Warwick Pro Fet III Bass Head

Sorry for using a new screen name, but I forgot the details from before. This review is a follow up to my previous review listed as "BattleWitchBassMan". Please see that review for more detail.

N/A

The amp broke down within the first few hours of live practise use.

The mute button failed and the variable speed fan system runs flat out 100% of the time. There is also a bit more hum than there should be in the output, even at 0 on the volume control.

The dealer (totalmusicsupply.com) is sorting out the problem and they have kindly arranged all of the returns/repair procedure free of charge.

The product's reliability is said to be good by the dealer, but I've lost confidence in this amp now :(

May try a Markbass LMK2 next... Fingers crossed!

From first appearance, the amp has a very impressive list of features for a very affordable budget amp; most of these are already outlined in the other reviews. You don't expect to see this much stuff on a cheaper amp. The mute switch is useful but still seems to put a thump through the speakers, somewhat defeating the whole principle of it. I just turn down the master volume or click out the input signal using a BOSS NS1 or my PODxt instead. The input stage and power stage are all solid state and sound very clear and faithful to the input signal with no coloration. The deep and bright switches, combined with the contour control is very handy - scooping out the mids for a fattened/brightened modern rock tone. Be warned though, the compressor is appallingly lumpy with a very slow release time and only seems to do anything once the clip light is showing on the input gain indicator. Unfortunately, my other stack is a Trace Elliot 7215SMC(300W GP7) and that amp's dual-band compressor has shown me what a bass compressor system SHOULD do to the sound - thicken it up and control it, but maintain some sense of dynamics. The Warwick compressor squashes the input so much on a loud note that when kicking off a phrase, the second note is annihilated in volume. I have to use my PODxt's compressor instead now. I wouldn't recommend this amp to anyone who plays slap or dynamic rock styles without having an outboard compressor/limiter or effects unit. The 300W into 4ohm power rating seems like it should be enough. If you need to be louder than that then your sound guy is not doing his job properly...or you need to turn off your guitar player's stack until he turns down...

I use a few basses, a StingRay-4, Bongo-5 and a G&L 4-string and play classic heavy metal with a pick, occasionally laced with a bit of fingerstyle rock-funk, with some slap bass for effect.

The sound is reasonably loud and clear when using my Trace Elliot 2103H Cab (200W @ 8ohms). I have not heard any problems with noise/hiss etc.

The stand-alone flat amp settings are lifeless and weak, even with a great bass plugged in, but after dialling in some EQ and contour it can sound ok. Most of the time I leave the amp EQ knobs flat, but use the deep and bright settings and turn the contour halfway. The sound is very "open" and I'd prefer it to have a little more presence and edge using the amp's own compressor ciruitry, without resorting to using outboard equipment. Thankfully the amp is a rackmount device and can be racked with the necessary outboard gear - but of course that all costs money too.

When it clips it sounds pretty awful, so make sure you get angry whilst playing at sound-check to get your input gain level right. If this is set too high, the sound just cracks up in a very unhealthy sounding way.

So, to get to the point, I use this amp as a bass power amp really - with my Bass PODxt running an Aguilar DB750, Ampeg SVT or Mesa 400+ emulation to give me what I want to hear. I would never use it, nor recommend using it stand-alone with just a bass plugged straight in if you are playing to impress...

I have had this amp a few days and it seems tough enough with a fairly rugged construction. It would be sensible to flightcase it in a 19" with good support at the back, plus adequate ventilation I suppose if it were to be used for constant touring.

I only bought it to rehearse at a studio where there's a bass cab but no amp to drive it. It's much easier to move than carrying my existing combo weighing in at 35kg up the stairs every week. When gigging this amp would be my back-up to my current system, unless the other bands were happy to supply cabs etc and only an amp was needed. I have no reason to suspect that this amp will go wrong any time soon.

The warranty is ~3 Months (90 days) for defects. I suppose most gear gets pretty rough treatment and wear and tear would be pretty undiscernable from manufacturing problems.

I've been playing many styles of pop, rock, dance and metal for about 15 years and have only ever needed my trusty stingray, a few stomp boxes and a trace elliot 7215SMC combo + 2103H cab. I've recently bought a PODxt and have been using that instead of the stomps wired up in a loop provided by an NS1 noise gate. I use chorus and distortion frequently as well as clean tones in my music and enjoy a bit of edge on my tone to support and cut through some pretty thick heavy metal guitar sounds.

