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Double Bass walter woods electric acoustic head

audiotom

audiotom

May 31, 2005
161
3
new orleans
#1
I was at my local store and they got in a Walter Woods Electric Acoustic preamp head

they had no idea what to price it at, but felt some of the best local upright guys play it

I did a search here and didn't find much other than people wanting service on theirs

any ideas?

is it worth looking into? sound quality? advantages?
they also have a real nice G&K with saved settings changed on a foot pedal

I have a G&K 112 that kicks for small places, a california blonde with strawberry add on speaker (bass and vocals)

and a real nice polytone

i don't play out yet, but will soon

would you mate it with an ampeg or something else?

thanks
Tom
 
#5
I have it with me - trying it out
sounds great through my friends ampeg

my bass luthier - best in town really likes them
said he bought his for $750 mid 80s
James Singleton (astral project) uses one

looks like an 80s version, some dirt on it top soiled

I almost had it out the door for $900
then his friend doing research called back and said they go for $2200 online, think he saw this thread or something on bass.com

he is offering at $1500 because I bought a lot from him
55 Kay, other basses and amps
but he would have made money at $900
which perturbs me

I'm willing to meet him partially
and he also offered trading in

I have a 1983 jazz turqouise that's immaculate w case
maybe that's appreciated a lot too

tell me more on the walter woods
how rare is it?
what cabinet would you pair with it?

he also has a G&K for $899

thanks
 
#7
just pay cash for it. its still a good price. dont trade in your fender. while walter woods amps are great, i use one for 20 yrs, today they're not as special as they used to be. there are alot of companies making light high power amps that sound great for a fraction of the price. for years walter was the only option so he could charge a premium, but i think that the competition out there is pretty darn good. when i bought mine there were no other choices, but today there are many. also, the newer ones are not as good as the ones from the 80's and earlier in my opinion. when i had one made in the 90's he said he changed the design but swore that if i liked the earlier models then i'd love this one, but unfortunately it wasnt the case. the one that i tried from the 70's or early 80's had that walter woods sound. the later ones are still great, but not the same. also, back in the day, walter was the only one using high impedance inputs, which made the piezo pickups on upright basses sound better. back then this technique was still somewhat "secret", or at least no one was doing it. today many manufactrurers are using high impedance imputs for piezo and worst case, you can buy any number of buffer preamps to solve that problem. having said all that i still use my woods and of course, all of this is just my opinion.
(also, take note if its one or 2 channels and mono or stereo. the 2 channel mono is more expensive than the one channel, and the 2 channel stereo is more expensive still. if yours is only one channel then you may have some barganing power. also, note what color the light is. different color lights mean different power levels, but i cant remember exactly which is which. if im not mistaken red is lowest, then green, then either yellow and blue or blue then yellow). keep us posted
 
#8
Link Removed

check this site out. id actually like to have any of the ones on the page except the last one, which unfortunately, is the one i have. my opinion is that any of the ones before the "electracoustic" generation had that great signature tone.
 
#9
audiotom said:
I was at my local store and they got in a Walter Woods Electric Acoustic preamp head
Click to expand...


audiotom said:
is it worth looking into? sound quality? advantages?
they also have a real nice G&K with saved settings changed on a foot pedal
Click to expand...

It's definitely worth looking into if the price is reasonable. The color of the pilot light indicates the wattage of the amp. From lowest to highest the colors are Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue. Red lights are 120 to 150 watts, Green are 300-450, Yellow are 450-650 and Blue are 800 to 1.200 watts. There are also two stereo amps with either a red or green pilot light and a red top and a pretty rare special order that was 700 watts at 2 ohms. The original cost for these amps was $899.00, $1.099,00, $1,399.00, and $1,799.00 with the stereo versions at $1,099.00 and $1,699.00. They are way more than that now.



audiotom said:
I have a G&K 112 that kicks for small places, a california blonde with strawberry add on speaker (bass and vocals) and a real nice polytone
Click to expand...

I owned both a GK 20MB and a MBE. They are very nice amps and very portable. The Woods most likely has two channels and has a pre amp that really sounds great with DB IMHO. Not everyones cup of tea mind you, bur great with my bass and the Realist. With my rig it blows a GK right out of the ball park. There is no real comparison.

i
audiotom said:
don't play out yet, but will soon would you mate it with an ampeg or something else?
Click to expand...

You can virtually "mate" a Walter Woods with any cabinet you want. It will not operate below a 4 ohm load, so you cannot connect a pair of 4 ohm cabinets to it like you can with some of the newer amps.

thanks
Tom[/QUOTE]
 
#10
the amp does sound nice

thanks for all the details - it's the red light so lower power
it appears to be the two channel version

what other amps would you compare it to now?
is $1500 a great deal?

the fender 83 jazz is in pristine shape, tourqouise
but I have a 73 jazz, 78 p w jazz neck, 3 carved uprights, a lakland, etc I don't ever play that bass

I have pictures of the head unit but no online place to store them

it's two channel with balance
two outputs
 
#11
I have the same amp, a two-channel red light model built in 1998. Bought it here on TB from a fellow member for $900. I felt that was a fair deal, but I'm pretty tight with money. I've had a lot of amps including two other Woods heads and this one's my favorite.

If you want to be able to post photos, either send them to me or sign up for a free photobucket.com account. That site can be kind of a PITA but as with all things in life you get what you pay for.
 
#12
the ww sounds great, probably the best i have ever played...while definitely boutique, i do not consider it to be 'pro' gear, because...(wait for it)...should something go wrong (regardless of each owner's track record) with the amp, you may have a seriously difficult time getting it repaired.
walter is well known for his vacations. they are lengthy and he turns his voicemail off. so you are SOL, until his return...and God bless him, but even he won't be around forever.

as well as sounding good and being reliable, pro gear should have a strong backup and support network behind it, should something go wrong. and if you work enough, something almost always goes wrong.

i am not trying to come off as callous, really.
i am just stating the reason why i don't use one anymore.:hiding:
 
#14
Yours is probably from the same run as mine. I haven't opened it up in a while so I don't remember the month mine was made, but it's definitely a '98. The original owner of my amp had some problems with in, leading to two rebuilds, but I've never had a problem in three or four years of sometimes heavy use.

Received and replied to your e-mail a few minutes ago, and will host and post your pics ASAP. Please make sure to include at least one clear shot of the guts so we can see what's going on in there.
 
#15
IMG_1105.gif
 
#16
traded in a 1992 turquiose fender jazz bass w case
+ $500 a reasonable deal - both parties did well

I also felt like doing some more business with them and bought a used Ampeg svt(?) 410 cabinet from them for $500

welcome to the big upright rig!

I'll send a shot of the guts (looks like no mods)
thanks again Shawn for hosting my picks
 

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