spectors at that time. But this time (The Incident tour) it was the Wals mostly (one fretted and one fretless)... When the concert finished I approached the stage just to have a closer view of the basses, and I was drooling there for a long while until my wife snapped her fingers to end the spell... :)
 
#89
CliffD said:
That's a pretty cool story, ironic now that they're about to make 6er's huh.
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they actually made the 6 string mkIII's in the 90's. there was a used one at bass palace and the swami there wanted a little over $2k for it around '99, or thereaobuts. i played it at the shop for a while and i really loved it, but i could not justify dumping $2k on a 6 string when i played 7's. of course, at the time i had no idea they were going to get so rare, or i would have been all over it.
 
#90
Hoover said:
That's wonderful info. Now...anyone know similar details about Mick Karn's instrument chronology? Because I'd always heard that he used a Travis Bean on the Japan albums, and didn't get his Wal until his solo career. I could of course be wrong, but just wondering if there's anything authoritative out there?
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Huge Mick Karn fan here.

Mick used the Travis Bean up to (and including) Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Tin Drum and Oil on Canvas are 100% Wal.

As a post-Japan solo artist, he uses the Wal, a Klein "K" Bass, and recently he's added an Eastwood EUB-1 to his stable (note text blurb on top of following picture).

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#91
Caca de Kick said:
JT, Do you want to sell that brochure????
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heh. lemme see if i can find it one of my old storage boxes - i have an old tobias catalog from '88 too somewhere, in my old namm stashes.

i might not want to get rid of it, but i would certainly scan it in to the computer. the first page of it is the same as this one...

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from the new site, and it has a lot of other cool pics and such.
 
#93
if i can find the catalog, i should also scan in the letter of them very courteously telling me they don't make guitars lol :D. i was so disappointed - i was ready to dedicate my life to having them build me a bass heh.

i mean, everything worked out in the end, but man, that would have been cool.
 
#94
john turner said:
they actually made the 6 string mkIII's in the 90's. there was a used one at bass palace and the swami there wanted a little over $2k for it around '99, or thereaobuts. i played it at the shop for a while and i really loved it, but i could not justify dumping $2k on a 6 string when i played 7's. of course, at the time i had no idea they were going to get so rare, or i would have been all over it.
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According to the history on the website, the MkII was originally a 5 string, and 4s followed, and the MkIII was designedas a 6, with 4s and 5s following. There are a few 6 string wals floating around TB.
 
#96
Jjango said:
Huge Mick Karn fan here.

Mick used the Travis Bean up to (and including) Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Tin Drum and Oil on Canvas are 100% Wal.

As a post-Japan solo artist, he uses the Wal, a Klein "K" Bass, and recently he's added an Eastwood EUB-1 to his stable (note text blurb on top of following picture).

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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An Eastwood EUB?! Really? That's cool. I own a fretted one EAB. It's nice to know he won't make a distinction between a $5000 bass and a $500 bass. In his hands, I'll bet they both sound magical.

I own a '94 fretless Wal Mach I. I got lucky, I found it on ebay about 5 years ago for $1400, which was more than I'd ever paid for any bass at that time. It was considered a steal. I bought it because I fell in love with Mick Karn's tone from the Dali's Car CD.

I agree $5000 is a lot of money, and had I not found a used one for a decent price it might be hard to justify paying that amount of money on a bass. But I will say this, they're totally worth the price. Yeah, of course a $500 G&L L2000 is a sweet bass for the money and will get you through a gig just fine, but you simply have to experience a Wal bass to understand the hype. It's a fully custom, hand-made instrument, right down to their own pickups. Debate it if you will, but THERE ISN'T ANOTHER BASS ON THE PLANET WITH A BETTER PREAMP/ELECTRONICS. Better than Alembic, IMO, and we all know what an Alembic goes for. IF, and I mean a big IF, I had to criticize a Wal, I'd say that there are probably better bridges out there, the neck profile (at least on mine) is a bit too thin and radius a bit to flat than I'm used to, and the extremely versatile preamp/EQ can be sometimes hard to find your sounds again, since the sweep of low pass filters can change your tone to the extreme with even the most minute of turns of the dials (It's not like a Jazz bass - turn everything up and it will still be there the next time you turn everything up again). But I guarantee there isn't a bad sound on these basses.
 
#98
lousybassplayer said:
According to the history on the website, the MkII was originally a 5 string, and 4s followed, and the MkIII was designedas a 6, with 4s and 5s following. There are a few 6 string wals floating around TB.
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the 6 i played was a really sweet bass. it would have definitely found a permanent home had i purchased it back then.
 
#99
Alvaro Martín Gómez A.;8054164 said:
Fortunately for me, Wals don't produce me GAS pains in spite of loving Geddy's tone during the "Show Of Hands" era. But anyway I find that cult to those basses interesting and I have a question: As far as I understand, the magic of these instruments lays mainly on the electronics package designed for them by Ian Waller. Has anybody compared a Waller-era Wal with a Stevens-only Wal? Do they sound the same? If so, do you expect the "Herman Wals" to preserve that tone? Just curious.
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Ian Waller ('Wal') designed the electronics while Pete Stevens did the wood working. The electronics have not changed since Ian's death. One of my Wals (the doubleneck) is signed in the cavity by Wal, which (as I understand it) means he did the final setup / quality inspection at the shop.

FWIW, Paul Herman signed off inside my fretless 5 string and I don't know how much of a hand he had in building it but it is hands down the best feeling and playing Wal that I've owned (and I've had 13). I'd love a 6 string version of it - gotta start saving! :hyper:

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