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Just wanted to share with you guys my trip to my local Warwick dealer today to try out what will be my next purchase.
I'm currently playing an American Fender Jazz Bass that I hot-rodded a little, and I love this bass to death. But I decided I need a good Fretless to go with it (my other fretless is a terrible parts bass), and I've always loved Warwicks so I thought I'd go for a fairly budget model Warwick fretless. FYI I was aiming on purchasing a Custom Shop Corvette 6 in the future, but I figured it would take some time to raise enough money for that, and 4 strings are adequate enough for what I'm doing right now (not a whole lot), so I decided to go for a Corvette $$ or a Corvette Standard (mind you both models I played were fretted but you can still get a good idea of the electronics, construction, etc.)
So I compared both basses, and here were my findings..
First of all I plugged in the $$. It looked great, with the Burgundy Red finish and Black hardware, I definitely preferred the finish on the $$ to the Honey Violin on the Standard. Plugged in, with everything flat, pickups centred, and both pickups in series, the $$ buck sounded huge, but lacked that signature Warwick growl, still a very good fat, bold bottom end. I started fiddling with the pickup switches while leaving the preamp flat, and found a few nice tones and a few not so nice... With the bridge pickup soloed, in single-coil mode, there was growl for days, it sounded fantastic (I'm a big fan of soloing the bridge), the only issue was the single-coil hum which was very apparent due to the rooms fluroscent lighting. In a loud-rock setting it definitely would not have been noticeable, but for some of us (myself included), the hum is impossible to live with. With the neck pickup soloed, in series mode, it was pure P-bass with a more woody tone, definitely crushed any P-Bass I've ever played. My favourite setting was both pickups blended in single-coil mode, with a slight bass boost and the treble centred. It was like J-Bass Warwick style, I dug it. As well as all the different pickup settings, the preamp can help add a bit more flavour depending on what you're after. I think it was a good choice for Warwick to stick with the 2 band preamp as opposed to the 3, as a mid control would have just been overkill. The only thing I didn't like which is apparent on most basses with MM style pickups, is as you get higher on the neck (mainly above the 12th fret on the E and A strings), you get what's called warble tones, which sound kind of like the note is echoing over itself. In some settings the warble tones were just way too overbearing. Thankfully, this can be remedied by lowering the pickups, which I couldn't do in the store, so this was the only negative I found (This is not a quality issue on Warwicks behalf). Checking inside the control cavity, everything was wired and soldered extremely neatly, and the battery was seated nicely in a metal frame for good support. Construction was top notch, no problems here. Overall the $$ was, in my opinion, a great, versatile bass with tonnes of options for those who just want more and more!
Next up I plugged in the Corvette Standard, which actually felt lighter than the $$ (Both were 4 strings). It's quite possible that all those electronics in the $$ weigh a bit more! I'm a big fan of light basses, as I'm a skinny bastard, and my shoulder can't stand up to those big basses! The first thing I noticed when I plugged in the Standard (pickups centred, preamp flat) was much better clarity note-to-note, and you guessed it, that Warwick growl! I just couldn't get enough of this tone, all over the neck it sounded astounding. The slap tone with both pickups centred and a slight bass boost was amazing, it had a big bottom and a very slightly scooped midrange and a zingy but not harsh treble. Next up, I soloed the bridge pickup and holy quacemole! That was it right there, growl like that of the $$'s bridge pickup in single-coil mode, without the hum! I loved it. Harmonics rang out like a bell, and every note was clean and clear. Just amazing. The active MEC J's just gave such a better tone than the $$'s passive MM's in my opinion. Checked out the control cavity as well, once again, everything was perfectly wired and had the same battery holder, construction was once again awesome. The Standard yielded less tonal options than that of the $$ but the tones it did have were nothing short of god-like. An absolute stunner.
So I decided I'm going to go for the Standard, as I believe it's tonal range would suit my fretless playing moreso than the $$. The only thing I would like to change about the Standard is the Chrome hardware, which you can easily upgrade to Black with a slight upcharge (Thanks Warwick!). I will probably go with the Nirvana Black finish as well for that stealth look like Snooze's Corvette. Both were great basses in their own respect, but I just preffered the Standard, and a bonus is it's cheaper than the $$ too! Not long now and I will place my order. Look forward to joining the Warwick club!
