warwickhunt

Loads of views on them if you do a quick search but in summary; I love mine to bits. As single cabs they are good but when doubled up they are excellent. IMHO they are never going to give you loads of 'zing' but what they do they do well. As a pair they will hold their own a rock band situation playing pubs and clubs and I've yet to be defeated by guitarists even when using 4x12's (not that it is a competition). I've not had mine complaining, nor pushed to the limits but by the time they've reached their limits you really should be using FOH PA support. Cracking cabs but don't expect featherweight as they are still a nice chunk of weight... maybe that's why they do what they do so well!

Just went back and realised the guy is a bit of a dealer, I'd surmise he sold the first bass off eBay and decided to save himself eBay fees by reusing the original listing and relisting another P bass claiming he'd made a mistake! Just my take!

First it is listed with photos of the bass here... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330530063161&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] That is pulled pretty quickly and relisted here... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330531350419"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=330531350419[/url] Both P basses but you'd think that he knew what he had if he photographed it for the first listing!

[quote name='JTUK' post='1127901' date='Feb 15 2011, 06:58 AM']hmmm sounds ok if you are 22 and what does he really earn? It might support his current lifestyle but it is the lifestyle of a poor singleton, I'd say. Lives cheaply and rented, banger car and ok for a few years. I wonder what he will think when he sees his mate who has plodded along with the council fo 20 yers with a decent house, family, pension, ect etc.. a very young man's normadic game.[/quote] He's actually quite a mature guy well into his 40's (gulp... maybe closer to 50 but all the outdoor stuff may have played havoc with his complexion )! His partner is a gigger like him, in fact they are a band in themselves and simply add musicians as required depending on where in the world they are. Not saying it is for everyone and you retirement age will be the telling period. I'm not trying to glorify what he does and I couldn't live that lifestyle nor would I recommend 99% of people pursuing it but for a very select few it will be a way of life that suits... probably absolutely no good to the OP as I'm not sure that it is something you can choose to do later in your working life; it has to be a lifestyle!

I should add that I've got a mate that has no problems making a living as a gigging musician and lives life to the max; managing to combine snowboarding with Alpine residencies in a band during the Winter season and surfing and Butlins during the Summer (OK Butlins is stretching it) and he wouldn't have it any other way. Am I jealous? Many times I am but would I swap... I'll tell you when it's too late!

As has been pointed out, what do you need to earn per month to either equal what you have now or at least get by comfortably (do you want to struggle to put bread on the table)? Money - Covers bands can get anywhere from £150 per gig @ a little pub to £2.5k for a BIG corporate event (for which you'll need an equally big sound and light system)... now divide that by the number of band members you have (remembering a 3 piece band isn't going to be able to justify the larger corporate monies that a 6-10 piece show band can). TBH unless you and everyone of your band mates is sh1t-hot you aren't going to get those corporate gigs; weddings maybe but they are unlikely to be anywhere near as lucrative as corporates. This leaves you looking at the club or pub circuit and there is a lot of competition out there so pricing can be keen. Hours - Playing the odd pub gig a few times a month is a laugh and if done with a bunch of mates it's a nice distraction. However... do you want to be playing EVERY weekend ALL weekend (more to the point does your other half?). I can assure you that you can't just pick and choose your dates, if you want to be earning at it you take every date offered. Club/Wedding/Corporate gigs are l o n g days, often arriving in the afternoon and sitting round twiddling thumbs for hours. Sickness - fall sick or hurt yourself and if you are in an established high quality band (which you'd need to be to earn money) and you'll find yourself replaced pretty sharpish as you'll have all the other band members in the same boat as you i.e. needing to earn money, also agents and bookers won't can't afford to have bands on their books that cancel on a regular basis. The band - Can you find equally minded musicians to join you on this venture or are you good enough that you can beat all the other bassists to the good jobs! The best jobs are in demand and you'll need to be a reader to get the top stuff. Actually I could go on for a while longer about accountants, equipment, travelling, pension... the boring mundane stuff but all needing to be considered. At the end of the day you can make a living out of music but you need to be good, dedicated and driven; I tried it when I was a lot younger but I must have been missing one (or two) of the previous mention prerequisites! I even tried to make playing bass pay for my way through University (mature student) and tbh even with me doing 10-12 gigs a month with combined; covers band, depping and some club work, it barely paid the mortgage and kept the car on the road. Not trying to put you off (I still love making a bit of 'pin' money doing covers around the pub circuit but it's a hobby NOT a job) just pointing out some pitfalls and if I've made you think twice then it's no bad thing.

