Warwick Corvette Rockbass 5

Features are appropriate for a bass in this class. The pickups are MEC, though I don't imagine they are the same as in the nicer Warwick models. Electronics are straightforward and seem to work appropriately so far. The bridge is naturally a lower-end unit, not the separate bridge/tailpiece unit, and it's a bit of a challenge to get the B and E in and out. I'm used to basses with 21 and 22 frets and the 24 fret neck is an adjustment, because all the other notes are now in different places. I wish there were a passive option in case the battery goes bad.

The height adjustable nut is a really neat feature, but gosh, if they installed and appropriately set up a real nut, you wouldn't have anything to adjust. I think this is really a cost-saving feature. Also, note that the nut adjusts on each side, not each string - I put it in a compromise position but it's still not quite right for each string. Think "lesser of evils".

The small, lightweight body is wonderfully comfortable and the finish is well done. And the neck wisely was given a satin finish for ease of shifting.

Oh, the B string, of course - it's surprisingly good, with a competent level of focus and excellent continuity of tone with the other strings.

Pickup selectors and EQ controls are usable versatile, allowing many different tones. As noted by other users, the sound is noticeably bright. My preference is for a great flat tone, but I find myself using the EQ quite a bit on this instrument. The sound is punchy and solid - much better than I would expect from a cheap Chinese import. I want to put Barts in it, but am stuck on the idea of spending as much again as the instrument cost.

Tone continuity is excellent from string to string, although there is a little unwanted variability up and down the neck.

One important factor I consider in evaluating an instrument is its acoustic tone, and the Rockbass has far less volume and much thinner tone acoustically than my other basses. It's clearly intended that the electronics will create the tone, which could account for its punchiness. Regardless, I've used in on several gigs now with different groups and it's getting positive reviews from bandmembers and audiences.

Factory setup was as expected for a bass in this class - mediocre. As mentioned above, the adjustable nut is helpful but not a panacea. I did lower the action and the bass is rather playable. The pickups will not go down below a certain level, meaning that the output is rather hot.

The quality control was fine overall given the quality of components. No parts were broken/missing/etc.

The neck on this bass is cheap, cheap, cheap, laminated from three apparently randomly-oriented pieces of wood. Given that the 24 fret neck is so long, I wonder if warping might give it a relatively short lifetime. It's reasonably straight for this class of instrument, though, and the fretwork seems competent. There are no frets hanging over the side of the neck or popping out.

Perhaps because of the narrow string spacing at the pickups, it's easy to play a lot of notes on this instrument, although it's a little harder to stick a finger in to pop.

I've had the instrument for about two weeks now, so not much to say yet. Some of the other reviews here are making me anxious about this.

I previously contacted Warwick's US distributor for information regarding another Warwick instrument, and found them quite helpful. I suspect the OEM instruments don't come with quite the same level of service, but I have no experience there to speak from.

My Lakland 55-94 had to cross the country for repair and I couldn't live without a B string, so I picked this up at Guitar Center for a measly $310 (big sale!). I could throw together a wishlist for improvements, but what's the point? For $310, it's an outstanding instrument, and it does very well what I need it to do. It'll never supplant the '62 reissue P-bass or the Lakland, but it'll stay in the closet as a fine backup instrument.

It's really, really impressive to see the quality levels that are coming out of some overseas OEM factories these days. We've come a long way.

Unsure of year. It's a 24 fret Rockbass in a clear red finish. Came stock with Volume/Blend/Bass/Tone controls. Both active preampa nd active pickups. It is a bolt-on neck. Came as-is.

Straight out of the box it was a fairly versatile bass. I play mostly rock in my band, and play a bit of blues, jazz and funk in my free time. The guitar fortunately had a lot of room to manueovre, with the bass-boost pushing all rigs to point of distortion, and the treble boost resulting in an almost guitar like, very twangy sound. It's a very very verstaile bass and can be tuned for almost anything. It has a very bright, live tone to it, with a touch of bottom end. Thru an 8X10" and SWR head it sounds great, but DI'd into desk it sounds very bright. This said, when recording our EP, the engineer preferred to use straight DI rather than out of the amp, as he loved the tone she put out straight out.
To give you an idea, I'm constantly messing with the knobs to coerce differnt tones on every song, it's THAT versatile.

