| I have that bass - mine is a 2005 model. I am a long-time guitar player (30+ years) and only picked up bass a few years ago, so although I have limited experience with basses, I do know how things should sound. I understand completely how you describe the B string sound. It's as if certain harmonics are exaggerated making the note sound a little thin and bright - kind of like if you slapped right at the bridge or slapped some of the low strings on a piano. For me it's from about D down to B.
I have found that my playing style can affect this sound a lot. My fingernails are usually a little bit long for my guitar work, so when they hit the B string I hear the sound you describe. Higher up the fret board and on the other strings the fingernail still changes the way the notes sound a little but not with the same effect. If I play the string with the side of my thumb it doesn't sound that way at all. I experimented a little with B-string gauge and found it less noticeable with a lighter string - probably due to the lower tension, but this resulted in less volume for the B-string which was just as much of a problem. I suspect that a taper wound string might help but I haven't tried one. My understanding is that taper wound strings are intended to produce a stronger fundamental tone with low bass strings. From what I have gathered, a lot of lower-priced 5-string basses don't have a good low-B sound, but I don't know if it's the same kind of problem. Altering my fingering technique is what I ended up doing, as well as backing off the treble a bit.
Overall though, I am really pleased with this bass. It is very versatile and plays quite well. It is not perfect - the other problems with mine are rough fret ends (not horrible though and easily fixed - I will eventually get around to filing them down) and a so-so preamp. The bass control is kind of touchy and the EQ overall is rather blunt, but I can still get whatever I need from it. Rather a lot of hiss too (another reason to roll back the treble). I had huge problems with the original volume control when I got the bass (used). It was scratchy and needed replacement. Took me close to a year to get something I was happy with - getting actual RockBass parts here in Canada is next to impossible (very poor distributor - Efkay Music - took a couple of months to send the only thing they had to the dealer - a new pot removed from a defective RockBass). [Edit: I just noticed that Efkay no longer distributes Warwick in Canada - it's now Korg Canada (Jam Industries).] And finding a substitute that didn't require reaming out the mounting hole was tough. The stock linear 500K had an uneven taper in one amp that I use, an audio 500K had an uneven taper in another amp I use. And why did Warwick put a 500K volume control in an active preamp anyway? I ended up with an audio 25K which works perfectly and didn't change the sound.
On the plus side, it's got great tone and feel, is amazingly responsive to touch, can deliver a huge variety of sounds, and sustains for days. I think the MEC active pickups, which are the same as on the German Warwicks, are extremely good pickups, and they're a noiseless design as well so even when I use bridge or neck only there is no single coil hum.
I don't know if the newest models have a better preamp or not, but I did notice that the updated wiring diagrams still indicate a linear 500K volume control. I have thought about replacing the preamp with an EMG or Bartolini, but that project is way down on my list of priorities. The new two-piece bridge is a welcome improvement - the old one-piece was a pain to string up, especially on the B-string, and I think the two-piece design is a more secure and solid mount. I paid $330 for mine used which was great considering at the time they sold new for about $700-800. I have seen the new ones (basic not classic - no flame maple top veneer) selling brand new on evilbuy for about $400. For that price this bass is absolute killer.
Last edited by GGBB : 04-06-2011 at 10:44 AM.
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