NickA

I've been criticised on there for "talking down prices". Lots of collectors. One reason the price is so high is that the prices keep going up. It's a tragedy as so few good bass players can afford one, let alone dare take them out for a play. My fretless custom is out every week, it gets bashed a bit, I don't care; I'm not going to sell it ever. Great basses, but not THAT great. And the vaunted Rush and Tool connections are bogus as neither Mr Lee nor Mr Chancellor sound like they're playing one ( all effects and Geddy's weird low action light string setup). Flea, yes, BSSM has MK2 Wal all over it.

You can get E,A,D,G,C sets. Then you're just drop tuning a tone, which will be fine. Tho if you insist on A not B for the top string it might be a bit flappy.

Don't know what model Sonny Thompson's Dolph is .... being white and that. Equipboard reckons it's a mere SN, not a Pro1, Paired with a big Trace rig ...as did Nirvana.... which is an unexpectedly great combination. If only I had the space I'd have kept my old trace combo just for the dolphin.

My bass might like playing F, Bflat, Eflat and Aflat.... But my stubby little left hand fingers don't. The bass can like what it likes, but I'm the boss and I choose the notes 😁. But as for the sound, I like flat keys and modes ..I think because it's flattening notes in a scale that creates the ambiguity and melancholy of blues through to minor scales. Sharpening notes feels like an attempt to force things to sound cheery.... like those awful songs that run out of ideas and suddenly go up a 5th to brighten things up ( listen to "we had joy we had fun, we had seasons in the sun" without wincing.)

We have a "Wal Bass Lovers of the World Unite!" FB page btw. Full of advice & opinions (and disagreements). One member has 12 (?) Wals. Probs the best place to buy and sell Wal basses too. My Mk2 came from there.

Congrats... welcome to the world of Wal. Silly prices these days but still beautifully made and a joy to play. .....and minutes after you posted a " MK2 Wal wanted" request in the items wanted thread! 🤔.

Boire and Barts? It was hearing Schalk Joubert playing a five string one of those that really set me wanting a dolphin. Never had the chance to play one or compare with my "modern" ( ovangkol and MEC) bass. I think their sound is warmer, less "brittle" which I'd put down to the pickups not tbe wood.

Queue invasion of American Rush and Tool fans waving bunches of dollars! These things are generally £6k plus these days....4 string mk2s being the most expensive for some reason. And remarkably they still sell at those prices. What are they thinking?!

At my ( great) age, I'd have to pay £5k-£6k and all I'd get is some crappy beat up fender. Shan't bother.

"Mush"!!! ???? Not a word I'd apply to a dolphin..... not even a set neck one. The pro1 is a very different bast tho. Clarity in excess. Fantastic for soloing, sometimes hard to drop in the mix.

Amongst many things, Brexit has totally f#£_&d the cross Europe trade in 2nd hand instruments. Really dumb as the UK govt were not forced to charge vat on imported 2nd hand goods, they just decided to do so for extra revenue.. Hand carrying a personal possession tho, you are unlikely to get questioned ... best leave the country with one bass and return with another. Ferry ports less intrusive than airports btw ( especially if the bass stays in your car ). 😉

I see you like the sound in "passive" mode. I guess you know it's not really passive, the pickups themselves are active and all pulling that switch up does is turn off the onboard EQ ... should be the same as turning the EQ knobs to neutral as you're still sending a buffered and actively mixed signal to the amp. Or am I wrong? I find the whole sound a bit "thin" unless I crank up the EQ knobs a bit. Ps: looks just like my ovangkol one (2001) so I'm guessing not boire. Might have a wenge neck tho ( don't know if that alters the sound, but it looks nice). Here's mine

I've got one of those. And the massive case. It has the best ergonomics of any bass. usually in "jazz" mode = even pickup balance and coil tap, lovely clear tone, great for slapping and tapping too. I'd wanted a 5 string, and a wenge neck, but dolphins are so rare you just have to grab what comes up! Enjoy.

I don't ever use my acg-eq-01 bass live.... I sometimes find a really good sound on it and plan to take it out with me "pre set" ; but then dither and take the Wal instead. That one is easy to tweak on stage. For some reason as the evening progresses the filtering gets reduced and the pickup balance heads towards the bridge. It's a problem with owning a fretless Wal ... other basses get ignored.

Ooph. There is no limit. Think I'll stick with brass. 😁

When I retire ....I'll map out the frequency responses. Meanwhile, Life is too short and I'll stick to tweaking the knobs. It's an amazing preamp tho.. that treble stack is great; it's supposed to be a variable "pick attack" but does so much more. You can even choose what blend of pickups to put through it (internal trim pot).

No no no...not those awful hat pegs. For some reason I can't explain I really don't like them.

Ah you cost-no-object pennng bass owners! Beautiful. I'm going to ask the bloke who has my bass in bits for a quote on those baker ones. But those Rubners do look ok, so long as the plate fits the space or could be cut down. Healy tuners? Web search returns no info. My bass is probably not worth more than £10k, so I don't want to put too many ribbons on it!

Used it again this week, with just the pjb flight-case (no pb300) with the amps high mids and high EQ cranked up. Sounded good from where I stood. I didn't bother fitting the sound clamp. Hard to separate the different sound of the pickup from the different sound of this rental bass, but it's a mellow one and maybe not totally suited to a copperhead. But the copperhead has a good tone with lots of fundamental and a nice high output. Could be excellent on a brighter bass ( eg my own bass ).

Doesn't sound like my Wal at all. Then again, mine has no frets and doesn't get played with a pick 🤔. More fun than a squire Jazz bass tho ...

I also pretty much use one fixed setting for everything on my active twin humbucker bass ... but that fixed setting needs two humbuckers, two active filters and a blend control! 😂. Amp dead flat EQ, no effects. Joe Dart seems to use a direct wired, usually single pickup, bass but a whole truck of off board processing. Many ways to kill a cat.

The realist sound clamp is also ok for Arco with a sufficiently hifi amp, I've used it on my cello too. Needs a fair bit of experimentation with placement, weights and tension though. I use a bit of bike inner tube twixt it and bridge to soften the sound too. Bit disappointed in the copperhead, as trying it at home it sounded great; then playing in a band it lacked treble. Found a little mixer in my bits and bobs cupboard and blended the sound clamp with the copperhead ..and that sounded really good.... at home anyway. But too much faff for me. As said, matching to the bass really matters!