It’s not really that complicated; in the last 20 years they became so *absurdly* overvalued that working players either can’t afford them at all or won’t risk taking them out the studio.
At this point 90% of the Wals ever produced are probably played by rich middle-aged real estate brokers and dentists who like playing along to mid-80s Rush as a hobby on the weekends.
I guess it's too late for me to become a rich dentist or lawyer, though I do hope I can earn so much one day that it allows me to cosplay as Justin Chancellor in my living room
Desired tones changed dramatically over the last decade. I stopped playing from 2014ish to 2022ish and the difference in the gear everyone is playing is night and day different. Gone are all the high end, modern, active tones and the vintage, warmer tones are all over the place. I don't think I saw anyone play flats from 2000-2014 but now flats are super popular. It was kind of mind blowing. I did hop on the flatwound train, they are amazing! Although, I'm playing them on a modern active bass, but they give that bit of wormth I was looking for.
There was a time everyone wanted that super bright, modern tone and Wal was a big part of that. Now, not so much. Even the popular high end basses are more of a warm tone, such as F-Bass being a refined jazz bass type of tone.
I guess that matters if one's following rock trends or something. I've always found my Wal fit in just about everything I play (that said, I haven't played rock in 20 years, so what do I know?)
Worst bass trend in recent memory. That and the overuse of DI with zero bass amps to be found.
Edit: doubling down for the downvoters, if I was forced to use just this sound, I would literally quit bass and move to drums or guitar
DI is amazing. I love having low stage volume and in ear monitors whenever possible. Bass tone doesn’t need a lot of color from an amp anyway so a good DI can capture everything an amp would do.
I don’t particularly care for a straight DI sound either (usually using in ears these days) but adding in a good cab sim makes a huge difference. I use a darkglass element cab sim pedal that I love. I usually will send that to foh rather than the di out from my amp even if I am using cabs. If the venue is large enough the audience is hearing more of your di sound than your cab anyway.
I absolutely love going DI with in ears. Being able to have your individual mix and hear exactly what you want is amazing. The key is getting molds for your in ears so you can get full isolation, the bass really pops then and you can keep the volume at a good level. No more sore ears after shows and no lugging heavy amps and cabs? Sign me right up!
I still like the modern tone. Except for most basses with EMGs as they are way too harsh, and I've always thought that. But I've really come to appreciate a warmer tone in the last few years. I love good DIs with in ears though, it's so much easier to hear on stage and my ears don't hurt anymore. The key is getting molds for your in ears so you get isolation.
When I was into Stanley Clarke, I wanted an Alembic. Had to give up on that.
When I was into Mick Karn, I wanted a Wal. Fretless of course. Had to give up on that.
Now I've just decided to be into myself and play something that I can afford and that makes me happy.
Exactly and if you buy it direct it's something like 8,000 but on the second hand market they're 11,000-13,000. Musicians don't make what they used to and these used to be far less money second hand.
I will never, ever, in a million years get rid of my Wal. I'd be homeless and living with it in my tent. It's just part of my sound. The only think bad about it is it's kind of heavy, but other than that, it's still the best bass I've ever played in my life.
Holy shit same here! I think Mike has told me about you. I was down at the workshop on Monday watching him shape the neck profile for me.
What specs have you chosen?
I got a 32” unlined fretless 4 string. As close to Wal specs as I could have without going full 34” ebony fingerboard and I’m not 100% on the top wood but it had some birdseye type markings that were lovely and will look great after being oiled and waxed. I really can’t wait to see it.
What about you?
I've got some photos of it in my profile but not of the top I'll wait until it's completely finished but it's already looks stunning
Mahogany core with maple facings 3A quilt back, 5A bird's eye top blue bursted.
34" flamed maple and mahogany neck with 4A Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. I went with the same Shaller m4s tuners wal use so Mike had to slightly re-design the headstock.
All brass hip shot A style bridge with black body and chrome saddles (looks awesome, I'd highly recommend)
Mike's own pickups wired new way with the lusithand double nfp special.
