NBD/Wal Review part 1

[Bunion]

Most people who’ve been in the Spector or Musicman threads know I’ve been lusting for a Wal. 

There’s been arguments against, offered alternatives and arguments for, all of which I read and yay or nay that lust didn’t change. 

This wasn’t sudden GAS this has been going on for years, but failing to act and cheaper impulse buys stopped me. Lately the £5,000 - £10,000 (yes 9.9k on eBay) has started to see my dream bass slip further into just that, a dream. 

So, as with most of my purchases ‘it all happened so fast.’

I was searching the internet for “Wal for sale UK” and there it was, Bass Bros in Stratford upon Avon had a Wal Pro 1, Birds eye’s maple and not only that it was almost in my favourite colour ‘honey burst’ AND it had the single pickup at the Bridge end of the bass where it should be. (I love my stingrays and modulus FU) 

But and this was a heart dropping moment , it was passive with just a volume, tone and series/parallel switch… 

What the hell, a quick call to Will at Bass Bros and a chat about some gear I could part exchange had me promising to head down the next day (it was afternoon and late in the day I had things on) to: 

1. Check the Wal out and 

2. For him to check my gear out so I could haggle him up a bit more. 

I got as far as the kitchen and was suddenly back on the phone to him making arrangements to be on the road within the next hour… (now the GAS had hit home.)

I took the Waza bass air with me as I didn’t think he’d have an all tube/Bag End setup and I’m familiar with how my other basses sound through the headphones. 

I played it cool when I arrived, there it was sat on a stand but I ignored it while we passed the usual pleasantries, until, finally the time had come. 

“Would you like to try it”

It had flats on and the action was high for me but as soon as I plucked the first note a huge grin I couldn’t stop appeared. 

That Wal sound, punchy, loud, distinctive, beautiful.

It took me less than a minute to know I was going to take this bass home with me and after Sterling service by Will an exchange of gear and some funds I was on my way home.

Casting furtive glances in the rear view mirror at the Wal sat in its case, like it was some super model crossing and uncrossing her legs while she promised I was going to get some when I got to my destination those miles went by quickly. 

 

photos courtesy Bass Bros 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Bunion

[Bunion]

Reserved 

[Eldon Tyrell]

Glad to read that you got your Wal 👍

Enjoy 🙂

 

[AndyTravis]

It’s a beauty mate - I will get there one day…

 

enjoy

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Good work in snagging your dream bass 👏👏👏👏. Looks fab 👍

[NickA]

Congrats.  The core Wal tone is there in that one pickup. Check out Geert Maesschalk's posts on the "Wal lovers of the world" Facebook page. Plus many iconic Wal bass lines (early Percy Jones for instance) were laid down with an ash bodied pro bass.  

 

Nice maple facings too.  Shame about the thumb rest.

 

So, pray tell .. how much does a passive pro 1 reissue Wal cost these days? ( They were £250 on Denmark St in 1984, but one sold in the states via reverb for £3900 recently ).

[kodiakblair]

What a great way to start Christmas 🙂

 

Wouldn't worry about it being passive , my early JG model was passive ; sounded brilliant 👍

[tubbybloke68]

Personally I find being passive is in no way a disadvantage on a Wal.

i have the same model as above and an early pro II. They have’ that sound’ in spades and    
are the ones I tend to gravitate towards.

I really hope you enjoy your new acquisition , good on ya ! 
x 

 

[Jason Karloff]

Wow. I have an identical fretless version. 

[NickA]

3 hours ago, tubbybloke68 said:

Personally I find being passive is in no way a disadvantage on a Wal.

Must admit, I very rarely use the pull out eq or "pick attack" knobs on mine - just for messing about really.  But presumably the buffering of the pickups and the active pickup mixing help the tone a bit.  less with modern high impedance amps and less of an issue when you only have the one pickup.  Plus the active low pass filtering has more roll off I think.  Be good to have a head to head comparison.

Edited December 27, 2021 by NickA

[Bunion]

On 24/12/2021 at 22:08, NickA said:

So, pray tell .. how much does a passive pro 1 reissue Wal cost these days?

Part 2 will be coming very shortly now I’ve had a chance to put it through it’s paces… 

[TrevorR]

On 24/12/2021 at 22:08, NickA said:

So, pray tell .. how much does a passive pro 1 reissue Wal cost these days? ( They were £250 on Denmark St in 1984, but one sold in the states via reverb for £3900 recently ).

The way prices have gone recently you probably don’t want to know! Especially as you’ll not be able to keep the thought “…and these were the budget models…” out of your head!

 

Always fancied one of these passive Pro reissue Wals. Still kick myself I never snapped up the one I saw in Langley Guitar Centre back in the 90s…

Edited December 31, 2021 by TrevorR

[NickA]

I know. I could have afforded one at £250 in 1984, but was itching for a "custom" like Mick Karn's, and those were beyond reach at £750 ( and even at £500 2nd hand I'd have needed a bank loan).  It was 1998 before I landed a custom .. could have been playing a pro1 for 14 years.

 

 

[HotelX]

Lucky you. Can’t wait to read part 2

[4000]

Beautiful bass. I nearly bought one like that a few years back, sometime after getting rid of my Pro IIE, but just missed out. I think it was about £2.5k then.
 

I’ve never found the passive Wals to suffer in terms of having ‘the’ Wal sound. Leigh “Leroy” Gorman of Bow Wow Wow has always used passive Wals and he has ‘that’ sound in spades IMO. He had a Custom but got rid as he didn’t like it as much. And although still active (but without the Custom’s filters), I much preferred my Pro IIE to the Custom I had. 

[Musicman666]

I had a fretless ebony one of these …flogged it for a couple of hundred in the 90s, luckily I managed to pick up a mark ii a few years later at considerably more that two hundred.