Bongo 5 HH Tone!!!!

[Baird]

I played around with the controls on my fretted Bongo for a while tonight trying to get the "perfect tone" and wow!!!! I still can't believe the tonal range of this bass! Not sure I am done fiddling with the 6 control knobs on this thing but I do know that I like the pickup selector right in the middle (both H's on) for most of what I play.

I do think this bass is terrible for slapping and popping, but it will be the only bass I use for EVERYTHING ELSE.

What a great sounding bass.

BTW, I am now strung E-C and it sounds even better than B-G IMO.

 

[MingusBASS]

I do think this bass is terrible for slapping and popping...

I don't know what do you think Stan?

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLyV5JLvxM0"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

I'm not Stan Sargeant or Dave LaRue for that matter, but even with my less than SUPERHUMAN chops the Bongo plays and sounds damn fine when I slap and pop it. To each his own I guess...

 

[Joe Nerve]

I'm home sick today with pink eye and the flu or something - so I spent about 7 hours of the day with my bongo in my hands. Learned a whole bunch o chili pepper stuff, cuz it's fun even though I know a lot of you guys aren't fans. Anyhow...

Did something I don't usually do. Messed around alot with the piezo only. Ya said you have 6 control knobs so unless I'm counting differently I think you may have one also. It's freaking awesome. I was appreciating bigtime how all the other tone controls work wonderfully on the piezo alone. I can make that dang bongo sound so mellow and sweet that it gets me fuzzy inside. Feel like I can constantly come up with new sounds, use the front pickup or back as a thumb rest, different attacks - and at the same time it always holds onto a certain Bongo quality. I always knew that a Stingray had a sound all it's own, but I'm starting to really identify with the Bongo sound. You can hear it in the Stan Seargeant vid. A clean yet thumpy metaly kind of thing I don't really hear in other basses.

Ahh... Bongo. I keep falling in love over and over and over again.

 

[bovinehost]

I've been sitting at home these last few nights, too, Joe, learning some tunes I always liked but never quite got around to learning - in my case, a Barenaked Ladies collection.

(BTW, I once caught "viral" conjunctivitis in the jungle. Let's just say it was a mess.)

I've been switching between the SR5 HH and the Bongo 5 H. Two very different beasts, but I've come to the same old conclusion. If I can't do it on a Bongo, I don't want to do it. (Not that there's anything at all wrong with the SR5. You need to try a dual hummer SR5.)

Jack

 

[Baird]

QUOTE=MingusBASS;325366]I don't know what do you think Stan?

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLyV5JLvxM0"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

I'm not Stan Sargeant or Dave LaRue for that matter, but even with my less than SUPERHUMAN chops the Bongo plays and sounds damn fine when I slap and pop it. To each his own I guess...[/QUOTE]


Let me rephrase that then.... The Bongo is not the best bass for slapping and popping IMO. I CAN slap on the Bongo, but I would prefer using my SUB4 or Warwick. The string spacing is too tight on the Bongo and the huge H pickups don't leave a lot of room to manuever between the bridge and neck.

Sheesh! Say one bad thing about a Bongo and you get roasted around here! You'd almost figure it is owned by EB or something.

 

[bovinehost]

The Bongo is not the best bass for slapping and popping IMO. I CAN slap on the Bongo, but I would prefer using my SUB4 or Warwick.

I'm a big fan of 'whatever works for you', but keep in mind that when the Bongo first hit the street, there was a lot of talk about how the dual pickup models were hard to slap/pop on - at first. Believe me, it was done to DEATH here.

I've heard that just a bit of technique adjustment makes all the difference, but I'm a straight-up fingerstyle guy, so maybe they were just saying that to make me feel better.

Sheesh! Say one bad thing about a Bongo and you get roasted around here! You'd almost figure it is owned by EB or something.

Oh, I've seen roasting. This wasn't roasting. I'm just glad you love your Bongo.

Jack

 

[MingusBASS]

I can't help you with string spacing(the Ray 5 has the same spacing) but the single H Bongo is a slap monster if you should choose to use it in that fashion.

 

[guitarafondio]

It's all about technique! All of our HH's and HS's you have to make a technique and position change if you want to slap and pop that bad girl! But, once you find that "sweet spot", look out!

 

[Figjam]

I don't know what do you think Stan?

YouTube - Ernie Ball - Stan Sargeant Plays A Bongo

I'm not Stan Sargeant or Dave LaRue for that matter, but even with my less than SUPERHUMAN chops the Bongo plays and sounds damn fine when I slap and pop it. To each his own I guess...

On top of the lefty ness playing tricks with my eyes, I think he has the bass strung in reverse, like a right handed bass? Jeff Schmidt does this. Perhaps it is because he learned on a right handed bass that he used to hold upside down.

 

[Baird]

Oh, I've seen roasting. This wasn't roasting. I'm just glad you love your Bongo.

Jack

Love it? My wife says I spend more time with the Bongo than with her since I recently bought it. She just knows a judge won't give her HALF just 'cuz I am cheating on her with a Music Man product.