=The Warwick Dolphin Club=

da-vonk

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Thanx for sharing Marco ... 8:


That Dolphin knortz like a happy pig man ... :lol:
 
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The sounds is different to my Dolphin Pro BN.

Hi Marco, how different compare the 5 to the BN 5 ? I changed the bassline pus to MEC but still can't get the slap tone, I just purchased the bartolini for the last try, I am thinking Dlophin BN 5 can slap better than my Thumb nt 5 due the pickups placement.

It's interesting that twin jazz pickup has less out put than the signal coil....

Great bass, great tone!
 

DiMarco

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The BN5 has the old 1991 MEC pre (boxed with a trim pot on top) which is has less range the 1995 MEC that's in the fretted 5 string.

Besides that the Bartolinis on the BN put out less highs and lows themselves then the MEC pickups on the 1995. The Barts do have an excellent midrange, which is of course a big plus on a fretless bass.

Yes the fretless growls, but it is a more like a modest grumble.
The 1995 5 string Pro1 on the other hand is a growling monster.
 
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Here is my Pro I. Its a 1990. I bought it used back in 1995 or so. I did need to have the fingerboard shaved and a couple of frets replaced in 96 as it developed a "bump" on it on the G string side around the 10th fret. Since that time it has been perfectly fine though, no more abrupt changes.

photo (1).JPG

dolphin_back.jpeg
 

DiMarco

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Hi Roger, welcome to the forum!
Great looking bass you got, very rare as well with the two jazz style pickups on there.
Is the bridge pickup switchable?
 

Morgoth

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It's the same PU's position as on a Thumb (4 str). CS maybe?
 

DiMarco

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Well 1990 was a time of change for Warwick Dolphins as they moved from Bartolini J+MM pickups towards the MEC J+TJ design. In 1990 there was no MEC TJ yet if I am correct. This model might have been a transition thing.
 
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Thank you for the kind welcome DiMarco.

Your comments made me think a bit about my bass. The model year was told to me by the dealer and I have believed it true for nearly 20 years now but based upon your comments, I did a search on here, and I now believe it to be older. My serial number is on the top of the headstock, which according to this page, places it in the 82-88 model years. There are two rows of numbers on the headstock and one is '90', so that is what made him and me also, believe it was a 90. The electronics cover also says "West Germany" on it, not Germany, but I figured they just had old covers laying around when it was built or . I'm going to send the pics requested on the web page to Warwick and get some more info on this bass as it now is somewhat of a mystery to me.

Another thing that you can't tell from the photos is that the pickups in this bass are EMG, not MEC. I believe the knobs work as all others, they have passive/active push pull and panning/blend between them. As a side note, the luthier that worked on this bass told me that he did all the Warwick repairs at a large dealership on the east coast and also did the work on TM Steven's gear so he had worked on a lot of Warwicks in his time. I don't have reason to doubt him as my work was already done when he told me. He said that this was one of the nicer sounding Dolphin's that he ever heard and seemed pretty impressed by it. As I don't have another one, and have only played a couple maple body versions since that time, I can't comment. It sounds pretty close to the tone you have at the 1:25 mark on your video from this thread, not exact, but that is the closest I could say in that video.

Thanks again,

Roger
 

DiMarco

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The first Dolphins were built in 1988. Pickups in the early models were a Bartolini switchable (by pulling the back pot) humbucker at bridge and single coil at neck. When Warwick started building the first five string models they chose Bartolini soapbar humbuckers at both bridge and neck.

In early 1990 MEC pickups started being used and replaced the EMG pickups that were up till then standard on Thumbs and Streamers. Before 1991 MEC had no suitable pickups to replace the pickup configuration on the Dolphin Pro 1 though.

My guess is Morgoth is right (again) in your bass being a custom model. 1988 or 1990 will most probably be its correct date and at that time Bartolini were the standard pickups for the Pro 1 model. Funny the later introduced Dolphin Pro 2 model has the same pickup configuration yours has, but without having the slanted bridge pu. Pro 2's were being built outside the Warwick factory and a much cheaper, bolt on model (can we call it the first rockbass?).

Anyway your bass is more special then you thought. Cherish and never sell her.

Cheers, Marco
 
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Thank you for all of the information, its been an enlightening day. I will post a follow-up when I hear back from Warwick with whatever info they give me. I already sent out the email to them this afternoon with the photos they required.

I just confirmed that I don't have a push/pull knob for the bridge pickup switching, which makes sense given the pickup configuration.

I've loved this bass from the moment I played it in the store over fifteen years ago now and bought it on the spot. Someone else made the mistake of selling her once, she won't see the open market again.
 
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I got a response back from Warwick regarding my bass. It was made in April of 1990 so DiMarco was correct on the date. It has the EMG pickups, but MEC electronics in it. I assume that was standard for this period. When I got the original response it listed a lot of the construction material details which all seemed to be standard except for the pickups.

I sent a follow-up email asking if this was a custom shop order. It appears this information isn't kept. The person responded saying they cannot remember anymore, but it is possible that this was a special request back in 90. Apparently they were around in 1990.
 

DiMarco

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The MEC pre in there was standard at the time and will be a little box with a trim pot on top of it which is said to control the output level of your bass. I think it controls the INPUT level from pickups to pre though as the sound gets overly midrangy and distorted if you turn it up too much...

Yours is the first Dolphin Pro 1 I've ever seen with this particular pickup configuration. I expect it to sound reminiscent to early Thumb basses. Would love to hear it! ;)
 
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I am getting gas for 4-string fretted Dolphin, with the old woods ! Just thought I'd share that. :D
 
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