Product: Warwick Rockbass Fortress V
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
08/27/2006
at
08:09am
by
Ciaran
Features
:
10
The RockBass Fortress is a re-issue of the Warwick Fortress, which was taken out of production in the late 1990's. Its got a swamp ash body, maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard. Electronics are two active MEC Gold J-style pickups with MEC active 2-band preamps on board. Mine is finished in Hoeny Violin which to me looks just like an aged natural finish. Its got a typical looking Warwick body with extended upper horn which gives it perfect balance. The bridge is a heavyweight one piece chrome Warwick bridge (not the usual two-piece Warwick type bridge), similar in style to a Fender type bridge but is much more weighty to give excellent sustain.
Sound
:
10
The sound from the ative pickups is amazing. The output on them really makes the sound boom out, more so than my passive Warwick Corvette. The highs on them are crystal clear, and bright but not harsh and brittle. The bass cut and boost is full and can really give some heavy dub style tones, in fact you would be hard pushed to find a tone that this amazing bass cannot do.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
The construction of this bass is almost near perfect, I could not spot one flaw on it. The pickups were the correct height and all the hardware performs perfectly apart from the volume pot which crackles a tiny bit, easily cured with some switch cleaner when I get round to it.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
The finish on this bass again is perfect, no complaints whosoever and would take a fair amount of gigging before it showed some signs of wear. The strap buttons are solid enough on their own but I would always recommend straplocks on any instrument.
Customer Support
:
10
Not had to deal with Warwick but I have spoke to other people who have and said that their Customer Service is excellent and other companies should take note of the attention to detail and care they put into customer relations.
Overall Rating
:
10
A really fantastic value for money instrument. These retail for $599.95 in the US which is around ??300 in the UK. For that money, I don't think you would get a better value for money brand new 5-string bass. The neck on it is perfect and I mean perfect Whenever I play a 5 string now, I compare the neck to the Fortress and to be honest, almost all don't compare with its playabillity. In fact I would say the feel of the neck is its biggest selling point. Some might find the string spacing a little tight, although I think its ok for me. The output on it makes it sound a lot more expensive than it is. The quality control on the construction is A1 - something Gibson should take note of . I have read about a lot of ??1000+ Gibson basses being poorly finished and have lots of flaws. The Rockbass has none of that and is a quality instrument. I have been playing over 20 years and have owned vintage Fenders, Yamahas and Status basses and this bass is up there with them. Honestly for the money you cannot go wrong.
