Johnny Wishbone Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) OK, so after scouring the net for ages I've finally managed to lay my hands on a used Warwick Fortress One. I've played a Fortress One for years but tend to break strings fairly often (I'm a very aggressive player!) so got this new one as a backup. Aesthetically the one I've just bought is identical to my old one (bar the colour), but the wiring is different: My '99 one, which I've had from new, is entirely passive with volume, bass, treble and pickup pan controls and no battery compartment, but the new one has an active preamp which can be disengaged by pulling the volume pot up. I prefer passive basses, so I was happy just disengaging the preamp on the new Fortress (a '95 model) but upon reading the manual I've discovered that switching it to passive also disables the other three pots, which is a problem as I use them to get the right sound out of the old one! Obviously, I want both basses to sound the same. I could just set the controls on the active one the same as the passive (bar a tweak here and there, obviously) and use the input pad on my amp head, but there's always the chance I'll forget in the heat of a gig! The Warwick manual states that all Fortress Ones come with an active preamp, and there's no mention of them ever being made with passive controls, so I'm a little confused. Have I unwittingly got hold of a one-off passive Fortress? Or is it a feature of that particular year's model that Warwick have glossed over in the manual? Over to you....... Edited March 27, 2008 by Johnny Wishbone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Bass Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 i thoght if it had bass and treble controls it would have to be active. confused Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Bass Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 the one u hav had from new i mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 [quote name='metaltime' post='164700' date='Mar 27 2008, 06:50 PM']i thoght if it had bass and treble controls it would have to be active. confused[/quote] Me too, but apparently not. I thought they may be separate tone controls for each pickup, but in use they definitely sound like bass & treble controls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 The Fortress One was made with both active and passive versions. I have an active one but a mate of mine's is passive. That said, I don't know enough about his bass to be able to tell you about the control layout and so forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ednaplate Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I have the exact same problem, if it is a problem, with my 92 Streamer. The wiring seems fine but it does seem a little pointless not being able to adjust anything other than volume in passive mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 That's normal for the Warwicks with the active preamp onboard. The pickups are passive, so the bass & treble controls are used only by the preamp when it's turned on (volume control in the pushed in position.) It was the same with my original Status SII. Pretty normal situation for switchable active basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Off to tech land..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Try searching Warwick.de for a few answers and there is (but b*ggered if I can find it now) a whole bunch of downloads available on the Warwick site giving the schematics of all of their pre-amps. However, it has already been pointed out yes you can get active and passive versions and also what many people seem not to realise is that many of the Warwick pup/preamp systems requirer a battery for the pups to work. You take a battery out of your Streamer etc and you have a dead bass regardless of whether you are in active or passive mode! The MECs and various other pups are active and require juice to work, the push/pull pot is for switching off the active EQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Thanks guys. The warwick.de site in particular is very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vasquez Rich Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) The older Fortress's were all passive, mine is/was, 1993, and I'm told one of the first in the UK , you can tell the older ones by the extra contouring and two small scallops either side of where the neck bolts to the body. I replaced the passive circuit with an EMG active one shortly after I got it. I still have a diagram of the old layout somewhere if you'd like me to dig it out. I probably kept the components as well. The original circuit had no battery for the MEC pickups. Richard Edited March 29, 2008 by Vasquez Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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