Warwick Adam Clayton Reverso Bass

[NancyJohnson]

Trawling through Thomann and saw this:



Holy crap. WTF? Sometimes you have to question where bass-manufacturers's heads are at.

P

[Clarky]

What was he thinking too? He almost always plays Fender or fender-shaped basses. I'm afraid that is fugly IMHO. A bit like the sort of thing Def Leppard would have played in the big hair days

[ahpook]

there's quite a lot of chat about this and mr. clayton's other warwicks at (not suprisingly) the warwick bass forum.

not a fan myself...it is a bit 'comedy rock guitar'

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

If Adam was asked to design a car I wonder if he'd come up with this:

[neilb]

trying to emulate Entwistle?


whatever he plays, the plodding 16th note patterns on the 3 chords he knows will sound the same.


Runs for cover......

[Musicman20]

[quote name='Clarky' post='707392' date='Jan 10 2010, 09:47 AM']What was he thinking too? He almost always plays Fender or fender-shaped basses. I'm afraid that is fugly IMHO. A bit like the sort of thing Def Leppard would have played in the big hair days[/quote]

+1....thats just a mess of a bass. Its like he's trying far too hard. I certainly think Lakland should have picked him up instead.


[quote name='neilb' post='707411' date='Jan 10 2010, 10:04 AM']trying to emulate Entwistle?


whatever he plays, the plodding 16th note patterns on the 3 chords he knows will sound the same.


Runs for cover......[/quote]

Hahaha, it had to be said.

[AndyTravis]

Now, two questions...

How many do Warwick expect to shift? I bet it's £3500+
And, why all that effort with fancy woods for just a pbass pickup? It's a passive pbass by the looks of it.

I like Pbasses. I like Warwicks. I don't mind Mr Clayton. But seriously, they must be stoned at the R&D department.
The same thing with the Zender, a Streamerbacker..£5000, and that inlay at the 12th....bleurgh.

[Linus27]

After all the success he has had from playing in a very successful band, when it comes the time to have a signature bass, it turns out to be that thing. Whats even worse is for about 30 years of his carear, he has played Fender or Fender copies (Lakland) and only in the last few years played a Warwick on the odd song. To be honest, I really don't understand why he bothered with it.

[jonno1981]

its going to street over 4k........ Be wary of a big price increase coming up from Warwick too.............

[Linus27]

[quote name='jonno1981' post='707498' date='Jan 10 2010, 11:21 AM']its going to street over 4k........ Be wary of a big price increase coming up from Warwick too.............[/quote]

Phew, lucky I just ordered my Corvette.

Reading over at the Warwick forum, it seems like Adam has a lot of Warwicks and has been using them as his main bass. Along with a few varients of this model, he also plays a custom Streamer $$, with maple fb wood, black block inlays, maple neck, swamp ash body, custom wired Seymour Duncan pickups, full passive electronics, but with a custom wiring.

[Marvin]

Looks like they got the popcorn in and been watching Spinal Tap, before coming up with that.

[BassJase]

I played Adam Clayton's one while I was working for Warwick during the Summer, and it is mega fugly but it sounds the nuts.

But yeah, after the Zender bass Warwick are seemingly trying to put themselves out of business, and yeah, watch out for the price hikes twice a year...
I'd like to say a lot more about Warwick, and enlighten a lot of people on a few things, but I could probably wond up in hot water. }

[Dubs]

Fugly!

[Musicman20]

Isnt it just a rubbish looking precision?!

[molan]

I found this which looks very similar but the image locator caption says it's 2 pup Stryker:



It doesn't look a lot different to this:



Warwick Adam Clayton Signature Reverso E-Bass

* Signature Bass
* Mahogany Body
* 3/9" Quilted AAAA Maple top
* Flamed Maple with Ekanga Veneer stripes
* Tigerstripe Ebony Fretboard
* 24 Frets
* Scale 864mm Long Scale
* Nut width 36,5mm
* 1 x MEC P active Pickup
* Warwick 2pcs. Bridge
* Finish Natural Satin
* incl. Rockcase and Adam Clayton Signature

The same site also listed which bass he uses for which song:

# Epiphone Rivoli - natural finish: Get On Your Boots
# Fender Jazz - gold sparkle finish: Walk On, Beautiful Day
# Fender Jazz - red finish: Bad
# Fender Precision - gold sparkle finish: Vertigo, Where The Streets Have No Name, No Line On The Horizon (most Europe, some US dates)
# Fender Precision - purple sparkle finish: Breathe (on SNL), No Line On the Horizon, I'll Go Crazy [Remix]
# Fender Precision - white with tortoise pkgrd: With Or Without You, Moment of Surrender, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
# Gibson Les Paul Signature Bass - gold finish: Mysterious Ways
# Gibson Triumph Recording Bass - white finish: One
# Gibson RD Artist - natural finish: Magnificent
# Warwick Streamer Stage One - Electrical Storm
# Warwick Styker - natural finish: Breathe, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride

[RichF]

commercially there may be enough rich U2 fans and those who just like this style of bass to sell 20-30 units in first couple of years (similar to Zender?) - I suspect PR from Clayton's increased use of Warwick is the real deal here - he's def using Streamers and Reverso more in public and I would see general boost to Warwick to come from this that makes the Reverso sales pretty irrelevant. Also pretty surprised by the reaction - seems the Entwistle crowd are keeping quiet cause this looks like its aimed fair and square in the Buzzard etc style camp which seems to have a loyal if rather exclusive following.