Reasonable set up from factory. Everything was wonderful from factory, no loose hardware, finish was perfect (Despite coming from shop), no loose selectors, and no loose jacks despite other people's reviews.
I would say that the finish is very prone to scratching, and the nut is plastic and very uncomfortable is slid into - it's very sharp on the edges.

This bass has withstood firewater and fire on it (I firebreath during performances), the hardware has lasted well, and the finish, while scratched, is still holding up well.

The strap button fell off (the higher one) during a gig and wouldn't stay... Had to play holding it. After several matchsticks in there and some glue, seems to be holing well.
The truss road has never used a repair; and I'd gladly depend my life on it. I've relied on it every gig without a back up and had no dramas.

No dealing with the company yet. No idea on warranty, but the guys at K.C.'s rockshop would no doubt replace it - fantastic guys. Thanks Bevan.

I've been playing for about 5 or 6 years now on and off, and played big band, blues, jazz, rock, funk and alternative. My best suggestion is borrow it and play it in the studio BEFORE you buy to make sure it's right.
It was an upgrade from my Yamaha RBX270II so it's a big step up. I must admit though, the body seems a bit small, and it's a bit light (great on long gigs, but I question the overall quality).
It's very very verstale, both in sound and setup (Fully adjustable pickup height, saddle height, intonation AND height of nut at multiple settings ON THE FLY - No need to remove strings).
I've since upgraded the preamp to a Seymour Duncan Basslines 3-Band EQ (STC-3a) and this bass has become an ultimate keeper.
She has an absolutely fantastic tone, the MEC pickups have come alive; the tone isn't quite as drastic and horriffic in it's change now, more subtle but definately noticeable, and it's taken a relatively inexpensive entry-level warwick, and added easily double it's worth in tone. I'll be holding onto this for many, many years to come.
For the money, you CANNOT go wrong.

It's a 2004 model I think, made in China [what isn't these days?]
24-frets [two octaves, hell yea]
The active EQ is really good
Alder body, nice tone.
Adjustible nut, which is really convenient

Great low-end, nice punch if you have the right amp settings, you can get it to fit any style, which is good because I play pretty much anything. Not a true Warwick growl, but it's damn sexy, but that's only if all the wires are connected and I've got a battery.... more on that later.

You've got to get this thing adjusted by yourself, out of the box it buzzed, but after tweaking the nut saddles and truss rod a bit, prefect action.

This is where I hate my bass.
The threads on the nut got stripped after dropping it, forcing me to order a new part.
Everything about the output jack sucks ass.
Wires break off, the battery leads snap off, it gets loose constantly, so it's just a big pain in the ass.
Unless you like soldering, look elsewhere.

Also, it eats 9V batteries like crazy. I don't know why, but mine last like 2-3 weeks maybe, even if i unplug it every time i use it.

The finish chips really easily too. Got a lot of chunks out of it, and I take good care of it...

I'll give it a three because at least the neck is fine, the tuning machines are good and I have no complaints about the bridge

N/A

Basically, the tone is great with the electronics, but they've been so unreliable that I'm getting a passive Fender next time, maybe even an Ernie Ball.

Hopefully you'll have better luck with the electronics than I did, but if so, you'll love it.

Great value, but double-check the jack, pickups, and wires before you buy it.

made in 2004 in China I believe. 5-string. Active EMG gold pickups, alder body etc. you know the deal.

The bass actually sounds pretty good for the money. I play in an alternative rock bad with a lot of metal influences and this bass has a nice agressive sound. You can get a decent variety of sounds out of it although I still find it a bit to agressive sounding for some of the prettier songs my band plays.

There was a little frett buzz when I first got it but some minor adjustments fixed that. After I adjusted the action I reintonated it and havn't had to mess with it since.

This is the worst part about this bass. I've had to resolder one of the wires that conects to the battery lead, and two wires on the input jack. Part of the problem is that the input jack moved around which I think was part of the reason for the wires coming off. The input jack actually went bad in less than a yea and I had to replace it. On the plus side it's a cheap and easy fix, and the new jack doesn't move around like the old one. The bad side is I shouln't have had to replace it so soon, it a cheap POS input jack. I'll give it a two since the neck hasn't fallen off.

