bassbora

I have only had Thumb and Stingray. My Stingray was though fretless and 3 band EQ. Its long gone because it was not a patch on the Thumb in all areas. So my vote goes to the Thumb. But in true BC fashion my Stage 2 is way more aggressive than the Thumb..... just saying

I bought my ‘89 5 in 97. I had been lusting after any Warwick for years and I would probably have bought any model. This one has stayed with me since then. It is heavy but that’s never been a problem for long gigs and I am tall so I have never had an issue with the issue of reaching the 1st fret which the Internet seems to be obsessed about. I have nowhere the experience with different Warwicks like Warwickhunt but I have played my Thumbs in all styles and settings and they always fit in. I have an 89 6 fretless and that bass is the best sounding bass I have ever touched. It is the combination of being fretless and also the Bartolini pickups. I have played these basses in quiet acoustic setting, jazz combos, classic rock and metal. What I find sets them apart from other basses is how it responds to right hand technique more than other basses. And as you said yourself the necks are quite something else. The neck on the 6 is even better than on the 5. But all this is of course my opinion and others will have very different tastes from me and disagree greatly. Lastly I just want to say I have not played other Thumbs than my two and never tried a bolt on. And my main gigging bass has been the last few years 91 stage 2 5 which I think is fantastic bass but OP asked about Thumbs. I did though rotate my 5 Thumb with the SS2 to keep it interesting.

There are few different Warwicks if you are wanting something different. FNA is a Stingray version, I gigged FNA Jazzman for few years which had greater tonal variety and there is a Streamer version of them.

Funny you should ask because I was going through my collection of books and printouts I have collected since the early 90s when I was studying just that. Books I have bought some years later I thought was great was the Ed Friedland and specifically Bass Improvisation and Gary Willis books, Fingerboard Harmony for bass. Of course a fantastic way to learn is to transcribe solos from different instruments or find transcriptions of solos. I would also suggest books going over different styles such as Latin grooves and even classical music. I did a lot of both and cello music was really good. Bach is brilliant for technique. I would also echo Standing in the shadows of Motown, I have gone back to it and taught from it over the years. Teaches reading, rhythm and phrasing in abundance. Sorry for the rant

I thought I would just respond a little to this since I started this. I was just randomly listening to YouTube when that video came up on my feed. I thought it looked interesting mainly because I saw Tom Morello was in the title and Vai actually as well. Then Nuno started to play the bass and I thought someone else might find it interesting and posted here with, in hindsight, not the best title. This got me thinking about my influences and what inspires me. I have been listening and playing music since I was a kid. I realised I was mostly interested in the bass because I seemed to like to listen to John Deacon and John Taylor when I was a kid. I got my first bass at 16 or so and since I had no one to show me anything I just played along to records and Love by The Cult was the first record so we could say that Jamie Stewart was my first bass influence as a player. I then studied bass and jazz for few years and then you realise you are actually studying music and not bass. It just happens to be the instrument you are using to be involved. I had sax and piano players as teachers for improvisation so the influences have been varied. I had to play also a lot of classical music. The point is influences can come from any period and any type of music. I still get excited listening to new music of any genre, it does not matter if it is a virtuoso on any given instrument or just kids starting out. I can learn something new from most people even just how they approach their instrument and their view on music. I guess the point is you can get inspired by anyone or anything as long as you dont approach music (this applies to anything in life really) with preconceived ideas with what can or should be done. Open mind gives us innovation.

Well my brand new HDN arrived today and I only had a chance to play through it for few minutes. I tried my Stage 2 and Thumb 6 fretless and as expected sounded great. Everything I like about my AE212. It would be handy to have two of these and not the big one but I am not going to do that. Trying to shift a big cab from Scotland to somewhere else I dont think I would have many interested. Anyway I think it looks and sounds fantastic. I cant wait to try this one in a band situation and see how it holds up. As I suspected I got a message about possible sale of AE112 this afternoon after I got the HDN delivered. I knew this would happen and now the classifieds are going to be filled with 1X12 cab of every description known to man since I just bought one.

