Can anyone tell me whether that typical warwick growl comes from the MEC pickups or is it from the body of the bass... I'm specifically asking because I play a Warwick thumb NT and I want to know if I replace my stock pickups with, say a set of Basslines and the accompanying electronics, am I going to drastically change my tone? Is this even worth doing?
Take your bass to a silent room. Do not plug it in. Play. You hear? Most of the tone comes from the body and construction and etc. The p-ups are important, too, though. Some tried Barts with Thumbs, and were not really satisfied (do a search for that) - for example DavidMWilson tried barts, then replaced them with EMGs
I would have to agree with frank, the wood, construction have a major role in the way warwicks sound. I have played custom basses that were constructed using the same tone woods that Warwick uses and percieved a similar Warwick sound. Don't get me wrong, pick ups are a factor too, but they do not dictate that natural sound of a bass.
It's all a factor, but one thing that is very much responsible for the growly tone on the Warwick Thumb basses is the pickup position. That angled pickup near the bridge thing makes for a large part of the sound, IMHO. I played a Sadowsky with a similar pickup position, and it growled VERY nicely.
I believe it is largely the wood and construction. i changed pickups on a corvette and not much change in tone. "better" pickups (bill lawrence) didnt sound as Warwick-like in it. MEC and EMG sound the best in these bases but not a major change as much as changing the string type. Try some ground wound strings and you wil have something that sounds like a Modulus with the mids scooped. My advice: leave the MECs alone
