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Wal basses will return!

#41
Figjam said:
Specs on the Walenti?
Click to expand...

It's gonna be as close to a Wal as is reasonably possible. A 4 string with a mahogany body with maple facings, an ACG preamp, and a pair of Delano MC4-HE pickups in the Wal locations. I'm gonna go with an unmarked ebony fretboard, a Hipshot B bridge, Hipshot ultralite tuners w/ drop tuner on the E.

I'm not sure about paint or hardware color yet. It'll depend on how the body is machined, I'll have to talk to Nino about that. If the woods are all sandwiched flat, and then machined, to show off the mahogany, like on a real Wal, I'll go with a look like this one

DSCN3674.jpg


I'm talking about where your arm would go, on the top left of the bass in the pic. I think that's a cool look.

Alternatively, if the facings are curved, so that the facings cover the entire front, like on a Warmoth body, I'd go with Greenburst.


There's a specific reason I'm going with Nino, he's working on something he hopes to have finished within the next few months, that he'll then offer to customers, which I think is critical in replicating a Wal, specifically the Mk II. If I wanted to replicate the Mk I, I could probably get the project started already. I don't know what I can or can't say, so I won't mention it here, but it's pretty cool, I'm not sure if other custom builders offer it yet.
 
#42
David Vector said:
I'm almost surprised that nobody (to my knowledge) is offering a preamp package that does similar things to the Wal circuitry - the dual resonant lowpass filters, a switchable circuit that accentuates the attack, etc. Given the ongoing fascination so many players have with Wals and the rather lofty price of admission for the real deal these days, you'd think that there would be a market for it...not just for Wal cravers but for any bassists looking for something more interesting and unusual than the typical 3-band active EQ preamp designs out there.

But maybe folks have looked into producing such a thing and didn't feel the potential market was large enough to justify the development costs...I guess market forces usually guarantee that if the demand is really there, somebody will eventually step in to fulfill it.
Click to expand...

+1

I'm shocked that nobody has tried to copy the pickups and preamps out of these basses. I'm assuming that it really can't be that tough. My only thoughts are there may not be that many people out there that are demanding such a sound, and therefore, no company has gone in to develope the circuitry. This is just a theory.

Personally, I think Pete should turn the operation over to some like SEI, who I believe is out there, to help catch him up on his bass building, and then in the future, take over production.
 
#43
David Vector said:
I'm almost surprised that nobody (to my knowledge) is offering a preamp package that does similar things to the Wal circuitry - the dual resonant lowpass filters, a switchable circuit that accentuates the attack, etc. Given the ongoing fascination so many players have with Wals and the rather lofty price of admission for the real deal these days, you'd think that there would be a market for it...not just for Wal cravers but for any bassists looking for something more interesting and unusual than the typical 3-band active EQ preamp designs out there.

But maybe folks have looked into producing such a thing and didn't feel the potential market was large enough to justify the development costs...I guess market forces usually guarantee that if the demand is really there, somebody will eventually step in to fulfill it.
Click to expand...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#46
Thanks for the link, Trooper - I had no idea a preamp like that was available. And, like everyone else, I'm going to be very intrigued to see how things go with your "Walenti." Back in '99 when I was seriously considering having Pete do me up a Mach I, that's just what I was thinking of having done - blue transparent with ebony fretboard. Beautiful combination.

Needless to say, we're all going to be pestering you for pics and sound samples when it's finished.;)
 
#47
TrooperFarva said:
It's gonna be as close to a Wal as is reasonably possible. A 4 string with a mahogany body with maple facings, an ACG preamp, and a pair of Delano MC4-HE pickups in the Wal locations. I'm gonna go with an unmarked ebony fretboard, a Hipshot B bridge, Hipshot ultralite tuners w/ drop tuner on the E.

I'm not sure about paint or hardware color yet. It'll depend on how the body is machined, I'll have to talk to Nino about that. If the woods are all sandwiched flat, and then machined, to show off the mahogany, like on a real Wal, I'll go with a look like this one

DSCN3674.jpg


I'm talking about where your arm would go, on the top left of the bass in the pic. I think that's a cool look.

Alternatively, if the facings are curved, so that the facings cover the entire front, like on a Warmoth body, I'd go with Greenburst.


There's a specific reason I'm going with Nino, he's working on something he hopes to have finished within the next few months, that he'll then offer to customers, which I think is critical in replicating a Wal, specifically the Mk II. If I wanted to replicate the Mk I, I could probably get the project started already. I don't know what I can or can't say, so I won't mention it here, but it's pretty cool, I'm not sure if other custom builders offer it yet.
Click to expand...

i swear.. if u dont bring it to the next GTG, im going to rape you! lol
 
#48
largo said:
He'd make more money and probably reduce his waiting times if he patented his pickups & electronics and sold them separately. The basses IMHO are nothing special !
Click to expand...

I almost agree with you fully. I have been posting occaisionally on the Wal club boards that Pete is crazy not to license the elctroinics as they are responsible for 90% of the Wal sound.

But the bass has mojo beyond the guts, IMO. The neck is just perfect-- very little taper in the strings if at all, and when strung to the tuners, all strings remain in a straight line minimizing resistance and extraneous tension. That makes the bass EASY to play. (PM me and I will name you another bass that has a similar low tension low taper neck).

So I think Pete would do great business licensing the guts, but there is only a small group of folks out there who do aftermarket mods. And and even smaller group that does mods that would require routing out the body for 2 huge humbuckers (i.e. Wal pickups).

I think Pete should just license the whole bass or outsource produciton to a top notch cnc factory that can replicate his design and use his parts. He can limit the woods to more stock selections and sell at a lower pricepoint so he can still make tricked out handmade wals when/if he gets another space. He could probably sell these "cheap" versions for north of $2000-- maybe as much as $3K-- and make a killing cause people would be lining upto buy them.

Just my opinion.
 
#52
Halftooth said:
Come to think of it, didn't Bartolini make a preamp that was very similar to the way the Wal and Alembic worked?
Click to expand...

That was the EZ-Q. I never heard one but they were cheaper than the other style of preamps from Bart. The only mention of them left on the site seems to be

EZQ parametric filter capable of low pass, band pass or high pass performance with adjustable frequency and Q - 9 volt
Click to expand...
 

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