Warwick Corvette Rockbass Classic 5 Fretless

Alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Dots on the sides, no lines on the fingerboard (a plus in my opinion!). Made in China for Warwick. MEC active Jazz pickups; four knobs (volume, blend, low, high) for MEC active preamp. Finish is two-tone sunburst. Warwick-style angled tuners. A lot of features for the money.

I play in a number of situations: a wedding/party/function band; I sub for a friend of mine's blues-rock quartet frequently; I play occasionally in a Beatles cover thing for fun; and I have a home recording setup, writing and recording my own music and producing and engineering for others. I took this bass out for a test spin with the wedding band last weekend, using my Ashdown rig (Ashdown EVO I ABM115 combo with 2x10 extension speaker). The material ranges from Norah Jones to the Beatles to standards and jazz to dance tunes. We cover many, many different styles, so this is a great workout for any bass.

It seems to me that the treble control isn't set at a terribly useful frequency - turning it up only yields an unpleasant crispiness to the sound; I set it at the center detent or lower for the whole night. The bass control is more useable. I was able to get workable sounds while tweaking my amp's extensive EQ options. Out of the box, I thought it sounded *pretty* good - I would have liked a little more thump, though there was a good amount of heft to the low end; it took some work to get the high end and the mids a little more sonically happening. Also, I found that the output from the bridge pickup was noticeably lower than from the neck pickup. It yielded a satisfying mid-range Jazz-type honk that was definitely needed for some tunes, but the drop in output made me go back and tweak some more. Bringing a compressor next time might do the trick.

Doing some recording in my studio as a test seemed to echo these conclusions - a little compression helps, lay off the treble control, and the low end was pretty good.

The B string is not as articulate as some 5 strings I've played, but it's much better than I expected it to be.

Overall, I was satisfied with the sounds; the treble control is best left alone or shut off, in my opinion. I would consider replacing the preamp in the bass. It's a pretty decent sounding bass out of the box, though it could stand some improvements.

Since I bought this bass used, I don't know if there were problems from the factory. I can say, however, that aside from the odd ding from being used, this bass was in terrific, terrific condition. I was expecting problems, based on other reviews and other experiences with Chinese-made instruments. But this bass is fantastic.

Big, big kudos to Warwick for a USEABLE two octave neck that is wildly comfortable and fast - this instrument is really fun to play. Despite my complaints about the treble control, I had an absolute ball playing this bass and got raves from my band mates at the gig. It was also very comfortable to play on that 5-hour date. It felt easier on my shoulder and back than all my other instruments (except the Turser Hofner copy :D ).

This, to me, is where this bass shines. This Rockbass is an absolutely FANTASTIC player, it's comfortable, it's easy to play - just a complete joy to play. I couldn't be happier with its performance.

It seems relatively solid for being somewhat lightweight. At the same time, however, the input jack is in a somewhat inconvenient spot - bring a guitar stand if you're using a straight jack (I've always leaned my instruments on my rig during breaks - looks like I'll have to change that). No problems with strap holders (not locked, but wide enough for my favorite wide old leather strap) or other hardware - overall, appears very solid.

No experience.

I've been playing bass for 27 years, and own five other basses (a couple of Fenders, a Lakland 55-01, an ESP Frankenbass, the previously mentioned Turser). I've done a lot of recording on albums by people you've never heard of. :D I bought this bass because it was going to cost me that much to repair the fretboard on my current fretless (an 87 Fender Jazz Special with EMG P-J setup). I'm going to try and refinish that fingerboard myself, because I LOVE that bass and have done some great things with it. However - this Rockbass has been surprisingly easy to love, and now I'm not so sure that I'll want to get rid of it once I refinish the Fender. Having the fifth string is really handy, it really is a fun, fun bass to play - Warwick has done a great job of putting out a REALLY good instrument for not a whole lot of money. For me, shelling out an extra $150 for an EMG J setup or a Bart preamp for this bass would give me a MONSTROUS fretless 5 string for less than five bills. How on earth could anyone argue with that?

Is it a Thumb or a 'real' Corvette? Nope. But it doesn't pretend to be. And taken on its own merits, I think it puts to shame many instruments in its price range. And for what I got it, it was a steal. I feel as if I should go back and give more money to the guy I bought it from.

This is a fantastic value overall, a real winner of a bass for stupid short money. I would recommend this bass to anyone, regardless of their skill level or budget. If you're new to fretless (or 5 strings, or both), a Rockbass is a great instrument to get your feet wet. It sounds very good, it plays great - it's a bass you'll finds useful for a long time.