So, I bought a WD about a year ago. Didn't play it first and had never really played a Walkabout.
Anyway, I am familiar with my WD now. What would you said the difference is or what the WD "lacks"
or can't do that the D+ brings to the table IYHO, please
What I've heard was, the Deep switch on the D+ may bring more low end than the WD, and the voicing knob and the simplified tone controls makes it easier to find one's sound and the D seems quicker than the WD.
Don't get me wrong, I love my WD!
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Well take everything I say with a grain of salt because literally this is based upon a day or less of playing in my living room no band no gig.
I have the WD 800 and the D 800+ plugged into identical side-by-side stacks. So I’m able to do pretty quick comparisons. I also ran the tuner out of one amp into the input of the other amp and they sound really good together driving that stereo rig but I know there is a small effect upon tone of the second amp when you do this so I did my comparisons straight into the input jack of each.
The WD is very responsive to the instrument. That is, it sounded quite different with my Valenti 5 than it did with my Tobias 4. Despite the WD having what I consider more of a signature sound, the character of the instrument seems to shine through. The Valenti has a pretty aggressive top and it’s not shy in the lows but it likes them to be bumped a bit. My 1986 Tobias is a low end monster. It has a different voicing in the top end.
When I play the Valenti and compare the amplifiers the WD definitely sounds brighter even with the bright switch engaged on the plus. When I play the Tobias, the WD sounds darker than the plus as long as the plus has the bright switch engaged.
You can mess around with the tone controls on each amplifier to make them sound pretty similar in any given situation but it’s only ballpark. You can definitely hear the different voice of each amp even when they’re set to where your ears they sound pretty similar. This often requires different settings on each amplifier. ~ To be honest, I ran into the phenomenon of every time I switched amplifiers I decided that the one I just plugged into sounded better! This was with identical volume set by ear not by eye. Although the middle damping setting is my favorite on the WD, I tried to do most of my comparison with it set to high to mimic the hardwired damping in the plus.
The voicing control on the plus is a lot more musical and a lot more subtle than similar controls. I am accustomed to the dramatic enhance knob on the Eden amp or the Aural enhancer on the SWR. The voicing on the plus is really usable throughout its entire range. It depends upon the bass What kind of effect this ends up adding. With the Valenti it had the instant effect of sounding great but also made the amp sound quieter than the WD. Have no fear, I could turn it up and shake the house and it got every bit as loud as it normally does. But I was taking out some of the mid range that helped that bass cut through. With the Tobias it seemed to have no appreciable affect upon the perceived volume of the amplifier.
The deep switch on the plus is very useful depending upon the bass guitar. It was a bit too much with the Tobias, and that was the bass that I originally tried the D 800 with in the store where I mentioned that the deep switch was a bit boomy. With the Valenti the deep switch sounds magnificent. It’s one of those things where you cannot replicate it with the bass control. Speaking of, the bright switch is one of those things that you cannot replicate with the treble control. I tried. It sounded fantastic with both basses. Even though the Valenti is aggressive up top The bright switch emphasizes a different range which just makes it sparkle without being unpleasant, while it really made the Tobias sound fantastic. I should mention that it is time to change the strings on the Tobias. Well... probably overdue. The bright switch really makes the plus a different amplifier than the D 800. Of course the semi parametric mid range and bypass filter are also great features over the original 800 but if I had to choose just one feature it would be the bright switch. It would be neat to see deep and bright switches on the WD, but they are not deal breakers. While you can’t get quite the same “bright” vibe with the tone controls and passive mid on the WD, the amplifier has more than enough presence. It’s also got more than enough low end when needed.
What can the 800+ do that the WD can’t? It sounds like the 800+. Mic drop.
The plus is not exactly a thick sounding amplifier (smooth is a better descriptor) but the WD sounds a lot more complex and open. They both sound really refined. It’s literally like different flavors. The 800+ Sounds like butter, the WD has this raw thing going on. I would not hesitate to bring either one on any gig. I am suitably impressed.
TT is on 4-6 week back order.
