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Help My Warwick Sound As Good As It Should!

aguacateojos

aguacateojos

Jul 9, 2010
1,886
1,859
Massachusetts
#1
I'm not sure where to begin here... I suppose I'll have to edit the post with pertinent information as it becomes available.

Earlier this year I purchased a Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 from the TB classifieds. It was upgraded by the previous owner, and all I've been able to discover about those upgrades comes from his original thread: "I dropped a Seymour Duncan MM style humbucker in the bridge slot and a 3 band active Seymour Duncan preamp with pull "slap contour"." I have the original pickup and preamp as well.

Since then I've gigged extensively with two different rigs (an Eden WT800B + 4x10XLT and Genz Benz Shuttleman 12.0 + 2x10NEO) and done one recording session - the tone on the recordings is pretty great but I've never been able to get more than a muffled, lack-luster tone at gig time. It sounds as if there are blankets in front of the speakers... on a whim, I played the Warwick back to back with my drummer's $300 Yamaha and immediately got a tone I loved with the cheaper bass. I've tried to fix this through EQ but never been able to find a solution. I either sound like there are pillows over the cabinet or get a hissy, snappy, high-heavy tone.

So, what am I doing wrong here? I thought I knew a bit about sound / EQ but apparently not. I assume I'm not providing enough information to find a solution so, please, help me start heading in the right direction. I'll post pictures of the control cavity and sound clips when I get them.

Please, help this bass sound as good as it should!
 
#4
I have the same bass in a 4 string with the same preamp and the orginal MEC passive PU but pretty much the same.

What are your settings on your bass controls and on your amp controls? Are you pulling the slap contour out? Does it have the 3 way pickup toggle selector and if so what position are you playing in? Where is your pan selector at for pickup selection?

I would not pull out the slap contour unless slapping, I would boost the mids about a third of the way from center to full and leave the bass and treble flat. I would play toggle in center position or towards the top of the bass in single coil.
Check you battery as it may be low on volts and mudding it up. Should be above 9 volts on batt.
 
#5
I've only played through a PA in addition to the stage rig on a couple of occasions - in that setting, I have no idea what I sound like from the FOH. I only know what I hear from the stage.

I do have the original electronics and bridge pickup - you think that the change in preamp and pickup could have robbed this Warwick of its punch? I leave the amp close to flat, just a bit of roll off on the highs. On the bass I have the pan in the center, toggle switch in the center, bass in the center, and mid + high rolled off - the high control just adds hiss and the mid seems to thin out the sound. I do tend to play with the slap contour pulled out, but I only play with fingers and never slap... I'll try that as a starting point. Thanks for the quick responses!
 
#7
Hmm... I wish I had experience with that side of the gear world and could swap them on my own to test it. Don't really have the cash to bring it to somebody, my car is in need of work and I would rather get to gigs/rehearsals than chase the sound I want for now. Anyone know of a guide to take a beginner through the process of replacing a preamp?
 
#8
Goose those mids! Whatever you can do to get some extra measure of harshness and aggression will help with getting a more cutting sound in the mix. Not that you want to sound awful, but that solo tone that's nice and smooth for recording can often need more edge for a live setting.

If that slap contour is draining a lot of your mids away from your sound, that could be detrimental to your gigging tone. You may need to eq more in the direction of a frown than a smile or "scoop". I like to work with a generally useful eq setup for fingerstyle and if I need to do a little slapping, all it takes is a little bump of the highs on my preamp or an opening up of my passive tone control for that extra zing.
 
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#10
aguacateojos said:
I just realized that I don't know what the selector switch on this bass does... you said flipped towards the neck puts the pickups in single coil mode, but what are the middle and bridge positions?
Click to expand...

Sounds like yours is spun. It should be up towards the ceiling, middle and down towards floor. If your's is neck to bridge it is 90 degrees out. However, it should be easy to tell when in parrallel humbucker mode as it is an aggresive muddier sound. I think I mixed up on my previous post. But here is the positions.

Middle is single coil, Up is Humbucker (series) and Down is Parrallel Humbucker (more aggresive sounding).

Here is a link to the manual. See Streamer Jazzman info page 13.

Invalid Link Removed
 
#12
Played the same exact bass (though all stock) at a House of Blues gig. From the stage, my tone was atrocious. I thought it was really bad. After hearing a recording of the performance, the tone through the PA was just Godly. It had the typical growly low mids that cut through, and the bass would move you bowels. I'd consider going back to stock if you don't find the tone pretty quickly.
 
#13
Back from practice... first impression - without the slap contour and a boost in the mids I cut through WAY more than before. Especially in the upper register - before I couldn't hear anything past the 12th fret and tonight I was laying down the upper-register fills all over. It was pretty great. We have a gig tomorrow night, I'll keep working with the EQ and report back once more.
 
#14
Hard to believe someone would want to change the electronics out of an FNA Jazzman. I have one and the MEC's sound fantastic. Don't get me wrong, I love the way the P-Nut III sounds with its Seymour Duncans in the same pickup arrangement, but the Jazzman's MEC's leave nothing on the table IMO.

I too would try going back to the factory setup to see if that's the sound you're looking for.

Also, just for a simple thing to check, are your pickup heights set correctly?
 

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