Warwick Corvette Double Buck 4-String

2008 made in Germany, long scale bass, 4 string, 4 knobs 2 switches, push/pull master volume knob. 2 Massive MM-style humbuckers. Nirvana black, awesome woods, awesome tone. Active controls, tons of sound options. It has the warwick 2 piece bridge, awesome horns and body contour. it has the warwick side angled tuners which are awesome for local tuning on stage (even better if you have shorter arms) sweet sweet bell brass frets. I have heard mixed reviews about the just-a-nut II but so far its treating me well, maybe some day I will upgrade it to a brass nut, but it sounds and feels great right now. Many people dislike the thickness of the neck, and the weight of most warwicks, but this is why I got the 4 string, I noticed a considerable weight difference in the 5 string, and could not convince my shoulders to try the 6 string. the weight of the 4 string is perfect, not neck heavy, the wood in the neck feels great in your hands.

I play in a alternative screamo, hardcore band, melodic highs, and low breakdowns. It suits my style very very well, the sound options are just amazing. I usually keep my treble a little less than halfway turned that way you can really hear the crunch without sacrificing bass tones. I play through an Ampeg solid state B2RE 450 watt head (at 4 ohms) (racked with a korg dtr-1000 through the effects loop, and furman power conditioner, in a 6 space skb rack) an svt-410hlf ported 4x10 classic cab, as well as a svt-210hen 2x10 that sits on top. I turn both of the horns off, they are a little too noisy and poppy for me. It has a very rich and full sound to it, I have never put it through a 15'' speaker but Im sure it will arise the tumbling lows of the hlf, which by the way the hlf is a great freakin cab! This this sounds phenominal, absolutely no complaints here. I got this bass after I recorded in the studio, my studio bass was a spector euro bass, and that sounded great, but the eq on that bass was very overpowering and didn't agree well with my head, so I got the warwick, and sold the spector, and bought a low end MusicMan copy bass just a passive backup bass. Many variety in tones, I still haven't mastered them all yet. But one of my favorite features is the single master volume switch which was awesome compared to the 2 vol/2 tone of the spector, this is much easier to work with and yet doesn't sacrifice any sound whatsoever!

Well I bough this beauty from Guitar Center, new I might add. GC tends not to care about how they set up their guitars or basses, but this one was fine. They had a couple different models, and 2 of the 4 string, the other 4 string was set up very poorly and was buzzing a ton, so I bought mine. The action was great and agreed with all my likings. The only thing I did was slap some new string on there, which were ernie balls, I used to use the prizm strings which were amazing, but they stopped making them, and they were 48 dollars which put a considerable dent in my wallet. Other than needing new strings it was a work of art for me. I eventually will get a pro set up by my lutheir, but as of now not a complaint!

Bass is awesome in live situations, although I noticed I had to tune a little more frequently than the spector, but that may be to the new string I put on 3 days earlier, NEVER BUT STRINGS ON THE DAY OF A SHOW, haha, just some advice. I have seen a lot of people do it, and they tune like crazy before each song. Hardware seems great, the only thing that has me down about it is the fact that the battery compartment doesn't do that very good of a job of keeping the battery in place, and tight. I might make some simple modifications if I can. Strap buttons are solid, I use straplocks, and these come with the straplock buttons already on the bass, which was convenient. Comes with all adjustment tools which is nice, but I haven't had to turn the truss rod just yet, but the tool that came with it is very nice.

Haven't had to deal with them yet, but I am sure those germans will stand behind their product!

I have been playing bass for 8 years, I own one other bass, a MM copy bass, I sold many basses due to downsizing and the amazing economy. I would buy this bass again if it were stolen or lost, which I would never lose a bass. Might have to save for a little bit, but it would be worth it. I love the features, the sound, the weight, the reliability, the woods, everything about this bass smells of pro equipment. I compare this against most active basses, and it reigns supreme, but then again its a warwick, you pay for the name and you pay for the woods used to make it! It came with a nice booklet and tools which were awesome. If you want a nice active bass i would recommend this 100%. I don't want to compare it to vintage p or j basses only because I feel they are a different category of bass. Awesome look, awesome feel,

Since the previous reviews explained all the features pretty well I don't see the need to restate everything. In a nutshell I feel it has everything you could possibly need.