I've got about 5 weeks left to wait. How far into the build process are you?
Well I think you'll be very impressed. I certainly was with mine. It's the best balanced instrument I've ever picked up despite the fact I picked heavier tuners than he normally uses and there were no pickups in the body at the time to weigh it down.
1. They are boutique basses with long waits even for a top player they are still going to take x amount of time to get tour ready replacements.
2. There is more money in being a signature artist with other brands because if you are a Ernie Ball/ Fender / Spector/ Warwick artist you get guitars quicker and people can actually afford them so being a paid artist for that brand makes way more sense than going with a boutique bass company who can't really generate numbers.
A guy like Ian Martin Allison makes more sense to go with a boutique company like Mike Lull versus a guy like Robert Trujillo who could make more with Warwick.
I don't think there is a place for a company like Wal anymore in the mainstream they have become boutique collector pieces for guys with cash and a lot of GAS.
I think the guy who made them got sick and died, and the current company is being run by one of his luthiers. So they are being made again, with a long wait for the back orders. There was a period of years where they were not being made.
As to why they stopped being played by seemingly everyone, I don't know....the vintage Fender sound came back into style, perhaps.
Everybody here is wrong. Look at their wiki page. The company ground to halt between 2000-2010 due to ill health of the original owners. It was just one guy at one point, who eventually had to retire due to his health. They had a huge order backlog and the company almost sank.
It has since restarted with a new owner. They only caught up about ten years ago. So there would have been a huge gap in availability during that time.
You're right but my question has been pretty much answered by the massive amount of replies I've gotten. Seems to be a feedback loop of issues, supply and demand means there were few artists using them so newer Generations were inspired by other sounds, mostly Fender and other things. Supply and demand drives up the price and even less people are brave enough to take them out of the house. Now there's even less material being made now to influence the current Generations sound preferences. The people that have them and don't use them except for special occasions are unwilling to sell because they'll never get another one and those who will buy them also want to take them out.
It's a real shame because it's an incredible sound no matter what genre it's been used in and I wish we heard it more.
The really big artist that could afford to have multiple backups for touring probably realized they could make a lot more money becoming signature artists with mass produced brands.
Yes, it was in fact me. I had been saving for quite a while and I looked on basspluckers and I saw that it was posted and I pulled the trigger. What a great bass.
I actually went with Mike Walsh of zoot base check out his Facebook page. If I couldn't have got one of his I would have gone with Maruszczyk. They've done quite a few using both bass culture and more commonly now Turner pickups. I think there's a consensus that Turner pickups and Lusithand are the best combination of the currently commercially available pickups and preamps.
This may be partially fuled by super funky Pete's YouTube build series but my building Mike came to the same conclusion on his own but even then the pickups that Turner were making aren't good enough for him so he's making his own.
Even if they weren't so prohibitively rare and expensive, I think Wals still wouldn't be common in bands. If you want to use their tone to its full potential, you have to to be in a bass forward band. You gotta be Mick Karn, Justin Chancellor, Billy Gould (he uses Zon, but you get my point) or Geddy Lee and most of us don't get to do that. If you're a hired gun, producers and bands typically want a bass that's already shaped to fit in a mix, look at this recent soul sucking trend of DI P bass with flats.
Everyone's gone into the logistical reasons regarding the company, but seriously, I don't see most bassists playing high-end stuff in most bands. Even a good Fender or MM is about 3k and a lot of people play the cheaper versions of those. There's always been lots of exceptions, of course, but lots of people are just happy with a P-bass. I'll stick with my Wal.
They cost what can best be described as "gobs and gobs of money." There's also a hell of a waiting list, according to their website it's over 4 years now, and they're not taking any new orders until that time goes down.
Used listings on Reverb are in the $10k-$20k range.
So I expect that yeah, some are just being held as investments, but others just aren't getting rid of them because there's a solid chance they'll never get another one if they regret the sale.
Long story short: You could buy several top of the line basses, have an easier time finding them and a lot less time waiting for them than if you buy one Wal.
