Warwick Adam Clayton Signature CW

All my other basses are fender p or jazz basses so this was new territory for me. I bought this bass to use in my U2 tribute band. I chose to buy the Adam Clayton Warwick over the Adam Clayton Fender as it seemed to me the Adam Clayton used this bass a lot more the the green jazz bass. It was half the price and really looks the part.

The first thing that struck me about this bass was the weight. It's roughly 8 lbs which is ideal for a 2 hour gig. I have had this bass for about 5 months and have gigged with it regularly. It balances very well on the shoulder and feels very comfortable.

The Seymour Duncan SPB-3 pickups sound really great. They are hotter than stock fender p bass pick ups and they really cut through the mix in a gig.
The control layout is great with master volume, tone and bass knobs. This really gives the player alot of control over the tone of the instrument. The bass sounds full and articulate and has a vintage, familiar p bass sound. The action was low and the intination good straight out of the box!

The neck is very like a jazz bass with the same comfortable 1.5" width at the nut. Also I'd say that it is easier to access the notes higher up the neck than the fender basses. It has 21 frets too. It has a satin soft finish that feels fast and smooth. It's a three piece bolt on neck.

In terms of quality, I have to mention a few things: firstly two of the machine heads were loose as the thread on the washer was too shallow. The machine heads would slip slightly when I tuned the bass and they would require tuning on a more regular basis. This is not acceptable for a ¤1,000 bass. Secondly, the strings that come with it are of a poor quality ( ¤10 strings.... not good). These strings started to ware away at the frets (which are not brass despite the Warwick description).

I have up-graded my bass with some parts purchased from Warwick to try to bring it nearer the ¤5,000 custom shop version.
1. Ebony truss rod cover ( the plastic "Adam Clayton" one was too garish)
2. Just-a-nut III brass. ( I didn't like the cheap plastic one)
3. Ebony tuning pegs.
These upgrades give the bass a more elegant look but at an additional expense of about ¤200.
Finally I brought the bass to my local luthier for a checkup and setup. He fixed the issue with the machine heads easily enough and replaced the original plastic nut with the new brass one which he also filed to prevent the strings catching. He also put a fresh set of good quality DR strings on it. Now I have the bass I wanted! It's incredible what a difference a good set of strings can make. He did not need to make and adjustments to the neck and the bass had no loose frets either. Electrics were all sound too.

In conclusion, this is a decent light weight great sounding and versatile bass with some minor build quality issues, but at 1/5 the price of the Warwick custom shop Adam Clayton version. However unlike my fender basses, I would not gig with this bass without a backup.

I got this as I was looking for a pbass for gigs but wanted something a little different than a normal precision bass. Let's start with the positive points: it is an amazing looking bass, great sound from the Seymour Duncan pick up and a nice curved body with a Warwick adjust a nut and supplied with a Warwick Rockbag. Has the option to register for an extended warranty. Set up was good, action was fine and the bass was well set up from the factory to be fair. Strings were good too. Now, for the negatives: This bass came with a neck pocket way too big for the neck. Cosmetic issue only, seems to play fine so far, but not good enough on a €990 instrument. Also, the bolts holes for the neck on the back were really badly drilled and chipped around the rim where the bolts go in to the neck. There are two strips of rosewood or similar running down the back of the 5 piece neck and one of these is quite high/swelled around the 12-15 frets. I found a tiny shard of metal on the pick up also. My thoughts on this bass: Nice bass but not good enough quality control for what is pretty much a €1K bass. To be fair, I want to make it totally clear this is a factory quality control issue and I must compliment Thomann customer care as they were really excellent. It is an average instrument at best due to these quality control issues and though a great looking, sounding and playing bass, it was let down by this poor quality control from the factory. For this reason it rates average. Overall, I am happy with it, if a little underwhelmed.

Bought this because I love Warwicks (have had a thru neck thumb for 16 years) but wanted something a bit more classic looking to play in a blues rock band. Thomann were the only place selling them and I couldn't afford a Streamer CV.

The set up wasn't amazing but it initially performed well and I was very happy with the sound. However disaster struck after I got it out to play at a quite high profile gig to find the action had increased massively - the neck had slipped.

I took it to an excellent luthier who found that the screws had stripped out from the body due to a very short neck pocket and short screws. This necessitated routing and inlaying stronger wood (wenge) and longer screws. It now seems to be fine but time will tell.

This would appear to be a design issue as opposed to a quality control one so I would be very wary about purchasing this bass.

Without degrading or invalidating previous reviews, this bass is literally not the same as it was back in 2015-2021. The pictures on Thomann seem to show the older model - the one I got has a COMPLETELY different neck, based on the pictures presented by Thomann and on the older reviews here.

So, for that reason, before reviewing the "current" version (2025), I will point out the key differences (at least the ones I can manage to spot) between the 2 necks, since the neck happens to be one of the main areas of this bass that got major complaints from other users.

(For context, my bass got produced in September 2025)

1) It's no longer a 5-piece neck, the new version comes with a 3 piece maple neck. Feels smooth and solid from top to bottom.

2) The end of the neck (where it meets with the body of the bass) (aka the neck pocket area) has an approximate 1 extra centimeter of extra length compared to the old neck, most probably changed to address the major issue others had with this bass where the neck had bending/action problems because of a weak neck pocket area. My guess with this change on the new version is to provide extra surface area there to prevent that problem.

3) Speaking of the neck pocket area, the 4 screws that hold the neck with the body are slightly spaced differently on the new version compared to the old one, probably because of the woods extra surface area added to the new neck. As for the length of those 4 screws, I cannot tell you, since I haven't disassembled my bass and even if I did, I would not have a reference to compare them to.

4) And that's where the differences pretty much end in general, based on what I see when comparing the old Adam Clayton vs the new one. As far as hardware goes, it should be up to spec provided by Thomann here.

Now for the actual review.

Hardware:
It is my first Warwick bass, and I've been blown away by how versatile and easy to access/adjust this bass has been. From the nut, to the bridge, to the individual spacing of each string, everything is accessible and adjustable. It's simply amazing. Now I understand why Warwicks are on the expensive side of basses. I have COMPLETE control of where my strings are positioned on the fretboard. You can have small hands, you can have gigantic hands, you might like very small action, you might like long action, this hardware can be adjusted for any player.
Needless to say that I took the time to adjust it to my liking, and it fits and plays like a glove.
An extra note about the wooden thumb rest, previously people mentioned that it's positioned very well for when you use slap techniques, without interfering with your hand movements, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Because of that extra 1 cm length added to the neck on the new version, I personally felt it, not to the point that it's unplayable, but I know the thumb rest is there when I slap.

Sound:
This P-Bass special feature is that it has its pickups reversed, giving it a unique sound. It's more on the "growling" side, without sounding like a buzzing mess. I personally love it and it was one of the main reasons why I picked it up. Listen to the sound samples included on the product page here and you will understand.

Price:
For what you get, it's worth the price point of 1k euro, amazing pickups, potentiometers, body, finish etc etc.

If you like its look and sound, definitely pick it up.