BONGO Passive Switch

[T28]

Tried a search but it pulled up like 200 threads so I got a feeling it missed the mark.

Anyway, are there any documented mods which would add a passive switch option to the BONGO?

Just curious if there is an easy way to do it and if I would get the tonal variations like I can with the PDN SR5 Gilded White or the BigAL?

 

[keko]

...or reflex?

However, ...I think that every bass should have passive/active switch!

 

[tunaman4u2]

Hes got that Big Al for passive!

 

[adouglas]

I think you may run into some technical difficulty doing this because of the way the Bongo is built. The body does not lend itself to the installation of toggle switches and the pots are all special surface-mount things unlike anything I've ever seen... they are not attached to the body, but directly to the circuit board. Therefore a push-pull pot switch will be hard (if not impossible) to find.

Open up your Dargie, dismount the electronics and you'll see what I mean. It's not like any other bass.

On every instrument I've ever seen besides the Bongo, all switches, pots etc. are bolted either to a plate (pickguard or control plate like the Stingray) or directly to the body's top face. On the Bongo, the holes are great big and the knobs just poke through them.

 

[Soulkeeper]

So one would have to make a mount of sorts, attached to the PCB in some non-destructive way, to put the switch on, and make a corresponding hole in the Bongo top for the switch to poke through? Sounds like a challenge. And then there's integrating it electronically.

So that's why the Bongo knobs are "recessed".

 

[tbonesullivan]

wouldn't it depend entirely on how the preamp is set up? if you pull the battery out of most active/only basses, you get no sound at all. The passive switch is almost like a preamp bypass, so it may need to be built into the circuit design at a fairly low level.

 

[Soulkeeper]

If you could just "hi-jack" the pickup outputs and route them directly to the output jack, bypassing the preamp and knobs and all, would there be any sound? Or do the pickups themselves require power in order to function?

 

[jlepre]

From my experience if you take out the battery, you get a VERY faint signal. Not sure how involved this mod would be, or if this is even possible. JMHO

 

[tbonesullivan]

If you could just "hi-jack" the pickup outputs and route them directly to the output jack, bypassing the preamp and knobs and all, would there be any sound? Or do the pickups themselves require power in order to function?

no, that would work, but you'd lose any ability to make adjustments from the bass. You'd also lose one of the biggest advantages of active electronics: buffered output. Having the active preamp isolates the pickups from the signal chain, and prevents signal loading and interactions with the capacitance of the cables used.

 

[adouglas]

It should be noted here that the Big Al and Reflex, which have Bongo-type electronics but also a passive option, have a separate, dedicated tone control for passive mode.

So if you want to keep all the controls the same on the Bongo (i.e. volume, pickup blend, hi mid/lo mid, treble/bass) you'd have to add a knob for passive tone.

Or you could sacrifice one of your controls, like pickup blend. But then you'd have to screw with the existing circuit.

Is this really all worth it? You've got that Big Al already....

 

[keko]

It should be noted here that the Big Al and Reflex, which have Bongo-type electronics but also a passive option, have a separate, dedicated tone control for passive mode.

So if you want to keep all the controls the same on the Bongo (i.e. volume, pickup blend, hi mid/lo mid, treble/bass) you'd have to add a knob for passive tone.

Or you could sacrifice one of your controls, like pickup blend. But then you'd have to screw with the existing circuit.

Is this really all worth it? You've got that Big Al already....

It's not a big deal AD, ...one of knobs could be used as a stack push-pull control knob which could do the job, switch and passive tone knob in one!

(something like shown on a LE Classic white/gold Stingray model)

 

[adouglas]

It's not a big deal AD, ...one of knobs could be used as a stack push-pull control knob which could do the job, switch and passive tone knob in one!

(something like shown on a LE Classic white/gold Stingray model)

Yeah, but... as noted above, the Bongo pots are special surface-mount units, not the ordinary shaft-mount ones found on the SR.

Don't know if a push-pull version of such a pot even exists.

 

[T28]

Is this really all worth it? You've got that Big Al already....

Don't really know but since all my other basses are both passive/active I thought this might be worth exploring. I love playing the BONGO but sometimes during a gig when playing classic rock or motown I think a passive sound remains truer to the song.... and yes, I could switch basses but our band is pretty tight and oft times run 6-8 songs in a row with no more than 3-5 seconds in between songs.

My other thought is to try the BONGO with some flats and see if I can bring out the crisp tone I love with the active controls but still dial it back to a thump.

