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Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 String Bass |
Over the last decade or so, the German-based Warwick company has established quite a reputation amongst the bass playing fraternity with products like the Thumb bass and the WAMP series of bass amplifiers attracting critical acclaim. Warwick basses are played by many high profile musicians internationally including Freddie Tompson (M People, The Honeyz), Cass Lewis (Skunk Anansie), Stuart Zender (Jamiroquoi) and Andy Cichon (Shania Twain) to name a few. Warwick is also finding an ever increasing amount of players in Australia are taking a liking to their basses. The solid sound of a Warwick bass can be heard thumping behind the beats of such bands as Grinspoon, 28 Days, Killing Heidi, Pre-Shrunk and many others. Warwick's Managing Director, Hans Peter Wilfer was in Australia last year keeping an eye on his international operations and was enormously proud of the basses produced by his company, " deep, warm and powerful tone that always cut through" is how Hans Peter descibes the sound of a Warwick bass. Warwick products seem to have great appeal to working players, particularly those who pride themselves on a signature sound of his or hers alone.
The people at Warwick have spent many years in the development of their instruments and amplifiers to ensure that their customers are set apart from the 'other' players and are able to enjoy a product that has been given a great deal of attention to detail. Recently we have seen this ever expanding company release a wide range of new products to tempt the palette of the most discerning bassist.
The new FNA Jazzman 5-string is no exception. This new kid on the block is based on the Corvette design of a few years ago but has a number of improved options that sets it apart from its Corvette cousins. It features an Ash body & Walnut core with Flame-maple top in a natural honey oil finish. A multi-laminate Ovankol neck with Wenge fingerboard and polished Bell- Brass frets gives a unique look and the gold Warwick precision Machine heads offsets the brass and the gold hardware. The test instrument comes with Seymour Duncan pickups and a Duncan basslines preamp that features a dual coil humbucker in the bridge position and a vintage single-coil jazz pickup in the neck. The humbucker has a mini toggle switch that allows series, parallel and single coil switching. The FNA Jazzman also has a 3 band EQ with adjustable tone contour but what’s interesting is that you can further adjust the midrange frequency via the preamp in the electronics cavity at the back of the bass. This allows for maximum tonal control of the overall bass sound giving the player a wide range of sound possibilities. If you are a slap style player, the Jazzman offers a push/pull volume knob which will activate the slap-contour EQ curve on the preamp. The curve will boost the bass frequencies and the high frequencies while slightly cutting the mids. The Jazzman has many unique qualities. From the quick access truss rod to adjustable nuts and bridges, Warwick has provided a number of practical features ensuring quick and easy fine tunings without a multitude of tools and many years of trouble free playing due to the build quality. The combination of exotic woods as well as arguably one of the finest pickup and preamp systems in the Seymour Duncan Basslines series quite simply means you have a bass that will give all the grunt and growl you’re going to need. A large T-Wrench truss-rod adjuster is supplied and all the Allen keys needed to customise your setup as well as a heavy-duty gig bag. The FNA Jazzman 5-string bass will set you back around $2,600.00, which is isn’t bad considering the quality. The neck has a great feel and the pickups sound excellent. If this one is not to your liking, there are seven other models in the Jazzman series that feature different electronics and finishes and are definitely worth checking out. If you are in the hunt for a quality instrument with a wide variety of styles and colours as well as different choices of timbers, & electronics, then a Warwick could be well worth a check.
All Warwick products are distributed in Australia through Dominant Musical Instruments and they can be contacted on (03) 9873-4333 or fax (03) 9873-4511, and they’ll be happy to put you onto a dealer nearby.