Warwick Corvette Standard 4-String

Made in Germany, 2000. 24 frets, 4-string, active electronics- Volume (pull for passive mode), pickup balance, stacked treble and bass, Two standard MEC J pickups. Body is made from two very solid pieces of Bubinga, neck is three-piece Ovangkol, the center strip of which is quarter-sawn (grain at an angle) with the outer pieces flat-sawn (straight grain). Fretboard is one piece of quarter-sawn wenge and the frets themselves are Warwick's "Nickel-silver" alloy and seem to be of about medium size. On the headstock, there's a thin Ebony veneer with the Warwick "W" logo, inlaid with mother of pearl... very classy. All this wood is natural oil-finished, with the only paint being inside the control cavity. The hardware is chrome and very high-quality, featuring Warwick's own two-piece bridge design. The nut is also Warwick's own design, featuring two allen screws that can raise or lower the graphite nut in it's metal bracket. Strap buttons are the regular kind on this model, and it came with an awesome black, thickly padded gig-bad with wide, comfortable straps. Also worth noting is the truss wrench- instead of a regular L-shaped allen wrench, it's a long chrome "T" shaped tool that extends past the headstock when inserted... great idea!

When I started looking for a new 4-string, I had my mind pretty much set on a new Warwick, specifically the FNA. I loved the look of the Flamed maple, which I understood was a stock feature. Unfortunately, when my favorite local Warwick dealer got their first FNA, the top was rather bland, featurless maple- blah. Well of course, I played it anyway, and was really impressed with the sound. A few weeks later, I was closer to making a desicion about picking it up or not, and when I went into the store, the'd just recieved a new Thumb Bolt-On and a Corvette Standard. I played the Thumb first- I've always liked them... liked how it played and sounded... blah blah blah... then I plugged in the Corvette Std. WOW! I was totally blown away by the deep, richness of it's sound... So much growl! The Thumb sounded meek in comparison. It had a nice "scooped" sound with both pickups balanced, perfect for slapping, and with the bridge pickup alone, a very aggressive, cutting low-mid snarl. Afterwards, I played the FNA again (for like, the 5th time :-). It seemed to have a more "round" sound that I also like a lot, but I was much more into the Std.
I've played a bunch of different styles over the years, mostly funk and hard rock (think Helmet). This bass just seems to fit perfectly into those styles, with both it's perfect slap sound and it's aggressive growl. I run it straight through an Eden WT400 and two Trace Elliot cabs- a 4x10+horn and a 1x15 for band practice and at home, I run it through a Mackie CR1604 for recording. I haven't noticed any hum, and the sound is a lot deeper and fuller than my previous 4-string

When I picked it up, the action was a tad high, so the first thing I did upon bringing it home, was lower it. Since I've owned a Warwick before, I was familiar with the procedure (the first time I tried, with my old Warwick, I tried raising the action with the bridge locked down still, and popped the head off one of the locking screws... DOH!), but a first time owner would definitely want to consult the manual, as this adjustment is a bit different from other basses. I also had to lower the rear pickup, since the strings were actually resting on it after lowering the bridge. This is also really easy to do, due to Warwick's mounting the pickups on springs. All in all, the craftsmanship is mostly flawless, except for a tiny ding on the side of the wenge fretboard just behind the 18th fret... factory mishap, perhaps?

This bass is VERY solidly built. The neck/body joint is beautiful- not even a hit of a gap on either side. The neck is a bit chunkier and thicker than my previous Warwick, but I've found it to be very comfortable while playing with my band, and it actually seems less fatiguing to use than my last bass. The thick, meaty Bubinga body certainly helps to enhance the feel of solidity, since this bass is heavier than even my Modulus 5-string! And of course, the nice advantage to natural oil finish- scratches can be sanded out.
I would not however, take it to a gig without a backup, due to the fact that battery can wear out at any time. Of course, carrying a spare battery is a lot lighter than carrying a spare bass... but you never know :-)
One thing though... I really really liked the old way Warwick used to inset the straplock into the body of the bass. It made the bass look so clean without the strap, and I always take my strap off when I'm done playing. Now Warwick is putting regular strap buttons on all their basses, not even straplock buttons... Boo! On the up-side, with the old straplocks there was very little chance of finding a replacement strap if you forgot yours on a gig or something, even a make-shift one... Now that's not a problem.

I've never had a serious problem with either Warwick I've owned, so I haven't had any contact with the company.
I don't have the warranty in front of me, so I can't go into the details about that either.

I'd have to say that I'm very happy with this bass, overall. I've been playing for about 10 years, everything from blues to heavy rock to jazz. My other Warwick bass is a 1993 Fortress One, back when the Fortress line was Warwick's "budget" model. I paid almost as much for that bass as I did for my new Corvette, and I'd definitely have to say the Corvette is built better and sounds a heck of a lot better. Recently, I bought a 5-string Modulus and I just can't get into playing it as much as I can my Warwick basses... maybe I'm just a 4-stringer at heart :-)
If you love the feel and sound of beautiful wood like I do, I'd have to say go with Warwick- they live up to their catch-phrase.