Warwick Basses: The Complete Guide

Incredible finishes, gorgeous grainy woods, powerful modern tones – it could only be Warwick basses. The German builders have set the standard for contemporary bass guitars, making huge changes to the way basses feel to play while also bringing a unique modern aesthetic across their range. Founded in 1982 by Hans Peter Wilfer, Warwick live and die by their construction quality. Their instruments are made with extreme care and attention, using high-quality woods, renowned reliable hardware and of course, outstanding sounding pickups, most of which are wound in-house.

The Warwick range features four distinct shapes:

•   Corvette
•   Streamer
•   Thumb
•   Star

Within these categories, each instrument is available in three different build qualities:

•   Rockbass – affordable Asian-made midrange basses, quality checked by Warwick's luthiers
•   Pro – built in Germany under supervision of Warwick's master luthiers
•   Custom Shop – the pinnacle of the craft, one-off basses made to order

Let's take a closer look at the different models.

A true modern classic, the Streamer encapsulates everything the Warwick brand is about: ergonomic design, powerful sound and shapeable tones. Mike Inez (Alice in Chains), Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai) and Rob Trujillo (Metallica) have all notably played Streamer basses.

Available in four or five string models, the Streamer is an excellent pick for fingerstyle players and bassists after an instrument that lends itself to lots of different sounds. A feature that helps a lot with that adaptability is the two-band EQ, allowing you to roll on and off the bass and treble frequencies on the fly.

Most of the German-made Streamers incorporate sleek woods such as cherrywood, wenge and ovangkol, providing a strong resonance and resilience. Take your pick of dual humbucker, LX model P/J and double single-coil J/J pickup configurations. Other versions of the Streamer include a popular ash body and maple neck, assembled with neck through body construction.

Introduced in 1992, the Corvette has established itself as one of the most popular models in the Warwick range. Donned by high-profile players over the years like Incubus' Dirk Lance, the Corvette puts out a raw, vibrant sound of which plenty of rock and jazz players alike have used to great effect.

Warwick love to experiment with wood combinations and the Corvette is a prime example. Many are built with a choice of swamp ash or bubinga bodies, ebony fretboards and kitted out with sleek natural satin finishes.

You’ll find more niche features with the Corvette such as illuminated side dots and multi-scale necks, which extends the scale length for the thicker strings to hold tension better when tuning to lower notes. Some Corvettes come stock with single-coil pickups, but you’ll also notice some models including $$ in their name, which means they’re equipped with the fat sounding Warwick-designed humbuckers. Some of their basses even include active/passive switches for humbucker pickups, both making the bass more adaptable to a variety of tones and amps.

The quirky Thumb bass is a real cornerstone of the Warwick catalogue thanks to its highly focused tones and flowing ergonomic shape.

Another bass favoured by fingerstyle players, the Thumb is a simple and soft style featuring flawless bolt on neck joints and Warwick’s reliable two-piece bridges, keeping the tuning and intonation rock solid. You’ll notice both pickups on most models are shifted back towards the edge of the body, meaning there’s more attack in the tone even when set to the neck position – an excellent design choice geared towards being a fingerstyle bass.

Despite the predominantly modern aethetics of much of the catalogue, Warwick do stray into vintage territory with the Star, an old school semi-hollow bass guitar that serves up both retro looks and tones.

Elegant like other renowned mid-century designs, the Star bass is aimed at players who want to approach the bass with a smoother, rounded and charming sound. The semi-hollow body helps achieve this as it allows the sound to resonate and become airier, making this a great choice for rock and indie styles with a touch of grit. Add to this the all-passive circuitry and single coil pickups (they're made to look like humbuckers) and you’ve got yourself a classic rock bass.