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flatwounds on a Warwick?

hey there,

quick question:

lately I haven't been very pleased with the sound I'm getting from my warwick corvette. I live in Argentina so I don't have a lot of options in terms of selling my bass and buying a new one.

I'd like to get a smoother, rounder sound, and I love the sound of flatwounds on a fender jazz bass. I'm thinking about putting flatwounds on my warwick to soften out the "growl" that this bass has.

I've never seen anyone play flatwounds on a warwick. Should that be a problem?

Thanks for your advice :)
 
hey there,

quick question:

lately I haven't been very pleased with the sound I'm getting from my warwick corvette. I live in Argentina so I don't have a lot of options in terms of selling my bass and buying a new one.

I'd like to get a smoother, rounder sound, and I love the sound of flatwounds on a fender jazz bass. I'm thinking about putting flatwounds on my warwick to soften out the "growl" that this bass has.

I've never seen anyone play flatwounds on a warwick. Should that be a problem?

Thanks for your advice :)


I made this a few years ago for a friend who was contemplating getting some aftermarket pups...

Anyways, I was playing a german made Warwick Corvette Std 5 with La Bella flats. Please excuse the poor playing!

YouTube - Mary Mary - Get Up
 
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Warwicks are known for growl. The only flats set I know that is complimentary to that is the new Fender 9050CL set: a subdued growl that doesn't go "hollow" like other flats can.
 
I put GHS Flats on my active Corvette Standard and it was the best thing I've ever done, I play mostly Blues and Rock....I ended up selling it cause it was too heavy for me but I really liked the way it played and the sound that came out of it.......the guy who bought it from me really liked it too and he played Metal......
 
I tried flats and loved the sound, but it was, if anything, adding more "growl" not less, which was a good thing to my ears (it depends what you mean by "growl" I guess). I have swapped backwards and forwards between rounds (Elixir) and flats (Rotosound Monel) about six times and still can't make up my mind - they both sound great, just different. The only thing I find with the Rotosounds is that they are slightly "stickier" when your fingers warm up and start to moisten a little.
 
Tried my first set of flats ever on my Warwick Corvette $$ last night. Put them on the bass on my way out the door. D'Addario Chromes 50-105's. They seemed to fit into all the slots just fine. The threads at the end of the strings just barely pass the nut, but they do. Took them to a rock/pop cover gig and plugged them into a GK MB500 and 2 SVT210AVs. Played with them for a minute in sound check and loved what I was hearing. They actually growed a lot. All the annoying fret noise and clicking was gone, and the actual tone that was coming out of that cabinet was fantastic. I don't know if I will ever put EB slinky's back on a bass again! I have skipped over using flats for an eternity. None of my friends use them, so I have never really given it much thought. You owe it to yourself to at least try them and see if you like them. My only drawback was that I did get a little string stick initially, especially with the right hand. By halfway through the gig, it wasn't an issue. I was happy all night long. It sat in the mix better than that bass has ever done. I will try it again this week at another venue and see what happens. Hopefully that sound lasts a long time. $35 is a lot for strings for me.
Wes