Walter Woods Amps History and Development

[spc]

I take it there's no website for WW amps? How do I contact him to order?

thanks

shawn

 

[KJung]

I take it there's no website for WW amps? How do I contact him to order?

thanks

shawn

PM sent.

K

 

[robgrow]

Another WW tip, in case you aren't aware of this. There's a control on the newer Walter's that many of us call the 'magic knob'. It's the effects return volume... the knob for each channel on the far rightside of the amp. It's strange, but this control, without anything connected to the effects loop, acts as a low mid,low end enhance control. When you turn it from 1/2 way to all the way up, the low end of the Walter (which can be just a touch thin... and for you guys with the old ones... the new ones are TOTALLY differently voiced... much more articulate and clean, much less deep low end) REALLY fattens up. Walter will not fess up as to what is actually going on with this control (I think he actually coined the term 'magic knob'!), but it really does change the character of the amp.

It's not in the manual, etc., so just wanted to make sure you were aware of this. For DB, I would assume you would never engage this. However, for funk/pop/rock type contexts with an EB, it really is useful for adding some balls in the low mids and low end.

Enjoy that new amp!

K

An excellent tip. The magic knob is actually called the "Send Mix," and it's primary function is to set the level for each channel going to the direct out jack. This is found on all the current WW Electracoustic models (mid 90's to present).

I use the magic knob for double bass as well as bass guitar, and find it quite effective for both. I think it's definitely one of the most useful features on the amp. The balance control by contrast can be quite subtle.

 

[Mario Lewis]

I just got off the phone with the gentleman, Mr. Woods himself.

Regarding this load / no load thing...

You can run any WW without a load as long as it does NOT have "-2" at the end of the serial #. "-2"'s started in late 2003.

Not true... he said he doesn't know where this rumor came from, but it is not true and probably a misinterpretation of something else that he was trying to say.

Not a good idea. Just use a small cabinet and keep the level low......

Half true.... you can run it with no load BUT KEEP THE POST GAIN KNOB ALL THE WAY DOWN....... otherwise, all that signal literally has no where to go... THAT'S WHAT CAUSES THE PROBLEM WITH NO LOAD....

.....According to the instructions on every model except the "-2", they can all be used without a speaker load. I've used them myself that way many times without a glitch.

You must have had the Post Gain turned al the way down and just used the pre gain... Mr. Woods said that they'll work like that all day long and then some.

......BTW I've used my '97 WW Electracoustic as a preamp with no speaker connected for recording several times. Works great.

Agree, as said earlier, this IS possible...


I wrote him to ask about using the preamp section only (bypassing the power section of the Ultra) and using an external preamp (QSC PLX 3402) to power a 2X410 Stack... he told me that all I needed to do was send the FX Send to the input of the power amp and turn the Post Gain on the Ultra all the way down... no problem.... Still not sure where that "-2" thing came from but it is not at all true or accurate...

 

[MacGroove]

An excellent tip. The magic knob is actually called the "Send Mix," and it's primary function is to set the level for each channel going to the direct out jack. This is found on all the current WW Electracoustic models (mid 90's to present).

I use the magic knob for double bass as well as bass guitar, and find it quite effective for both. I think it's definitely one of the most useful features on the amp. The balance control by contrast can be quite subtle.

I keep my magic knob at 12 0'clock, been using it that way since 96'.

Thanks for getting this thread fired up again.

I agree with Ken, the earlier models did have more ooomph and meat to them. I sold my mid 90's (sterio) and bought a 2003 (mono) didn't want to use a Y cord anymore and I made my money back and for a few hundred dollars more I had a new one and a great tax right off.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Since there aren't any catalogs of Walter's Work...

I just found this thread and have not read through it yet, but I do have several different eras of WW catalogs!

 

[Reefer]

I just got off the phone with the gentleman, Mr. Woods himself.

Regarding this load / no load thing...



Not true... he said he doesn't know where this rumor came from, but it is not true and probably a misinterpretation of something else that he was trying to say.




Half true.... you can run it with no load BUT KEEP THE POST GAIN KNOB ALL THE WAY DOWN....... otherwise, all that signal literally has no where to go... THAT'S WHAT CAUSES THE PROBLEM WITH NO LOAD....



You must have had the Post Gain turned al the way down and just used the pre gain... Mr. Woods said that they'll work like that all day long and then some.



Agree, as said earlier, this IS possible...


I wrote him to ask about using the preamp section only (bypassing the power section of the Ultra) and using an external preamp (QSC PLX 3402) to power a 2X410 Stack... he told me that all I needed to do was send the FX Send to the input of the power amp and turn the Post Gain on the Ultra all the way down... no problem.... Still not sure where that "-2" thing came from but it is not at all true or accurate...

