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Life
With A Warwick Streamer |
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I bought my Streamer bass in 1992 from T.O.M.S. when they were in Bree Street JHB. At the time I had a Polar White Ibanez Musician bass but had noticed that the neck had twisted beyond reasonable repair so it was time to Part Company. That bass was a truly awesome instrument and I’ll tell you about it on another occasion but today is the Streamer’s turn for the limelight. My Streamer is of the lacquered finished variety and sports a beautiful black stain which shows off the various woods that have been used in the construction of the instrument. This 34 inch scale neck through body instrument has a 24 fret neck and sports active electronics with a separate compartment for the battery. The flush mounted plates at the back of the instrument are very well designed and clip into place which allows you access to the electronics or battery in seconds without the need to go looking for a screwdriver. A nice feature is the fully adjustable NUT (believe it or not) but the down side is that in conjunction with the bridge which has a million tiny adjustment screws, setting this instrument up can become a living nightmare and is probably one of the features that bassists are either going to love or hate depending on how fussy their requirements are. The really awful thing about this instrument though is the jack plug socket. I had endless problems with mine and had about 3 or 4 replacements installed before opting for extremely drastic surgery and installing a conventional jack plug socket which hasn’t let me down once. I’ve probably devalued the instrument considerably but at least it’s now reliable. Actually it’s very strange that I had problems with the socket – all the other South African Warwick owners I know have experienced exactly the same problem but the problem is unheard of overseas and my Cort Artisan bass which has the same type of jack plug socket hasn’t ever let me down so the whole thing is very mysterious!!!!!!! The body is the same as that of the extremely expensive Spector NS2 bass and has a lovely curve to the body – very ergonomic and a delight for the slappers amongst us. The control knob area is very neat – just four identical looking knobs in a diamond formation – one of the knobs has a push / pull pot activating the active electronic circuitry. Most of the hardware (bridge, nut, control knobs, straplocks and tuners) is gold plated, which looks very striking on a black instrument. Truss rod adjustment is done at the head end of this bass, as is the norm with neck through body instruments. The Sound is phenomenal and the bass is used for the main bassline on all of my recordings. The weight is another reason why I bought this bass. Compared to the Ibanez Musician bass this is a Very light instrument and you can literally play for hours without getting pains in your shoulder. Compared to my two ‘birds’ that live in their cases overseas, this instrument is phenomenally more superior in almost every department – only the original Jack plug socket and finicky bridge being its weakest points.
The sound is very modern and the
ergonomic design allows today’s bassist to concentrate on his main
function – playing his or her notes effortlessly and not having to expend
energy supporting the neck in the process!! |
