Warwick Corvette passive made in Germany (ash) VS Godin BG4

[pasco jacorius]

I plan to buy a new bass, but I tend to hesitate between the warwick corvette passive ash J/J(made in germany), and the Godin BG4 which is active(almost the same price).
On one side I have the versatility , a wide range of sounds(godin), and on the other side I have the sound of wood , that growly warwick sound...
but it's style a passive bass with less tone controls !!! I play more than 4 musical genres...and I also have another active bass , quite versatile..but I've found that cutting trebles or just leaving them in the middle was generally the way to go for a good tone in a live setting or even in studio ...the rest would be a matter of balance between neck and bridge pu's ..but a lil boost in the mids is fun sometimes..
Now you know how lost I am !

What do you think I should chose ?

PS :I precise that I haven't found the active version of the WW(for less than 1300 euros..that's 1716 $ .

[pasco jacorius]

up

[dudelove]

Warwick are great

[pasco jacorius]

Yep , but man the Godin was quite good also, my main problem is between the passivity of the WW , and the "neutrality" (though she had some personnality) of the Godin..And I'd like my second bass to stay with me for a long time you know ? So it's a hard choice . If I buy the passive WW I have the WW sound...but maybe I'll be limited in the sound shaping area ?

[Mudcat35]

I'm a Warwick owner and use an ash passive Corvette as my main bass, so take this for what it is worth. I've found that I just prefer the sound of passive basses. I've had some active basses, but don't own any now. My current band covers a variety of styles, and I use the Corvette for everything EXCEPT for when I need a very thumpy P-Bass sound with flats. Why? For me, using the Corvette through my current amp (Trace), in the context of the band I'm playing in, the Warwick sits better in the mix. With a different amp or a different band with different instrumentation, it might not be better. Only you will know that about your band.

[Evil Undead]

Personally, I'm a huge Warwick fan... would choose the Corvette every time

[pasco jacorius]

Alright , so my wife was right she told me "go for the warwick !" I already have another active bass (cort B4 upgraded with U.S made Barts mk4), so I'll use it as my second bass now .

[kevteop]

I've had two Warwicks (my current main bass is a '91 Thumb), one was a Corvette Proline (active, 6 string, Barts), but I've also had a Godin (the 'Acoustibass' fretless, precursor to their current A4) in the past. Both companies make excellent instruments IMHO and I'm sure you'll be happy with either one.

[pasco jacorius]

Actually , the Godin BG4 reminded me of the Fbass (without active/passive and singlecoil/humbucker switches) , the sound , the feel, the general behavior of the preamp and the quality of the luthery is very close from the Fbass I tried two months ago . Of course it's NOT an Fbass , but it's very close...otherwise I wouldn't even care for the Godin LOL ! And that's why I hesitate so much !

[pasco jacorius]

Nobody has played the Godin BG4 ?

[bassman74]

I played a BG5 for a year and i liked it very much tonewise.
The neck was very confortable but also very unstable.
I have to admit that the canadian weather is not easy on very thin necks.
There was no forearm contour, i found it unconfortable because of that.
Mine as a flame Maple veneer, not a top only a veneer, so it was easy for Godin to do a forearm contour instead of a slab body. I knew because when my BG5 arrived it was damaged. There was a huge chip(1inch) in the finish. The finish was THICK polyester. And i was very sad to see that it was a 1mm thick flamed Maple veneer.

Sound 5/5
confort 3/5
durability 3/5

with my BG5 i got the most important, the tone
but they cut the corner everywhere else.

[pasco jacorius]

Mhm , I see..the body was really squarish (I don't know if that word exists) I remember. that I didn't really feel comfortable but , yep the tone was there.

[pasco jacorius]

So you would go for the warwick also ?

[Papersen]

The main problem with the Godin is their reputation building basses (or lack of, indeed)

I`ve read great comments about their construction and sound, but at their price people tend to favor other brands such as Yamaha, Ibanez or Warwick

One thing about the WW you mentioned.
A good portion of the trademark Warwick sound is in the wood. IMO, an Ash bodied Corvette won`t get THAT sound.

[pasco jacorius]

Well , I tried it and it was still growly ! But the growl was more in the low mids , while the bubinga bodied one tends to have more growl in the mid-mids. But it was still a warwick ! The matter is that , I could get the active/passive bubinga bodied corvette...but it's christmas..and my wife loves furnitures..but she doesn't like those who have pickups and strings that much ,you know what I mean ?

So I got to buy her some furnitures for christmas also.. That's why I won't pay 1700 dollars
but I could talk about it with her ...

[pasco jacorius]

The fact that the body is made of 3 pieces on the Godin vs two pieces of wood on the Warwick is also something I notice , some say that 2 pieces of wood resonate better than 3 pieces to build the body. What to you think about it ?

[Papersen]

Originally Posted by pasco jacorius

The fact that the body is made of 3 pieces on the Godin vs two pieces of wood on the Warwick is also something I notice , some say that 2 pieces of wood resonate better than 3 pieces to build the body. What to you think about it ?

IMO, it`s not a key factor.
For instance, I`ve played Stingrays made of 2 and 3 pieces of wood and can`t say there was a difference.

[bassman74]

if i had the choice i would go warwick because of the unconfortable godin body and the unstable godin neck