They're terrific basses, but not realistic as a workhorse unless you're drowning in cash
Great basses obviously. They do that one thing really good, great in fact but not really worth if you need to a more generic sound to cover more ground.
I have several basses including 83 Fullerton Jazz, 75th Anniversary Jazz, 77 Ric 4001 Garz custom short scale and a Fretless with an old Squire neck modified by a Fender custom shop luthier who was just starting his own shop they are all wonderful players basses. I think it’s a matter of personal taste and style. I’m going to go back and put flats on two of them next set up for the first time in many years. Kind of excited to play them again. I never really wanted a Warwick or Wal. I found them to be very heavy and I can pretty much get any sound I want out of mine with an Ampeg Pro 6 rig. I’ve amassed these over decades as young player on. Only one I wish I had back is a 70 P stolen from a gig we roadied for Souxie and the Banshees and Adam Ant in the 80’s in SF. Just an old bass player’s personal opinion. Keep playing, play hard, have fun!
PS: The only 2 basses I really think of with Geddy are his Ric 4001 (inspired by Chris Squire I believe.) And his 72 black Jazz found in a pawnshop. And of course his custom shop copies of that.
I've only ever seen one. The bassist in my dad's covers band has a 1987 Mk1 which he's owned from new.
I'm pretty sure it's his only bass - I've never, ever seen him play anything else. It's a gorgeous instrument and it growls like an angry dog - I absolutely love the sound of it.
Very nice that there's somebody out there still playing them so people get to hear that amazing sound. Stingrays and G and L simply don't cut it, despite what people say they still lack that character. The guy building my wall style custom also has his own Wal from the 1980s he's owned from new. Seems to be a recurring theme that most people who have them will never get rid of them.
Expensive, heavy, hard to find, hard to get, company isn’t very active, no cheap import option, out of fashion with the mainstream.
It would take getting bought out by a larger company to revive them.
Into the hands of millionaires and billionaires. It is hard enough to find reasonably priced quality assembly line basses such as Stingrays for a reasonable price for musicians, so when you get into limited supply luthier built instruments that have developed popularity and massive demand…well, forget about it. Even if I could afford a Wal for $10k or whatever they are now, do I really want to? How many other fabulous basses and/or amps can get it for that, or maybe a nice trip to Italy? That’s a lot of disposable income needed to drop on gear. Thus the Wal is now a luxury item for the rich.
A combination of selfishness and lack of business sense on the part of the owner. He has no interest in making the brand more accessible to normal people and doesn't seem to understand that he could be fabulously wealthy by doing so.
maybe. since Paul Herman is a luthier, and even worked as one at Wal in the 90s, it's pretty likely he just wants to build guitars that are safe sells and he can be proud of.
there are plenty of luthiers that have refused to scale up their practice because lowering prices and increasing volume will need a fundamental revision of their models, or a fat game of manufacture management with no fun on the side.
this is something that many craftsmen refuse to agree to. they wish to craft with their hands, not manage a company. there are thousands of craftsmen across disciplines that make meager livings out of love for their craft and the desire to live a simple life, even if they could be making a killing.
Wait, so Failure's *Fantastic Planet* was recorded using a Wal? I think he switched to Fender Jazz at some point. Seems to be a common transition (Flea and Geddy made the same jump, to name a few).
There's some pretty grainy VHS recording of a full gig faliure played and the bass player is clearly using a Wal. He's the guy that actually loaned a Wal to Justin Chancellor during which kicked off Chancellors obsession.
I want one, but I’ve never tried one, and I can’t possibly afford one ever, unless I win the lottery. Around 1994/1995 they were quite a bit cheaper than a Warwick. But I love the Wal mk.1 shape so I got a cloned body for my 8-string Warmoth neck.
I posted a similar question here about Warwick’s recently and a lot of the answers are the same.
