Warwick corvette STD vs Warwick Rockbass

[Mzungu71]

Hello all, wanted to get some pearls of wisdom concerning my purchasing a back up bass.

Currently have a Fender Jazz Japanese All Blk, very nice too, thought about trading it a while back, that would be a mistake. I love it.

I used to own an ash bodied Warwick Corvette STD 5. I really liked it, the only problem was it had one string too many for how i play and well I like to keep things simple.

So I sold it.

I'd love a 4 string version as a back up or an alternative to my jazz for certain tunes I guess.

However, I have a limited budget so was wondering, how much of a difference in build quality is there between a german made Corvette and the Rockbass equivalent?

I get confused about this all the time, sone folk swear they have Squiers as good as American Fenders or MIM better than a MIJ.

I appreciate it's all subjective. I recently bought a Chinese made Ibanez and you could tell the build quality was not great, the strings weren't symmetrical on the fret board and the neck didn't quite sit right in the pocket, the strings seemed a mile away from the board at the dusty end, those sorts of things.

just wondered if anyone had any thoughts, I've not ever had my hands on a Rockbass before.

Cheers

Gary

[ThomBassmonkey]

Personally I find that as a rule of thumb, cheap instruments can be every bit as good as expensive ones (see threads on here about Westfields amongst others). Just that the QC isn't there.

With cheap guitars, there seems to be a higher ratio of crap instruments to good ones, with expensive instruments, they're generally usually all pretty much the same quality (as the others in the same line).

I played a RB streamer next to a EBMM ray and preferred the streamer (despite it being over £1000 less). I'd suggest going to try some out and avoiding ordering over the net.

Edited February 17, 2010 by ThomBassmonkey

[Linus27]

I have a MIA 75 jazz, a 3EQ EB Stingray and a brand new German made Warwick Corvette Standard in Ash. The Fender new costs around £1400, the Stingray new around £1100 and the Corvette which I paid for at the beginning of Feb was £580. I would say that the quality of the Warwick and Stingray is equal. Both are amazing quality and can't be faulted. The Stingray however feels more solid and feels like it could take a bit more bashing. This might be down to the fact that the Corvette is much skinnier and feels a little more fragile.

Overall, nothing at all wrong with the Corvette in terms of build and certainly not quality. Please note that they have now stopped making the German Corvettes. They are now made in Korea. They say the quality is going to be as good but to me, it had to be German to count as a proper Warwick. If you are luck you might still find a German one around. Maybe at Thomman, Andertons or dare I say it, the Bass Centre.

Good luck.

[jmsjabb]

The only thing you may want to think about is the neck. It is maple on the rockbass.

[4-string-thing]

Last August, I went to Rattle and Drum in Derby, with the intention of buying myself a back-up bass. I fancied a corvette and was sure the rockbass version would be just the ticket. I tried a few different basses and to be fair, the rockbass corvette was pretty close to the German one, quality wise. Same pickups and electronics. The neck was maple and ok, the only thing I didn't like was the heavy gloss finish on the body, I felt it looked a bit cheap and tacky. I bought the German one in the end, because my girlfriend said it looked nicer! Ash body with an oiled finish. And it did feel slightly nicer to play so I wasn't going to argue. I paid £640 as opposed to £320, but I have to say, build wise it didn't feel twice as good.

[Mzungu71]

It's probably worth a punt then really, just need to be able to try before you buy