NA

I've been playing for 7 years now. My main bass now is a Carvin LB-75P and I use this one for practice and as my back up for gigs. If it were stolen I don't think I'd get another one because I don't want to have to deal with resoldering wires in the middle of practice again.
On the other hand it sounds good for the price just the electronics are junky, and I would never trust it without a back up.

I bought this bass used, in near mint condition. Don't know the exact year. As all Rickbass models, this one has been built somewhere in Asia. In a general way, I don't consider this to be by itself a bad criteria in quality, though.
This bass has 5 string, natural finish (alder body), maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 2-band active EQ.
Despite of the general look of this bass, it has almost nothing in common with a "genuine" Corvette. Woods are different, electronics are different, and some features, such as the just-a-nut, are missing here.
No active/passive switch on this one.

I can't say this bass sounds bad. When I went out shopping, I was in search of a CHEAP 5er. Among the three I tried (including an OLP), this one was the only one that made "something happen" depending on how I plucked the strings.
This bass has much output. The EQ controls are efficient, but curiously not very accurate. Finally it's not very ease to get a great tone out of this bass. But for the price it's more than decent, though.

Bad point here. The bridge seems weak, and this bass is not very easy to setup properly with a low action. This makes it not very comfortable, and the huge body doesn't help either.
I think that kind of flat neck is great ONLY if you can setup the action the way you like it. And for me, the lower the action, the better the bass.
Disappointment here.
The finish of the body is just clean, but looks cheap IMO.

Not sure of the reliability. I have had this bass for only 5 weeks. I wouldn't gig it without a backup, though. No rating here.

Didn't have to deal with em.

Don't get me wrong. For its price, especially when bought used, this is a good bass. My mistake was to think that I could be satisfied with a very ordinary 5er, since in my band I have only 5 or 6 songs that require a 5-string. The fact is, even in this case this bass does not fit my needs.
If it were lost or stolen, I would probably get something else, even maybe a Cort Artisan B5 or something like that (in the same budget or so).
I also own a Fender Jazz Bass Highway 1.
Both are for sale now, and I'm planning to get a Warwick Thumb 5.

Mine is a 2003 RockBass Corvette SE5 (Flame Maple Cap on Alder Body in a honey satin finish).
2 MEC Gold J Pick ups,( Typical J/J config) 4 control knobs for active electronics (Treble and bass boost/cut, Blend and Volume)
I bought this bass upgrading from a cheap jazz bass and my ibanez EDC 600 hoping to get a little bit of Warwick Tone ( My friend has a thumb bass (bolt on) which is my comparison. The first thing I remember pulling it out of the case was, "whoa this one beautiful looking bass".
The surprising thing when I looked at this bass was how much real warwick gear was onboard. Warwick tuners, warwick string thru bridge(like used on the early streamers) MEC gold p/u's, Warwick Just-A-Nut 2.
For a mid priced bass it had decent gear.
The RBO4AQ Active preamp + EQ wasn't up to my liking, it doesn't match the EDC's, or any real Warwick.

Another worrying thing- Jumbo Nickel frets. After 10 months are starting to deteriorate quite rapidly.

I also had a hard case included with mine, but that was a deal with the guitar shop.

The first thing I noticed about the bass when plugged in is the amount of nail-biting treble present. Even when I turned the treble control all the way to the cut detent it was still very much present. remedied by adding a little bass. As mentioned before, It doesn't match the EDC's eq.

EQ aside, THIS BASS HAS OUTPUT!!!! I was lusting after a warwick after watching a friend play a gig with his and actually hearing the bass cut through the rest. I play Alternative, Rock, and Metal so a variety of tones would suit.

I've played this bass through a variety of combos of amps and boxes,50-400W, 1x15, 2x12, 4x10 boxes the lot. It all sounds quite good, warm and bright, but like any bass its at its best with new strings. You can counter the Treble of this bass with the Amps EQ.

A fave little party trick of mine id to play it through my chinese 30W practice amp at ridiculous levels, fat overdrive with high end punch.

However, after all is said and done, it doesn't sound like a Warwick, it sounds like a Wannabee.

I can't say if the set up was alright, mine was set up by the luthier at the guitar shop I bought it through. However, that said I like a fairly low action, and the just-a-nut delivers on that front and makes it oh so easy to change or adjust an action. Everything was good and straight.