Edited January 10, 2010 by RichardFoggo

[jezzaboy]

So it seems like his Laklands are no longer in use? I`ll take em off his hands! That Warwick is bloomin ugly.

I like this quote from one of the band "Adam can play out of time, in time for ages"

Jez

[hillbilly deluxe]

What next ? the Bill Wyman model ?

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='molan' post='707571' date='Jan 10 2010, 12:36 PM']I found this which looks very similar but the image locator caption says it's 2 pup Stryker:



It doesn't look a lot different to this:



Warwick Adam Clayton Signature Reverso E-Bass

* Signature Bass
* Mahogany Body
* 3/9" Quilted AAAA Maple top
* Flamed Maple with Ekanga Veneer stripes
* Tigerstripe Ebony Fretboard
* 24 Frets
* Scale 864mm Long Scale
* Nut width 36,5mm
* 1 x MEC P active Pickup
* Warwick 2pcs. Bridge
* Finish Natural Satin
* incl. Rockcase and Adam Clayton Signature[/quote]


It's just disgusting. He also seems to have not noticed that the shape of an explorer lends itself to leaning your elbow on the top wing if you will, hence relaxing your wrist. What can you do with that now? At the height he's playing it at he'll probably destroy his kneecaps with the reverse wing every time he takes a step. Plus you know it's going to cost at least £4K. Good luck with that. Given that price bracket I'd get an Alembic or a Zon any day. Plus it's just a P bass with a bonkers shape. I'm sure that some of the great craftsmen that frequent this site would be able to build something to similar spec for £500.

For me, Warwick have just milked this John Entwistle association way too far now. First they stop Status making their buzzard (superior in every way to the Warwick version - I've played both versions) and then they did this whole rip off of the Alembic explorers he used to play in the 70's (surprised they didn't try to sue them too). Again, ditto the above situation. Do they not have any original ideas, other than not very good ones?

I bet Clayton will barely use it.

[blamelouis]

[quote name='BassJase' post='707536' date='Jan 10 2010, 11:58 AM']I played Adam Clayton's one while I was working for Warwick during the Summer, and it is mega fugly but it sounds the nuts.

But yeah, after the Zender bass Warwick are seemingly trying to put themselves out of business, and yeah, watch out for the price hikes twice a year...
I'd like to say a lot more about Warwick,[size=5] and enlighten a lot of people on a few things[/size], but I could probably wond up in hot water. }[/quote]
As an owner of a 88 streamer prey tell

[Marvin]

[quote name='Wolverinebass' post='707651' date='Jan 10 2010, 01:46 PM']I bet Clayton will barely use it.[/quote]
Some say he can't play, so that might be a safe bet!
But I would never say such a thing, it was just a rumour I heard

[skankdelvar]

That bass would look better with a normal Explorer headstock. The Buzzard-y thing is forever associated with Mr Entwistle and this Reverso suffers by comparison.

And I have to say that's a [i]very [/i]smug facial expression, even by Mr Clayton's standards.

[Linus27]

[quote name='Marvin' post='707677' date='Jan 10 2010, 02:10 PM']Some say he can't play, so that might be a safe bet!
But I would never say such a thing, it was just a rumour I heard [/quote]

He's actually been playing this bass and the Streamer on the latest 360 world tour along with a lot of promotion shows like The Brits so its certainly being used, along with his Streamer.

As for his playing, having worked with one of U2's producers, I can tell you that Adam is a very good player. Maybe not the most technical but he is though of as one of the most solid tight bass players around. He certainly keeps the bottom end holding together.

[hillbilly deluxe]

[quote name='Linus27' post='707693' date='Jan 10 2010, 02:22 PM']He's actually been playing this bass and the Streamer on the latest 360 world tour along with a lot of promotion shows like The Brits so its certainly being used, along with his Streamer.

As for his playing, having worked with one of U2's producers, I can tell you that Adam is a very good player. Maybe not the most technical but he is though of as one of the most solid tight bass players around. He certainly keeps the bottom end holding together.[/quote]
You are Adam Clayton,i wish to claim my £5.

[AndyTravis]

Clayton is a solid band player, and he's probably one, if not the richest bassist in the world today.
He's a fairly easy target, as he keeps it simple.
There is an early U2 track where he sticks a few slaps and pops in, but a lot of people forget any of that.

I hate Bono. But the rest of them seem to be rich, middle aged blokes, running through the motions, and raking it in. It's shameful, but fair f***s to them.

I don't get this bass at all. And it's so ugly.

But, i'm sure if Fender did a 'tribute' version of his battered PBass, or his mega cool Candy Green Jazz, there would be another thread bemoaning how 'it's just nother Fender...' blah.

I'm off to play 3 root chord rock pop in eigth notes, see if i can't rustle up a few billion quid.