Warwick Rockbass Corvette question

kjpollo · #1 10-30-2010, 03:58 PM

Guys,
I had a few minutes to kill this afternoon so I went to my local Sam Ash. I tried a Warwick Rockbass Corvette $$.
However, when I plugged it in, I could not hear ANY tonal variation when I was toggling the pickups between series and parallel modes.

I expected to hear SOME kind of change in tone, but there was zero difference to my ears. I tried every different combination I could think of- soloing each pickup, having the pickups at equal volume, playing around with the passive tone control and still nothing! I could hear some differences by panning between pickups and when I was messing with the passive tone control, but other than hearing a pop when I toggled the pot, I could not find a tonal difference.

I played it through a 100w Hartke combo with all the EQ set flat so all the tone shaping came from the bass itself.

I found the playability to be very nice but I was disappointed in the lack of variation in the tone.

Anybody else have a similar experience?

puddin tame · #2 10-30-2010, 04:05 PM

i've only tried the rockbass standard corvette with the 2 jazz pickups, found a huge amount of tone variation. maybe something was wrong with that particular bass?

kjpollo · #3 10-30-2010, 04:13 PM

I had the same experience with the active model with the MEC j pickups. By panning between pickups and fiddling with the 2 band EQ, that one had some serious flexibility.

And I've played a non-Rockbass Corvette $$ before and found a bunch of usable tones.

But I found the Rockbass $$ Corvette to be a disappointment in the tone department.
Wait, that isnt quite right- I liked the tone that I got from it, but I was bummed that it wasnt more flexible.

mmbongo · #4 10-30-2010, 04:16 PM

yeah theres a pretty big difference between the 3 modes. it might be hard to hear at low volumes in a loud store though. there's a difference, but it's not like it's night and day.

series will be thickest and loudest
cut will be thinner and punchier
parallel will be thinner and lower volume than series

It's not like there's a HUGE difference though. Just enough to do tone shaping.

kjpollo · #5 10-30-2010, 04:29 PM

The Rockbass only has a push/pull volume pot for each pickup so you're just togging between series and parallel. Its not like the 3 position toggle switch for each pickup that you have on the "standard" Corvette $$.

When I played the non-Rockbass model, I could definitely hear differences in the tones. It was the Rockbass that wasnt flexible.

If they're all like this, then I'm glad I didnt order one online. I knew the Rockbass version wouldnt be exaclty like the full-fledged Warieck model but this was really disappointing to me.

mmbongo · #6 10-30-2010, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjpollo

The Rockbass only has a push/pull volume pot for each pickup so you're just togging between series and parallel. Its not like the 3 position toggle switch for each pickup that you have on the "standard" Corvette $$.

Ahhh. Kinda defeats the purpose then.

DaLoCo · #7 11-01-2010, 01:41 AM

Mine definitely has a tonal difference. I definitely do not like the thinner sounds produced by having both knobs pulled out. I might do that for the bridge pickup, depending on the song. I found that the tone knob does not have much influence when both pickups al full volume....so I am considering a change of the capacitor value to see if it makes a difference.

What I did find though is that the way I play actually makes a massive difference to the tone. Light fingerpicking will produce a bright but warm sound...dig in and it becomes a growling monster.

I love mine, and yesterday I listened as a friend played it in his gig.....it is beautiful in the mix, never overshadows, but never really hides......just perfect, in my opinion.

Atnum · #8 11-01-2010, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjpollo

I had the same experience with the active model with the MEC j pickups. By panning between pickups and fiddling with the 2 band EQ, that one had some serious flexibility.
.

I have the same and agree that it has plenty of different sounds.

CertifiedLurker · #9 11-01-2010, 04:37 PM

The push/pull pots are for coil splitting the humbuckers, not series/parallel.

kjpollo · #10 11-01-2010, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CertifiedLurker

The push/pull pots are for coil splitting the humbuckers, not series/parallel.

Thanks for the correction on the function of the push/pull pots.

I'm wondering if Puddin wasnt right- maybe the pots are both NG and they arent splitting anything. You could definitely hear a bit of a pop when I was switching back and forth but that was it.