When I recently had to carry out some repair work on the bass, though I noticed the neck pocket was full of saw dust!

This is the sad point of my bass. I too have had the problem of the jack coming undone. I just kept tightening it up. I tried nail polish, Loctite and eventually I got so sick of it I wound some teflon plumbing tape over the thread. Whilst tightening that I gouged a heap of the laquer off around the jack. The Wiring has also come off the jack in a couple of different places, so I've done a couple of soldering jobs in the past little while.

All the pots have come a little loose and noisy too, but if I tighten up the treble pot it cuts everything off, so I play with loose pots. (Cheap Chinese Junk)

Trying some heavier guage strings on, I broke one of the claws off the nut, I glued it back on but having to order another nut is a pain!

The neck is good, but the finish on the back of the neck chipped and crazed, I removed the finish with a 3M scouring pad. Smooth as a baby's forehead.

I have gigged with it- I always gig with a spare bass, it could be indestructable, but I'm more than likely gonna break a string or something. Ive never had an issue with it live, but yeah Murphy's law I guess.

I'm trying to save up for a thumb bolt on, but i reckon by the time I do this thing'll be a bucket of bits in the corner. Such a shame because its a stunning looking bass.

The guitar Shop I bought it off were absolutly great, the Australian importers aren't too bad either, but DBG in the states weren't too friendly with email. Then again its probably 'cause i'm an Aussie.

I don't know even if these basses have a warranty, but I have some experience in repairing these things, so I'd rather fix it here and now intstead of losing the bass for a couple of weeks to get it fixed.

I love the look, shape and the feel of this bass, but had some let downs with it.

If Warwick is the sound of wood, then RockBass is the sound of disappointment.

I feel as though I should have saved just a little more and probably bought a Warwick Corvette Standard 5

4 knobs. Volume, micselector, bass and treble. They work very fine and feels professional to touch. I miss the opportunity to switch between active and passive, which is given on other Warwick basses.
Playability is great. The strings sit very close to each other, which is fine with me, but if you have size XXL fingers you might find it a little bit claustrophobic slapping.
The neck is extremely fast and slimmed. You really feel much faster than ever playing this bass.
No case, bag or anything else is included.

Sound is definately rock and funk oriented. Don't buy this if you want jazz sound. Finger sound is very dynamic and fat and if you max both tone controls you get very tight sound with just that little brilliance in the treble. Have the micselector in middle position - 50/50 blend.
Slapping and tapping works nice. Sounds great on all strings, and is very dynamic too. Especially thumbslap on 5th string (B) sounds very heavy, you can sit grooving on it for hours.
The two mikes, i don't know which one is which, but they don't differ very much in sound. The first one is very bold and fat sounded, but still with very hi-tech brilliant treble. Suitable for rock'n'roll bass-lines which need much low boost. The blend is great allroundsound, still lots of bass but with more mid. The other mic only is less bassy, and more aggressive midsound. The treble is pretty much the same as far as I can hear. Great for picking, playing punk och rock.
One problem is that you get some rumbling noise if you have the basscontrol on max while playing. As the strings are so tight you occasionally hit even the strings you're not supposed to. This I guess you could train not to do, but I solved it by lowering the bass control on the instrument and raise it on the amplifier.

This bass really look great. It feels great to play, nothing feels loose or cheap. Nearly no scratching when turning knobs, but I think I heard something. Nothing to worry about though.

Here comes the bad part. I was testing it on a gig, hadn't even bought it yet, but I was borrowing it from the store to test it.
I stood around playing it through the mixer, and in the same moment as our guitarist turns on his amplifier the bass goes dead. I thought that a main fuse had blown or something but everything worked except the bass. While writing this I'm not sure whether to buy the bass or not. A schoolmate has got the same type of bass, but 4string and I heard that he's also been having similar trouble. A pity on such a nice bass.

Don't know. The store gives me one year warranty if I decide to buy it.

The reliability is the only reason not buying this bass. Don't use it without a backup.

Made in China
J/J pickups (EMG gold)
5 string
controls: volume, bass, teble, blend
alder body black,
nice smooth simple,design (I hate futuristic "pointy" guitars

The bass sounds great, has a nice "growly" tone, which is good for the music I play (alternative/rock). Has a nice slap tone as well. The one problem I have is that I can't make it sound as clean and pretty as I would like on some of our slower songs.

the bass was set up fine for me, no problems. The bass is pretty light though; I prefer my basses heavy, so it feels like I could hurt somebody with it, but that's just a personal preference.