My Current System In Detail for gear-heads.
BASSES - Stingray 4/G&L Tribute 4/Bongo-5 HH
AMP - GP7 preamp w/dual band compressor/300W into 4ohm power amp.
- 1x15" kevlar cone, 200W@8ohm (infinite baffle)
EXT CAB- 2x10" kevlar cones + horn, 200W@8ohm (infinite baffle)
FX- - BOSS NS1, BOSS XTortion, BOSS Blues Driver, BOSS Chorus, DOD Envelope Filter, Line-6 BASS POD-xt.

That is what I'm used to using and has been my yard-stick for this review.

As for the warwick amp, it can't touch the sound quality of the Trace especially given the nasty clipping and the poor compressor in the pre-amp.

However I can't fault it as a bass power amp at this price point since it does exactly what I bought it for and furthermore it is unreasonable to compare a 175GBP amp with a 600GBP amp. When you spend so little money on an amp you should lower your expectations somewhat. So I'd give this an 8 for the power and the sound sculpting controls (i.e. deep/bright/contour) at a very reasonable price, but the weak pre-amp brings the score down to 6.

When you buy it, don't forget buy a good compressor/limiter/FX unit to enhance the energy of your sound. If you want it all in one package, you should look elsewhere.

I have the amp now for nearly 3/4 year, i bought it at a local store. My model is a warwick profet 3.2, a newer version of the original amp. Improvements: Compressor, Contour knob and switch
I mostly play heavymetal(children of bodom, ensiferum, etc) and old rock(zeppelin, black sabbath), sometimes some funky stuff(maily extreme) i've been playing bass for 1,5 year.
Except the comp, there are no effects built-in. I don't use any effects, i like the original sound of my bass, so it's a plus to me: Why to pay for that, what I'll never use?
A footswitch would be good, at least for mute.
I use the amp mainly at home for practice(i still don't have a band), sometimes i play with 2 of my friends(guitars). Since i only have a 8ohm cab, i can only use ~200watts, but it's power would be surely enough for gigs, and can easily "kill a drummer".

I use it with my Ibanez GSR200(P-J pu-s, active, 4strings - sometimes tuned down to C)) + Gallien-krueger backline 1x"15 cab (whick is also a very good product for its price) The amp gives a great tone for the guitar, i use mainly 2 settings: mid cut, low and treble boost, for metal, slap, funk and mid boost, high cut for old rock. With the amp, you can create any tone, the controls are very sensible. It never distrorts, gives clean sound at high volumes, the problem is: Don't go below master volume 2, because the sound dies(the 300watt transistor can hardly make 20watts of power).
It creates some noise, when standing near it(less than half meter).
With a better guitar, and a 4x"10cab the score would be surely 10.

Very reliable, it never overheated (we played in july in our garden for 3 hours, at 37??C, without any problems). Never broke down.

Never needed.

I would buy the amp again, if it were stolen. I tried gallien-krueger, ampeg and behringer heads, none of them could provide the tonal quality of the warwick. However, it was cheaper than most of the "big bands" and offered a better sound.

Sorry for my english:)

Made in 2005 (Germany)
300 Watts @ 4 Ohms - Solid State
Speakon and XLR speaker outputs
Tuner out
Effects Loop
Line Out
DI Out
Headphone Jack, etc.

Controls are: Gain, Bass, Punch, Mid Freq, Mid Level, Attack, Treble
High and Low Boost Switches, mute switch, limiter, etc..

Plenty of power, and very loud for 300 watts. I think the thing I like best is these are 300 usable watts. Much more headroom than any bass amp I've played at full-tilt.

It really has a lot of features, more than anything in its class, and nothing out there can touch it for the price I paid. Not in features, power, or tone.

I really do wish that the effects loop was footswitchable, it's a very underrated thing to have. I'd also love to have a footswitchable mute. But for everything it has, it surely gets a 9.

I would like to correct a mistake the previous poster made.. The Punch knob controls Low Mids, while the Attack knob controls High Mids.

I play a Fretless Warwick Corvette Standard (Passive) and a Warwick FNA Jazzman V (Active) through this amp. Occasionally I'll bring out a USA Reissue '62 Jazz Bass, 1974 Precision Bass, or an upright with a piezo transducer.

I won't go into the styles I have to deal with playing.. Pretty much anything goes these days..

