Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Excellent.. I am just about to place a deposit on my second Wal build, and I am definitely going with the brass nut.
Haha well I am sure the standard polys are still great quality.. but I like the idea of Brass!! I also think my blue Mk 2 would have to be pried from my cold dead hands!!
I am constantly amazed at how good.. and Crazy Aggressive it sounds, every time I pick it up!! Nothing else comes even close!!
Last edited:
I mean, couldn't you just order a new brass nut from Paul, and have it installed by your tech? However, a new Wal is always justified. 
I mean, couldn't you just order a new brass nut from Paul, and have it installed by your tech? However, a new Wal is always justified.
I suppose in theory I could, but I would have reservations with doing that. The nuts are installed super tight, and I have no idea how it is epoxied/glued in, and how the finish would be affected. My headstock has a black piano finish that is flawless, and I wouldn't want to mess with it. I would only let Paul work on my neck. I'd rather just order another instrument!!
I talked to the seller actually. He sold it and upon receiving it the buyer didn’t like the tone and wanted a refund. He refunded the Buyers money and got the bass back and re listed it for sale. Pretty stellar TB’er to offer a full refund back because the tone isn’t what you thought it would be.
That goes way beyond just “stellar” into actual sainthood! Doubly so since that almost certainly means the idiot buyer just stuck both tones on 10 and then decided he didn’t want it when he realised that he didn’t immediately sound exactly like Geddy/Justin/Percy/Flea/Mr McCartney/[add favourite player here]. No way he got to grips with the tone controls and found his favourite tones in that time...
Hahahaha. I don’t want to trash talk the buyer because I don’t know who it is or anything else about him but you basically just hit the nail on the head. He said the buyers favorite bassist used one or whatever and when the bass arrived he couldn’t get that that sound and wanted his money back.
Plug in Wal. Hit Drop D. Doesn’t sound like Justin Chancellor. Demands refund and pegs Wal as garbage basses
If I had the dough I'd be sounding like John Gustafson! That ain't no lie either.Plug in Wal. Hit Drop D. Doesn’t sound like Justin Chancellor. Demands refund and pegs Wal as garbage basses
Wals are very touch and dynamic sensitive to the person playing it. A proper setup for that particular person is a must! Especially if your touch and dynamics from your hands is nothing like the hands of the famous player you're trying to emulate.
Plug in Wal. Hit Drop D. Doesn’t sound like Justin Chancellor. Demands refund and pegs Wal as garbage basses
Wow.. What a moron.. Maybe its a blessing in disguise. Someone who will actually appreciate the instrument will get to own it.
I agree. The first time I plugged my Wal in I didn’t love the tone. It sounded kind of weird. Woody and midrangy, the soft V neck felt foreign. I was just on the fence in general. Once you learn the controls and the dynamics of how the pickups respond it becomes so versatile. On top of all that you can get into messing with the pole pieces and stuff. I just struggle to believe anyone could have a hard time getting a myriad of amazing tones out of a Wal.
Yes, considering my bread and butter tone is [B8pulled,T8,blend as desired] and it sounds very different from [B10,T10]... Then there is my fave reggae/dub sound - [B2pulled,T8,75%B]; my “double bass-alike tone [Vol pulled,B6,100%B,play over end of neck]; my P Bass-alike tone (get this) [B3,T7,blend 50% -pull B and vary blend for different flavours]...
You don’t find great tones like those by approaching a Wal the same way as pretty much any other bass!
The above comment made me think how, recently I’ve been using my Wal a lot in my “sorta sounds a bit like a P-Bass” mode. Works really well and I’m really enjoying it. OK maybe it’s not a genuine P Bass tone but it’s certainly in the ball park, certainly in a mix. Of course the flats on the bass helps too. Funny though in a way to be using such advanced electronics to end up sounding like the simple Granddaddy of the bass world. Lol.
So for reference my “P Bass-alike” settings are... Neck pickup (sometimes pulled), set on 3; Bridge pickup on 7, not pulled. Blend half way (50% each pickup) but sometimes leaning a bit more towards neck. Flats help for that old school sound too.
Interested to hear how you guys find that kind of setting...
So for reference my “P Bass-alike” settings are... Neck pickup (sometimes pulled), set on 3; Bridge pickup on 7, not pulled. Blend half way (50% each pickup) but sometimes leaning a bit more towards neck. Flats help for that old school sound too.
Interested to hear how you guys find that kind of setting...
Last edited:
I can't find a P bass like sound with the bridge pickup involved, for me it's Neck pickup only, set somewhere between 5 and 7, and some of my Wals resemble the P bass tone better than others.
My fivestring will not sound like a P at all, but some of my mk1's do.
The JG does a nice job emulating that Precision sound though, I think the flatwounds do help.
My fivestring will not sound like a P at all, but some of my mk1's do.
The JG does a nice job emulating that Precision sound though, I think the flatwounds do help.
