Prevalence of Warwicks in Metal

[metalmickey]

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='310264' date='Oct 20 2008, 10:29 AM']I think Josh summed up the Warwick and Metal thing, being that it’s mostly down to cutting through the mix as well as the classic Warwick tone being great for the genre.[/quote]

+1 there. Shame I can't get on with those damn necks.....

[Dubs]

[quote name='metalmickey' post='310405' date='Oct 20 2008, 01:28 PM']+1 there. Shame I can't get on with those damn necks.....[/quote]

you just haven't found the right one yet...

[tauzero]

[quote name='metalmickey' post='310405' date='Oct 20 2008, 01:28 PM']+1 there. Shame I can't get on with those damn necks.....[/quote]
There's a JD Thumb in the basses for sale at the moment. You should give that a try...

[RussFM]

Wow, someone from outside of Telford actually ventured there for a gig! Shame you missed Bayonet, they're awesome, a punk band with some very well written songs. I used to live with Steve from Vert, but I haven't seen this lineup.However their old bassist Stratos was an amazing player, played a six string (Yamaha I think?) and added lots of melodic tapping to the songs. I'll be interested to see them with the new guy.

[Brave Sir Robin]

They sounded good? Maybe there's your answer. Low mid growl on a bass is great for heavy stuff. Beefs up the sound. I know my Thumb would have been right at home. Crisp highs, and great defined lows.

[Exile252]

[quote name='Josh' post='310170' date='Oct 20 2008, 01:20 AM']The generalisations thus far are ridiculous ones, to say a metal bassist only wants a Warwick purely because of the "War" part of the name is just childish and extremely narrowminded, and to openly say anybody who listens to metal and/or plays a Warwick has no taste is just plain pompous.[/quote]

You do know I was joking about that, I guess I needed to mention this as you took it extremely personally, as if your the owner of the Warwick company.
Quite narrowminded to think I was saying that and wasn't joking.

And yes, I play metal. And I'm really quite annoyed at your previous comments.

Edited October 20, 2008 by Exile252

[Guest MoJo]

[quote name='RussFM' post='310884' date='Oct 20 2008, 11:15 PM']Wow, someone from outside of Telford actually ventured there for a gig! Shame you missed Bayonet, they're awesome, a punk band with some very well written songs. I used to live with Steve from Vert, but I haven't seen this lineup.However their old bassist Stratos was an amazing player, played a six string (Yamaha I think?) and added lots of melodic tapping to the songs. I'll be interested to see them with the new guy.[/quote]

I'm originally from Telford. Two of my fellow band members live in Telford and we've played at the Haygate ourselves in the recent past, hence my connection with the venue. I've heard good things about Bayonet. Vert were very good and the growly Warwick was indeed cutting through the mix nicely on the night. My favourite band of the night were Gone Til Winter. If you get the chance, check them out. I think they're supporting Blaze Bayley at JB's in November.

[Josh]

[quote name='Exile252' post='310908' date='Oct 20 2008, 11:55 PM']You do know I was joking about that, I guess I needed to mention this as you took it extremely personally, as if your the owner of the Warwick company.
Quite narrowminded to think I was saying that and wasn't joking.

And yes, I play metal. And I'm really quite annoyed at your previous comments.[/quote]

I apologise, now you know what emoticons are for, to say it bluntly like you did is most likely going to warrant a reply like mine.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='metalmickey' post='310405' date='Oct 20 2008, 01:28 PM']+1 there. Shame I can't get on with those damn necks.....[/quote]

Of interest to potential Warwick buyers who have heard of neck thickness issues...

I'm hopefully going to be borrowing a micrometer and measuring the necks of my Warwicks and putting the results up here and contributing them to a thread on FB. Obviously this won't map the neck profile but it'll give people the width and depth @ 1st and 12th fret so that they maybe can compare it to their present bass.

[metalmickey]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='310986' date='Oct 21 2008, 08:24 AM']Of interest to potential Warwick buyers who have heard of neck thickness issues...

I'm hopefully going to be borrowing a micrometer and measuring the necks of my Warwicks and putting the results up here and contributing them to a thread on FB. Obviously this won't map the neck profile but it'll give people the width and depth @ 1st and 12th fret so that they maybe can compare it to their present bass. [/quote]

This will teach me to post without fully explaining myself!

I've suffered from tendonitis in my left arm since a 'nasty fall' a few years back. I love Wicks, but just can't find one that I 100% get on with. It's a shame, but I need PENCIL thin necks for true comfort, and it really limits what bass I can play. It's that or a short scale (and believe me, I've gone through a lot of playtests).

