$2,500 pickup

[ilan]

https://reverb.com/item/66243723

$2,500... almost real PAF pricing

[Dave W]

Back in the early days of the Pit, a member from western Wisconsin lent me his Wal for a few weeks b/c he wanted to know what I thought of it. He had bought it from another Pitter. I wasn't impressed by the tone at all. Not bad, just not anything worth anywhere near the going price. Turns out that he thought the same and sold it shortly afterwards.

For Wal fanatics, I suppose that the scarcity drives the price.

[Alanko]

I've never really been that interested in Wal basses. They look cool, but they seem to be designed to sound totally vanilla. Ultra clean, bright, linear tone which you dial in with a filter-based preamp. Sort of the opposite of what I like.

[ilan]

But they do have their cult. A good friend of mine has a MkII lined fretless fiver that he bought new at the factory in 1994 and loves it to death. I have to admit he sounds awesome on it.

[gearHed289]

Even as an Alembic fan, I find Wal prices pretty astronomical. I've never played one, but I've been a fan since discovering Percy Jones around 1981. Then Geddy Lee played them for a few years. I think low pass filter circuits are the best sounding active circuits, but they take some getting used to. I'll pass on the $2500 pickup!

[godofthunder]

  Holy crap! I  thought paying $500 for a 60s Thunderbird pickup in 2009 was a lot.

[slinkp]

Yeah speaking of Alembic, I thought the prices on Alembic Activator pickups/electronics were crazy.
Here's $949 US for a J set with controls.
https://reverb.com/item/66334749-alembic-jz-activator-pickups

I think the equivalent Alembic P/J Activator set in my ancient Ibanez cost me under $300, even accounting for price increase between 1986ish when I bought the P with active vol and tone, and ten years later when I added the J pickup and blend control.