Drax Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 (edited) Not sure where Rockbass sits these days. Seems there’s German made Warwick from £1.5-10K , with new Rockbass around £800. Didn't Rockbass used to be £2-300 - has the quality leapt on these? To confuse the issue I was looking for a Fortress, now only made for Rockbass line. Would you go second hand German Fortress, or are Rockbass comparable now? Any insight welcomed. Edited March 5, 2019 by Drax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 (edited) You should be able to pick up a decent condition German Fortress around the £500 mark. (The Bass Gallery - with which I have no connection... - has a couple at the moment for a bit more than that.) The original series Rockbasses (which had the Rockbass logo) are a mixed bunch - I had a Corvette that was dreadful. The newer Rockbasses look much much better, but given that second hand German Warwicks are still very good value for money (though prices seem to be going upwards...) it would be worth hunting one down in preference to a Rockbass. Also keep an eye out for second hand Korean Pro Series basses (now discontinued) - they sit somewhere between the Rockbasses and German Team Built/German Pro Series basses and are very good (but seem pretty rare), but not sure they ever did a Fortress. Edited March 5, 2019 by anzoid 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3below Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 German Warwicks are out there for very reasonable money (I have two). I also had a Chinese Rockbass 5 string fretless (from this very forum) which was a) outstanding value for the money and b) staggeringly high quality build and finish. Prior to getting the Germans I bought (and still own) a Chinese Corvette which is about 90 to 95% of the German quality. It was also at giveaway money. Wait long enough and they appear at good money, I would buy German for long term value unless a Rockbass comes your way at a price you can not refuse. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andruca Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) I wish I had grabbed one of these when Thomann had them in the 600€ realm 😞 So much bang for the buck. German Star Basses are several times that money, hard to justify for what in my case would be a "niche" bass (my main thing is a thick crunchy Stingray5 tone, aggressive and in-your-face). This RB Star Bass 5 goes for almost 1000€ nowadays. Such price kills the bang for the buck IMHO, you're paying Korean kinda' money for a Chinese bass (even tho' craft was as good as Indonesian or even Korean made instruments, market-wise it's not the same league). Unfortunately almost non-existent in the 2nd. hand market. As per other more "orthodox" Warwick models IDK really, not a fan of them at all, just love the RB Star Bass. Edited March 6, 2019 by andruca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 I've got one of the Korean StarBasses as well and not only is it much better than the Rockbass version, but IMO it is also better than both the German StarBasses I've played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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