funkle

All good mate, play what your heart desires!

The Wal recipe is 42.5 AWG (actually metric equivalent) wire, 10,000 winds per coil, C8 ceramic magnets, steel keepers. Not neodymium magnets at all..and the wire is different too. Straight DI sound would be great. (Everyone thinks it’s 42 AWG, but this in fact not right.)

It sounds great. That's a fair bit of processing on there , I would say, though - the SVTR/drive adds a fair bit of colour. I would say you're in the Wal-ish neighbourhood, though. It's interesting as the Herrick pickups have quite a different recipe to a Wal - steel poles & neodymium magnets scatter wound with 42 AWG plain enamel wire. Resistance = 16- 20KOhm. (Or so their website says... it also says you can get other pickups on request.). Can I ask @Tom Stafford, what pickups did you request from Herrick?

Not yet. But I keep iterating closer. And I’ve learned a lot along the way too. So it’s been good.

It’s easier to play because the neck fits my hand - Jazz nut width etc. Plus the body hangs in the right spot - the upper horn reaches the 12th fret so the first fret is not a long reach and there’s no neck dive. The other preamp will be installed for an A/B test. It’s still going to be a while. The only way to make it go faster is if you wish to send me money, lol, because then I can pay other people to do faster work.

Hmm, I’m going to have to get some more tech work done. So there may be a bit more delay. I’m going to have the pickup screws shortened further - one of the issues with the original body was that I was becoming concerned if the pickups were too close to the strings, even with screwing it all down tightly. I can’t quite get as far down as I want using the current screws, so I’ll need to get some trimming done. For context, the recommended Wal setup is to have strings 5.5 - 6mm away from the pickup, and whilst these particular multicoils have fewer winds, they are still powerful magnets. I can get down to about 4mm but would like to have the extra wiggle room. The other issue is I have bottomed out how far I can lower my setup, so I’ll need to shim the neck. Such is life I guess, most Wals seem to need a shim, so I’ll match the spec 🤣 I may as well see if I can sort the blend knob when I get pre work done, so I have emailed Nuno about this. I also had a mishap with the volume pot shaft trying to fit another set of knobs, so I’ll sort that too. Patience….

That’s all @Chopthebass. I can take some credit for ideas, or at least some of them…but execution is all him. He’s a good listener/interpreter 👍

Although I do need to do one quick wiggle on the neck to align it slightly better. But I’ll sort that too.

Also I find it about a million times easier to play than my Wal. The body shape, nut width/neck, how it hangs on a strap…. @Chopthebass picked a very lightweight African mahogany and he married it well to @Andyjr1515’s neck. It’s a joy.

Ok, unexpectedly, got my bass back from my tech quicker than I thought, after getting the body and neck etc back last week. Here’s a teaser. It’s stunning. : I’m still sorting things like pickups heights, setup, etc. Annoyingly I have worn out the centre detent on the blend control through repeated use, lol. I’ll work around it. It sounds fantastic with the Lusithand Double NFP and the original Turner pickups transplanted over and Andy’s neck on there. Great pickups and I’m always going to be a fan of this preamp. Spoiler…It does sound a bit different, but I’m not yet convinced the mahogany body has made a huge difference over using alder. It is different, and it is noticeable, but not the way a different fretboard wood or completely new neck construction was…however I will keep playing and get some Youtube recordings up soon.

Beautiful. I’m ordering one!

I’m using 9V presently but will be able to go up 18V with the new body, when it arrives.

The Lusithand behaves similarly. It distorted massively when my battery output fell; I thought my amp was crapping out, but a battery change fixed it.

Great work @luthifer. Fascinating. Eventually I hope to be able to say how much each bit of the bass contributes to the ‘Wal sound’. I’ve given my theories before on how much each bit contributes, so I won’t repeat myself. But the distortion from the EQ circuit is a key ingredient. Really interested to hear what your boards sound like.

Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. All I can say for now is that I await a bunch of different parts coming and will document what happens when I change them, and see how close I can get.

@bornleftthe onus of proof isn’t on me. I just don’t think from the clips I have heard that the Octave basses are as close to a Wal as I would hope, yet. We’ll see how it goes over time. I don’t think I’ve heard a clip with his newest preamp though. And my prior comment was referring to Dario at Octave basses, who I know has been working hard on his Wal pickups and Wal preamp.

The Octave chap is using his own design pickups and his own preamp. We have talked. I don’t know if he has solved the problem yet, though he is working hard on it - it’s his niche…

Not yet, unfortunately.

A lot will depend upon the cabinet/crossover design. I use an FRFR cabinet with plenty of treble response available and get a lot of ‘air’/‘sparkle’ with the Wal treble boost. I sometimes use the bright switch on the Berg B-Amp around 7k or so for a similar effect. It’s a ‘Miller-iser’ switch.

According to the chap who drew up that particular schematic, it looks those are indeed 1n - they are clearly labelled - see this reference photo: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Thanks Chris. I think you’re still getting some kind of grit from the compression, either that or there is some in that circuit as well. I guess @luthifer might be the most sensible person to comment…

Ah, that could explain the grit I was hearing. @luthifer is your system designed to have harmonic distortion, or is it cleaner a la the ACG?

Yes, I think they do have a huge stash. I don’t think there’s a full consensus yet. My take is: The ACG is for a clean and clear sound which allows a ton of adjustability, including control of treble boost/brightness. Seemed power efficient to me when I used it. The Lusithand gives grit and allows mainly mid control, though Nuno is going to change the EQ range on the front pickup to go down to 100Hz, but it has no bright switch. Also seemed power efficient. The Underhill I have no experience of but actually seems to give some grit I wasn’t expecting in sound clips and has a good deal of adjustability, including an adjustable bright switch. It sounds viable in a Wal project to me. No idea on power efficiency. The final pre is the mystery maker clone pre I have, which is a modern clone of the Wal preamp, based on the schematics in this thread. I will report on how it sounds as soon as I can, and will comment on power then as well.

Can you repost it back up please? I actually tried doing some stuff in a photo editor but then it wouldn't save, for no obvious reason...