What are Wal bass electronics and how do I copy them?

[MonetBass]

Search rarely works as intended, mostly shows information not germane to the actual question, generally only shows outdated results, and there's a lot of people who actually like discussing old topics. I'm sorry if my request isn't unique enough for you...

Yet the search function worked perfectly for me. You asked a question, and the thread I posted (which is less than a month old) is one answer. It's as simple as that.

 

[Fynn]

Yet the search function worked perfectly for me. You asked a question, and the thread I posted (which is less than a month old) is one answer. It's as simple as that.

Except I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in that thread. My title specifically asks for how I would copy them. I understand that that might not be something that is very possible, but asking doesn't cost anything. I went through that thread twice now. Either I'm blind, or it just doesn't tell me.
You've now spend two comments telling me that the answer is right in front of me.

Turns out, it's not as simple as that....

 

[Passinwind]

Except I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in that thread. My title specifically asks for how I would copy them. I understand that that might not be something that is very possible, but asking doesn't cost anything. I went through that thread twice now. Either I'm blind, or it just doesn't tell me.
You've now spend two comments telling me that the answer is right in front of me.

Turns out, it's not as simple as that....

When you say copy, do you mean buy or build? If the latter, how developed are your engineering and building skills?

Your sound clip link doesn't work, can you post one that does please? I've heard many Wal and Alembic basses and there's been a huge variance in what they all sounded like.

 

[WG Plum]

The control cavity of a Wal looks more complex to me than what got us to the moon. They're really something to see.

 

[MonetBass]

Except I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in that thread. My title specifically asks for how I would copy them. I understand that that might not be something that is very possible, but asking doesn't cost anything. I went through that thread twice now. Either I'm blind, or it just doesn't tell me.
You've now spend two comments telling me that the answer is right in front of me.

Turns out, it's not as simple as that....

In the 2nd sentence in the OP: "So I scavenged some parts and bought Turner Multicoil pickups and a Lusithand Filter Preamp."

I was just trying to help. Sorry, it will never happen again.

 

[Fynn]

When you say copy, do you mean buy or build? If the latter, how developed are your engineering and building skills?

Your sound clip link doesn't work, can you post one that does please? I've heard many Wal and Alembic basses and there's been a huge variance in what they all sounded like.

Preferably build one of course. The internet can teach me essentially anything, and I have friends who know enough about electrical engineering. Woodworking isn't a problem, that's why I didn't ask about that here.

The clip works for me. I said it's a video of Jim Leverton, at least I think that's the guy, with Steve Marriott. But that's not exactly what I'm after either. I don't know how I would make it work, and there's not exactly a lot of clips from that guy playing that bass anyways.

 

[Fynn]

In the 2nd sentence in the OP: "So I scavenged some parts and bought Turner Multicoil pickups and a Lusithand Filter Preamp."

I was just trying to help. Sorry, it will never happen again.

You weren't just trying to help, you were trying to tell me that I should just do all the research myself, with inadequate tools, even though there's plenty of people here who would be happy to help out. And then gave me a lead, that I did actually look through, that didn't help me at all.
And that's not a complaint towards the talkbass forum either, because a good search engine is one hell of a difficult thing to make. Not even Google works correctly all the time.

 

[Fynn]

I'm not asking for links of other people who bought, or salvaged, some components that do something similar ish.
Fact is, Wal bass designed a very unique preamp circuit. They probably didn't have a factory creating magic components, so my assumption was that someone with a little bit of knowledge could probably replicate those preamps, at the very least functionally. Preferably I don't want to buy a replica, but rather make my own, for my own personal use. If that fails, then so be it. I'd rather try and fail, then don't try at all.
I guess the wording in my original post could be a bit misleading. More specifically, I would like to replicate the preamp, but I would be fine buying a pickup that does something similar, or just buying a simple humbucker.

Help is appreciated, but what I don't appreciate is people telling me that I should use the search function, or that I should consider another option altogether. That's the same sort of thing as people who say: "just buy a Wal bass!". Well, I know that the option of buying a Wal bass exists, but I don't want to do that for reasons that really don't matter here. Same thing with how I don't want to buy a preamp that does something similar. If that's what I was looking for, then I would have asked that.

