mart

[quote name='Linus27' timestamp='1318512508' post='1403134'] Am I right in thinking that newer Warwicks don't have such a chunky neck these days? My 2006 Streamer Jazzman which is a bolt on does have a chunky neck but my old 2010 Corvette which is also bolt on has a very nice thin neck. I am sure I read somewhere that Warwick's went back to slimmer necks over the last few years. [/quote] Yes, their default neck from 2010 onwards is a much thinner profile, with nicely rounded fingerboard edges. You can still request the chunky neck, but the default is thin.

There's a great mention for NWR in the Independent today: ostensibly a review of a Wilko gig, but it's Norman that gets singled out for the highest praise: [url="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/wilko-johnson-and-ian-siegal-02-academy-islington-london-2368496.html"]http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/wilko-johnson-and-ian-siegal-02-academy-islington-london-2368496.html[/url] Not bad for a bassist

Try having a look at this thread: [url="http://forum.warwick.de/17-rockbass/13413-rockbass-corvette-5-wiring-mod-help.html#post205708"]http://forum.warwick...html#post205708[/url] Failing that, searching the Warwick forum will probably find you the information you need.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1317849478' post='1395512'] The expensive MECs are filled with epoxy, the cheap ones in the RBs have removable covers, as far as I can tell, and certainly true of the MEC pups I've had. [/quote] I hadn't heard that before. And I have to say my RB pickups don't look like the covers are removable - as I said here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/156933-are-all-mec-pickups-created-equal/page__view__findpost__p__1394311"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/156933-are-all-mec-pickups-created-equal/page__view__findpost__p__1394311[/url] they both [i]look[/i] identical.

<tongue in cheek> Isn't it about time that someone chipped in and said that if you've got any moral principles then you have to buy Spector? Or does that only happen on Talkbass? <\tongue in cheek>

[quote name='dc2009' timestamp='1317841573' post='1395343'] Just had a noodle on my Warwick, and I've gotta say, I'm no great shakes as a player, but I was just blown away by the tone I was getting plugging straight into my amp. It was genuinely fantastic. I love Warwicks, is all. [/quote] [quote name='DrB' timestamp='1317565381' post='1391788'] ...now warwick german basses are Ferraris not everyone can afford one but if you can then you will receive a very special instrument,they are flawless.I recently purchased a custom shop bass 4 string corvette$$ and i even got to see the wood before it was made(not sure if this was a bit of luck:) ... [/quote] You do get special treatment if you go for a Custom Shop bass, and yes, getting to see the wood before hand seems to be common for CS customers. Unfortunately it's not an option otherwise. (Not that I've got any complaints about the woods on my Warwicks - they all look pretty good to me).

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1317816135' post='1394843'] That's weird, didn't all the Fortress One 4s come with a P/J and either passive or 2band circuitry? He should know that! [/quote] I don't know, I only had the one! But the RB Fortresses seem to have active pups and, according to the Warwick site, Fortresses came with either passive or active pups. But that site isn't 100% reliable, especially on discontinued basses. [quote name='Darkstrike' timestamp='1317821151' post='1394948'] I always thought that MEC was owned by Warwick, or that they were in house electronics, planned on picking up a pair of MM pickups and a pre, to make a Cort of mine into a pseudo $$, until I saw the price. [/quote] Yep, that seems to be right. I thought that MEC began as part of Warwick but became a separate company. But from that line on their website it looks like they are still part of the big W. [quote name='Darkstrike' timestamp='1317821151' post='1394948'] Some of the pots they make are really rare though, stacked push/pulls, push/pull blends, stacked volume/blends with push/pulls, stuff I've never seen anyplace else. ...[/quote] Yep, they do some nice specialist stuff. But the prices ....

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1317812614' post='1394781'] IIRC the P pup was from another BCer (I'd already bought one MEC P out of a Streamer NT from a BCer) and when I asked for descriptions codes etc it apparently wasn't even active (could it have been a Dynamic Correction... do they even do a DC in P config) so I didn't even pursue the purchase. I did ask on the Warwick forum and I posed the same question about values of pups in cheap basses and I was informed that they weren't the same... how could they be as that would make a traversty of the relative values of instruments! [/quote] Ok, it could have been a DC. I remember Florin on the Warwick forum saying categorically that MEC do not do a passive (DC) P pickup. Then I showed him the photos from my old Fortress that had passive P/J pickups! Seemingly MEC don't sell DC P pups now, but they certainly have made them in the past. In fact I have put one in my Squier CV P, and very happy I am with it.

