Warwick RockBass Vampyre

Made in China, 2005. 24 frets, four strings, solid body. Volume, pickup fade, Bass Treble. Single Jazz Pup at the neck, Double Jazz at the bridge. MEC Active Pups. Alder body, Maple neck, Rosewood Fingerboard. There are no markers, or "Dots" on the fingerboard, but there are on the binding. Body finished in Black, neck has a clear satin finish. Body is a Satanic Violin shape with a long horn at the top. Quite unique. Bridge, and all hardware for that matter is Chrome. Beefy Bridge! Angled tuners. 34" scale. Neck reminds me of a Les Paul guitar neck. Sort of a 1/2 baseball bat feel. Fast, comfortable and kinda narrow. I got this with a hard case, but not Warwick.:-(

I play Speed Metal and Punk. Speed Punk? (visit www.smashbandits.com and tell me!) While this bass looks pretty Heavy and Goth, it sounds kind of Bright and Clean at 0 tone. But put both T & B at +3, and it comes alive! Deep bass, and nice bite. Suites me fine, as I need a nice bottom with a lot of definition and clarity. I play this through a SWR 4004 head and an SWR Henry the 8x8 cabinet. Effects are for guitar players and Hipsters. I don't use them. With the treble maxxxed at +5 there is a very slight hum, otherwise it is silent. Very quiet compared to any other active bass I have.( Peavey Rudy Sarzo & G-V ) I can get a nice range of sounds. But pushing the T to +5 I can get a Slap Sound by plucking a little harder. And going Full Tilt on the B, it gets Very Heavy! But still clear. Love the Sound! I like the ease of changing the Vol/Tone settings on the fly! I do NOT like the strap position on the horn. It is on the back surface, and you get your strap Twisted unless you have a swivel. Pretty minor...

Setup was pretty good. Action is just a touch higher than I like. I measure action by stacking US Quarters. I like 2 quarters. This was 3. Plays nice though. Pickups were HIGH! Almost touching the strings. I lowered them down about 3/8", and it is perfect for me. Everything else was Tip Top!

I LOVE playing this bass live. It sounds Great, looks good, although a bit subdued, and is fairly light and well balanced. It stays in tune FOREVER too. Hardware is chrome, which is better than Gold, but I'd prefer it to be Black. Shines up nicely night after night, and free moving. Finish is heavy, and has resisted chiping and scratching, despite my clumsyness and abuse! Strap buttons were XLNT, although I did replace them with Dunlop Strap locks. All my straps have straplocks, so it is not a question. The front strap button is perpendicular to the rear, and twists the strap, as mentioned earlier. But it is solid and well balanced. I have not had to adjust the truss rod, and I always have 2 other basses with me. One in case I break a string, and the other is a 5 string. But I would gig without one. Only weak point may be the lack of a Passive/Active switch. Battery goes dead, and things get Real Quiet! My Peavy lets me play passive with a dead battery.:-O

Who Needs 'em!

I've been playing since Carter was in office. I go through 20+ basses a year, and only keep the ones I like. (I break the ones I REALLY don't like.>;-D) I've got a Peavey Rudy Sarzo and G-V, and a Gibson RD Artist. I like this bass, and will add it to the Keepers. This is my player. It is everything I could ask for in a 4 string bass. Looks good, sounds good, stays in tune, and doesn't weigh a ton. If it were stolen I'd get another. I really like it a lot. I love the sounds it makes, and how easy it is to play Really Fast for a long time. I like the unique shape of the body, and the way it looks when I play it. That's the main reason I bought it. We're a LIVE act. Looks are a pretty big deal, even to Speed Freak Punks from Detroit. Although I didn't give it a 10 in any one area, overall I think this bass almost deserves it. For the money, it is hard to beat. It is a very cool bass.

Bassically just updating previous review. The reason I changed earlier review set up rating was due to info suplied in email replyfrom their american distributor.

Have given the bass away however. Replacing it with a ESP LTD B305FM. Cause while the Warick gave an excellent cruising voice that sat well in the mix. I couldnt get it to go to a cutting lead type voice that also sat real well in the mix. The ESP LTD B204-304 series can do that. The pots in the Warwick also started to go scratchy. So upgraded the electronics for its recepiant.

Is the 2003 Warwick Vampyre bass. Rockbass series. Which I regard as being like the NJ series of B.C. Rich. Is a 4 string bass. Solid alder body, gloss black with chrome hardware. Maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Side markers only. 24 jumbo frets. 34" scale, comfy slim neck. Active 2 band eq. Uses twin MEC jazz pup at bridge & single jazz pup at neck. Has a great gothic type body shape & perfect balance.

