Hey Rex... it's your Big AL!

**OldManMusic** · 05-21-2009, 05:49 PM

I can picture George Jetson wailing on that jetting around the room! That is beautiful.

**Smakbass** · 05-21-2009, 06:28 PM

im envious....enjoy!

**nashman** · 05-21-2009, 07:59 PM

I'd like to see a MM video featuring the Big AL ...

**darkblack** · 05-22-2009, 12:45 AM

Interesting, eye-catching design. I'll be looking forward to playing one.

Might there be any plans to introduce the 2-way push button active/passive selector (perhaps as a push/pull pot) as an option for Bongos?

**MingusBASS** · 05-22-2009, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by darkblack

Might there be any plans to introduce the 2-way push button active/passive selector (perhaps as a push/pull pot) as an option for Bongos?

I can not predict the future, but I think it highly unlikely that you will see that happen. Just like you won't see Bongo guts in a Ray and a pickup selector switch on a Bongo.

**Big Poppa** · 05-22-2009, 06:15 AM

Never say Never but the bongo is what a bongo is and thats a lot.....

**darkblack** · 05-22-2009, 08:19 AM

Just like you won't see Bongo guts in a Ray and a pickup selector switch on a Bongo.

Both probably true from a factory perspective, but the latter is more a question of visual aesthetics...A switch altering the sleek visage, sounding a retro note within a modern design. What I am referencing is solely in terms of function.

Indeed, the Bongo is 'quite a lot'. Having a 4-band active EQ at your fingertips is a matchless feature but being able to call upon the passive tones of such a well-crafted instrument extends the possibilities further, as it no doubt does in the Big Al's case also.

**Big Poppa** · 05-22-2009, 08:21 AM

YOu have a good point but if we put exactly the same features in every bass the only difference would be neck and body shapes...also the player may not want what you may llike so we make multiple models and try to address the market

**Czar** · 05-22-2009, 08:37 AM

Can you report how this hangs on a strap?

**smallequestrian** · 05-22-2009, 09:08 AM

Pretty much like a Sterling. The strap connects in basically the same places and the neck is identical. The Big Al body is slightly thicker, than the Sterling, so the body might tend to be a bit heavier, but as always, wood varies.

I wouldn't anticipate any balance issue with the Big Al. It lays well on the leg too while sitting as well.

**darkblack** · 05-22-2009, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by Big Poppa

YOu have a good point but if we put exactly the same features in every bass the only difference would be neck and body shapes...also the player may not want what you may llike so we make multiple models and try to address the market

A sound strategy sir, and I would certainly concede your point. There will always be a subjective limit to how many features are desirable in an instrument.
A manufacturer could quite handily build a virtual 'Swiss Army knife' of a guitar but would a potential customer use it all, or even want to?
One of the 70's custom models in my possession has knobs and switches galore, every tonal variation possible given the tech of the times (and in stereo)...yet during live performance, I was overly adventurous if I was using but three of them.

I daresay the capacities of the Bongo (and possibly the Big Al although I must in fairness reserve judgment until actually having played one) are already far beyond basic, in any event. Thank you for entertaining my thoughts.

**Grand Wazoo** · 05-22-2009, 10:30 AM

Very nice and eloquently put, Mr. darkblack, I like your style and while all ideas are good in the originator's mind, not often as you've put it, these are met by the mass in the same way.

My only wish for a future EBMM production would be to have an humbucker with a coil split so that you can get both the humbucker sound and the single coil one. That alone to me, and for my peruse, would be more useful than a passive / active switch, because I tell you in full honesty I own two other basses (which shall go nameless) with the active / passive switch, so far in 22 years I have never used that feature in a live situation, and I am not a recording artist, which is probably where that feature might come handy... but the manufacturer of those basses said it was useful if you run out of battery while on stage and... what are the chances of that happening? Slim to none, I should say.

**darkblack** · 05-22-2009, 02:42 PM

Thank you for your kind words, GW. Indeed, a coil split could be most useful in an HS or H array, perhaps with a variable circuit for even further possibilities.

I would concur with your experience regarding active/passive switches...They really only have 2 uses, in recording studios to bypass the contouring of onboard preamps pre-strip EQ and as a quick method of reactivating a 'dead' bass onstage.
My interest is in the studio application, but I also like to minimize onstage risks...It's doubtful that sudden battery failure is a critical issue with my Bongo 6, however.

One of my other instruments with two passive single coils features a series/parallel push-pull which has expanded the classic tone palette it offers considerably, especially with 'scooped' funk styles. It never ends, does it?

**oddjob** · 05-22-2009, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by Big Poppa

Never say Never but the bongo is what a bongo is and thats a lot.....

Yes, it does. I never fail to get complements on my tone... regardless of the room or the rig. The Bongo was a stroke of brilliance... and I am afraid to play the Al until I have cash on hand (the wife has already threatened me) because if it is half as good as the Bongos I am in serious trouble.