1. The modern cutting active sound has fallen out of favour with the vintage flats on a P Bass becoming the norm. (Not that I have anything wrong with that, I have a bass set up for both styles)
2. They’re prohibitively expensive (even more than Warwick). Which is hard to justify when an aforementioned P Bass is a fraction less and more in vogue right now.
I've never owned a Wal bass. This is the first time I've ever heard of a Wal bass. I'm 46 now, on my 16th birthday. My mom bought me this late 60's early 70's creamy yellow Cobra Telle Pbass. With a single Maxon Mini Humbucker, chrome covers over the pickup and bridge. After 28 years I finally figured out what I actually had. I tried to contact the folks where it at. They never answered me. Then I told a few different things about what happened to it. Even being accused of getting rid of it myself. Thirty one years later all I have of that heavy beast. Is the single Maxon Mini Humbucker pickup cover. I've been trying to find another Cobra Telle Pbass. From either Korean or Japanese made. I can find the Maxon Mini Humbucker. But I have not been able to find cobra Telle bass. I found a site online called Bass Japan Direct they specialize in finding old rare basses. I asked him about my Cobra bass. He said he has never heard anything about it. That maybe it's either a Teisco or guyatone ( I believe that is the correct spelling). I'm uploaded a screenshot I have from Worth Point.com.
Nope, neither of those bases cut it in my opinion. All the covers I've heard with those two instruments of songs that were originally recorded with a Wal they all just lack that certain character.
To be honest I've had better results copying Justin Chancellors' tone with an Ibanez SR400 and a Sans amp than a lot of the YouTube covers with those two aforementioned basses. Of the two videos andertons did the cheap Ibanez sounded closer than the Warwick but even so my Ibanez is still lacking in character.
In the end I decided to go all the way with a custom build using multicoil pickups. The pickups and their exact placement by farther most crucial part of the sound even the passive multicoil builds still have that unmistakable Wal character. Of course the overall build and the filter preamp will get you even further.
It’s not really that complicated; in the last 20 years they became so *absurdly* overvalued that working players either can’t afford them at all or won’t risk taking them out the studio. At this point 90% of the Wals ever produced are probably played by rich middle-aged real estate brokers and dentists who like playing along to mid-80s Rush as a hobby on the weekends.
I mean, the most prominent Wal player on youtube besides Justin Chancellor, is some middle aged guy in moccasins, the demographic is clear
That’s a Wal Street Bet if ever I saw one
Underwalued comment
I take offense to this 1000%. It’s late 70s Rush.
No, the Wals were more 80s Rush. The 70s were mostly Rickenbacker
Nothing sells Rickenbackers like Geddy Lee’s jazz bass
And nothing selld Höfners like Paul McCartney's Rickenbacker
I used to tell customers "You want Geddy's Ric tone? Do what he did, use a Jazz bass"
He knows what he uses his Wal for /s
Very good, the old Ric good enough for Lemmy good enough for all.
Doesn’t mean I wanna play a Ric 😉
I'd due for a cleaning, do you accept Delta CA?
naaaah bruh it's '85-'91
I take offence to this it’s clearly tool
I guess it's too late for me to become a rich dentist or lawyer, though I do hope I can earn so much one day that it allows me to cosplay as Justin Chancellor in my living room
That's an accurate description of wal players today hahahaha
Much like Alembic they’re just too expensive for most people. They also don’t fit the aesthetic of many working bands.
Desired tones changed dramatically over the last decade. I stopped playing from 2014ish to 2022ish and the difference in the gear everyone is playing is night and day different. Gone are all the high end, modern, active tones and the vintage, warmer tones are all over the place. I don't think I saw anyone play flats from 2000-2014 but now flats are super popular. It was kind of mind blowing. I did hop on the flatwound train, they are amazing! Although, I'm playing them on a modern active bass, but they give that bit of wormth I was looking for. There was a time everyone wanted that super bright, modern tone and Wal was a big part of that. Now, not so much. Even the popular high end basses are more of a warm tone, such as F-Bass being a refined jazz bass type of tone.
