Shout out to Means2nEnd aka Joe Sheldon

[MrUsefulAlien]

I just want to give massive props to my friend and fellow bassist and warwick enthusiast Joe Sheldon, who did some serious work on all three of my streamer basses.

I deeply love my Warwick Streamers, but I wasn't too happy with the preamps, and with the lack of a preamp bypass.

My warwicks are:

1992 Fretless Streamer Stage 2 (Aguilar OBP 3 Pre and Basslines Jazz Pups)
2002 Streamer Stage 2 (SD Pre and MEC gold Jazz PUPs)
1997 Streamer Stage 1 (Aguilar OBP 3 pre and older Basslines Soapbars)


Joe (aka Means2nEnd) spent i don't know how many hours...probably 25-30, on gutting the basses, all three, replacing all the wires, replacing the pots, he installed the preamps that i wished to have.

He also drilled and retrofitted a preamp bypass switch, and a mid selector/slap contour switch.

He rewired the basses to have a volume/volume option, and he even managed to retrofit the volume/volume set up on the fretless streamer stage 2, which has the notoriously "unique" SD preamp. Unique in the fact that the volume pots are 10k, unique in the fact that the signal path travels in all sorts of funky ways within the pre, requiring all sorts of creative problem solving in order to rewire it. We replaced that pre with another Aguilar OBP 3, since the duncan didn't deliver the sound i desired.

Joe invited me to his home on numerous occasions, he would stay up until the wee hours of the night, and he did the most meticulous and dedicated job anyone has ever done on my basses. He just loves warwicks.

And guess what, he's not even a guitar tech (yet)!

But the man is an expert, and he retrofitted my basses and customized them as good, or better, than any shop could've done.

If you need any advice, or have any questions, or anything regarding warwicks, their maintenance, preamps, pickups or wiring; he's your man.

Thanks Joe for your monumental effort, confidence and knowledge.

I know have some of the most unique Streamers in the world!


Here are some pics of the control cavities, and of the basses.

Fretless Streamer Stage 2





Fretted Streamer Stage 2







Streamer Stage 1

[WarwickOfficial]

Thanks for the post MrUsefulAlien! I agree, Joe (Mean2nEnd) is extremely knowledgeable and very helpful...a great resource for all things Warwick! Thank you Joe!!

[Clark Dark]

I'd like to have a scheme of that "slap contour" switch. I use an OBP-3 along with a passive tone control currently.

[Means2nEnd]

Thanks guys, could be a little cleaner with the wires but I was buzzing on caffeine till 2 and 3 AM couple times. Dark Clark the “slap contour” switching is unique to the Seymour Duncan preamps. It actually scoops the mids slightly and boosts the treble and bass. It is normally present as a push pull on the master volume when you take them out of the box I changed many things on the set up and one was to separate the switch from the master volume and put into a separate switch. Also setting up with two volumes rather than a pan and then a master volume usually my preference. You can do several options with mid shifting and switching with the Aguilar but the slap contour you cannot.

I am beyond a tweaker for sure. I knew I was in over my head when I ordered my first 100 foot roll of heat shrink.

[Jimmy74]

Great works there, Joe!

Now can we have a friend like you here in Singapore?.. Haha..