Excellent growl, bite & snarl to the sound. Works great with heavy overdrive without loss of note articulation. Silent with no hum. I play death metal to electronica type stuff & it works great for that. Best bass I've had.

Arrived well set up. Did give it a truss rod adjustment & lowered action a little to satisfy poersonal preferances for very low action. Small pup height adjustment again for personal preferances. No defects. Excellent fret finishing & dressing.

Well built should withstand real life playing no problem. Is one of two companies I know of whose strap buttons are wide enough at top that no strap locks are needed. I do use a BC Rich NJ series Mockingbird as a back up bass & for occassional small change of voice.

Has done some emails with the american distributor. Excellent fast responce to questions.

Been playing bass since I was 14. Would replac my Vampyre if lost or stolen. Loves its sound, playability & looks. Nothing to dislike. Got it with Warwicks deluxe gigbag & allen wrenches for bridge & truss rod adjustment. A very good value.

A 2003 warwick Rockbass series Vampyre. 4 string. 24 jumbo frets, side dot markers, none on face of fretboard. Solid alder body. Gloss Black. Maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Nice slim neck, satin finish on back of neck, unpainted. MEC double jazz bridge pup, MEC single jazz neck pup. 2 band active preamp. Bass, treble, pup Blend & volume. Chrome hardware. A very solid substantial standard style bass bridge. While one could upgrade to a Baddass bridge, its not neccessary. Vampyre body style. Kinda gothicy. Lol.

Personally I prefer the type of finish o back of neck that the Rockbass series has, more then that on the regular warwicks. Same for body finish, prefers haveing excellent poly finish like the Rockbass's have, rather then that minimalist finish the regular Warwicks get for the body. Purchased the Warwick deluxe deluxe gigbag to go with it.

Excellent growl, snarl, bite, articulation & sustain. Rich full sound. Easy harmonics. Best sounding jazz type pups I've heard for me. Is dead quite except for what notes & sounds you create on it. No hum. Very good range of sounds. The double jazz bridge pup is very nice. Better then a single jazz could give. Reminds me of how some guitar players like a humbucker at bridge & single coil at neck.

I use a Zoom Player 3000B for processing. Peavey amps. I'm mainly into death, black & thrash metal typoe stuff along with electronica, trance, ambient, rave, techno, & gothic music. Works great for such things.

Ok, heres where I ran into a big final inspection by maker error. The truss rod was completely loose. Took many turns of it for it to engage so that I could make the small adjustment I wanted to make for less bow. Neck bow wasnt bad, but more then I like. I use light gauge 45-100 strings. A person less experienced with setting up basses for lowest possible action might not have spotted the truss rod problem the first day. Such an error in checking an instrument for inspection of it before shipping to stores sould never occur. Truss rod integrity is among the most important things for the neck.

The strings on bass when it arrived where all loose. I dont see this as a problem. Since some feel the strings should be loosened before shipping cross country with possible climate changes in route. However it is unusual for a mfg to ship this way. I suspect the bass was packed into box before final set up & truss rod adjustment was done. In which case no final inspection by maker was done.

Other then this truss rod problem I only found one other thing. Bridge screws needed little bit of tightening.

Fretwork & fret finishing is very good. Higher then average grade of rosewood for fretboard.

Due to the truss rod issue, must give low rating for this catagory.

Is build to last. Warwick & B.C. Rich are the only makers I know of whose stock strap buttons have a large enough top that straplocks dont need to be installed.

Major trussrod adjustment was needed when the bass arrived. However the strength of neck which showed only minor overbow for my standards, when tuned it up to check neck bow for truss rod adjustment. As stated in earlier section, trussrod was unscrewed to completely loose. Never got properly engaged at the Warwick Rockbass plant. But once I'd turned it enough to correctly engage, only about a 3/4 turn was needed to adjust to my ultra low action standards.
Not sure yet how long battery life is when you only plug it in when your playing it. Uses one 9 volt battery for preamp. Active basses should not have a cord pluged into them when they are just gonna be sitting on a stand. That needlessly drains battery.

Never dealt with the company. But will be emailing them about their qaulity control due to truss rod problem.

Has been playing for more then 20 years. Other choice I was seriously concidering was BC Rich. But likes the sound the Warwick Vampyre gives better for my bass voice. I love its shape, balance, feel & sound. Is a very very good bass for $630 that equals or exceeds other brands models that go for $1,000 & under imo.