Warwick Owners: Streamer Jazzman vs. Corvette $$

[Turxile]

I'm going to try to resuscitate this thread because I'm still looking for answers. I've got about $1400 coming from Uncle Sam and am gassing for a Warwick. Technically I don't have much of a need for one, except to get something with a nice articulate B string, but that's how GAS works right?
Anyway, since doing more price research on the different Warwick models I've really started wondering what makes the SSII basses so much more expensive than the bubinga Corvettes with active pickups. Is it just because the SSII are made in germany? Does the different wood really cost that much more? Sure the electronics are a little different on the SSII, but they can for for as much as $2k more new; what am I not seeing?

The 2012 line up introduced the SSI NT models in the Pro-Line (Korea) and the Rockbass (China) series. These should be a lot more affordable than the German mades.

 

[Epitaph04]

I lot of warwick neck diving issues can be cured by playing the bass higher up on your body... ive found a lot of people who complain about neck dive also dont hold their bass properly

Well lets say I wear my bass like I wear my pants...high! I had an ibby 6er that had a great neck and feel but even though i wore it high it stiil had a degree of neckdive...enough that i was either pushing down with my plucking hand and creating an uncomfortable angle on my wrist or holding the bass up with my left hand while it cramped when trying to play more complex lines. Even a nice suede strap couldnt help!

 

[mjbing]

One of the worries I have about the double buck is the strings hitting the pole pieces on the neck position pickup since it is sort of in the middle where there is a lot of string movement. Have you experienced that at all?

No problem

 

[sratas]

I own a Jazzman 4...your impressions were just correct. The bass has its strenght in the glorious burpy midrange, and this personality is retained in all the different sounds that the bass is capable of. It has also a good amount of clear but bold-enough bass, and a polite but present upper treble response. Without doubt the most versatile bass that I have ever owned, just works in any context. In fact, it has some of the Jazz bass goodness and the humbucker alone can nail musicman-like tones. The wonderful is also in the combined PU tones, very personal and rather "aggressive" with a slight grunt. More, the angled neck Pu sounds to me very very similar to a "light" Fender tone. Even the spiltted humbucker (singlecoil mode) has a true singlecoil tone, with an open sound. The bass does not neck dive in a significant way, the shape of the body in perfect for balance

 

[rodl2005]

$$'s are amazing & underrated basses imo. My $$ corvette 4 can cop virtually any tone imaginable. Sounds great active or passive & all the pup /coil switching options sound great. Can go from the bright spank of a jazz to thick neck humbucket boom & all inbetween

 

[socialleper]

$$'s are amazing & underrated basses imo. My $$ corvette 4 can cop virtually any tone imaginable. Sounds great active or passive & all the pup /coil switching options sound great. Can go from the bright spank of a jazz to thick neck humbucket boom & all inbetween

A lot of the videos I've seen of them seem to have a little too much in the highs. Can these be rolled off effectively without hurting definition?

 

[socialleper]

I own a Jazzman 4...your impressions were just correct. The bass has its strenght in the glorious burpy midrange, and this personality is retained in all the different sounds that the bass is capable of. It has also a good amount of clear but bold-enough bass, and a polite but present upper treble response. Without doubt the most versatile bass that I have ever owned, just works in any context. In fact, it has some of the Jazz bass goodness and the humbucker alone can nail musicman-like tones. The wonderful is also in the combined PU tones, very personal and rather "aggressive" with a slight grunt. More, the angled neck Pu sounds to me very very similar to a "light" Fender tone. Even the spiltted humbucker (singlecoil mode) has a true singlecoil tone, with an open sound. The bass does not neck dive in a significant way, the shape of the body in perfect for balance

I think optimally that's the model I'd want but it is a rare bird to find used. A new one is out of the question.

 

[socialleper]

Thanks to Epitaph04 I am now an official Warwick owner. I purchased his 5 $$ and now have a quick question about the tone circuit.
With the switches in the "single" mode, if I roll the blend to either pickup I start getting a little buzz. If I have the blend in the middle and have the switches set differently from each other (ex. N single and B parallel) there is a little buzz.
I know some older single coil basses get a little 60 hz cycle hum, is that what's happening here? Is it possible the ground is messed up?

 

[Garey]

ANY single coil pickup will hum when not blended...its just an inherent component of its design. You can change this by using pickups with a dummy-coil, stacked humbuckers, or dual coils. Even a dual coil, when split, hums....

If you have noise when pickups are blended evenly, then you may have a ground problem.

 

[mjbing]

Leper
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