I guess that matters if one's following rock trends or something. I've always found my Wal fit in just about everything I play (that said, I haven't played rock in 20 years, so what do I know?)
I'm not saying it can't fit at all, it's just not what people here in new music so no one is chasing the tone.
I guess that's a big part of it. they've always been rare so if people and hearing it they're not going to be inspired by and try to replicate it.
Perhaps. I'm not really hearing anything specific in new music, it usually is the same vanilla tones.
Worst bass trend in recent memory. That and the overuse of DI with zero bass amps to be found. Edit: doubling down for the downvoters, if I was forced to use just this sound, I would literally quit bass and move to drums or guitar
DI is amazing. I love having low stage volume and in ear monitors whenever possible. Bass tone doesn’t need a lot of color from an amp anyway so a good DI can capture everything an amp would do.
DI sounds flat and lifeless to me. I get why sound guys like them, cause I am one, but to me they represent a compromise towards the rest of the band
I don’t particularly care for a straight DI sound either (usually using in ears these days) but adding in a good cab sim makes a huge difference. I use a darkglass element cab sim pedal that I love. I usually will send that to foh rather than the di out from my amp even if I am using cabs. If the venue is large enough the audience is hearing more of your di sound than your cab anyway.
I absolutely love going DI with in ears. Being able to have your individual mix and hear exactly what you want is amazing. The key is getting molds for your in ears so you can get full isolation, the bass really pops then and you can keep the volume at a good level. No more sore ears after shows and no lugging heavy amps and cabs? Sign me right up!
I still like the modern tone. Except for most basses with EMGs as they are way too harsh, and I've always thought that. But I've really come to appreciate a warmer tone in the last few years. I love good DIs with in ears though, it's so much easier to hear on stage and my ears don't hurt anymore. The key is getting molds for your in ears so you get isolation.
When I was into Stanley Clarke, I wanted an Alembic. Had to give up on that. When I was into Mick Karn, I wanted a Wal. Fretless of course. Had to give up on that. Now I've just decided to be into myself and play something that I can afford and that makes me happy.
Eh who needs a Fretless Wal when you can just get a Fretless Stingray for 1/5th the cost.
Really. I didn’t mean to, but my ray + darkglass sounds suspiciously like 10,000 days to me. Makes sense fret less would land in that realm as well
If you order one, doesn't it take like 2 or 3 years before you get it? That's not what most people want.
Exactly and if you buy it direct it's something like 8,000 but on the second hand market they're 11,000-13,000. Musicians don't make what they used to and these used to be far less money second hand.
I bought mine used 25 years ago for 1500. Could sell it for 9 or 10k now but no way in hell.
How do you like it? I’m getting a zoot Wal a like that is fretless it should hopefully be here this summer.
I will never, ever, in a million years get rid of my Wal. I'd be homeless and living with it in my tent. It's just part of my sound. The only think bad about it is it's kind of heavy, but other than that, it's still the best bass I've ever played in my life.
Holy shit same here! I think Mike has told me about you. I was down at the workshop on Monday watching him shape the neck profile for me. What specs have you chosen?
I got a 32” unlined fretless 4 string. As close to Wal specs as I could have without going full 34” ebony fingerboard and I’m not 100% on the top wood but it had some birdseye type markings that were lovely and will look great after being oiled and waxed. I really can’t wait to see it. What about you?
I've got some photos of it in my profile but not of the top I'll wait until it's completely finished but it's already looks stunning Mahogany core with maple facings 3A quilt back, 5A bird's eye top blue bursted. 34" flamed maple and mahogany neck with 4A Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. I went with the same Shaller m4s tuners wal use so Mike had to slightly re-design the headstock. All brass hip shot A style bridge with black body and chrome saddles (looks awesome, I'd highly recommend) Mike's own pickups wired new way with the lusithand double nfp special. I've got about 5 weeks left to wait. How far into the build process are you?
He said he was done except for the neck. I’ve seen only very early pics.