Thanks for listening!
I'm currently playing an American Fender Jazz Bass that I hot-rodded a little, and I love this bass to death. But I decided I need a good Fretless to go with it (my other fretless is a terrible parts bass), and I've always loved Warwicks so I thought I'd go for a fairly budget model Warwick fretless. FYI I was aiming on purchasing a Custom Shop Corvette 6 in the future, but I figured it would take some time to raise enough money for that, and 4 strings are adequate enough for what I'm doing right now (not a whole lot), so I decided to go for a Corvette $$ or a Corvette Standard (mind you both models I played were fretted but you can still get a good idea of the electronics, construction, etc.)
So I compared both basses, and here were my findings..
First of all I plugged in the $$. It looked great, with the Burgundy Red finish and Black hardware, I definitely preferred the finish on the $$ to the Honey Violin on the Standard. Plugged in, with everything flat, pickups centred, and both pickups in series, the $$ buck sounded huge, but lacked that signature Warwick growl, still a very good fat, bold bottom end. I started fiddling with the pickup switches while leaving the preamp flat, and found a few nice tones and a few not so nice... With the bridge pickup soloed, in single-coil mode, there was growl for days, it sounded fantastic (I'm a big fan of soloing the bridge), the only issue was the single-coil hum which was very apparent due to the rooms fluroscent lighting. In a loud-rock setting it definitely would not have been noticeable, but for some of us (myself included), the hum is impossible to live with. With the neck pickup soloed, in series mode, it was pure P-bass with a more woody tone, definitely crushed any P-Bass I've ever played. My favourite setting was both pickups blended in single-coil mode, with a slight bass boost and the treble centred. It was like J-Bass Warwick style, I dug it. As well as all the different pickup settings, the preamp can help add a bit more flavour depending on what you're after. I think it was a good choice for Warwick to stick with the 2 band preamp as opposed to the 3, as a mid control would have just been overkill. The only thing I didn't like which is apparent on most basses with MM style pickups, is as you get higher on the neck (mainly above the 12th fret on the E and A strings), you get what's called warble tones, which sound kind of like the note is echoing over itself. In some settings the warble tones were just way too overbearing. Thankfully, this can be remedied by lowering the pickups, which I couldn't do in the store, so this was the only negative I found (This is not a quality issue on Warwicks behalf). Checking inside the control cavity, everything was wired and soldered extremely neatly, and the battery was seated nicely in a metal frame for good support. Construction was top notch, no problems here. Overall the $$ was, in my opinion, a great, versatile bass with tonnes of options for those who just want more and more!
Next up I plugged in the Corvette Standard, which actually felt lighter than the $$ (Both were 4 strings). It's quite possible that all those electronics in the $$ weigh a bit more! I'm a big fan of light basses, as I'm a skinny bastard, and my shoulder can't stand up to those big basses! The first thing I noticed when I plugged in the Standard (pickups centred, preamp flat) was much better clarity note-to-note, and you guessed it, that Warwick growl! I just couldn't get enough of this tone, all over the neck it sounded astounding. The slap tone with both pickups centred and a slight bass boost was amazing, it had a big bottom and a very slightly scooped midrange and a zingy but not harsh treble. Next up, I soloed the bridge pickup and holy quacemole! That was it right there, growl like that of the $$'s bridge pickup in single-coil mode, without the hum! I loved it. Harmonics rang out like a bell, and every note was clean and clear. Just amazing. The active MEC J's just gave such a better tone than the $$'s passive MM's in my opinion. Checked out the control cavity as well, once again, everything was perfectly wired and had the same battery holder, construction was once again awesome. The Standard yielded less tonal options than that of the $$ but the tones it did have were nothing short of god-like. An absolute stunner.
So I decided I'm going to go for the Standard, as I believe it's tonal range would suit my fretless playing moreso than the $$. The only thing I would like to change about the Standard is the Chrome hardware, which you can easily upgrade to Black with a slight upcharge (Thanks Warwick!). I will probably go with the Nirvana Black finish as well for that stealth look like Snooze's Corvette. Both were great basses in their own respect, but I just preffered the Standard, and a bonus is it's cheaper than the $$ too! Not long now and I will place my order. Look forward to joining the Warwick club!
Thanks for listening!
