Prevalence of Warwicks in Metal

[Guest MoJo]

I ventured out last night to catch a bunch of bands playing at a local live music pub. I'd missed the first band, Bayonet but arrived just before Whisper In The Riot took to the stage. The bass player had a rather nice looking translucent blue 6 string Warwick. Next up, Wooden Boy. Musicman SUB. Next band, the very excellent Gone Til Winter...4 string Warwick (and a 5 string Peavey) and finally the headliners, Vert...5 string Warwick.







What is the connection between Warwick and metal?

Edited October 19, 2008 by bassman2790

[ped]

I just think Warwick basses are tremendously popular now (just look at the 'What do YOU play' thread poll) so they are very common. And I suppose they stick out like a sore 'thumb' .... eh? .... EH? Thankyouverymuch

[7string]

I think that Warwick have found that players in metal like their basses and they've gone out to capture the market. Warwick now have a whole load of endorsers from the metal crowd.

To meet the demands of the metal bassist in the face of de-tuning guitars, they also brought out the Dark Lord bass, a 4 string tuned F# B E A with a huge 175 string. I think it may be the only production bass with that F# on it (though I've been wrong before!).

[Protium]

Relying on the woody mids to be able to cut through in a genre full of loud arsehole guitarists?

Pedulla>Warwick in metal

[Josh]

They cut through the distortion without fail, simple. Other than Spectors and some custom jazz basses, very few other basses in metal have the same presence in the mix.

[Exile252]

Maybe metal bands just think Warwicks are overly metal, they do have "War" in their name after all.

I'd rather use a stingray or Jazz tbh. Feel much better than a Warwick.

Alot of popular metal bands use them, or basses with similar shapes.

[Josh]

[quote name='Exile252' post='310107' date='Oct 19 2008, 10:48 PM']Maybe metal bands just think Warwicks are overly metal, they do have "War" in their name after all.[/quote]

Please say you've got your tongue in your cheek when you say that?

Edited October 19, 2008 by Josh

[LukeFRC]

what really do most bands use.
fender, warwick, musicman, ibanez, rickenbacker....

now do ricks or fender 'look' metal?

[dangerboy]

In my head, the link was always:

Warwick = no taste
Metal = no taste

Perfect for each other ;-)

[Guest MoJo]

If you follow this [url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=38245984"]link[/url] to the Gone Til Winter Myspace page, have a listen to the intro to the first track 'Hear Me'...that was the sound that all three Warwick users seemed to be aiming for

[Josh]

[quote name='dangerboy' post='310153' date='Oct 19 2008, 11:54 PM']In my head, the link was always:

Warwick = no taste
Metal = no taste

Perfect for each other ;-)[/quote]

Wow another sweeping generalisation, how many more before this thread gets closed

Edited October 19, 2008 by Josh

[Bullet-Rule]

I think it's mainly because of the distinctive Warwick growl. Like you said Josh, there are too many generalisations here, surely Warwicks suit the metal genre sound-wise otherwise they wouldn't be so popular? I think its similar with Spectors, they both cut through very well due to their dominant mids.

[Josh]

[quote name='Bullet-Rule' post='310164' date='Oct 20 2008, 12:56 AM']I think it's mainly because of the distinctive Warwick growl. Like you said Josh, there are too many generalisations here, surely Warwicks suit the metal genre sound-wise otherwise they wouldn't be so popular? I think its similar with Spectors, they both cut through very well due to their dominant mids.[/quote]

Warwick compliments many bassists in metal who struggle to cut through both live and in the studio, sooner or later they stumble across Warwicks and usually change there set up accordingly, a perfect example of that is Sam Rivers of Limp Bizkit was having countless problems with getting his Ibanez to really stand out, and then luckily he met up with Dirk Lance who let him have a go on his SSII and thus completely revamped his set up with a SS1 CS. Any Mudvayne album is the perfect example of a Warwick cutting through a mix with ease, as is Limp Bizkits later stuff.

The generalisations thus far are ridiculous ones, to say a metal bassist only wants a Warwick purely because of the "War" part of the name is just childish and extremely narrowminded, and to openly say anybody who listens to metal and/or plays a Warwick has no taste is just plain pompous.

Anybody who plays a Warwick knows they are not just for metal, and I, Warwickhunt and many other members on the Warwick forum could provide many other examples of Warwicks being used in almost every genre of music, if anyone is going to make a generalisation against Warwick basses please make sure you can back it up.

Edited October 20, 2008 by Josh

[Guest MoJo]

Off topic slightly, but does the Rockbass variant share the same relationship to it's more expensive counterpart as the Squier does to the Fender or would you have to buy a 'top dollar' Warwick to get that middley growl?

