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WAL - INFORMATION PLEASE ?


fretless

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Elderly bass player has passed me a WAL 4 string, lined fretless to check out - pictures attached.

He purchased Bass "second hand" in 1999 from Manson’s in Exeter - invoice to hand, WAL case.

No on heel plate is PB 1287

Body looks to be solid ash 

Seems to date back to 1978/79 (?) - which will make it a very early model ? Confirm ?

Condition of body/neck is excellent -  Intonation seems spot on and set up is good, plays all the way up the neck without problems.

Lots of pots and switches - would be helpful to know what each is supposed to do so that I can assess if they are all functioning OK ?

ie 3 way toggle switch on lower horn, five rotary pots and three mini switches below the pickup surrounds ? Advice please ?

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That's a Wal Pro 2. How much does he want for it? 

Advice? Buy it. Now!

Then send it off to Paul Herman at Wal for a service and overhaul.

 

ps That looks like an original case. Even better.

 

pps corrected name

Edited by chris_b
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1 hour ago, chris_b said:

Then send it off to Paul Turner at Wal for a service and overhaul

You're getting your Paul's mixed up Chris, it's Paul Herman at Wal, not the Jamiroquai bassist! :)

37 minutes ago, fretless said:

Who is Trevor ?

That would be our resident Wal expert and all round good guyTrevor Raggatt @TrevorR

An excellent find if the price is right!

Edited by franzbassist
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Well she’s a beut. It say she was built something like August or September 1979. My Pro IIE is PB1291 and it’s dated to September.

 

First question is whether the bass is passive or active - both use the same scratchplate so the you’ll need to look under the battery cover and see. The switches have different functions for each. 

Going through the controls... toggle switch is pick up selector. The top row of knobs going neck to bridge (strings) are Master Vol, Neck Vol and Bridge Vol. each Volume knob has its own tone knob directly below.

The little switches have different functions on passive and active variations. 

Passive: Pro II - two pickups, series/parallel switching under each pickup 

Active: Pro IIE - two pickups, active tone circuit,  pick attack switch in middle, low-mid boost switch for neck pickup, upper-mid boost/bass cut switch for bridge pickup under the pickup surrounds

The pick attach adds a small peak in the upper middle range to sort of simulate a pick sound when playing fingerstyle - I think of it as an extra cut through switch in busy mixes. 

On is towards the neck on the sliders.

One thing - The shafts on the knobs can become a bit brittle over time (they are removable and attach into the pots with little plastic tines). Wal replaced mine with fixed shaft pots about 10 years ago.

Price wise I’ve seen Pro 2s going for 2k and 2Es going for a bit over 2.5k. Wonderful basses, I love playing mine. If you can, grab it!

More info here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9226.html

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Edited by TrevorR
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1 hour ago, Rich said:

It's a great club to be in :D and that looks like a belter.
Here's PB1533.

2119298158_Wal1front.thumb.jpg.d8bfa4cfd6777df6697488676758d861.jpg

Nice! 

Btw - is 'Rich' short for 'Richard' or just signifying the fact that you can afford a Wal?!

😀

Edited by Al Krow
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1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Nice! 

Btw - is 'Rich' short for 'Richard' or just signifying the fact that you can afford a Wal?!

😀

The former :) certainly not the latter! It only cost me £330 anyway... :D  

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7 minutes ago, Rich said:

The former :) certainly not the latter! It only cost me £330 anyway... :D  

Result!

1 hour ago, LewisK1975 said:

Nothing like this ever happens to me! Pah!

As others have said, buy it!

Not going to make you feel any better though Lewis...😁

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