YAY!!! First day off in ages tomorrow BASS DAY

[Grand Wazoo]

YAY!!! First day off in ages tomorrow BASS JUDGEMENT DAY

Finally I get off this ship for a day and I am planning to go bass hunting, well *window shopping* the idea is to go first down Tin Pan Alley and see if the've got a Bongo for me to try and then I am planning to go to the Bass Centre further into Central London for the same purpose. Meantime my beloved one will be touring shops in Alberta Canada looking for a "deal" (some 7 hours behind us.... she'll be keeping me informed by phone) exciting isn't it?

Any Londoner low enders fancy meeting for a coffee and a chat in Starbucks? (rule one, no talking bout ships/cargo/ports or sailor stories, p-lease!)

 

[oli@bass]

Sounds like a ton of fun! Hopefully some London forumite will have time to join you...

 

[adouglas]

I don't know if Bass Centre's website only shows instruments they've got in stock or not, but there is a picture of a candy red Bongo 5 HH with an abalone guard on their website.

Bring a drool bucket. You'll need it.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

I don't know if Bass Centre's website only shows instruments they've got in stock or not, but there is a picture of a candy red Bongo 5 HH with an abalone guard on their website.

Bring a drool bucket. You'll need it.

What???​

You're serious? Sheeeeeee* let me check their webbo!

Cheers for the tip

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Indeed they have http://www.basscentre.com/product.asp?pID=22&cID=6

Tomorrow can't come too soon

 

[adouglas]

Oops. Correction.

That's black pearl, not abalone, I think.

Be prepared for the depth of the finish either way.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

.... insert swear words in random succession here!!

The Bass Centre in London is no longer an outlet, they have closed to the customer recently and only sell via the internet. Apparently many will follow suit because the internet way of shopping is undercutting salerooms and they can't afford to stay open. It's a sad affair because the consumer will have no choice to try before you buy. I am totally angered by this. Waste of a &%#*ing day off.

Oh and those tossers in Tin Pan Alley couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery either.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

.... insert swear words in random succession here!!

The Bass Centre in London is no longer an outlet, they have closed to the customer recently and only sell via the internet. Apparently many will follow suit because the internet way of shopping is undercutting salerooms and they can't afford to stay open. It's a sad affair because the consumer will have no choice to try before you buy. I am totally angered by this. Waste of a &%#*ing day off.

Oh and those tossers in Tin Pan Alley couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery either.

I phoned the Bass Centre and was told that they can let people try stuff by appointment only at a secluded warehouse somewhere out of town. By appoitnment?? Sod that. w~~~ers

 

[Aussie Mark]

The Bass Centre in London is no longer an outlet, they have closed to the customer recently and only sell via the internet. It's a sad affair because the consumer will have no choice to try before you buy.

I've owned 7 EBMM basses, and only tried 2 of those before I bought. I'm yet to be disappointed.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

I've owned 7 EBMM basses, and only tried 2 of those before I bought. I'm yet to be disappointed.

Good for you Aussy Mark, but I am not like you. To me the Bongo is unchartered territory, an instrument I have never tried before in my life.

See, I am pretty much old school and your statement would be true if I was in the market for a StingRay which has become industry standard, in fact you know you can't go wrong with an SR or SR5.

However I would need to learn and familiarize myself with the new wizardry of this Bongo before I could be confident that it is the one for me. Which is exactly what I did today when I finally found a couple of Bongo's to try...

Sadly I regret to tell you and the rest of the people here that loves the Bongo's that I am glad I've managed to try one today before buying, unfortunately we are all different people and all like different things, I am certainly not a trend follower and I like to test anything before I can commit to it.

Hence, sorry to all those who own and love their Bongo, but it's not the bass for me. Obviously there is nothing wrong with it, the manufacturing and the hard look played a little part, but for me I just don't like the way the neck feels, I can't get on with the way the controls work, I don't need to look down on a bass to make sure I increase the correct mid pot, and with this bass you have to do just that, I find it very confusing with a stacked pot that does lo-mids and hi mids and the other stacked pot that does bass and treble, plus the pan pot for the 2 pickups all adds to more confusion to a simple man like me. So it's really my limitations and not those of the bass itself.

I played these basses through a Mesa Boogie 400+ head through a stack of 4 x 10 of some sort (Ashdown?) so a rig which was able to give an accurate sound rendition and I set all the amp controls to a flat line, without boosting any eq settings, and still the sound from the bass was not to my taste in any combinations I tried.

So in a nutshell: no, I am not going to get a Bongo and I will happily stick with my single H Stingray5 which is very much the devil you know as far as I am concerned.

The shop in which I've found the Bongo was the Bass Cellar in Tin Pan Alley and they had an orange metallic 4 HH and a stealth 5 in HS. Both well setup and with newish strings. God I am glad I tried it before my gf bought it while she is in Canada. In fact as soon as I left the shop I've sent her a text message saying don't bother Luv, don't buy that bass. I don't like it.

God bless Stingray5's, next one I will get is going to be an HH one.