Upgrade My Rockbass Corvette Basic 5-String

[boogiefingers]

I purchased this bass a year ago and was not happy with the stock electronics. Was hoping to buy into the lower line of Warwick and make a few upgrades and have a solid backup bass (I have a Brian Moore i5 as my primary - love it!). I upgraded to Delano active J-bass pups and installed a Bartolini Pre with 3-band EQ. Still not happy with the tone. The lows are awesome and the highs are sufficient but I just can't find that sweet spot with the mids. THE TONE JUST SEEMS SO "HOLLOW' TO ME. The Bart Pre has the push pull mids (250 and 800hz center point). I was informed the Delano's were the best replacement pup for this bass due to the tighter string spacing. I was really hoping to achieve more of a versttile and active jazz bass tone.

Hard to put tone into words, but I'm really wanting to use this bass for some upbeat jazz/funk (I like that Larry Graham, Wayman Tisdale, Nathan East tonal qualities).

Was originally thinking of going with EMG electronics/pups but due to string spacing concern noted above, opted out.

Any feedback regarding my setup or suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

 

[Florin]

It is hard to give you an advice as this point. I don't like to invest money - and upgrade low entry basses, I feel it is a waist of money.

And now you already did it. Even if you invest 3000 more EUR, it will still be a Rockbass, not a Warwick. So consider that this is the best you could get out of your rockbass, and enjoy it.

Don't boost the lows, and boost some 400 or 800 hz mids.

 

[ridgebackdk]

please dont take this wrong but if your after a jazz bass tone ..buy a jazz bass..the age old tone is in the fingers debate will never work on me... a warwick sounds like a warwick a fender sounds like a fender and no matter what pickups/preamps are used your warwick wont ever sound like a jazz bass or the jazz a warwick...i know its stating the obvious....lots of people fall into that trap spending money for no real gains especially new-ish player or younger guys..some do like the results i know but save your money and buy what your looking for..trust me i have wasted so much on gear/guitars only to find its not what i want..

 

[Revolver66]

I agree with Phil!

 

[CliffHNZ]

I'll agree with Phil on this one too. Although you can get similar sounds, no matter what you change you may never get the sound you want. I would save the money you're going to spend on pickups and electronics and instead buy yourself a Squier. They are decent and do the job well. Please keep in mind as well, that "Jazz sound" you're after has several factors including:

1. The bass
2. The amp
3. Where you're playing (ie. near the neck or near the bridge)
4. Your overall technique

With my RB Fortress I can get pretty close to a JB tone when I want to with a simple shifting to the back pickup (about 80% back, 20% front) and a bit of treble boost. If I wanted as close to, say, Jaco's tone though, I would get myself a Squier Vintage Jazz and a more tonally colored amp (I have a Blue Cab 60.1 combo that I love).

If you're looking at this bass though as a project bass for the sake of a project bass (you bought it because you wanted to see what you could do with it), I would get some good passive pickups, skip the preamp, and get some new pots to wire it up again. Save all of your active gear though as, since it is a project bass, you may want to switch back at some stage. Another option would be getting another preamp but, again, part of that "jazz" sound is the passive pickups used. Active pickups (the preamps anyways) have a sound all unto themselves. I personally love the preamp in mine but, then again, I have the same preamps used in the old Fortress basses (part of the reason I jumped on this thing to begin with and didn't get a RB Corvette).

Anyways, I hope I didn't upset anyone and I'll talk to y'all later...

Cliff