[crez5150]

Plus being made in germany helps I guess with it's big Metal fanbase and scene

[Toasted]

.... and Warwick's generous policy with endorsements for gigging metal bands.

[thedontcarebear]

[quote name='Toasted' post='310207' date='Oct 20 2008, 08:51 AM'].... and Warwick's generous policy with endorsements for gigging metal bands.[/quote]

Indeed, same with ESP/Ltd.

[rjb]

They're also pretty popular in Soul/RnB bands. The smaller bodies, whilst hated by some, are suited for wearing high in a manner that seems to be popular for bassists in those genres.

Basically, for better or for worse, "Muso"=Warwick.

Fender, on the other hand, have cornered the market in "Indie Cool".

[YouMa]

There seems to be a link about being overweight and being in a metal band as well judging by the photos.

[rjb]

"There seems to be a link about being overweight and being in a metal band as well judging by the photos. "

Nah, the link is between being underweight and being in an indie band.

[Dubs]

[quote name='rjb' post='310217' date='Oct 20 2008, 09:12 AM']Fender, on the other hand, have cornered the market in "Indie Cool". [/quote]

+1, but I don’t mean that in a bad or derogative kind of way because I love Fenders and I love to think that I’m Johnny Greenwood when I’m rocking the sh*t out of my Telecaster I’ve also been looking at buying a nice Jazz for ages…but if we’re talking about the look of the instrument suiting the genre, then I can’t work out why Warwicks are popular in Metal. I think there is a case of people buying what their idols use and that has kind of exaggerated the use of Warwicks in the Metal genre, who knows? For me though, I find the look of Warwicks to be far too passive for the whole “Metal” image. In my head they suit Funk and R’n’B and a lot of Rock stuff, but I struggle to make it make aesthetical sense (Streamers specifically) for Metal. Thumbs can pull it off a lot better though. The Vampyre, Stryker, and Buzzard basses are more 'Metal', but they're too ‘comic book’ for the price tag IMO.

I think Josh summed up the Warwick and Metal thing, being that it’s mostly down to cutting through the mix as well as the classic Warwick tone being great for the genre.

[rjb]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='310264' date='Oct 20 2008, 10:29 AM']+1, but I don’t mean that in a bad or derogative kind of way........[/quote]

Oh don't get we wrong, I like the look of Fenders too (esp. natural finish with a black scratch plate), I just find them pretty weird to play for some reason.

Perhaps I'm just not "cool" enough, either!

Edited October 20, 2008 by rjb

[YouMa]

Like that skinny bird from the gossip.

[simon1964]

[quote name='rjb' post='310265' date='Oct 20 2008, 10:33 AM']Oh don't get we wrong, I like the look of Fenders too (esp. natural finish with a black scratch plate), I just find them pretty weird to play for some reason.

Perhaps I'm just not "cool" enough, either! [/quote]

I tend to take my Precision and a Warwick on gigs. I use the Precision when I want to look cool, and the Warwick when I want to sound good

Actually, playing in a covers band, I tend to use the Precision on more Indie orientated stuff where I'm using a pick, and the Warwick for the rest of the time, when I'm playing finger style.

The whole Warwick metal image thing is interesting though - There have been several high profile non-metal Warwick users over the years, eg John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Stuart Zender, Jonas Helborg, and with the exception of Zender, they've all had signature models. But they do seem to suffer/benefit from a metal image.

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='310264' date='Oct 20 2008, 10:29 AM']+1, but I don’t mean that in a bad or derogative kind of way because I love Fenders and I love to think that I’m Johnny Greenwood when I’m rocking the sh*t out of my Telecaster I’ve also been looking at buying a nice Jazz for ages…but if we’re talking about the look of the instrument suiting the genre, then I can’t work out why Warwicks are popular in Metal. I think there is a case of people buying what their idols use and that has kind of exaggerated the use of Warwicks in the Metal genre, who knows? For me though, I find the look of Warwicks to be far too passive for the whole “Metal” image. In my head they suit Funk and R’n’B and a lot of Rock stuff, but I struggle to make it make aesthetical sense (Streamers specifically) for Metal. Thumbs can pull it off a lot better though. The Vampyre, Stryker, and Buzzard basses are more 'Metal', but they're too ‘comic book’ for the price tag IMO.

I think Josh summed up the Warwick and Metal thing, being that it’s mostly down to cutting through the mix as well as the classic Warwick tone being great for the genre.[/quote]

yeah agree its totally about cutting through. been listening to the early Extreme stuf and particularly the Pornograffitti album, pat uses a warwick on there and you can clearly hear the nasal tone of his warwick cutting through Nuno's guitar, which it needs to do as the guitar is quite over powering