Ambassadors Of Bongo-lia....

[shakinbacon]

You guys are killing me. I've decided to get a bongo with the first couple of paychecks from my new job...I can't wait!

Let us help pick the color for you

 

[7broccos]

Complete tonal variety,stacked mids ,and the neck.........

 

[markbass99]

After many years of playing four string basses(mostly Rics), I decided I wanted an extended range bass. I heard a lot of good things about the Bongo fiver by a guy named Jack, he can be very persuasive. All I know is Jack was completely right about the Bongo five. To me the five plays as easy as a four but with all the benefits of a five. So you might just hang all your four string basses on the wall and look at them, it's that good. I consider the Bongo five to be the Swiss Army Knife of bass guitars.

 

[adouglas]

My resident guitard friend wants BP to make a "Bongo guitar"... yeah... that good.

Show him this prototype, then tell him it will never happen. Because Sterling said so.

 

[OldSchool Noob]

I have posted this more than once across the Interwebs. The Bongo is a Nuclear Cruise Missie of tone. But it comes in a totally unique package.

"The Bongo is like a Saab. Curvy, quirky, and a lot of people don't understand them.
People who do, love them."​

 

[21niko21]

Let us help pick the color for you

I might have to do that. I would love the ice blue 5 that basscentral has up (if it's there), but I really want to get an HHp and I can't decided between the colors available for those. I think sterling silver is in the lead right now, but I have about 5 more weeks to change my mind several more times.

 

[boyet]

Show him this prototype, then tell him it will never happen. Because Sterling said so.

The headstock is not quite Bongoish...

 

[MrMusashi]

and stealth pickups too

MrM

 

[adouglas]

The headstock is not quite Bongoish...

Common on the prototypes we've been privileged to see. At least one of hte Big Al prototypes had a Sterling neck.

IMHO this was obviously a body design exercise to see if the Bongo shape would work in guitar form.

For whatever reason, I guess it was not deemed worthy of further pursuit.

Personally I quite like it, and if it reached production I probably would have bought one. Oh, well.

 

[7broccos]

Play one for 5 minutes and be ready to start looking to buy!

 

[ZiggyDude]

OK - now that we have got your focus - time to buy which one fits you.

I have two and they are half related. An HH and an HS.

Simply say "Bongo Yes" as far as the bolt on selection goes you are in the top choices in the prce range. So, go for it.

You need to tell us "What Sound" yoe are going for. Boink, Rumble, Rasp. "Da Blues" eh "Dead Flat", and so forth.

 

[sitonmybass]

you owe it to yourself to test drive a Big Al as well. They are both great basses.

I agree with Aussie Mark.

 

[Randracula]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLyV5JLvxM0"]YouTube- Ernie Ball - Stan Sargeant Plays A Bongo[/ame]

 

[RocketRalf]

I'm not on the market for a bass, not in the next 4 years anyway, but I am still quite interested in this topic too. What has the Bongo to offer that the Reflex, with it's 4 band EQ and either HSS or HH config, does not?

 

[adouglas]

Different pickup placement, different wood means different sound.

Reflex has the bridge humbucker in the sweet spot. The Bongo doesn't, unless you get an H.

Bongo has pickup blend - Reflex has pickup switching (therefore you can get combinations not possible with the Reflex).

Bongo has no passive option - therefore you have an option not possible with the Bongo.

Bongo has all-neodymium magnets. Reflex humbuckers are ceramic, single-coils are neodymium.

We know that the Reflex has a 4-band EQ, but we don't know if it's the same circuit used in the Bongo.

What all this adds up to is that the Reflex is not going to sound like the Bongo.

 

[RocketRalf]

That's all correct, but it doesn't tell me what the difference IN TONE is. From what I gather, the Bongo has a deeper, fuller tone with plenty of fundamental, which makes it shake the stage and feel it in the chest. The Reflex, with it's more traditional pickups, should be somewhere in between that and the lovely, classic middy Stingray sound. Now can the Reflex, with the active EQ, shake the stage like the Bongo? Or can the Bongo be tamed down to a more Ray like tone?

 

[DTG]

i miss my bongo!

i really want a bongo 5 HH ! but i have way too many basses and not near enough money mmmmm

 

[adouglas]

Now can the Reflex, with the active EQ, shake the stage like the Bongo? Or can the Bongo be tamed down to a more Ray like tone?

Since the Reflex isn't even shipping yet and you need first-hand feedback from someone who has tried both it and the Bongo at length, I suspect that you're not going to get a definitive answer to the former at this time.

Even then, it will be entirely subjective. This is the fundamental problem with these sorts of queries. What I think is fantastic tone might not be your cup of tea. There really is no substitute for first-hand experience and that's a cold fact.

Regarding the latter, the Bongo certainly does have a more aggressive character than the Stingray in my opinion (which is worth exactly what you're paying for it... nothing). Can you get it to sound just like a Stingray? Of course not, for all the reasons already stated... different pickups, different wood, etc. etc.

Can you get it to sound close? I suppose that there will be some combination of pickup configuration (the Bongo H will probably get closest because of the pickup placement) and tone control setting where the differences will be relatively minor (that's a music joke, son). But again, this is subjective and of questionable usefulness because once you move away from that one particular sound, they will diverge again.

I will say you can get a very, very wide variety of tone out of the Bongo both through the preamp and by moving your plucking hand. I often play with my right hand well up over the fretboard when I want to get a sound that's more muted and woofy.

 

[stu42]

Just to clarify....when I look at the photos of the Reflex HSS it looks like the bridge pickup is not in the "sweet" spot (AKA usual Single H position) whereas the Reflex HH does appear to have the bridge pickup in the sweet spot.

Not sure if I'm right but that's how it looks to me.

Can anyone confirm?

 

[MadMatt]

Can anyone confirm?

I have a 25th HH and can confirm. The bridge pickup is at the sweet spot and is simular the trademark Stingray sound. All 4 coils is big... very big... see sig.

-M@