Would love a Thumb Bass, but it's a bit too much to blert out on a bass that won't be my Number 1.....

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='metalmickey' post='311293' date='Oct 21 2008, 01:40 PM']This will teach me to post without fully explaining myself!

I've suffered from tendonitis in my left arm since a 'nasty fall' a few years back. I love Wicks, but just can't find one that I 100% get on with. It's a shame, but I need PENCIL thin necks for true comfort, and it really limits what bass I can play. It's that or a short scale (and believe me, I've gone through a lot of playtests).

Would love a Thumb Bass, but it's a bit too much to blert out on a bass that won't be my Number 1..... [/quote]

Sorry that wasn't meant as a dig at you or anyone contesting the thickness of warwick necks.

I'm simply thinking that it might be of interest to none-Warwick bassists. Tauzero, Finnbass and myself (amongst others) all have early Thumb basses that have really slim necks but if short-scale is a pre-requisite then Thumbs probably shouldn't be on your shopping list!

[RussFM]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='310918' date='Oct 21 2008, 12:06 AM']I'm originally from Telford. Two of my fellow band members live in Telford and we've played at the Haygate ourselves in the recent past, hence my connection with the venue. I've heard good things about Bayonet. Vert were very good and the growly Warwick was indeed cutting through the mix nicely on the night. My favourite band of the night were Gone Til Winter. If you get the chance, check them out. I think they're supporting Blaze Bayley at JB's in November.[/quote]

Me too! After posting in this thread, I realised my avatar pic is me playing at the Haygate! I'm back there on the 31st supporting Newbreed.

I'll check out Gone Til Winter!

[bass_ferret]

All this pigeonholing is crap. Lots of players in lots of genres use lots of different basses. Some Warwick models do shout metal. So do ESP, BC Rich and lots of other makes. Hell, some metal players use Zons!

[Guest MoJo]

[quote name='RussFM' post='312457' date='Oct 22 2008, 08:08 PM']Me too! After posting in this thread, I realised my avatar pic is me playing at the Haygate! I'm back there on the 31st supporting Newbreed.

I'll check out Gone Til Winter! [/quote]

A couple of the guys from Newbreed were there. Should be a good gig. I'll look you up if I'm free.

Mark

[Hamster]

It might be just me, but I don't recall seeing that many Warwicks being played in metal bands. I think it's the bass player who really makes the difference anyway - them and the semi-skilled monkey on the PA desk who can make a great bass and great bassist sound like mud!

[Jarhead]

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='312625' date='Oct 22 2008, 11:38 PM']All this pigeonholing is crap. Lots of players in lots of genres use lots of different basses. Some Warwick models do shout metal. So do ESP, BC Rich and lots of other makes. [b]Hell, some metal players use Zons![/b][/quote]
Yep, Adam Duce from Machine Head uses them loads. Great player, plays what the song need IMO.
Zach

[Dread Bass]

For me like others have said Warwicks just work in the mix it just sounds right. It took me a while to get used to the neck but once you get there you forget about it.

[lee650]

+1
once you play warwicks for a while you dont notice the thick necks, i have played various warwicks for the last ten years and ive played soul, jazz,latin, pop, blues, country, funk, hard rock, classical, show tunes and ballroom (but no reggae, im sh*t at reggae) and they,ve worked in every situation ive been presented, the early versions have fantastic thin necks, warwickhunt now plays a beautiful red warwick streamer from 90 that he originally owned and i owned for nearly five years, the neck on that bass is the slimmest ive ever played. I also bought new in 98 a streamer lx4 and that had a fantastic thin neck, so if you like thin necks get an old warwick, if you dont mind a bit of meat (precisions are very chunky too!!) get a newer one, they still have a great growl and sound great ,a quality instrument and worthy of all players attention. Anyway each to thier own if you dont like warwicks fine!!! i personally use warwick, fender and musicman basses and am very lucky to have these diffrent sounds at my disposal but at the end of the day its in our hands!!!! thats were the magic is, i just need a nice fender precision and a six string yamaha trb and ill have "ALL BASSES COVERED" no pun intended.
keep groovin everone- lee

[Moo]

[quote name='Hamster' post='312635' date='Oct 22 2008, 11:47 PM']It might be just me, but I don't recall seeing that many Warwicks being played in metal bands. I think it's the bass player who really makes the difference anyway - them and the semi-skilled monkey on the PA desk who can make a great bass and great bassist sound like mud![/quote]

I divide my weekends between being a bassplayer, and "the semi-skilled monkey on the PA desk who can make a great bass and great bassist sound like mud! "

Bass mud can be avoided by not having your 50 year old "as many speakers as I could throw in one box" - (Quote from Jim Marshal) 'design' backline cab loud enough for the audience to hear, and letting some properly designed and operated P.A. speakers do the work of making the bass sound good.

