Are the Warwick Rockbasses any good?

[Noseferatu]

Obviously not official Warwicks, but do you think they're good basses? I'm looking at the active Corvette.

[darkstorm]

I believe the new ones are. very good. Bassically they are warwicks with more traditional woods. A proper corvette to me is bubinga body with ovangkol neck and wenge fretboard. The rockbass versions use alder, maple and rosewood instead. Pups and electronics are the same as in the german made ones. The newer ones also have slimmer necks. However the older ones which have the regular style bridge like found on most basses, had a lot of problems with subpar parts including very cheap soft screws from my experience with these.

[Bearwolf]

I just picked up the rockbass active corvette 4 string last week. Pretty good bass for the price. The PU's definitely have some "growl" to them and good clarity at least compared to my emg 35hz's.I get pretty awesome lows through my GK MB115 with it and a nice midrange tone. Overall the fit and finish is pretty good, the strings were a little too high for my liking but easily fixed. It's taking a little getting used to as far as the neck is concerned, it's not a thin neck like my ESP ltd but the fretboard it nice and flat with a little more front to back thickness.

I think the only thing really out of whack was the pickup selector knob is leaning a little bit and I will probably replace it, otherwise it's a pretty nice bass considering I only paid $288 for it. BTW mine ended up being a 2009 model I got from music123

[Rockingbird]

I played a few in my local GC. Good stuff all around. I'll be going after one as soon as they have the good sense to release a 5-string Fortress.

[chadhargis]

I played one at a local shop and REALLY liked it. Ended up going with a G&L L-2500 so I could get an active passive switch. The Rockbass I played was passive only.

[diehard70]

I have two rockbass corvette 4's (2004 & 2005) w/ active elect. Never had a problem with either one ( my 2005 is my primary bass). I do like the two pc. bridges on the new ones though. Pretty balanced considering the body wood and slightly smaller body. Fit & finish is better than most I've seen at this price point (IMHO). EDIT: Able to get a low action w/ no buzz, too.

[flipper_gv]

They are really good.

[BigOldHarry]

Have you played one?

[maturanesa]

I played once an Active Corvette and it sounds and feel too cheap for me, too far from a Warwick. The weight is like a half. My passive Fender MIM JB have more punch/definition and the price is almost the same.

[Bongolation]

I got the Corvette for $199.99 from AMS a while back.

It was an excellent bass with fine QC and good build overall. I was actually impressed.

Then two weeks ago I got a Rockbass Streamer.

It was an absolutely horrible piece of crap. In forty+ years of working on instruments, it was the third worst bass I have ever had on the bench. It was bad in every possible way it could be bad. It was an amazingly terrible bass.

I sent it back and I got a replacement tonight. The replacement is very nice, everything the first one wasn't, but it doesn't have the nice fret dressing the Corvette did, resulting in forty+ razor sharp fret ends, though there are no conspicuously high frets. Fret ends will probably take care of themselves after the fretboard rehydrates a bit after long storage.

German Schaller/MEC hardware and pickups same as the regular versions, Warwick straplocks, etc.

Bottom line: Rockbass build quality varies...a lot.

[Rockmusician]

I haven't heard anything bad about them. Play one and see if you like. That's all that matters.

[dose]

I've heard a lot of great things about the new ones