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Warrior Basses?

#2
I have played several of Warrior's basses. I had mixed results. I played a few signatures and a studio. The studio was a fretless and was very nice. The three 5 string signatures I played were not very impressive to me, especially at the price they were asking. I felt that the action was bad and the B strings weren't very good (could have been the setup though). The 7 string signature on the other hand was excellent. Great action, great tone and really not a bad price for the bass. It also had Lane Poors in it. So, I'd get out there and try one out.

-Geoff
 
#3
I've tried out about 5 of them and I would have to say I'm not very pleased with them. For me, there was only one that sounded great to my ears but got little volume out of the E string and it wasn't a setup issue either. The color was a very cool Copper/Orange metallic that looked great. On the others, I either didn't like the tone or the construction was not as good as other competitors in their price range. It's all in what you like I guess.
 
#5
yomchi247 said:
Anyone play em? How is the sound and playability? Post pics please :)
Click to expand...

Hi,

This is my first post on talkbass.com.

I recently made a special trip to Dallas to attend the Arlington Guitar Show with the goal of finding the best 5-string fretless bass for my tastes.
On the first day, I made a point of playing every nice instrument that I could get my hands on, fretted or fretless. I played all of the basses in the Low End booth, the Skjold booth, the Salwender booth, the Warrior booth, and any other modern basses to be found. I was not in the market for a vintage axe.
After the first day, I found two instruments that were contenders in my search. One was a fretless 5 Jonas by Human Base, and the other was the Warrior Isabella. The Warrior was a 4-string fretted bass, but it's tone and feel were so outstanding that it warranted a second look. BTW, I didn't find the Warrior Signature model's shape very comfortable when sitting.

On Sunday, I went back to the show to compare these two. The Warrior booth was nice enough to let me take the Isabella out of their booth to the Salwender booth to A-B the instruments through a Glockenklang amp (the Warrior booth had an SWR Redhead).

First of all, the Human Base Jonas 5-string is KILLER, and gives up the Jaco vibe with no problems at all. I still liked that bass a lot the second day. But, when I plugged in and played the Isabella through the Glockenklang, it was the clear winner for me. It's tone is beautiful, punchy, and slightly compressed (just the way I like it). And, a a bonus, it's a super comfortable body design with great playability all the way up the neck. The body is Mahogany with a Spalt Maple top, the neck is Mahogany/Purpleheart/Mahogany, and the fingerboard is Cocobolo.

Anyway, for tonal reference, the other instruments at the show that fit my tastes were:
At the Low End booth -
Zon Sonus 5 string
RBass 5-string
Low End Jazz Bass 5 (the blue one - a BIG surprise!)

So, I'm having a 5-string fretless Isabella made with the identical combination of woods as the fretted one. In a nice gesture, JD from Warrior has lent me their Soldier 5-fretless demo from the booth until this one's completed early next year.

All in all, it was well worth attending the show. Add me to the list of those waiting for custom basses!

Hope this helps!

Andy




:hyper:
 
#6
There was thead discussing warriors not more than a week ago floating aorund.. anyway..

There is a warrior gallery a few miles from campus, so I stop by occasionally and play around with them. I will admit that while the aesthetics are almost always top notch, the tone is rather hit and miss. I don't know if this is due to wood sources, quality control, or what, but it is a little dissapointing. I will say that teh BEST bass I have EVER played so far as action, feel, tone, etc go has been a Warrior 7 string. I can't remember the model, but it was priced at about $4700 (street price). The action was butter, the tone was crystal, and it felt like a glove. The lower priced 5 strings($2000-$3000) are not worth the money, however. While most of them play very nice and sound good, they just are nto on par with other basses in that range, such as nordstrand, bee, or ken smith.
basically- warrior is capable of producing some of the best basses on the planet, but you have to eitehr order a high-end model, or buy a pre-built model from a warrior gallery to be sure you are getting your money's worth.
 
#7
I had a Warrior 9-string Signature.

positives:
1. Nice Looker.
2. Very Light.
3. Wafer-thin neck.

negatives:
1. The tone was bad (almost horrible).
2. Deadspots/bad intonation all over the neck (above the 12th fret) - proper set up by 2 different pros couldn't fix it and this was before #4 happened.
3. Body too small
4. One fall from a stand and the top of the headstock snaps off.

YMMV.

I'm fortunate Dave (the guy who bought mine) does not share my opinon.

Their Jesus Christ Signature Model looks interesting. :eyebrow: :rolleyes:
 
#14
pistoleroace said:
That's a good way to get out of what you really want to say instead:D
Click to expand...


I'll plead the 5th


But really, I went to the site...... where is the "Jesus Christ Sig" bass. I believe in God, but how in the world do you make a model of an instrument and name it Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, but thats a little much!
 
#18
I just bought a used soldier with a nice ovanknol(i think) top.
Sticker price was 1600, i know a guy at the store, I paid 1000, this particular one can get the stingray sound and the warwick sound, which in my book warrents the $1000 because I've owned a warwick corvette and it wasn't good sounding enough, and I want a stingray. Problem solved, ive got a bass that can get both sounds.


The problem is the fret dress on this thing is not horrible but not good at all. I've got a pedulla rapture j2000 5string i bought new that is the smoothest playing bass ever. I'm hoping a frett dress and then a couple hours on my workbench will solve the playability issues on the warrior. Its really only the g string and a little bit of the d string between frets 11 and 15. There's a high spot. Its a little buzzy in other places too... fret dress should take care of it, the neck is straight with the amoun of relief I normally like.

-Chris
 
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#19
Here are some pics of Jean's old 9-string:

http://www.unpronounceable.com/images/warrior/

Dsc01739.jpg


I might sell it sometime to help pay for a Hanewinckel 8 or 9-string. $2000 w/hard-shell case.

Here are a couple of excerpts from a long improv jam we did last week. I played the 9 for the first time in months.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

- Dave
 

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