I typically use a 2X10" Avatar cab with Eminence Deltas for practice (Can handle 700 watts), and a pair of Warwick Cabs (211 Pro & 115 Pro) for gigs. Everything I plug into this amp seems to shine. It's VERY warm for a solid state amp, and always lets the sound of the instrument come through (You'll never second guess which bass you were playing when you listen to old recording sessions 20 years from now). The only thing about its sound that may bother people, is it's always very defined. You will never get lost in the mix with this amp. So if you like being a diffused wash of mud on stage, look elsewhere. It's punchy, tight, and seems to encourage the harmonics out of your instrument. Oh, and another thing - The controls are VERY sensitive! You can fiddle with the knobs forever and always get something new. That too, can be a bad thing if you go tweak-crazy and end up losing your "main" sound.

This amp is whisper quiet, even when cranked all the way up. The only noise I get is the 60 cycle hum when I'm using single coil pickups (but we all know that's not the amp).

I strongly disagree with the person who said the amp sounds "dead" or whatever. Get a new battery, change your strings, or get a better bass, moron. Even when set flat, it sounds fantastic. I practically never use the boost switches because I don't need them, even with my passive Corvette bass and a single 2X10" cab. The tones are there, but like an SWR, Boogie, or Eden, you have to turn the knobs with some sort of intelligence to get the most out of it.

And as I mentioned earlier, this thing stays CLEAN! This is probably the only 300 watt amp I've ever played that gives you a reliable and clean 300 watts, plus you can dial in any modern bass sound, as well as lots of old-school ones. It's awesome.

I checked out these amps for three reasons:
1) I'm very familiar with Warwick's build quality and reliability.
2) Every European bassist I know raves about them.
3) Why not have a rig that matches my bass?

I have depended on it a number of times without a backup. It has never failed me, never acted funny, nothing. Hey, it's a Warwick, and we all know how the Germans are when it comes to quality control. I haul it around in the trunk of my car with a 2X10" cab to every rehearsal (instead of using the Ampeg B-115HP that's already there). It gets beat up sometimes, but never complains and keeps on performing flawlessly.

Warwick's customer service people are great. I've called and emailed several times to ask various stupid questions, and get specs that aren't given in the manuals, etc. The emails are always responded to within 24 hours, and if you can't get through on the phone, they let you leave a message and THEY ACTUALLY CALL YOU BACK!

I say this often, but Fender could really learn something from these guys.

Seriously, it's really cool having an all Warwick setup. I seem to be the only guy in town who plays through a Warwick amp, and it makes other bassists jealous (Wheeeee!). I've owned and played way too many instruments and amps to list on here, so forget that.

I was looking at an Ashdown MAG 300 head to fill in the "Medium Sized Rig" position recently made available when my SWR died, but I played through one of these and had to have it (then I decided I had to have the cabinets too). I'm not saying the Ashdown sounded bad (in fact, it sounds really good), but it's made in China, has cheapo plastic knobs that are just aching to snap off, and it starts to break up when the master volume is 3/4 of the way up. Plus, it cost $160 more than the Warwick and couldn't match it tone-wise.

If it were lost (?) or stolen, I'd either get another one (if I could find one), or just go all out and get the Quad VI instead. In fact, I'll probably buy a Quad VI anyway, since I'm starting to like it better than my SVT III.

Not many music stores carry Warwick amps, although any store that can sell Warwick basses can get you an amp (Yes, even Guitar Center). If you get the chance to try their amps out, do it. Mine has made a believer out of every bassist who has plugged into it.

I do not know what year the amp was made in, but I do know there is a newer version in the market right now. (Pro Fet 3.2) I do hope some of the problems are fixed in the newer model.

300 Watt @ 4 Ohm. Solid State.

The amp does have some features other amps do not have, like both a DI (pre- and post-equalizer selectable) AND a line out AND a headphone jack. (I think I should note that all three work different: The line out is influenced by the master-volume and mute button, the DI is influenced by the mute-button, but not by the master-volume and the headphone is influenced by the master-volume, but not by the mute button (so you can play with headphone with or without the box giving sound)) And I almost forgot: there is also a tuner out and an effect send and return!
Other features include:
- Good, BIG knob for the gain control. Nice BIG knob for the master volume. The gain has three little lights next to it that indicate how strong your signal is.
- 3-band equalizer (bass, mid with mid-frequency control and treble)
- Punch knob gives a boost in the mids, giving a more puchier sounds (duh).
- Attack gives a boost to te low and high frequencies, good for slappin'.
- Low boost and high boost. Gives that extra boost the amp needs, without these, the amp sounds a bit 'dead' and empy to me. I have these always switched on.
- Ground lift, can cancel out interference with other devices (more about interference later)
- Limiter, chops of the souds from the bass the amp woudn't be able to amplify anyway.