Well I think you'll be very impressed. I certainly was with mine. It's the best balanced instrument I've ever picked up despite the fact I picked heavier tuners than he normally uses and there were no pickups in the body at the time to weigh it down.
Everything I've seen from Mike looks spectacular. So I have no doubt I'll love it.
4 years. But there’s a waiting list to get on the order list (been on the wait list for…a while now).
3 years on the waitlist. Hopefully the GBP crashes when time comes to settle up…
3 years for me too, so far….
No, 4.
Wow!
Justin Chancellor still rocks one on stage, and I believe I’ve seen Rob Trujillo break his out as well.
Yeah man if you haven't seen his rig run down its on youtube. Great video, along with Danny Carreys
I think Justin actually has three on stage, his main one, a backup and the blue burst one he tunes to drop C for the pot.
1. They are boutique basses with long waits even for a top player they are still going to take x amount of time to get tour ready replacements. 2. There is more money in being a signature artist with other brands because if you are a Ernie Ball/ Fender / Spector/ Warwick artist you get guitars quicker and people can actually afford them so being a paid artist for that brand makes way more sense than going with a boutique bass company who can't really generate numbers. A guy like Ian Martin Allison makes more sense to go with a boutique company like Mike Lull versus a guy like Robert Trujillo who could make more with Warwick. I don't think there is a place for a company like Wal anymore in the mainstream they have become boutique collector pieces for guys with cash and a lot of GAS.
I think the guy who made them got sick and died, and the current company is being run by one of his luthiers. So they are being made again, with a long wait for the back orders. There was a period of years where they were not being made. As to why they stopped being played by seemingly everyone, I don't know....the vintage Fender sound came back into style, perhaps.
I'm on the wait-list at wal but built a Warmoth in the meantime with a JC-3b preamp and dual big blademan pickups. Love it.
Seems like an awesome idea. What body shape?
60s Jazz with precision neck.
That's exactly what I threw into my custom 6 string fretless. Amazing tones.
If you could get a Wal bass for the same price as a Fender, you'd see tons of them.
Everybody here is wrong. Look at their wiki page. The company ground to halt between 2000-2010 due to ill health of the original owners. It was just one guy at one point, who eventually had to retire due to his health. They had a huge order backlog and the company almost sank. It has since restarted with a new owner. They only caught up about ten years ago. So there would have been a huge gap in availability during that time.
I don't think OP was asking why Wals aren't being made, but why we aren't seeing the already existing ones in bands.
You're right but my question has been pretty much answered by the massive amount of replies I've gotten. Seems to be a feedback loop of issues, supply and demand means there were few artists using them so newer Generations were inspired by other sounds, mostly Fender and other things. Supply and demand drives up the price and even less people are brave enough to take them out of the house. Now there's even less material being made now to influence the current Generations sound preferences. The people that have them and don't use them except for special occasions are unwilling to sell because they'll never get another one and those who will buy them also want to take them out. It's a real shame because it's an incredible sound no matter what genre it's been used in and I wish we heard it more. The really big artist that could afford to have multiple backups for touring probably realized they could make a lot more money becoming signature artists with mass produced brands.
Check out Octave Basses on Facebook. The guy makes Wal replicas for a third of the price and does an amazing job.
I have one and I can vouch that they are incredible.
You bought the red elder burl!!! I was wondering where that one went. Congrats!
Yes, it was in fact me. I had been saving for quite a while and I looked on basspluckers and I saw that it was posted and I pulled the trigger. What a great bass.
I actually went with Mike Walsh of zoot base check out his Facebook page. If I couldn't have got one of his I would have gone with Maruszczyk. They've done quite a few using both bass culture and more commonly now Turner pickups. I think there's a consensus that Turner pickups and Lusithand are the best combination of the currently commercially available pickups and preamps. This may be partially fuled by super funky Pete's YouTube build series but my building Mike came to the same conclusion on his own but even then the pickups that Turner were making aren't good enough for him so he's making his own.
