Vampyre 5-String Review

The RockBass Vampyre's fiendishly innovative body styling makes it a formidable tool for delivering the deepest of underworld tones and the crispest of bright highs.

Features:	9
Sound:	10
Action:	9
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	8.3
Comments:	16

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: unregistered, on august 18, 2006

Purchased from: Swee Lee

Features: This 2006 Warwick Rockbass Vampyre was handcrafted in China with some parts coming directly from Germany. It has 24 frets on a 34-inch scale on a rosewood fretboard. The neck and body are alder with bolt-on construction. I got mine in high-gloss black. There is a one-piece Warwick bridge and bass, treble, tone and volume controls. Active electronics are paired with a set of J-style "Gold" MEC Jazz pickups. Everything is perfect except that it would have been better with neck-thru construction. Quilted-maple top would have been good too, but that's purely visual and for the price, this bass a shockingly well-speced. Very impressive! // 9

Sound: I play this through an Ibanez 35 Watt bass amp for home practice and through Roland mixers and Tourque speaker boxes and pre-amp during rehersals. I plan to soon add DigiTech or Boss pedals in the form of Wahs and Fuzz/Distortion or maybe even a DigiTech multi-effects amp modeller if the price is right. I play mostly Korn, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. but also some classic rock songs for performances. It sounds good on all genres of music and the power never ceases to amaze anyone. Not even my bass teacher whose played countless different basses over 20 years. The low-end is incredible thanks to the B-string and more importantly the incredible pickups that come with this thing. If you use bass amps that have tweeters as well, you'll immidietly realise that this Vampyre manages equally astonishing high-pitches. Both the bass and treble outputs make this a great guitar for both Korn style A-tuned slapping as well as standard E-tuned (ignoring the 5th string) Red Hot Chili Peppers popping and slapping and scaling. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Everything was truly exceptional except that by the time I got it the input jack was a bit loose and had to be tightened. The fret-board shined, the body was perfectly glossed, no oxidisation. Perfect. Just plug and play basically after tightening the input jack. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This appears to be one strong bass. Nothing about it suggests even the slightest bit of weakness. No Doubt on this. Strap buttons are solid but bottom one doesn't fit all straps. I recomend you test out straps before buying them. the hardware seems sturdy. Good bass! // 10

Impression: This is an excellent match for metal, funk, jazz, and even classic rock. Just plug and play. Between the pickups and the design, it's awesome. I've been playing for a few months. Been playing drums for years now. Besides this guitar, I have a BC Rich Warlock, a ESP LTD F-50, a Takamine semi-acoustic, a Admira spanish-made solid top classical guitar, and a cheap, battered Yamaha classical guitar. I also have a drumset consisting of Yamaha drums, many Sabian Cymbals, Yamaha and Tama hardware, Yamaha Flying Dragon double-kick pedals. Aside from those, a Petrof piano, a keyboard/synthesiser, two violins, and some ethnic drums.I wish I had tried on the strap before buying because not all straps fit on the uniquely shaped bottom of this bass. If it were stolen I would without doubt buy it again if I can afford to. I love the pickups and the B-string and I hate nothing. I wish it had neck-thru construction, though. I compared it to ESP LTD B-55 and B-155, Ibanez SoundGear and BTB 5-strings. This Warwick is by far better than any of those. // 10

Comments

[Kain_Doom01]

oh, come on, Chineese guitars don't desurve 10's x.x And you compaired it to cheap crappy guitars, that thing doesn't stand a chance against the rouge Violin Bass or The Gibbson Firebird Basses, come on man, why wont people write honest reviews, I'm sure the guitar was awesome, but you can still make it sound good with low marks, because it's not an awesome guitar, in no way oh yeah, and if the imput jack has to be rescrewed, it's a beginner's guitar x.x they're made to "break" and then you get it "repaired" only to "break" again -.-"

[ledzepprules09]

It's a warwick. It's good. Not a fan of that body shape. But Warwicks are good basses.

[Brungage]

Ah i love warwicks, and also love the Vampyres.
I played some recently and they have mad range, sound good as.

[bassmonkey16]

i love my rockbass corvette (check the review). it has the exact specs as this vampyre, except its a four string.
to kain doom whatever your name is:
you trash this because it is a beginners guitar? yes it may be classified as a "beginners" guitar (simply because it's warwicks low-end line), but in tonal range, sound quality and playability it is not. i've played professional basses, and this cannot compare to those, yet if you were to pick up any other "beginner bass" such as a squire, it would not compare to this either. ive been playing for four years and i honestly do not think i have a need to upgrade in the least, as, like i said before, the rockbass line is a quality line. and to say that a china made guitar doesn't "desurve" 10's is just ignorance. prick.

[steady666]

you play korn... you make me sick.

[Mini Duff]

looks quite cool but ive never liked five string basses

[Mahoru]

Very nice bass. I've played it too, and sounds really well. Good and deep sustain, gives clear sounds. I've always prefered 5 strings, so for me is OK.
You're right, bassmonkey16, this is a VERY good bass for his price, and can be used w/o problem by advanced players (I'be been using it till last year, and I've been playing for 7 years now).

[94 hours]

Kain_Doom01 wrote:

oh, come on, Chineese guitars don't desurve 10's x.x And you compaired it to cheap crappy guitars, that thing doesn't stand a chance against the rouge Violin Bass or The Gibbson Firebird Basses, come on man, why wont people write honest reviews, I'm sure the guitar was awesome, but you can still make it sound good with low marks, because it's not an awesome guitar, in no way oh yeah, and if the imput jack has to be rescrewed, it's a beginner's guitar x.x they're made to "break" and then you get it "repaired" only to "break" again -.-"

even my gibson eb-335 has to have that screw tightened every now and then. and by the way, that rouge violin bass you mentioned has got o be the crappiest bass iv ever played. warwick makes alot of basses that arent that great but they also have alot of besses that are amazing so i recommend playing the bass and getting the facts before you go dissing other peoples reviews, moron.

[flyers]

I was planing on buying a vampyre but I bought a warwick streamer instead...thought they sounded almost the same =P

[fluffylump2]

why did he just list all of his gear at the end? what does that do for the review?

[Welsh Guitar]

he wanted to show how loaded he is haha :p

[Triviumfan54]

WTF? Why? Why do you need to show off your gear list? I ain't even gonna say what you are. Nice bass though

[j0n0j0n0]

One thing is that it's the rockbass so it is made of pretty cheap wood and in china compared to any other non rockbass warwick it is pretty shitty because the normal warwick basses just have the best tone and sound that no other bass i have played has put out. nice guitar but i have to admit seeming their just under a grand and the warwick vampyre is around $3500 on a good day so thanks for the review.

[PUNK_JB_96]

warwick are amazing and this is practicaly just as good i love this thing i got a 5 string version it was so much cheaper and it sounds relatively the same and for the information of the guy before i have a THUNDERBIRD (firebird is the guitar version) and like every other guitar i own the input jack came outa the box in need of tightening and has needed retightening a few times sicne thats mechanics for you theres no way around it and china only means cheap labour doesnt mean a crappy instrument i love this thing and id recommend it to neone begginer to well not pro casue if ur pro u can probly get a warwick but the next to pro type dude

[Killswitch888]

have one lol, overall, very impressed lol nothing negative about it atol yet ... except i had to buy a new amp lol, my last wasent powerful enough for this bass

[fortysix&2]

The Rockbass line is much better than you people make it out to be, I think Rockbass easily competes with MIM Fenders when it comes to quality and sound.