The things that are not on the amplifier that would be nice are:
- I miss a compressor. There is a limiter, but I like the sound improvement of a compressor.
- Eventually I would like an amp with tubes and a second (overdrive) channel. One might miss some effects, built in some other amps. Just as an amp, it is quite complete. Especially for this price.

For the amount of money I payd for this amp, the sound is not bad. I use this amp with a Ibanez BTB1005EOL with Bartolini PU's. I've connected a Eden Nemesis 2x10" and (since yesterday) a Eden Nemesis 1x15" speaker box.

The sounds gives good lows and good highs. The only comment I can have on the sound is that other amps in the same price-category give a bit more clear sound on the lower b-string notes.

For a solid state-amp, I think the sounds is quite warm. At higher volumes, it can also really let the boxes growl.

Then the negative part:
The Ibanez bass is too good for this amp... I mean, the pickups are very sensitive to everything I do with the strings, unfortunately, they also pick up interference from other devices like this amp. When I move the bass within two meter from the amp, it gives a very nasty sound. It really is the amp's fault, because I do not have this problem with other amps. Probably the power source is the problem here, but switching the ground lift on or off does not help.

It is reliable in summertime... During winter it is not. Once a week, I go to our band practice room by car, this is a 10 minutes drive I guess. Unfortunately, the amp does not work when it is cold! (cold?! It was in a car for less then 10 minutes, and it did not even freeze outside!)
I think this build-in protection is way to sensitive! You can't do anything else then just wait until the amp comes back to life.

Other then this, the amp does work fine during summer.

I'm thinking of getting the amp looked at for the problems above. I do not have any experience with them now.

I've been playing for about 5 years now I guess and this is the second amp I'm using.

I would not buy it again if it was stolen, probalby because I would be able to buy a better amp now, then I could in those days.

My conclusion would probably be that for 300,- it is a good amp, probably the best head on the market. (I would not recommend Behringer to anyone) Nevertheless, I do think there is still a lot to improve. But well... I'm only a student who cannot yet afford a 2000,- amp. :)

- 1 channel
- gain control with limiter button, master volume
- seriell effect loop
- D.I. out
- 5 bd preamp: bass, punch, par. mid, attack, treble; low and high boost button
- tuner out

using an 18 year old warwick streamer stage I and warwick cabinetts. very good amp for pop and rock music. preamp is very good. the equalizer gives you a wide range of possible sounds although extreme settings in higher frequencies are not as possible as i want. the limiter is ok.

own it since 2 month, so i can't say much

there is no better amp for 300 EUR (new)!!!

Model has been on the market for some time and still available at some good prices depending on dealer of course.
This is a 19" rackable (2 HU) all solid state BassHead with 300w@4Ohms. Can be used without a rack as it has solid rubberfeet. Very solid quality and enough power to rock the house. Features Gain & Master control (Gain control with 3 LED assistance to finetune your input level). Switchable limiter, Mute switch, Full protection against DC, Short circuit, Overheating and RF oscillation.
Low & High Boost switches. Bass Punch and Treble attack rotary control, Bass, Mid (Freq. + Level), Treble control. Phones jack and DI out switchable pre/post. Ground lift switch for the DI, Tuner Out jack, Line out jack, Effects loop. Speaker out is either XLR our the topprofessional SPEAKON(TM). Fan cooling (non-permanent)

Rather neutral sounding amp whose controls do have the ability to change to nice sounds without driving off too nasty if gone to the extrems. For an all solid state quite natural, warm sound without the harsh sound sometimes associated with transistor amps. Has a huge torrodial transformer inside which really lives up to the rated 300watts power as opposed to some other mfgr's stating e.g. 450watts out and having only a 300VA transformer (I guess they count in as well the enormous distortions and add them to their calculation) As to seperate Gain control with switchable limiter and the master contrl is is quite easy to set your instrument output to the sensitivity of the pre-stage. Has quite a low noise design and control do feel real good. For the price I paid (400 Euros) I was not able to find anything better sounding. Even at suggested mfgr. price of 600 Euros it still would be competitive. I like the hassle free operation of this basshead and the clean sound plus the versitality of the tone controls. Sure you can overdrive it but I think a tube head would sound better then, even though I do not know as I am not into the distortion business. Others to judge better on that.

Looks like a very solid construction and should live up to my expectation. Have not really experienced any trouble so far but have not had it long enough to give valuable input.

I heard their german service department is quite responsive.

The price ratio is real good one. Would buy again if e.g. stolen.
I am even thinking getting a second one to daisychain as additional power amp to drive my futureplanned investment of a 2nd Tech Soundsystems 2x10" to have a whopping 600 watts into my Tech babies.