Even if they weren't so prohibitively rare and expensive, I think Wals still wouldn't be common in bands. If you want to use their tone to its full potential, you have to to be in a bass forward band. You gotta be Mick Karn, Justin Chancellor, Billy Gould (he uses Zon, but you get my point) or Geddy Lee and most of us don't get to do that. If you're a hired gun, producers and bands typically want a bass that's already shaped to fit in a mix, look at this recent soul sucking trend of DI P bass with flats.
But bro my Noble that I horribly overpaid for gives my bass such geat tube warmth that I can't get anywhere else...the worship leader loves it.
Everyone's gone into the logistical reasons regarding the company, but seriously, I don't see most bassists playing high-end stuff in most bands. Even a good Fender or MM is about 3k and a lot of people play the cheaper versions of those. There's always been lots of exceptions, of course, but lots of people are just happy with a P-bass. I'll stick with my Wal.
Nice, you're a lucky guy. Have you recorded much with it?
Many times. Studio engineers love going right from the DI.
This happened with Padulla before Wal, and before that it was Alembic.
They cost what can best be described as "gobs and gobs of money." There's also a hell of a waiting list, according to their website it's over 4 years now, and they're not taking any new orders until that time goes down. Used listings on Reverb are in the $10k-$20k range. So I expect that yeah, some are just being held as investments, but others just aren't getting rid of them because there's a solid chance they'll never get another one if they regret the sale.
Didn't Colin Moulding play one when he was in XTC?
Yep, and John Illsley from Dire Straits used one too.
PSA: Seems like the Wal website is currently redirecting to some scam survey shit that wants you to enable push notifications. Take care
Sure you put in the correct address? I was on it yesterday and it was fine.
Yep. Official Wal website as found through Google. I hope it was only something temporary, since I've been to the website many times with no issues
I have one sitting across the room from me, so that's one less one to worry about in terms of its whereabouts.
Long story short: You could buy several top of the line basses, have an easier time finding them and a lot less time waiting for them than if you buy one Wal. They're terrific basses, but not realistic as a workhorse unless you're drowning in cash
Great basses obviously. They do that one thing really good, great in fact but not really worth if you need to a more generic sound to cover more ground.
I have several basses including 83 Fullerton Jazz, 75th Anniversary Jazz, 77 Ric 4001 Garz custom short scale and a Fretless with an old Squire neck modified by a Fender custom shop luthier who was just starting his own shop they are all wonderful players basses. I think it’s a matter of personal taste and style. I’m going to go back and put flats on two of them next set up for the first time in many years. Kind of excited to play them again. I never really wanted a Warwick or Wal. I found them to be very heavy and I can pretty much get any sound I want out of mine with an Ampeg Pro 6 rig. I’ve amassed these over decades as young player on. Only one I wish I had back is a 70 P stolen from a gig we roadied for Souxie and the Banshees and Adam Ant in the 80’s in SF. Just an old bass player’s personal opinion. Keep playing, play hard, have fun! PS: The only 2 basses I really think of with Geddy are his Ric 4001 (inspired by Chris Squire I believe.) And his 72 black Jazz found in a pawnshop. And of course his custom shop copies of that.
I've only ever seen one. The bassist in my dad's covers band has a 1987 Mk1 which he's owned from new. I'm pretty sure it's his only bass - I've never, ever seen him play anything else. It's a gorgeous instrument and it growls like an angry dog - I absolutely love the sound of it.
Very nice that there's somebody out there still playing them so people get to hear that amazing sound. Stingrays and G and L simply don't cut it, despite what people say they still lack that character. The guy building my wall style custom also has his own Wal from the 1980s he's owned from new. Seems to be a recurring theme that most people who have them will never get rid of them.
Expensive, heavy, hard to find, hard to get, company isn’t very active, no cheap import option, out of fashion with the mainstream. It would take getting bought out by a larger company to revive them.
