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Warwick Question

cmprock

cmprock

May 28, 2010
23
25
#1
Ok I'm a guitar player so I get a pass for the stupid question...HaHa!

I recently bought a Warwick Streamer Stage 1 and it FEELS great in my guitar player hands. Small body, narrow neck etc... I hoped it would SOUND a bit more like the Thumb and Corvette that bass players I'd worked with had and played in my band. It doesn't quite have the "authority" of the thumb and corvette. Just wondering if I can change the electronics to have a bit more of that signature growl that the Warwicks have. Does anyone know the if the preamp in the Thumb/Corvette are different than the one in the Streamer. I looked on the warwick site.. but it does not have this info.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance!
 
#3
Oh yeah... Here's a pic.
 

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#5
If it is stock, then it should have the same preamp as the other models. The only difference between the entire range as far as I'm aware is that some models have a two band EQ and some have a three band. I think that a SS1 should have the three band.

Have you made sure you've got fresh strings and a fresh battery? And are the pickups a sensible distance from the strings? What rig are you using, and how do you have the amp EQ set up?
 
#7
Thanks gentleman! I've compared it in the two settings I've always had my guys playing in... Recording and through a GK 2001RB and 4X10 cab. EQ pretty much flat-ish with only a slight boost on the low end. Battery new but strings are an unknown. Plan to change any day. Only had this bass a few days...

As far as my experience, that's a great point as the guys comparing to are those who have played with me and they are very accomplished players... Of which I'm admittedly a guitar player primarily with limited bass playing experience.

The EQ on this is two band which may play a role. Though I'm not certain the other warwicks I heard had two or three...

Good to know that the stock preamp is the same.
Removes that from the table.
I'll play with the height of the pickups... Is there an ideal height? They appear to be somewhat far away compared to that of typical guitar pickups.

I'll tweak em and post an update. Thanks again....
 
#8
Thanks for understanding I wasn't being mean... I read that you were a guitarist not bassist and this is a common side effect of not having that muscle memory and muscle tone and just lack of experience playing bass. Same goes the other way... Bad guitar tone (and tuning in chords) by bassists trying guitar.

Cheers... Keep up the experiments
 
#9
Superb bass, I have a SS1 too. I wouldn't consider changing the pickups or pre for a second. I found I had to have the bridge J a lot closer to the strings than the P to get a similar output from both. Set their height using your ears rather than your eyes. A fresh set of rounds works best, in my experience. The tone should just come dancing out of the thing.
 
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#11
cmprock said:
Ok I'm a guitar player so I get a pass for the stupid question...HaHa!

I recently bought a Warwick Streamer Stage 1 and it FEELS great in my guitar player hands. Small body, narrow neck etc... I hoped it would SOUND a bit more like the Thumb and Corvette that bass players I'd worked with had and played in my band. It doesn't quite have the "authority" of the thumb and corvette. Just wondering if I can change the electronics to have a bit more of that signature growl that the Warwicks have. Does anyone know the if the preamp in the Thumb/Corvette are different than the one in the Streamer. I looked on the warwick site.. but it does not have this info.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

That bass should have plenty of growl, though not as Much as the Thumb, and even more authority than a Corvette...you probably need to raise the pickup height, string it with a fresh set of round wounds, and then just work on your chops ;)
 
#14
I don't own a Warwick but I've spent enough time ogling them to postulate a thesis:

Thumbs and Corvette use a J + J configuration with a distinctively narrow spacing, don't they?

What you've got there is a P + J with a decidedly "normal" spacing.
 
#15
OP; I can send you a lot of Warwick info. if you are interested. I have owned somewhere around 20. I currently have a SS1 as well. If you have Adobe Reader and can download I have some great info. Just let me know if you can.
 
#16
kevteop said:
The Streamer is a much more mainstream bass than the Thumb, the Thumb is really a law unto itself, it does its own thing, and nothing else really sounds like one.

Streamers are lovely though, stick with it and you'll learn to love it I'm sure.
Click to expand...
a P J streamer will not sound like a thumb-
thumbs are in their own country.
 
#17
callofcthulhu said:
I don't own a Warwick but I've spent enough time ogling them to postulate a thesis:

Thumbs and Corvette use a J + J configuration with a distinctively narrow spacing, don't they?

What you've got there is a P + J with a decidedly "normal" spacing.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think the Streamer was intended to appeal to the P/J market, but it still has that middy purr that Warwicks do, it's a lovely sound. The Corvette is basically an active Jazz bass, but again with some of that added Warwick character.

The Thumb pretty much has two bridge pickups. Mine's a '91 with the original MEC pups and stock 2-band EQ. I never solo the rear one because it's pretty thin on its own, but there are distinct and useful sounds to be had between the mix of the two and the front pup soloed.

All the bass players I know around here talk about my bass (I do have other basses but my Thumb is by far my favourite) as being an excellent instrument to play but tonally useless to them, presumably because it doesn't do that scooped Fender sound. That's a fair comment, but I love the fact that it sounds different, and certainly not un-musical, and it really pops out in a typical band mix with no effort required. And I think it makes me play more interesting stuff, because I'm not just trying to add depth to the sound like I feel I should do with a Fender bass. The same way I play more interesting stuff when I'm playing double bass, because I think the character of the instrument is interesting in itself and it deserves to be more prominent.
 
#18
bass10bfb said:
OP; I can send you a lot of Warwick info. if you are interested. I have owned somewhere around 20. I currently have a SS1 as well. If you have Adobe Reader and can download I have some great info. Just let me know if you can.
Click to expand...

Sounds great! I appreciate that. You can send said info to [email protected]
All you guys are awesome on this site. Must be the whole "support" role of bassists. Not exactly what ya get with guitar players....:bassist:

So my SS1 is a neck through.. and apparently quite rare in the painted finish. I was told by the original owner it was a NAMM model.
I'll have my bass player at next practice get on it and see. Playing it myself along side tracks I myself recorded using borrowed Warwicks (and others)
it's different. Not even a little but bad.... it sounds great! It's just a little more modern sounding and not a bit more relaxed in the midrange. So it sits nicely in the mixes but doesn't push through the wall of guitars I tend to record:hyper:

Thanks again to all you guys! I appreciate all your thoughts and time. Keep ya posted...
 

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