Or you could just take any diagram for a 2-pickup V/V/T/T + 3-way switch configuration, e.g. [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2phatcats_2vol_2t_3way2"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2phatcats_2vol_2t_3way2[/url]

The prominent "Hardwire" link on this page: [url="http://www.digitech.com/en-US"]http://www.digitech.com/en-US[/url] would seem to confirm that they are part of Digitech.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1317763452' post='1394420'] .... it just seems that maybe the business model doesn't try to sell the pickups aftermarket at all, but feels it has to offer them. ...[/quote] This. Clearly Warwick keep MEC in business, so they don't need to sell anything to anyone else. (And the same is true for their pots, circuit boards, etc).

Ok, I couldn't be bothered to un-solder the pups from my thumb, so I could only do a superficial comparison - no resistance measurements or any under-the-bonnet stuff like that. But superficially, here are the results: First the active MEC J neck pickup from my 2008 RB: And now the active MEC J neck pickup from my 2008 thumb: The only difference I see is the string of numbers along the bottom of the stickers. This could be some part number (in addition to the 60201-S which is the Warwick code for a short (i.e. neck) active J pup), but actually my instinct is that it's a manufacturing date. What sort of detail differences did you see in the P pickups warwickhunt? And what sort of era RB was it?

If it's a German Warwick then it's not a Pro Series (since that's the name for Warwick's Korean line). I agree with Charic that the body is probably entirely bubinga - that is a fairly common (and desirable!) option on Corvettes. £500 is not an unreasonable price, but you should certainly be able to get the same model for less if you look around. Or, alternatively, £500 could buy you a higher-spec Warwick if you look around enough.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1317728980' post='1393709'] I thought that Mart but my research (questions to Warwick and physically examing the pups) showed that the cheapest Rockbasses don't have the same pups as found in the German basses. There is some x-over with the earlier Corvette basses and the NT German basses but not the recent Rockbass. It's so vague as to what is available in which bass that I left well alone. [/quote] Curious. From a quick examination the pups on my 08 RB seemed identical to those on my 08 Thumb (and '94 Stage 2) - the part numbers were the same IIRC. But I'll have a closer look and see if I can spot any differences.

[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1317667710' post='1393069'] Im just wondering because they sell them for a couple hundred each, and some of the rockbass's arent that expensive. So anyone? [/quote] You seem to be wondering if you could buy a cheap Rockbass so as to get a pair of very expensive pickups. And the answer is, believe it or not, YES, you can! The most common MEC pickups are the J types, and they come in just two types: active (with gold lettering just saying "MEC") and passive (silver writing saying "MEC" and "Dynamic Correction", although the lettering often wears out, so you might need to look carefully to see which is which). (Ok, there may be different ones for basses with 5 or more strings, but all basses have exactly 4 strings in my universe). And if you look you can, like me, find a Chinese Rockbass with a pair of the same active MEC Js that you'd find in a £3000 German neck-through Warwick. You would certainly have to be insane to buy new MEC pickups on their own at the prices Warwick charge. If you want a P type, then I believe they also come simply as active or passive (with the same differences in lettering), but these are much less common. Still, I got me a passive MEC P on here for a very reasonable price, so it's worth looking out for. There are other shapes, but they really don't seem to be at all common on the second hand market, or featured in the sort of Rockbasses you can easily find.

Given that the London seller already has three pics up, and the Liverpudlian only one, I don't think there's any doubt who originated the photos. Perhaps the Liverpudlian took that "[url="http://cgi5.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SellLikeItem&_trksid=p4340.l2567&item=180729842998"]Sell one like this[/url]" button a bit too seriously.

Rikki Rooksby's book "How to Write Songs on Guitar" has a list of songs indexed by chord sequences. Unfortunately, for that particular sequence, the only song he gives is Cortez the Killer. Mind you, I'm sure a soul version of that song would be most interesting!

