Maybe it was the Mk2? He swears it has a beefier, lower tone...
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My favorite Geddy Lee Wal bass tone is on Power Windows, he used Peter Collins' (producer) Wal bass on that album, however my favorite all time Geddy Lee tone is with his Rickenbacker on albums Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and (most of) Signal, his Wal tone being my 2nd favorite.
Power Windows was my first exposure and completely knocked me out. That's when the "I must play bass!" seed was planted.
I had been a Rush fan for about a year before A Farewell To Kings came out, I heard Xanadu, and Cygnus X-1, and said I think I might be a bass player. Then Hemispheres came out, I got to see them a few times on that tour and that was it, bassist I will be.
KoaFodera
Commercial User
Since we are just 45 minutes outside of Toronto, I got in early, 5AM, and crashed out at dad's house till it was time to head down to the book signing. I must say it was a real treat to meet one of my all time favorite bassists. The book is an absolute treasure of bass guitars with great shots of his Wal basses on pages 393 and 395.
Awesome. I ordered the book awhile ago...haven't seen it yet. Was hoping to go to the signing today as well (I'm 45 min east of T.O.) How crazy busy was it?
KoaFodera
Commercial User
I got there at 10:30 for a wristband with 160 people already ahead of me. We were instructed to start lining up at 11:30. It was about 1PM before Geddy signed my book. Apparently there were 400 spots allocated. No hesitation to do this again! Hey, it's Geddy Lee after all.
While I do like the period where he used a Wal bass, my favorite Rush album is Hemispheres so that's a Ricky. It's Justin Chancellor from Tool that opened up my ears to how good Wal basses sound. Gotta get me one of these 4 string basses I keep telling myself.
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Nice. How does he describe the Wal basses? Or does he? From what I understand, the book has a lot of text and uses instruments as a window into the history of music culture.
KoaFodera
Commercial User
I'll try to get some info on that question up tomorrow.
KoaFodera
Commercial User
Here are the photos from the two pages showing Geddy's 3 Wal basses. Hopefully I've not broken any copyright laws. The pages are super glossy so it's hard not getting a reflection while using a camera phone.
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I have not seen many 86 5 strings. It looks like a late 86 judging by some of the screws I see being the more production type. Too bad he didn't show the back of it.
Great book. Read it 3x already. A Rush fan will dig it obviously, but more importantly somebody who knows nothing of Rush (sad soul) but loves the history of beautiful instrument making will like it at least as much.
Wal has raised prices once again, my friends. The dream of acquiring more is diminishing as we speak.
New pricing:
Mk1 4-string – from £5800
Mk2 4-string – from £6050
Mk2 5-string – from £6700
Mk3 4-string – from £6050
Mk3 5-string – from £6700
Mk3 6-string – from £7100
Looks like a hike of £250
New pricing:
Mk1 4-string – from £5800
Mk2 4-string – from £6050
Mk2 5-string – from £6700
Mk3 4-string – from £6050
Mk3 5-string – from £6700
Mk3 6-string – from £7100
Looks like a hike of £250
Wish there was an "unlike" link...
I feel ya! I think just about everyone increases their prices yearly: Spector, Ken Smith, Pedulla, Sadowsky (increase in summer for some reason), Zon among many others.
It’s a little disheartening to see the dollar value of my wishlist increase.
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Those are really hefty prices! I would never buy it for that price. Luckily I already have two Wals.
As long as people are going to pay that kind of money for a Wal they can raise the price as high as they want.
As long as people are going to pay that kind of money for a Wal they can raise the price as high as they want.