Hey thanks for the brilliant detailed report. I think I got my Berg back in 2013 if I remember correctly and at the time I was looking at Barefaced as well and I would have preferred 2 112 cabs but it was too much money for me back then and the Berg came up secondhand and it worked so brilliantly for me. I am looking at finding more and different musical projects so I thought having 112 would be so much easier to have at smaller gigs or jams than grabbing the big one. I actually gave up waiting and ordered another Berg HDN 112 on Friday. I guess I went with that because I have been so pleased with my experience of that brand for the last six years so I decided to go with that again. I think you are absolutely right when you get to a certain price point and all the components are top notch any cab would probably sound good and then it’s just down to a personal preference. I don’t want to start to buy and sell many cabs to find the right one so easier to stick with what you know.

I totally agree with you and I only posted this for fun.

I just thought it was cool that a guitar hero like Nuno would be happy to play the bass. I did see that Stu Hamm came on stage after but I didn’t watch the full video

Not too shabby

I did not know about the new ones thanks for the heads up. Yes I did see the ones in the classifieds. Problem is he said he doesn’t want to ship collection or meet up. I am in Perth area he is in London. That’s not going to happen.

Just a little update. I have been keeping an eye for any of the above cabs and not seen them come up here. I put a WTB here but nothing. Do you guys think that either there are not many on the second hand market and people are quite happy with them or if people are just not up for shipping? I have been thinking maybe I should just buy new then since I am not having much luck. Should I then go with the Bergantino HDN or the Mesa? Difference in price seems to be around £120 with cover the Mesa more expensive. First world problems. With my luck the classifieds will be full of them the moment I have bought a new one.

That was also the reason I bought the OC2 I had seen it in Bass Player back in early 90s. Marcus Miller and Sting were also mentioned as users so I thought I would give it a spin. I barely touched it. I had thought about chorus, dirt pedals and envelope filters but I was just worried it would just be like that Boss pedal turned on once and then just back in the box. I have never felt the need when I have been gigging to add sounds. But I was just really curious if you guys used it a lot or just the odd song. I might look into drive pedals that seems to be the most likely pedal I would use.

So I have been playing for almost 30 years and apart from owning Boss OC2 which I never used I have not really used effects. I was always curious about envelope filters but never really tried them. Do you guys use use effects a lot or do you just use something for the odd song or section in a song? If so what effects do you use most?

I am looking for an advice or an opinion and hear about experience of 1x12 cabs. I have been gigging Bergantino AE212 for few years in a covers/function band. I am hoping to find few different musical projects in the new year but feel it’s a bit of an overkill to drag that cab around for either jams or small gigs. So I was hoping to find a light weight 1x12 to have around for these. I usually just stick to what I know so I would be looking at Bergantino again AE, CN or HDN. I have Mesa D800 and really like it so I was even thinking about the light weight cabs from them. So my question is, is there much difference between these three Berg cabs and if so should I be looking for any in particular? How do the Mesa cabs compare? And finally should I possibly get rid of the 212 and have two separate cabs so I can scale up or down as is needed? I see that Mesa has the 112 and 115 often paired up. Should that be a consideration instead?

I played a borrowed Hartke HA3500 for a year few years back and it sounded good and was reliable. I think like everyone has said either amp would do a good job with what you need it for.

I need to check this out. I became aware of her in the early 90s because she was regularly featured in Bass Player but never really followed it up. I was totally blown away by her voice on Rush Over a track on Tales by Marcus Miller. I need to give that a spin again when I get home from work. Thanks for posting

Always nice to see some Warwick action. Sounds great

Love that Miami Vice mention. If Don J would have been a bass player he would have played this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5CR4lSORZ_Q

Hey thanks for the tip. I did just that, gave them the measurements and it arrived today and it fits perfectly.

It was around 1990 and it was a Japanese Squire P from the ‘80s. It was dire but started me on my journey. I played with a pick with no amp for a year. I got it in my head I didn’t want to spend too much money on this new hobby in case I would not stick with it. I did and after a year I bought an old Yamaha amp, B100-115 which was really heavy beast but got me going in bands at 17 - 18. Dont miss either of those to items but you have got to start somewhere I suppose

I have a flight case that came with my ‘89 Warwick Thumb 5. The foam in the case has started to disintegrate. Any ideas where to get a replacement?