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Wal Bass Club.

#11,381
madmaskbass said:
Further to all of this I thought I would post by obsession with the world of Wal with my hopefully respectful build called Walwannabe. For a long time now I have wanted one of these amazing basses but the price and lack of availability put them seemingly out of reach..So i have been for the last year getting my head into building something close to fill the void. I took all my favourite design parts of Wal's, mk2 arm bevel and 4 string side by side headstock and tried to make the best Wal tribute I possibly could. Pickups are Rautia multicoils from Poland and are amazing and the pre is the ACG EQ01 with tone control. Wood is Queensland maple which is known for being very close to mahogany but it is special to me and the state i live in Australia. I have absolutely no idea if this bass is like a Wal because i have never held one or even seen on in the flesh but tonally i can get a very full and rich Chancellor tone (with lots of tweaking)

This is by no means a Wal replacement bass...hence my desire to order one becoming a reality in a few months but has been an excellent experience in getting a multicoil and filter system in a lovely bass and get tones closer to the money than the average bass. Anyway here it is!!
View attachment 3814196
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It looks really nice! Nice wood.
 
#11,383
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#11,385
graphics1988 said:
4

yep - i've been saying these Wals are the modern day 'pre-cbs' Fenders - in 25 years they will be $20-30K....(and why NOT?) - they're far superior and a true hand built instrument.
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There's definitely truth to that, I'm not going to lie.
Is one of the reasons that many Tool fans grew older and could afford them recently (or now) as oppose to back in the 1990's? JC definitely brought a lot of fame to this brand.
But they have always had a great following since the 1970's and much more in the 1980s.
Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Flea...all amazing players who own and play Wals.

Supply and demand is a big factor controlling a lot of interest, but so is the "wonder" factor / not being able to experience one in person without making either the decision of paying full price and waiting a long time or hoping one comes available or hoping one comes available used and spending every day searching!

I love how Wal's sit in the mix, just amazing in a live situation. And they sound so cool played solo in your own home.
 
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#11,386
bassballs27 said:
There's definitely truth to that, I'm not going to lie.
Is one of the reasons that many Tool fans grew older and could afford them recently (or now) as oppose to back in the 1990's? JC definitely brought a lot of fame to this brand.
But they have always had a great following since the 1970's and much more in the 1980s.
Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Flea...all amazing players who own and play Wals.

Supply and demand is a big factor controlling a lot of interest, but so is the "wonder" factor / not being able to experience on in person without making either paying full price and waiting a long time or hoping one comes available.

I love how Wal's sit in the mix, just amazing in a live situation. And they sound so cool played solo in your own home.
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We both know a certain employee of L&M, who is a professional bass player - he has access to any bass he wants (for the last 20+ years) and he does the same recording, the same way, on every brand that he gets in (Foderas, Fbass, Dingwall, etc etc) - he heard of me getting my Wal and called and asked if he could borrow it overnight, (i know his recording ritual - so i had no problem doing this)....he STILL talks about the Wal - this was years ago now - says he has NEVER heard a bass so explosive in real life AND thru the recording. (I need to get him to send me this recording). Kind of cool reassurance about the awesome-ness of these basses. ;)
 
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#11,387
kulit17 said:
it got posted last night and sold within hours. Posted and sold for $8500....pretty ridiculous price huh @Les Fret....... :bag:
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Yessir. I saw that he had the "Supporting Member" tagger onto his username in his Classifieds post... and that his price ticked up a hondo. I wouldn't have hesitated to buy it except that I personally can't justify spending that kind of bread in our economy right now.
 
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#11,388
I had been contemplating selling or trading one of my Wal's again recently.
This discussion just reinforces comments made previously by other members of the Wal Club, many said "it's not worth it". But then my approach of offer to trade a Wal for another Wal allows the experience to continue or in my case, a trading for a brand I personally like, it doesn't sound so bad. Getting cash for a Wal.......meh.....to set myself up for a 3 year wait or play the waiting game again when Wal's are selling in the middle of the night, now I can say....."it's not worth it". :roflmao:
 
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#11,391
graphics1988 said:
We both know a certain employee of L&M, who is a professional bass player - he has access to any bass he wants (for the last 20+ years) and he does the same recording, the same way, on every brand that he gets in (Foderas, Fbass, Dingwall, etc etc) - he heard of me getting my Wal and called and asked if he could borrow it overnight, (i know his recording ritual - so i had no problem doing this)....he STILL talks about the Wal - this was years ago now - says he has NEVER heard a bass so explosive in real life AND thru the recording. (I need to get him to send me this recording). Kind of cool reassurance about the awesome-ness of these basses. ;)
Click to expand...

Oh, I know that guy you're speaking of. He's got a pretty cool Alleva Coppolo RA5 that is legendary too.
I was in a project a few years back and brought my old 1988 Wal MK2 which I recently sold and sent to a nice guy in Switzerland. That particular bass is a real beast, but I came to the conclusion I like my current 2015 Wal MK2 5er much more. Anyway, I took the '88 MK2 to a bunch of jam sessions which at a practice space with some random amps and a couple times I took my own. To be honest, it didn't matter what I used for amplification, the Wal always sounded great and so clear. It wasn't until I brought in a couple other basses made by some other builders that I found out just how amazing a Wal sounds......even with dead strings! LOL!
So coming from a person who's owned just any every brand available to mankind on this planet......yeah, Wal's truly stand out in a live situation above many other brands.
 
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#11,396
LowEndHum said:
Holy cow, $8,500 seems really high for an Mk1. Huge markup than what I bought my Mk2 just a couple years ago. And it all happened in about an hour.
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Gloss body, neck and matching headstock with gold hardware is a good $2300-2500 amount of options...... at least Paul would include the matching electronics cover for this one free of charge.
 
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#11,398
graphics1988 said:
Post some pics of the fretted one - asking for a friend. ;)
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I can supply you with some.. I'm addicted to photoshooting these basses after all.
IMG_20200502_123420.jpg

IMG_20200423_232735.jpg
 
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