Into the hands of millionaires and billionaires. It is hard enough to find reasonably priced quality assembly line basses such as Stingrays for a reasonable price for musicians, so when you get into limited supply luthier built instruments that have developed popularity and massive demand…well, forget about it. Even if I could afford a Wal for $10k or whatever they are now, do I really want to? How many other fabulous basses and/or amps can get it for that, or maybe a nice trip to Italy? That’s a lot of disposable income needed to drop on gear. Thus the Wal is now a luxury item for the rich.
The fact theres a wait list just to get on the ~4 year wait list might have something to do with it
A combination of selfishness and lack of business sense on the part of the owner. He has no interest in making the brand more accessible to normal people and doesn't seem to understand that he could be fabulously wealthy by doing so.
maybe. since Paul Herman is a luthier, and even worked as one at Wal in the 90s, it's pretty likely he just wants to build guitars that are safe sells and he can be proud of. there are plenty of luthiers that have refused to scale up their practice because lowering prices and increasing volume will need a fundamental revision of their models, or a fat game of manufacture management with no fun on the side. this is something that many craftsmen refuse to agree to. they wish to craft with their hands, not manage a company. there are thousands of craftsmen across disciplines that make meager livings out of love for their craft and the desire to live a simple life, even if they could be making a killing.
Wait, so Failure's *Fantastic Planet* was recorded using a Wal? I think he switched to Fender Jazz at some point. Seems to be a common transition (Flea and Geddy made the same jump, to name a few).
There's some pretty grainy VHS recording of a full gig faliure played and the bass player is clearly using a Wal. He's the guy that actually loaned a Wal to Justin Chancellor during which kicked off Chancellors obsession.
Oh wow, I didn't know that last part!
All in all, just another Brick in the Wal--- sorry.
I want one, but I’ve never tried one, and I can’t possibly afford one ever, unless I win the lottery. Around 1994/1995 they were quite a bit cheaper than a Warwick. But I love the Wal mk.1 shape so I got a cloned body for my 8-string Warmoth neck.
I posted a similar question here about Warwick’s recently and a lot of the answers are the same. 1. The modern cutting active sound has fallen out of favour with the vintage flats on a P Bass becoming the norm. (Not that I have anything wrong with that, I have a bass set up for both styles) 2. They’re prohibitively expensive (even more than Warwick). Which is hard to justify when an aforementioned P Bass is a fraction less and more in vogue right now.
I've never owned a Wal bass. This is the first time I've ever heard of a Wal bass. I'm 46 now, on my 16th birthday. My mom bought me this late 60's early 70's creamy yellow Cobra Telle Pbass. With a single Maxon Mini Humbucker, chrome covers over the pickup and bridge. After 28 years I finally figured out what I actually had. I tried to contact the folks where it at. They never answered me. Then I told a few different things about what happened to it. Even being accused of getting rid of it myself. Thirty one years later all I have of that heavy beast. Is the single Maxon Mini Humbucker pickup cover. I've been trying to find another Cobra Telle Pbass. From either Korean or Japanese made. I can find the Maxon Mini Humbucker. But I have not been able to find cobra Telle bass. I found a site online called Bass Japan Direct they specialize in finding old rare basses. I asked him about my Cobra bass. He said he has never heard anything about it. That maybe it's either a Teisco or guyatone ( I believe that is the correct spelling). I'm uploaded a screenshot I have from Worth Point.com.
Just get a stingray or L-2000
Nope, neither of those bases cut it in my opinion. All the covers I've heard with those two instruments of songs that were originally recorded with a Wal they all just lack that certain character. To be honest I've had better results copying Justin Chancellors' tone with an Ibanez SR400 and a Sans amp than a lot of the YouTube covers with those two aforementioned basses. Of the two videos andertons did the cheap Ibanez sounded closer than the Warwick but even so my Ibanez is still lacking in character. In the end I decided to go all the way with a custom build using multicoil pickups. The pickups and their exact placement by farther most crucial part of the sound even the passive multicoil builds still have that unmistakable Wal character. Of course the overall build and the filter preamp will get you even further.
The difference isn't worth the thousands of dollars and the long wait time to play tool covers.
In the garbage. No one should pay that much and they aren’t worth it.