Strap buttons are huge which is good, my last bass came unhooked from the strap in more than one show. The major beef I have is that the input jack is loose, it wobbles around. My bass was cutting out one day at practice, I thought it was a bad cord at first, but I tried the cord with my guitar players guitar and it worked fine. So I'm guessing that something was going on with the less than reliable input jack. Hasn't given my any problems since then though

never dealt with them (yet)

Been playing for 6 years, all the while on a very limited budget, so this is the nicest bass I've owned. I have a Fender signature series, I still use for some slower stuff, it gives me more of that warm loving feeling. I have my little issues with this bass, but when the band throws down with the heaviness and I hear what's coming out of my amp all is forgiven.

Made in China, 5 String, 24 Fret, Volume/Blend/Bass/Treble controls, MEC Gold Active J/J Pickups, Bolt-on...a nice high polish red.

Before i got this bass, i was playing a 4 string Vintage Jazz Bass copy... still worth using for nice and slow funky basslines, but the Warwick does blow it out of the water. Being in a punk/ska band, this bass has just the kind of guttural sound i was going for - with the advantage of being to whip up the sound i want through my Laney RBG500 within seconds rather than hours. B string is nice and tight and gives a great full sound that hums through my body like nothing ive ever felt...luuuurvely. The blend setting and the bass treble allow the bass to be incredibly versatile in both the studio and onstage. I looove this bass.
Having played for almost three years, i know what i want and this fulfills it nicely.

The only thing i can see thats wrong is that the body has very clear lines where it was brought together from two pieces. But the bass is very solid - the body itself fantastically light....much better than my last bass. The wood is polished beautifully and not a flaw on the neck either. I didnt have to play with it for long to get what i wanted out of it.

A sturdy beast. But not too heavy. The strap buttons are extra large so even my raggedy strap will hang on nicely.
No backup required.... unless the battery runs down maybe. :D

The company itself were useful when i contacted them, but it did take over a month from ordering the bass for it to finally arrive on my doorstep. But it was worth the wait.

Well worth the money.... a lot better than some of the other basses i tried out in this price range and better than some in the higher brackets too. Id buy another one in a shot....unless i was suddenly rich and could afford the german made version.
No qualms.... no complaints. Excellente.

Built in China, 5 string, 24 frets, natural oil finish, alder body, controls:volume, blend, bass, treble, two passive MEC jazz pickups, RB basic corvette model, bolt on.

Sounds really good with my funk/rock/ska band, even through something as basic as a Trace Elliot commodore 15, the bass itself is completely silent even with all its controls full, (the amp makes more noise at half volume!), good diversity in tone - warm, deep, bright, punchy: this baby's got it all! It sounds beautiful esp to slap/pop. The B string is nice and tight.

The strings tend to buzz against the frets a bit if played too hard, yet i've not had chance to set the bridge up properly. However, the bass is a quality instrument that you'd expect from Warwick, even if it isn't a German one.

I have not used this bass in a live or studio enviroment yet (I only just got it), but seeing how this bass is pretty damn solid, i'm sure it would be fine. It is quite heavy, but that is a sign of quality.
the strap buttons are huge! this is good though, the strap won't come off! (i'd recommend a wider strap for this bass beacause it is quite heavy) I'd be comfortable using this bass live without any other bass for backup. Hard as nails.

Although the shop I bought it from was excellent (i've been a customer there a while now), there was a bit of a wait after ordering the bass for it to arrive (6+ weeks): I originally ordered the Streamer RockBass 5 string, but apparently there was a problem with the shipment, so they sent the Corvette instead. However, i'm glad i got the Corvette in retrospect.

I've been playing for just over four years, and this is my first really good bass (I had an Encore 4 string presicion before this one, and i definately will not go there again!!!): I've wanted a Warwick for ages, and the RockBass models are excellent value- a really good German warwick is too expensive for me right now(eg streamer stage II is around #2500!!!) I am one happy bunny! it is a gorgeous looking bass, my bandmates were impressed! There is nothing I'd change about it, maybe a neck-thru version would be nice. I will definately get another Warwick, possibly a fretless one.