So, my old Wal Pro IIE....

[4000]

.....does anyone have it? S/n JG1162.

 

The Lockdown GAS thread got me thinking. It’s one of the few basses I’ve owned that I’d really like back one day (of the others, one is M.I.A and two others are sadly not going anywhere). 

[4000]

BTW, not expecting the owner to sell (haven’t currently got the funds anyway), just wondered. 

[emperormingus]

Yep, bought it from the bass gallery a few years back, it's now a fretless, thanks to John at the Gallery, and it's wonderful. 

It's in a good home. 

John. 

[4000]

That’s good to hear. Bit of any eye-popper that it’s now fretless, but hey, it is a Wal after all. 😉

Been watching some footage I shot at home while I had it; I remembered when I got rid of it thinking that the sound wasn’t really 100% working for me (although the main reason I let it go was the weight), but the footage told me I was very wrong indeed. In fact I probably never sounded better! 😂

[Oopsdabassist]

And there's me thinking you were looking for a Pixar animated DVD

[emperormingus]

Funnily enough, good as it was with frets, I just couldn't get it to work for me, too set in my ways with a P Bass. Fretless on the other hand......

[TrevorR]

Looks very much like my Pro IIE which is a wonderful bass (beaten in my affections only by my Mk 1, and only by a nose).

Great for some older school but still Wal-tastic rock tones and for some fat soul too. Love it!

[4000]

In my experience I’ve preferred the Pros to the Customs, both for tone and looks.

[Misdee]

Given the ongoing trend for retro gear, if Wal reissued the Pro Basses they would be fighting customers off with the proverbial  unhygienic stick . I know  Wal are back-ordered for years already, but maybe they could expand their operation if they had consistent demand for a bass that was  slightly simpler to manufacture . I would buy one, that's for sure. 

[4000]

19 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Given the ongoing trend for retro gear, if Wal reissued the Pro Basses they would be fighting customers off with the proverbial  unhygienic stick . I know  Wal are back-ordered for years already, but maybe they could expand their operation if they had consistent demand for a bass that was  slightly simpler to manufacture . I would buy one, that's for sure. 

I’m pretty sure there would be a market too, but unfortunately I think these days they would still cost a fortune. They would only lack the facings of the Customs and I’m not sure the electronics would really be any/much cheaper to manufacture than the Custom ones; after all, the pickups are the same. Even passive, you’d just be losing the cost of the filters. 

Of course it may be that if you asked nicely and paid sufficient funds, Paul may make you one anyway. Albeit they can’t reproduce the moulded scratchplate, certainly for one-offs, as this is something I discussed when I first got my Pro and was thinking of making it passive a la Leigh Gorman. Of course if they ever brought back the Pros, they could probably get the scratch plates done en masse, but again, would it be cost effective?

[CPCustomdubwise]

18 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Given the ongoing trend for retro gear, if Wal reissued the Pro Basses they would be fighting customers off with the proverbial  unhygienic stick . I know  Wal are back-ordered for years already, but maybe they could expand their operation if they had consistent demand for a bass that was  slightly simpler to manufacture . I would buy one, that's for sure. 

I emailed Paul Herman with this exact question a few years back. I basically suggested that a  Standard model, effectively some reiteration of the Pro model ( somewhere between the first and second types of "Pro" ) would enable ordinary mortals to dip their toe in the Wal pool. I had a couple of Wals, a Pro 1e and a Custom M1, back in the 80s and would love to again, but kids going through Uni makes the very idea impossible.

I asked whether something equivalent to the PRS SE models, perhaps manufactured overseas and quality controlled by Wal, might be an idea, and that I was sure they'd sell by the truckload..

Paul politely and very charmingly stated that there were no such plans at present, nor any particular impetus to introduce them in the future. I think the thing is that they have no shortage of customers, they like the business the way it is now and they may even wish to preserve some concept of purity of their product.

I get that.....but I'd buy a stripped down £1k Wal " SE"  in a flash if one became a thing.

[4000]

Here’s a bit of my inspiration for ever wanting one in the first place. Interestingly, whereas my old Pro was JG1162, Leigh’s original Wal (he now has 2), was JG1126. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway! 😂
 

 

[4000]

11 minutes ago, CPCustomdubwise said:

I emailed Paul Herman with this exact question a few years back. I basically suggested that a  Standard model, effectively some reiteration of the Pro model ( somewhere between the first and second types of "Pro" ) would enable ordinary mortals to dip their toe in the Wal pool. I had a couple of Wals, a Pro 1e and a Custom M1, back in the 80s and would love to again, but kids going through Uni makes the very idea impossible.

I asked whether something equivalent to the PRS SE models, perhaps manufactured overseas and quality controlled by Wal, might be an idea, and that I was sure they'd sell by the truckload..

