FourStrung Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) Looking for some advice from those of you who have updated their basses, maybe someone has already given their Rockbass a new lease of life. I have tweaked quite a few guitars but have only got into playing bass earlier this year so not so confident on this one. Recently got a Fender Precision which is a dream to play and love the sound through my Ashdown Mag C115 300 combo, although i think it needs the extra 4x10 cab to get the best from it. It's a bit sad to leave the Warwick gathering dust as it does play very nicely, but the sound is just not hitting the spot. Maybe I shouldn't complain at all as it was a donation from a friend, but output is low from the pickups and needs a pedal at least to make it useable. Any ideas on how I can breath some life into the poor WRB or should I let it RIP? Edited July 19, 2011 by FourStrung Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 If it's a Streamer Standard, I think the pickups are known to be low output. I'm also pretty sure that they are a non-standard size, so would be very hard to replace. You could try fitting a new preamp - that would probably change the sound a lot. Lots of folk on here will probably have recommendations for a good pre to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourStrung Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 [quote name='mart' post='1309737' date='Jul 19 2011, 11:09 PM']If it's a Streamer Standard, I think the pickups are known to be low output. I'm also pretty sure that they are a non-standard size, so would be very hard to replace. You could try fitting a new preamp - that would probably change the sound a lot. Lots of folk on here will probably have recommendations for a good pre to try.[/quote] This is the model from their bottom end range although selling for over 400€ here in France. There isn't a preamp... in the cavity for the pots are only the 3 pots/wiring, plus the tone control does not seam to do very much. Hence why it really needs any type of pedal to give it a boost. I understand that one of the areas they don't use great components on cheaper stuff are the electronics. I guess maybe I am thinking these are the weak spot and maybe its just better to use an effects pedal to compensate. [attachment=85129:Rockbass1.jpg] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I had one of these. Well worth putting in a pre-amp into!!! I picked up an MEC circuit cheaply and put that in. Nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourStrung Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 [quote name='yorick' post='1309916' date='Jul 20 2011, 08:36 AM']I had one of these. Well worth putting in a pre-amp into!!! I picked up an MEC circuit cheaply and put that in. Nice [/quote] Thanks for the thumbs up on a mod. Thinking that maybe a brand change on strings may be be worth a try too but not too sure what ones may bring our the best from it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 [quote name='FourStrung' post='1309913' date='Jul 20 2011, 07:23 AM']This is the model from their bottom end range although selling for over 400€ here in France. There isn't a preamp... in the cavity for the pots are only the 3 pots/wiring, plus the tone control does not seam to do very much. Hence why it really needs any type of pedal to give it a boost. I understand that one of the areas they don't use great components on cheaper stuff are the electronics. I guess maybe I am thinking these are the weak spot and maybe its just better to use an effects pedal to compensate. [attachment=85129:Rockbass1.jpg][/quote] I was trying to choose my words carefully because I couldn't remember if it had a preamp or not. What I was suggesting was: if it has a preamp, buy a different one, and if it doesn't have a preamp, then fit one! On the RB Corvettes the electrics are a mixture - the pickups are exactly the same as in the top-end German Warwicks (so if you ever want to buy new MEC pickups for your Streamer or Thumb, it's probably cheaper to buy a RB and take its pups), but the preamp (when fitted) is cheaper. With the RB Streamers, there is no German Warwick that uses the same pickups (except the old Streamer Standards), so they may be lower quality (that may have been one of the corners that Warwick cut that enabled them to make Streamer Standards in Germany for a similar price to Rockbasses). But as I said, you probably can't replace the pups. It seems to me that fitting a preamp will broadly the same effect as using a pedal offboard, but is rather more convenient. And yes, a good new set of strings will help. Again, lots of people on here will have opinions. (As do I, but since I play fretless almost exclusively, my tastes - TI flats - won't suit everybody!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourStrung Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Hi guys For the record, in the mean time I have bought a Fender P Bass which I just loooove. Ok you know how it goes, one more guitar then a new amp So now the Warwick looks like being an ok backup – surprise, surprise . . . I just happened to be messing about with some gear and set up my wireless system to the Warwick and found that it boosted the sound level without changing the tone a great deal – so what d'you know it sounds pretty damn good - result! Why didn't I try that before... hmmmm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragglefart Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Interesting thread, I have a passive Rockbass Corvette. Love playing the thing, but yeah, tone control seems to do very little - how do you tell if it has a preamp? I assumed that passive basses had no preamp, correct? Or no? Confused... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shylock Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 [quote name='fragglefart' post='1363341' date='Sep 5 2011, 08:01 PM']Interesting thread, I have a passive Rockbass Corvette. Love playing the thing, but yeah, tone control seems to do very little - how do you tell if it has a preamp? I assumed that passive basses had no preamp, correct? Or no? Confused... [/quote] My understanding is passive = no preamp and active = preamp. If you take the back off your bass and find a battery this normally means a preamp is on board. No battery = no preamp. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_bass Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) I had one of these beauties, the same as the OP's but 5 string. Also got a nice amount for it on Ebay when it came to moving it on. The output is very low & it is passive. With the controls it works just like a passive jazz bass with a volume control for each pickup & then one tone control. The easiest option to improve the sound would be to try an effects pedal, I found a Digitech compressor pedal worked pretty well. Edited September 9, 2011 by joe_bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 on my Rockbass I changed the hardware for Black (including a Schaller 3D Bridge) and actually put a set of Duncans in it before I moved back to the UK. Pity I had to let it go so cheaply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 [quote name='joe_bass' post='1367591' date='Sep 9 2011, 01:18 PM']The output is very low & it is passive. With the controls it works just like a passive jazz bass with a volume control for each pickup & then one tone control.[/quote] those mec soapbars are very low output - i replaced the one on my streamer std with a bartolini and it changed the tone radically. bit pricey for the OP tho - barts aren't cheap ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toasted Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 What about a redeemer circuit? Having said that, it'll probably cost as much as the bass is worth. [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Creation_Audio_Labs_Redeemer.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_sp...s_Redeemer.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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