It's only Rock N Roll.

I've had a few Tech Soundsystems/Tecamp products and when they work well they are great but I'm concerned by the number of times they don't!

Let's not even mention tatty old Fenders being worth more than they were 10/20/30/40/50 years ago!

Liam bought an EBS IQ pedal from me and the deal was done nice and prompt and with no messing, cheers Liam.

Could it be you are looking at it from the wrong direction... some folks might say they want back what they paid for it, meaning they got it cheap and don't want to profit from it? Just a thought.

[quote name='Duarte' post='1121981' date='Feb 9 2011, 10:03 PM']Thought I would give it a paint job![/quote] When you gonna finish it?

The fingerboard edge radius on the Warwick basses was done 'prior' to fretting so no issue with further exposing the fret ends.

Early Warwicks had rolled edges and I've no idea why they stopped doing it... Oh actually I do; probably cost!

[quote name='bumnote' post='1120854' date='Feb 9 2011, 12:06 AM']Try [url="http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm"]http://www.basspartsresource.com/electrical_pushpullpots.htm[/url][/quote] That's what I expected to pay! [quote name='mcnach' post='1120882' date='Feb 9 2011, 01:08 AM']eh?? do you have the details of the pot you need? As it turns out I bought a couple of push/pull pots for a project, and got the MEC ones from the Warwick store... then only used one. They were expensive... and they're very good, but they cost me about £25 not £70!!! That was only a couple of years ago. If you want I'll check the one I have for specs and let you know, and we could make a deal, way cheaper than £70![/quote] Many thanks for the offer, I'm not desperate to replace the pot, I could probably sort it with contact cleaner but thought that if a replacement pot was a fiver I may as well just replace the pot. I was more shocked at the cost of a replacement genuine MEC part than anything, especially as the Warwick shop have been pretty reasonable for parts in the past (other than replacement preamps). The stacked pot is likely a Pan/Vol or B/T pot as opposed to a Vol but thanks for the offer.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1120760' date='Feb 8 2011, 10:35 PM']The story i was told was that MEC were Warwick's in house take on EMG after they didn't want to pay EMG's prices, have no idea if it's true or not. Also everybody else seems to keep prices down, i really can't think of a reason why they're £70 apart from greed. Seriously, i reckon bringing it up on their forum might get you somewhere (a free pot?), [u]especially as you've owned every bass they've ever made at some point.[/u][/quote] Now that 'is' an exaggeration... still after a Star Bass! I've asked the question over on the Wick forum but there is no definitive answer as I can see no justification for a part costing x7 what a comparative generic part costs. <edit> It is a commonly told story/explanation re. the EMG/MEC/Spector story and anecdotal evidence would point to the fact that it makes perfect sense. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to search for who owns (is director) of each company (Warwick/MEC). Nothing wrong with that as it makes perfect business sense that they are one and the same.

[quote name='amnesia' post='1120689' date='Feb 8 2011, 09:49 PM']Every step in the chain from manufacture to retailer will probably double the cost. £1 from the manufacturer could easily get to £30 or £40 before you can find a retail outlet to sell it to you. Looking at the prices 'direct' from Warwick they have obviously gone through several distribution stages - Manufacturer - distributor - MEC - Warwick at the least I would imagine.[/quote] True but then again the guy who owns Warwick owns MEC... go figure!

[quote name='mart' post='1120522' date='Feb 8 2011, 08:03 PM']Some of the MEC parts prices are insane. I found some cheap pots (inc push/pull) on Thomann - EMG if I remember rightly, and under £10. No probs with them so far.[/quote] [quote name='mep' post='1120599' date='Feb 8 2011, 08:38 PM']That's crazy money. I paid less than a tenner for a new volume pot for my Stingray from Strings & Things and that included postage![/quote] That's what I thought. However, does explain why a new Warwick is so expensive!

Just happened to be looking on eBay for a new pot for a Warwick bass of mine which is a bit scratchy, nothing major but I thought I'd replace it as a matter of course rather than waste money on a contact cleaner... or at least I thought I would till I saw the price of the chuffin push/pull vol pot for a Warwick! £70 (yes that is seven zero) on ebay so I thought that was a laugh and went to the Warwick shop site expecting to pay £5-£10; NOPE the pots are 76.90Euro +P&P! Is it just me thought a pot would be single figure amounts or am I the only one that has bought a pot in 25 years?