I was told this info when I bought an -2 amp by the previous owner and when reading the instructions it is very easy to come to the same interpretation. I have since learned differently and Walter could have worded the instructions better.

I ran many pre -2 WW amps as preamps with no concern about the master volumes and had no problems. The -2 instructions are the first to ever mention turning down the master.

I've owned MANY of Walter's amps and the -2 models are the only ones I truly do not like.

 

[Uncletoad]

So what does the -2 stand for anyhow?

 

[Reefer]

So what does the -2 stand for anyhow?

Don't know, but it obviously is used to distinguish the newer design from the older one. I've seen both -2 and non -2 amps made between 10/03 and 12/03. I think I may have the last non -2 made dated 12/03.

 

[shaker]

i saw someplace that there is one ww model that he can't repair since parts are no longer available-anybody know anything?i called walter,but he is unavailble until january

 

[Ric Vice]

i saw someplace that there is one ww model that he can't repair since parts are no longer available-anybody know anything?i called walter,but he is unavailble until january

Shaker
Walters Original MI 225 can no longer be repaired. It has two mono power amps that were chained together to get that power rating back in the 1980's. As far as I know that's the only model that can't be repaired.

Ric

 

[Uncletoad]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead again. Anyone spoken to Walter in the last 6 months or so? Any changes in his line? Pricing?

I never did get a clear understanding of the 90's line where he was using higher power amps with the pre "Electrocoustic" preamp. He made some 100 watt amps, some 225 watt amps, and some 400 watt mono amps right? And then some stereo versions of those.

I've got the jones to get one of the 2nd era heads with the older preamp but I really need a bit more juice than 200 watts.

 

[willrwilli]

I have a friend who bought a amp back in February, but I have not heard anything about Walter since then.

 

[LarryR]

Saw Walter a little over a month ago. He tested an older amp for me that I'd bought on Ebay, and I bought a new stereo head from him. He's doin' well.

 

[willrwilli]

Saw Walter a little over a month ago. He tested an older amp for me that I'd bought on Ebay, and I bought a new stereo head from him. He's doin' well.

That is good hear!!

 

[KotBasses]

I talked to walter 6 months or so ago when he called to say my Stereo model was complete (I'd been on the waiting list for two years). He said he built a batch of ten and probably wouldn't be building more of them for a long time (sounded like years if at all). He said mine was number 10, last one of the batch, which was kinda cool. He did some repair / re-conditioning work on my Ultra that I bought from ebay. Amazing customer service from this guy.

Chris

 

[Akami]

Maybe I caught him on a bad day but I wish the response I'd got from him had left a more positive effect on me.

I bought an Ultra a couple years ago and after talking to him on the phone for a bit to get him familiar with what amp I had, he said he refused to ever work on it again because he had no idea what the problem with it was and saw no reason to take any responsibility for it.

Finally relenting he offered to rebuild it if I was willing to pay the better part of the cost of a new amp.

That WWU will probably not see light of day for a long time if ever. Glad to see that some people are able to get him on his good side.

 

[MR PC]

Abuse it and you lose it, dude. Sounds like you must have misused the amp in a big way, or Walter wouldn't have been so upset.

Walters amps are for him to service, period. If someone else has monkeyed around with it either trying to repair or reverse engineer it, he has every right to be upset.

Tell us more.

 

[KJung]

Abuse it and you lose it, dude. Sounds like you must have misused the amp in a big way, or Walter wouldn't have been so upset.

Walters amps are for him to service, period. If someone else has monkeyed around with it either trying to repair or reverse engineer it, he has every right to be upset.

Tell us more.

+1 In almost 20 years of dealing with Walter, his customer service is almost too good to be true (i.e., when you call him, he will look up the serial number, then tell you the history of your specific amp, and then determine if you need anything other than what you are asking for.. in my case, I had a scratchy pot after about 6 years of use that just wouldn't become 'unscratched' with the spray stuff, etc. He said there was an upgrade that he would do for free when he replaced the pot. The amp was back to me in about a week, better than new!).

Something strange is going on here.

K

 

[Akami]

Abuse it and you lose it, dude. Sounds like you must have misused the amp in a big way, or Walter wouldn't have been so upset.

Walters amps are for him to service, period. If someone else has monkeyed around with it either trying to repair or reverse engineer it, he has every right to be upset.

Tell us more.

I bought it with problems and he checked his records and said he'd worked on it a couple times and that it had some problems which he was unable to locate.

No one else had worked on it and he never suggested it had been abused, but simply that he wasn't sure what the problem with it was and that he refused to ever look at that particular amp again. I spent a long time on the phone with him and he finally relented and suggested the only way he would look at it would cost me a fortune.

Now it sits in a box at my friends house and I haven't seen it in a couple years.

Nor was he upset.