To get a good tight bass sound in a venue, the bass needs to either come from the backline cab, [u]OR[/u] the P.A., but having equal levels coming out of both at the same time is a recipie for a muddy - phase cancellation disaster.

The bass end of a [u]GOOD[/u] P.A. system will be powered by a big amps with lots of headroom, and will be processed with: Limiters to avoid over excursion and distortion; RTA equalization to remove room nodes; delays to time align Subs with the mid/top cabs and or stage backline; High pass filers to remove subsonic 'Mud' and prevent the amps clipping; and low pass filters to stop the subs opperating above their linear passband and to stop phase cancelling with the mid/top cabs.

Does a bass rig have these things?
Unfortunately, many sound monkeys do not have the above tools either, or the knowlege to understand or use them.
Perhaps Warwick abduct all of the good sound engineers so they can sell more bases?

Edited October 24, 2008 by Moo

[faz_man]

[quote name='Moo' post='313500' date='Oct 24 2008, 05:06 AM']I divide my weekends between being a bassplayer, and "the semi-skilled monkey on the PA desk who can make a great bass and great bassist sound like mud! "

Bass mud can be avoided by not having your 50 year old "as many speakers as I could throw in one box" - (Quote from Jim Marshal) 'design' backline cab loud enough for the audience to hear, and letting some properly designed and operated P.A. speakers do the work of making the bass sound good.

To get a good tight bass sound in a venue, the bass needs to either come from the backline cab, [u]OR[/u] the P.A., but having equal levels coming out of both at the same time is a recipie for a muddy - phase cancellation disaster.

The bass end of a [u]GOOD[/u] P.A. system will be powered by a big amps with lots of headroom, and will be processed with: Limiters to avoid over excursion and distortion; RTA equalization to remove room nodes; delays to time align Subs with the mid/top cabs and or stage backline; High pass filers to remove subsonic 'Mud' and prevent the amps clipping; and low pass filters to stop the subs opperating above their linear passband and to stop phase cancelling with the mid/top cabs.

Does a bass rig have these things?
Unfortunately, many sound monkeys do not have the above tools either, or the knowlege to understand or use them.
Perhaps Warwick abduct all of the good sound engineers so they can sell more bases?[/quote]


Legend..

I'm a FOH tech too. Ive just finished my last show of the tour/year, i have a quick browse on here and see this..

BASS, SOUND, BASS, SOUND oh its all too much to take in!! I need to sit down...



Now everyone sell me ur 5-Strings Thumbs... Serious, all o dem!

[twentyhertz]

I'd add to the bunch saying it's all about that growl. Personally, I really don't like that sound myself, but if you're getting more into the "extreme" end of metal, I can definitely see why you'd want that kinda sound.

I think a lot of the different sub-divisions of metal have different basses that work well for different sounds, and I guess it's just up to the individual bassist to see what they want to get out of their sound. Me? I'm a Fenderish sorta guy all the way - Precision if I just need it fat and thick, and Jazz if I want a bit more "growl" from the sound. Although I play more "stoner" sounding metal, so the bottom end thickness from the fenders is a lot more important than the middy growls from Warwicks.

[skankdelvar]

Just to reinject some controversy:

Lots of ([i]insert genre here[/i]) bass players use ([i]insert mfr here[/i]) in order to get ([i]insert quality here[/i]) but they're wrong because ([i]insert mfr here[/i]) are known for having much more ([i]insert quality here[/i]).

Anyone ever notice that ([i]insert genre here[/i]) players are all [i](insert derogatory comment here).[/i]

And [i](insert obscentity here)[/i]

[ashevans09]

Heya,

I'll be honest while I've noticed some players using warwicks I can't really say they've been in the majority. I've been to lots of metal gigs this year along with Download Fest and there seems to be a pretty even spread of Fenders, MMs, Ibanezes, Warwicks etc with the odd boutique bass thrown in, as I think would be expected in any genre really. I would venture to suggest some of the more influential bass players in metal use warwicks and since they get more coverage Metal is more readily associated with them. Who knows?

Edited December 21, 2008 by ashevans09

[thumbo]

Warwick basses generally downtune very well with little fuss and still sound good! Many basses sound rubbish downtuned. Perhaps another reason why they're favoured in metal?

[steve-soar]

Good call.