Paul politely and very charmingly stated that there were no such plans at present, nor any particular impetus to introduce them in the future. I think the thing is that they have no shortage of customers, they like the business the way it is now and they may even wish to preserve some concept of purity of their product.

I get that.....but I'd buy a stripped down £1k Wal " SE"  in a flash if one became a thing.

It would probably introduce all sorts of headaches that they simply don’t need.   

This springs to mind.😉

https://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/09/04/the-fisherman-and-the-businessman/

 

[Highfox]

14 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Here’s a bit of my inspiration for ever wanting one in the first place. Interestingly, whereas my old Pro was JG1162, Leigh’s original Wal (he now has 2), was JG1126. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway! 😂
 

 

Its all over the "give em enough rope" album as well

[4000]

The Clash? Never liked the Clash, one of the few bands from that era I’ve no real time for. 

[Misdee]

I love the fact that Wal have never and hopefully will never start manufacturing a budget model overseas.

Lets face it a " budget" UK -made  Wal Pro would be 3-4  thousand quid , in all likelihood. That is o.k by me. 

Didn't Sam Rivers from  Limp Bizkit have a Pro - style Custom built a few years back IIRC? I would dearly love a Pro-style bass for so may reasons, not least of all Alan Spenner and Gary Tibbs with Roxy Music.  Both were so inspiring to me when I first started playing. 

 

 

[Highfox]

15 minutes ago, 4000 said:

The Clash? Never liked the Clash, one of the few bands from that era I’ve no real time for. 

Well, we have Killing Joke as well. Raven and Leigh were my inspirations  for wanting a Wal early on.

[4000]

One thing I’ve noticed is the basses you let go and then regret getting rid of always cost about 5 times as much to replace as when you let them go. 😂

[CPCustomdubwise]

14 minutes ago, 4000 said:

One thing I’ve noticed is the basses you let go and then regret getting rid of always cost about 5 times as much to replace as when you let them go. 😂

This certainly IS an extremely annoying fact of life.

Like you I preferred the Pro to the Custom; the Pro was my second bass, after a catastrophic Satellite J copy....and frankly I should have stuck with it.

You live and learn....

[CPCustomdubwise]

My Pro cost £350 in 1983...swapped the Custom two years later for a Jaydee that Mark King donated to a competition in One Two Testing whi h I won....the Jaydee was horrible.... then refused to trade the Pro for a 1963 P bass.... then sold it for peanuts....then traded the Custom for a Warwick Thumb 5 in Allbang and Strummit in 1988; I believe I was given a trade value if £350 for that.

A complete litany of daft errors.... amd the Pro was the best bass of the lot anyway.

But we won't be told.

Edited May 8, 2020 by CPCustomdubwise
extra content

[4000]

My worst involves trading my Pedulla MVP - a fantastic bass - for a Wal Custom in Music Ground. Got £475 for the Pedulla against £895 for the Wal. Unfortunately I found the Wal nowhere near as good live as the Pedulla (IMO) and soon after (‘96-ish?) I sold it to a friend for £550, IIRC.

That’s bad enough, but with the money I bought a Marshall Dynamic 200w bass head and 1x15 cab, which turned out to be pants. 🙄 I then swapped those for a Marshall Superbass (which was great actually) and matching 4x12 (which wasn’t), later selling them for a combined £250. So in effect I let my Wal Custom go for £250, as if £550 wasn’t bad enough! 

Luckily my friend loved the Wal Custom and so far as I’m aware still has it. I much preferred the Pro if I’m honest, although I’d be interested to try the Custom again as there’s been a lot of water (and basses) under the bridge since ‘96!

[Rich]

I paid £330 for my strawberry red Pro 2E in 1986. I would sell a kidney or one of my children first. Although realistically I would possibly consider trading it for another Wal, but it'd have to be something pretty special.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Rich

[4000]

I remember back in about ‘84 talking to Wal about buying some pickups; at the time they were happy to sell them (and the electronics) and they weren’t that expensive, but the project they were for (a Rickenwaller😁)  never got off the ground - somebody stole my Ric, so I never bothered buying any. Wish I’d bought a bunch now. Hindsight eh? 

[CPCustomdubwise]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing indeed.

We could form a club of grumpy old scrotes who idiotically sold all their fantastic basses years ago because some shiny new trinket suddenly appeared hanging on a wall in Wapping or somewhere.....

we could call it Basscha......

Oh, wait......

[Highfox]

Back in 88 I traded my single pickup pro for a brand new Warwick custom Streamer, that was my Wal plus 750 pounds in cash!  I was happy and used the Warwick for over 10 years so can't really complain I guess.