Just ideas passing through my head.

 

[adouglas]

Don't really know but since all my other basses are both passive/active I thought this might be worth exploring. I love playing the BONGO but sometimes during a gig when playing classic rock or motown I think a passive sound remains truer to the song.... and yes, I could switch basses but our band is pretty tight and oft times run 6-8 songs in a row with no more than 3-5 seconds in between songs.

My other thought is to try the BONGO with some flats and see if I can bring out the crisp tone I love with the active controls but still dial it back to a thump.

Just ideas passing through my head.

Try turning your treble most of the way down and lowering the high mids.

Before I got the Big Al, my H Bongo (3 band EQ) was my main gigging bass. For Motown I'd put the treble at 25% or even less, mids just a tad higher than the treble (still cut a fair bit), and bass pretty much flat or possibly boosted a tiny bit. I use stock Slinkys (now Cobalts).

Also, assuming you play with fingers, pay attention to your right hand technique. Play more with the pads and less with the tips, and play up over the fretboard.

To hear this in action, hit my band website (linky in my sig), go to the audio link and listen to the clip of "At Last." Forgive the lousy timing and musicianship on my part. All I hear when I listen to recordings of my band are the flaws.

 

[stu42]

I think you may run into some technical difficulty doing this because of the way the Bongo is built. The body does not lend itself to the installation of toggle switches and the pots are all special surface-mount things unlike anything I've ever seen... they are not attached to the body, but directly to the circuit board. Therefore a push-pull pot switch will be hard (if not impossible) to find.

Open up your Dargie, dismount the electronics and you'll see what I mean. It's not like any other bass.

On every instrument I've ever seen besides the Bongo, all switches, pots etc. are bolted either to a plate (pickguard or control plate like the Stingray) or directly to the body's top face. On the Bongo, the holes are great big and the knobs just poke through them.

Wow....I did not know that. i guess I've never opened up my Bongo to look at the electronics before. Surface mount control knobs generally make for very difficult maintenance and are more prone to failure. I will have to look at that. It will make me more paranoid when I'm turning those knobs or handling my bass if I think that the wrong type of bump would potentially damage the circuit board.

It does explain how the knobs just emerge from the holes in the wood though. I never really thought about that before. I've also noticed that the volume knob on all of my Bongo's has tended to develop some looseness/play in it but I figured this was kind of for the same reason that the instrument jack on virtually every guitar I've ever owned has come loose over time and that it just needed a little tightening on the nut.

Hmmm...will have to investigate.

 

[adouglas]

Wow....I did not know that. i guess I've never opened up my Bongo to look at the electronics before. Surface mount control knobs generally make for very difficult maintenance and are more prone to failure. I will have to look at that. It will make me more paranoid when I'm turning those knobs or handling my bass if I think that the wrong type of bump would potentially damage the circuit board.

It does explain how the knobs just emerge from the holes in the wood though. I never really thought about that before. I've also noticed that the volume knob on all of my Bongo's has tended to develop some looseness/play in it but I figured this was kind of for the same reason that the instrument jack on virtually every guitar I've ever owned has come loose over time and that it just needed a little tightening on the nut.

Hmmm...will have to investigate.

I wouldn't worry about it. El-cheapo basses just a plain circuit board in the cavity. The Bongo electronics are attached to a very sturdy aluminum plate. Open up your bass... it looks like mil-spec in there.

 

[stu42]

Will do. I would expect the quality to be top notch given everything else that EBMM does. I can't imagine they would design something that wasn't built to last. It's just a little bit surprising to hear and it brings up memories of some bad designs other companies have done but am curious to check it out now.

 

[kamakazee]

I love reading these threads about mods. Even if they're not feasible, we learn so much about the EBMM bass in question.

 

[rizzo9247]

Making a Bongo passive would be like taking the engine out of a Ferrari and going Flintstones' style.

 

[T28]

I think some things just sound better passive and I have never been one of those bassist that switch between 2-3 basses a night depending on the song. I like to use one all night long or at least only 1 per set. Switching basses screws up the flow imho and also bogs a set down. I guess if you are in a band where you have a great front man who can chatter to the crowd for 3-4 minutes at a pop without sounding like an idiot, then one would have plenty of time to switch....but the group I am currently in are sticklers for a fast pace set with no more than 5-10 seconds in between songs with maybe a minute or two space every 6-8 songs to check tuning.

Being able to flip a switch on the BONGO for a song or two would take it beyond incredible into make believe land.