The sound from this beast is incredible. The pickups are as punchy as anything I have ever played and the combination between them and the high quality tone woods Warwick uses creates one angry sounding bass. It does, however, have a softer side. The 3-way switching for each pickup, pickup pan, and 2-band EQ give you tons of versatility. I run it thru a Mesa Big Block 750, Aguilar S410, and Mesa Powerhouse 15 and let me tell you...this thing will shake the foundation. You get very clean bottom and the high end is not overbearing. Every note you hit sounds tasteful. I use it for metal, which it does extremely well. Warwick markets this bass as one of their more aggressive models. It certainly is that, but you can get smoother tones out of it if you mess around with different pickup and EQ combinations. I have never been disappointed with any Warwick I have ever played, and this one lives up to their reputation. As far as studio sound goes...I have not used it for recording yet so I don't know, but I expect it would do just fine. Oh...and if you might be wondering how it compares to the MusicMan Stingray with dual humbuckers, I tried that bass as well when I bought this one and the Warwick blew it away. The Vette has much more bottom and far more powerful tone. This bass most definitely deserves a 10!!!

Warwick has a great reputation for making exceptionally well-constructed instruments and this one is no different. The wood is all very high-quality, the finish is perfect (although very easy to scratch), the fretwork is flawless, and the setup was excellent. Even after I dropped mine to drop-C it was very easy to get everything just right. Thanks to the ovangkol neck, which is extremely stable, I had no trouble readjusting it. The hardware is solid and I love the bridge that Warwick uses. This bass is very well-made all around.

I haven't had it long enough to see how it would hold up from gig to gig...but I know Warwicks, when cared for properly, are very reliable and can last a very long time. I have owned a Warwick before and it held up quite well. Some basses feel like toys when you play them, but this one feels like a bass should feel.

I haven't dealt with them enough to lend an opinion...but I will say that I sent them one email regarding a general question I had about the bass over a week ago and have yet to get a response.

I've been a bassist for 10 years...not a terribly long time, but long enough to know what's good and what's not. This bass is a great instrument, hands down. It goes for about $1400 (although you can score a good deal like I did), but it is really worth every penny. You'd be far better off with this than the Stingray if you want powerful bottom with that growl that Warwick is famous for. The wood is better, it feels more solid, and most importantly...it sounds better.

This one was made in '04 in Germany. It has 24 frets, and is made of solid Ash with a nice, light natural finish. Has 2 huge, hot exposed pole MEC passive humbuckers set very close together right in the center of the area between the bridge and the neck. It runs through an active pre-amp with a two band EQ, bass and treble, has a pick-up blend control, and a volume control that pulls up to place the guitar in passive mode. This is a nice feature because you can still play if the battery decides to give up on you in the middle of a gig. The neck is bubinga, and the fretboard is wenge. The frets are Warwick's famous bell brass extra-jumbo frets, and the scale is 34". Came with a heavey padded gig bag, instruction manual (although this type of Corvette is so new, the control layout is not included in the manual yet) adjustment wrenches, truss rod tool, and a can of Warwick's bee's wax to protect the finish. Another neat feature is the two 3-way switches, one for each pick-up that allows you to play each pick-up in series or parallel. Really makes the bass very versatile. I guess the only other thing you might want would be a middle EQ control, but I have no problem controling that from my amp. Has probably the most adjustable action set-up around, with Warwick's individually adjustable saddles, and the adjustable nut up top. You can get just about any type of action you might want.

I play mostly contemporary praise and worship at our church, but I also play a little blues, old-time rock 'n roll, and even some newer country stuff. Have yet to find anything I can't make work. It slaps really nice. The thing is deathly quiet, but I only use it live, and have never recorded with it. It's a little on the heavy side, but I never played a Warwick that wasn't. It is still a bit neck heavy as well, but ever so much better in that department than my old neck-thru thumb bass. I don't have any problem playing through several sets without my arm getting tired.

Factory set-up was excellent, with the relief on the neck right on. I lowered the action just slightly with the adjustable nut, but that is just personal preference. I could not find a single flaw, and given the amount I paid for it, you can bet I looked it over very closely. The bridge pick-up was set a little too close to the strings for my likeing, so I pulled it down a little lower. Warwick seems to pay pretty good attention to detail.