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1317157381' post='1387549'] OK, well the G side of the pickup was already as low as it would go so I tilted up the E side and its largely solved the volume issue. There's still a difference but probably more noticeable to me than to anyone in an audience. The phase effect is still there but not so noticeable with the better volume balance and I think I can live with that as, lets face it, why on earth would I routinely go up to the heady heights of the 7th fret on the G string and above? Its a bass init! [/quote] Glad you've found a way to make it better. If you decide you can't live with the phasing, and you can't lower the G side of the pup, then (at the risk of stating the obvious ) you could try raising the G string a little.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1317206999' post='1388002'] That's a wenge board mate. [/quote] +1

I know you say the pickup is square, but I'd try lowering the G side to see if that helps. If it were too close to the string it would cause both of the problems you mention. It might well be something else, but changing the pup height is such a quick and easy thing to try, that it's worth ruling this out before looking for a more complicated cause.

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' timestamp='1316952810' post='1384679'] ...I would think about buying that one that Johnston posted but the necks are the wrong way round. Has to be bass on top like the original 4080/12 ...[/quote] I never understood why Rick always put the bass on top. Rutherford had his double-neck specially built for him with the 12 on top and that makes much more sense to me. If you strum or pick the guitar then your forearm is almost parallel with the strings, which is easier if the guitar is higher up. And if you play the bass fingerstyle then your arm is more perpendicular, so that works better with the bass lower down. So for that reason I'd never want a "standard" Rick 12/4 - their arrangement only makes sense if you pick the bass and pluck the guitar! But that makes it even more baffling that these Chinese knock-offs are Rutherford style rather than Rick style. Or perhaps they've just thought about it logically and reached the same conclusion as me! Now, please, someone remind me that at that price this guitar must be crap and, besides, I do not need a double-neck. I'm having the same palpitations as I had when, years ago, I saw an ad for a Rick 12/4 in the back of Guitarist. Actually, if memory serves me right, that was priced at £600 as well.

The bass in that clip is a Chinese Rockbass. I'm pretty sure that Rockbasses have always been made in China; it's only recently that Warwick have started producing any basses in Korea, and these are to a much higher level than the Chinese models. But I think the Korean issue is a red herring here - it is definitely a Chinese bass in the video. So I think the problem is partly, as Dan says, the choice of amp. But I suspect also the strings would have been brand new on that video bass, and maybe much older on the bass you played. But +1 to the idea of saving up for a German $$, especially since there are so many good ones for sale on this forum!

[quote name='fender73' timestamp='1316767920' post='1382484'] That one guy is me, and this is exactly my point... you said it yourself..second hand GERMAN ones...am i misisng something, was my KOREAN Warwick not a good purchase at £450? I've now had the opportunity to A/B it with a GERMAN corvette...same spec.....guess what...no difference. All i'm saying is, don't discount a second hand KOREAN Warwick. I'm off for a lie down. Sorry for the rant. [/quote] A relevant point here is that there are lots of 2nd hand German Warwicks for sale, but I've not seen a single 2nd hand Korean Warwick yet. That's hardly surprising because the Korean Ws only appeared a year or two back, but it does mean that it don't make a lot of sense to recommend someone buy a 2nd hand Korean Warwick! I think that's why Dan was purely phrasing things in terms of new RB vs s/h German. From what I've heard the quality of the Korean Warwicks is very comparable with the German ones. I've not played a Korean one, so I can't say for myself. But there is certainly a lot of snobbery out there, which means that 2nd hand values on a Korean bass (be it Warwick, or any other manufacturer) will tend to stay lower than on a German bass (or American, or British...) There may be no good reason for this, and the more people that point out how good some of the Korean stuff is, the less such snobbery there'll be. But it'll never go away completely.

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1316774493' post='1382623'] My first proper amp was a Commando. It was a 15",although I think they made a 12" too,and they were 100 watts. [/quote] And my first proper amp was a 12" Commando. The amp blew a few years ago (after about 10 years of service) but I still use the speaker.

Just to report back: I tried it all out last night, and it worked fine. Levels weren't a problem at all (helped by the master vol on the Shuttle also affecting the aux in, and the Blonde having a good level control itself), and the sound was ok. It's not an ideal set-up, but it suits my needs for this weekend where space for kit is rather limited. Thanks again for all the advice!