And I don't feel bad complaining about this behavior either, because 95% of the other people here act normally/differently. So, what gives?

A forum is great, because it's essentially a hive mind. No matter how obscure the request, I have considerably better chances at asking this question here, than if I were to just try and find an answer myself. And if people don't want to comment, then they of course can refrain from doing that, no problem.

 

[Passinwind]

Preferably build one of course. The internet can teach me essentially anything, and I have friends who know enough about electrical engineering. Woodworking isn't a problem, that's why I didn't ask about that here.

The clip works for me. I said it's a video of Jim Leverton, at least I think that's the guy, with Steve Marriott. But that's not exactly what I'm after either. I don't know how I would make it work, and there's not exactly a lot of clips from that guy playing that bass anyways.

Cool, thanks for clarifying that. Can you please maybe find some link that works here on TB, of anyone playing any filter preamp you like the sound of? The most common reason they don't work is if they come from Facebook or other social media sites that don't allow direct linking, FWIW. Sometimes it's a matter of certain user using ad and/or script blockers too though. I insist on complete isolation from anything to do with Facebook, for example.

It would take at least a few weeks to work through the next tier of links past the one I posted here, which as you say may well not really be necessary. I'm more than happy to help if I can, but I'd need a more directed focus at this point. I've been deeply interested in this technology for several decades and doing DIY takes on it since the late '70s, FWIW. My non commercial open source versions that you or anyone are free to build might replicate some Wal sounds well enough, or not, but that's never been an overt goal, frankly. I've only played one Wal myself, but I've heard the owner of that one playing several others he owns, getting a wide variety of sounds.

 

[sunbeast]

I'm not asking for links of other people who bought, or salvaged, some components that do something similar ish.
Fact is, Wal bass designed a very unique preamp circuit. They probably didn't have a factory creating magic components, so my assumption was that someone with a little bit of knowledge could probably replicate those preamps, at the very least functionally. Preferably I don't want to buy a replica, but rather make my own, for my own personal use. If that fails, then so be it. I'd rather try and fail, then don't try at all.
I guess the wording in my original post could be a bit misleading. More specifically, I would like to replicate the preamp, but I would be fine buying a pickup that does something similar, or just buying a simple humbucker.

Help is appreciated, but what I don't appreciate is people telling me that I should use the search function, or that I should consider another option altogether. That's the same sort of thing as people who say: "just buy a Wal bass!". Well, I know that the option of buying a Wal bass exists, but I don't want to do that for reasons that really don't matter here. Same thing with how I don't want to buy a preamp that does something similar. If that's what I was looking for, then I would have asked that.

And I don't feel bad complaining about this behavior either, because 95% of the other people here act normally/differently. So, what gives?

A forum is great, because it's essentially a hive mind. No matter how obscure the request, I have considerably better chances at asking this question here, than if I were to just try and find an answer myself. And if people don't want to comment, then they of course can refrain from doing that, no problem.

The issue is that once you’ve been part of this forum (or most forums for that matter) for more than a few years you realize that 90% of posted question threads are looking for information that has already been answered in depth many times before, and that frankly most new people posting questions don't even bother to attempt the due diligence of trying the search function first. That you came in with apparently little to no knowledge of what goes into the "Wal sound" suggests you may well be one of those people, as even a basic search for "Wal" should have at least led you to the concept of low-pass filter preamps and multicoil pickups which would have opened the door to even more good searchable terms. You are free to post new threads at will without doing any due diligence, but be aware that many people with the knowledge you seek have better things to do than repost the same info ad-nauseam and that someone suggesting you to utilize the search function (of the forum, or of Google) is handing you the keys to years of compiled information at your leisure and there is no reason to treat them rudely for the suggestion.

Short answer to your query is that Turner pickups "English Voicing" Multicoil pickups and Underhill's "Full English" filter preamp are likely to fit your needs for ready-made solutions (both designed specifically to emulate Wal designs), but at a fairly significant cost. I've never seen a schematic of a modern Wal preamp, but the resonant low-pass topology isn't anything so unique that it needs to be 1:1 to get the sounds as long as a builder understands the basic elements involved (like @Passinwind ). The pickups are also unique but not impossible to recreate with basic knowledge and measurements of the ingredients.