This thing seems built like a rock, hense the heavy weight. Hardware is tight and built to last. Probably the only gripe I would have is the high maintenance finish. The body is a beautiful piece of Ash, but with the totally natural finish, it needs to be waxed about once a week to maintain the finish. However, Warwicks are know for their excellent woods, and that is what makes them sound like no other bass. I knew this going in, and I bought it anyway, so I can't grade them down for this. The strap locks are the Dunlop type, although they say Warwick on them. I just don't trust that design, due to a bad experience some years ago, so I replaced them with Shaller's. The tune stays spot on once it is set the first time each night. I never gig without a back-up, period.

When I got it, I e-mailed them to ask about the configuration of the three-way switches on the pick-ups. They responded back in less than 24 hours with accurate info.

I've been playing about 13 years now, and I have had a lot of different basses. This is by far the nicest (and most expensive) one I have ever had. I keep a nice ESP B-404 neck-thru as a back-up, but the action and tone on it can't match the Warwick. Still, the ESP is a nice instrument in it's own right, and I still enjoy playing it. If the Warwick were lost, I would definitly buy another one as soon as I could afford it. I really love the nice, full, smooth sound that you can get, mostly because of the central placement of the pickups, and the three-way toggle switches. The only thing that is a pain is the waxing required to keep up the finish, but like I said, I think it's worth it. The only other bass I tried before I got this one was a Tobias Killer-B, but the sound and the action just couldn't match the Warwick. The only thing that might be nice would be a middle EQ adjustment on-board. Other than that, I can't think of a thing I would change. Oh yea, how about a real hardshell case instead of a gig-bag, even if it is a super good gig-bag?

Mine is a 2005, German-made Double Buck with a wenge topped ovangkol neck and swamp ash body stained a nice shade of red. There is a range of sounds available with just a little tweaking.

24 bell-brass frets on the 34" bolt-on neck, with black machines on the smart, black headstock. It has twin passive MEC humbuckers with an MEC two-band preamp, which boost the signal to active levels, meaning it's both at the same time. You can just pull up the volume control to bypass the preamp and make it passive. This also means the bass will still work fine if the battery dies during a gig.
The four knobs are volume (and passive mode), pickup pan, treble pan and bass pan. There are two tree-way switches, which change the circuitry of each pickup to parallel humbucking, single coil and series humbucking from top to bottom. These all have their own sounds which add even more versatility to the controls.
The Warwick bridge is also very flexible with plenty of places to adjust the string heights and spacing.
The bass came with a very sturdy gig bag, strap locks, allen keys and truss rod tool, as well as body wax, which they thought should have been in but is actually meant for the natural finish basses. I also got a pack of new strings and ?30 off for paying by cash, but that's not always included. :p

I mostly play rock style with my fingers, and this bass has the nouse to cater well. I can get all the sounds I want out of it, low warm and bassy, high harsh and trebley, slap sounds etc. The low end has the characteristic growl and the mids and trebles are as warm as bright as you'd want.

I run it through an ElectroHarmonix Black Finger compressor and either a Boss ODB-3 bass overdrive, OC-3 octaver or EH Big Muff Pi. The ODB-3 gets the best sounds, being tailored for bass but I was impressed with the improvement in the sound I got from the Big Muff compared to my last bass. My amp is an old Carlsbro Viper 250, which had a few teething problems when faced with active electronics, but it seems to have settled down now and gets the tones out nicely.
There is a clipping sound when I play harmonics on the E-string, but that seems to be my amp unable to cope.

The set-up seemed sound enough. The action was a little high for me, but following the manual's instructions I got it down a bit. If I need to I'll take it in for a set-up.
There's a slight dent from people using a plectrum in the shop, but it doesn't bother me, wasn't put there by Warwick and the rest of the bass is very nicely put together.

It seems to be a very solid bass, only took two re-tunings after a string change and hasn't changed since then despite two days of almost solid playing.
Everything seems built to last, the strap buttons and locks are good and thick as are the knobs. The switches are a little small, but they're not in the way of playing and won't be knocked around in the case as they're below the line of the main knobs.

I emailed the technical support people twice to clarify what the switches did as the manual hasn't been updated to include the bass yet. They were very speedy, within 20 minutes and a couple of hours for the two emails.

I'd want to buy another if it was stolen, but I'd have to save up all over again, being a poor student. Well worth the money though.
I was looking at Tobiases, had even bid on eBay for one, but when I went to the shop and played this one, I changed my mind immedeately. I was looking for something versatile that'd be able to produce many different sounds and I found it.
For me personally, it's perfect.