Opinion: What makes the best/biggest growl from a Warwick?

lasteffect

lasteffect

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Taking in the idea of the bass, woods, electronics, pickups, amplifier, cabinent speakers, effect pedals, and eq settings.

Is it Wenge neck through Wicks with standard MEC pups and electronics thru a tube amp or is it a bolt on Wick with an ovangkol with bartolinis and passive electronics thru a solid state amp?

Ect, Ect, Ect. Talk, Debate, and have a fun conversation here. :d
 
That's a hard one since Warwick makes the basses growl no matter what the wood is. I think there's something into that bridge, maybe it brings a lot of the string vibration to body and vice versa. Also MEC pickups are really nasty behaving beasts and they bring out the right frequencies with the right amount of compression. Or maybe it's just the sum of the Warwick features combined.

There are many ways to describe growl but there's a certain growl I associate with Warwicks. You might see/hear it differently.
 
flat eq settings,just the sound of the wood and the fingers and also in my personal view the bell brass frets add their own distinctive brightness to the over all sound maybe more than they ever get credit for..
 
Everything factors in, but to me, the Warwick growl is all about a wenge or ovangkol neck with a wenge fretboard. 8:
 
Just comparing the wicks i have i'd have to say the dolphin is MUCH growlier than my bolt streamers. I think there are a few factors here, but chambered afzelia and the TJ (so close to the bridge that if it was any further south it would have saddles on it) are the key. the TJ has more definition than a MM, so it grabs more mids to my ear. I think the neck timbers really give all ovangkol/wenge and wenge/wenge wicks a lot of mid-powah. I have tried a maple neck/ash body $$ and it lacked some of that growl IMHO.
 
We also place the pickups closer to the Bridge ;-)
 
To get the growl out nicely, it seems it always pays to cut the Bass Level a slight bit on my swampash $$4, otherwise adding a tad of highs (I got old strings..well)
I think its the sweet culmination of bridge, hardwood, and good pickup positioning :)
 
To me, it's a combination of the woods (in particular the wenge fretboard), brass frets, and pickups closer to the bridge. Out of all the Warwicks i've owned, every one of them has had that signature growl...it's what keeps me coming back!
 
I have always thought that a bolt on neck adds to the growl as opposed to a neck through, not exactly sure why that is though?
 
Bolt on necks cetainly have more attack, more 'bite' to my ear. I have two set necks tho and they are a great middle ground for attack/sustain.
 
Augie said:
I have tried a maple neck/ash body $$ and it lacked some of that growl IMHO.
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Augie said:
Just comparing the wicks i have i'd have to say the dolphin is MUCH growlier than my bolt streamers.
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Augie's first quote hits on why I suggested wenge/ovangkol necks... Maple necks just don't seem to do that Warwick growl, or at least not the same growl. But I'm surprised by the second quote, in my book, nothing growls more than the LX and Thumb BO... ;)
 
EVOLVEBASS said:
Augie's first quote hits on why I suggested wenge/ovangkol necks... Maple necks just don't seem to do that Warwick growl, or at least not the same growl. But I'm surprised by the second quote, in my book, nothing growls more than the LX and Thumb BO... ;)
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I recon we have differnt ideas of growl! i think the LX and the thumb BO (i have tried on in a shop a few times, spent some time comparing it with the LX and went with the latter) have an almost harsh attack, where as the the phin had a lesser attack but much more mid-prescence. which is growl to me.
 
Augie said:
I recon we have differnt ideas of growl! i think the LX and the thumb BO... have an almost harsh attack...
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Like a 'meaner' growl? That makes sense to me actually...
 
Right here I had the blend (clean/dist) at 1 o'clock yet the Dolphin's growl is more evident then the MX-80 distortion is.

[video=youtube;jXnB1X2yNAM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXnB1X2yNAM[/video]

Key is pickup type and placement. The type of wood used imo changes the colour of- but not so much the amount of growlyness.
 
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Too often overseen: Proper playing technique! E.g. right/left hand muting
 
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