The most ICONIC English Bass of ALL TIME?!

Have you ever had that moment in a music store where your eyes suddenly stop you as you’re moving along the seemingly endless wall of bass guitars. It’s as though you feel some sort of connection to a particular instrument before you’ve even held it! So you buy it before the guy behind you does…

That’s exactly what happened to me when I set eyes on a Wal Mk 1 from 1984. Never a ‘production line’ instrument, there are many variations of these incredible basses around, but what makes this one extra special is that it was picked up by Duran Duran’s John Taylor in the music video of Feed the World: 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' by Band Aid, which is my favorite Christmas song!

So here’s why I spent $20,000 on this super special Wal Mk 1.

Unless you’ve been trapped in a darkened room for the last few weeks you’re unlikely to have missed the star-studded Band Aid single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, being played on the radio. The bass on the record is mostly synth bass, but in the video John Taylor from Duran Duran is seen playing a bass that was donated to the Band Aid cause: a Wal Custom, serial number W2439. An accompanying letter read, “To Bob Geldof and the guys at Band Aid. Best wishes with your project. We hope our humble contribution will raise a few 0’s. Thanks for the chance to do something in this way. God bless you. Wal, Pete, Brian, Paul.” The bass was later purchased by Status Quo bass man, John ‘Rhino’ Edwards, who recently listed it for sale at The Bass Gallery for $20,000!

Completed on November 22nd, only three days before the recording of the single, this bass epitomizes everything that ‘80s bass building was all about, exotic woods and serious active electronics! The basic control layout is pickup blend, a volume and a push/pull tone control for each pickup, which in their normal capacity operate as a 12dB/oct low pass filter, simply rolling off the top frequencies. When the pot is pulled up it introduces a 10dB boost at the frequency directly above the roll off point - the same principle as the resonance control of a filter system. In short, with the 10dB frequency boost and a bit of creativity the tone controls can rival a Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah! If this wasn’t enough, pulling the master volume also boosts the 3-6 kHz frequencies.

The body is built from a core of Brazilian Mahogany, which is faced front and back with bookmatched, stained ‘Fiddle Back’ sycamore. The rock maple and hornbeam neck is fronted with a Lebanese ebony fingerboard.

Founded back in 1978, Ian Waller (Wal to his friends) and his business partner Pete Stevens established a reputation for state-of-the-art quality and tone back in the progressive rock era, with players from Chris Squire and Geddy Lee favoring the brand, and it doesn’t get much better than that, does it? Words almost – but not quite – fail us when we are required to describe the awesomeness of this bass!

Sadly, in July 1988 Wal died of a heart attack at the age of just 43. Although devastated by the loss of his long-time partner, Pete continued production, assisted by his dedicated team, including Paul Herman. Tragically, after a long illness Pete also passed in 2011. His and Ian’s legacy continues to live on through Paul Herman and his team.

For more info visit: https://walbasses.co.uk