Bongo Piezo

[naruki]

Anyone got any sound clips of a Bongo being played with the piezo on?

 

[keko]

It's really hard to find Bongo with piezo demo sound sample, ...I tried on the YT, ...nothing!

I only can try to describe what I tried at my dealers store..., ...amazing and wonderful!
It was Beautiful Blue Pearl Bongo 5 HSp model!
Piezo sounds so acoustic, nice streaming fluid tone, reminds me on fretless double bass sound, ...something like that!

 

[melvin7822]

If you can wait a few days, I have a Bongo 5 HHp arriving soon.

 

[tunaman4u2]

I have one now, no clips though. Its hard to explain. I don't have it turned up much if at all. Its like the bridge pickup without any lows, clanky. Its cool to blend into a warm tone though when needed.

 

[naruki]

Does it add a growl to the Bongo's tone when blended in? I love growls I can't find one in Atlanta to try out.

And I can wait, Melvin please and thank you.

 

[tunaman4u2]

Oh it adds growl, but the thing is I can do that MANY ways

1) Boost low mids & cut lows
2) Boost high mids
3) Favor bridge pickup

You be totally fine without it, its just another way of getting growl thats a little different. Its cool to be able to add grit to your tone on the fly but if thats the tone Im shooting for I prefer just to use the above 3.

 

[naruki]

Yeah I love the bridge pickup + mid growl. One thing I found out is that if you boost the mids and bass at the same time, you can get this really sexy deep growl.

 

[tunaman4u2]

For sure but I usually like to have my lows & low mids doing opposite things to not overpower the rest of the range. At best I'll have one boosted & the other neutral & then use my upper mids to grit in or out.
I'm mostly playing Gospel right now so the Piezo stays off for that stuff... and I don't use a 5 string for punk.
I'll have to play with the piezo more but I'm POSITIVE I wouldn't look for it on my next bass, color would be a much higher priority

 

[bassmonkeee]

This is something I did a looooong time ago that I recently rediscovered. Considering what I chose to play, I can only assume it was around Christmas of 2004 or 2005....

In all cases, the EQ is set flat. The mag/piezo balance is at 50/50. I want to say the bass was recorded direct through a Low End tube preamp.

I really like the piezo setup. I've owned 5, or 6, Bongos. I've sold everyone that didn't have piezos, and kept everyone that did.


Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, both pickups, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_both_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, both pickups, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_both_flat_no.mp3

Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, neck pickup, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_neck_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, neck pickup, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_neck_flat_no.mp3

Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, bridge pickup, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_bridge_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, roundwounds, bridge pickup, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HH_bridge_flat_no.mp3


Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, both pickups, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_both_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, both pickups, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_both_flat_no.mp3

Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, neck pickup, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_neck_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, neck pickup, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_neck_flat_no.mp3

Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, bridge pickup, piezo on

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_bridge_flat_yes.mp3

Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, bridge pickup, piezo off

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_bridge_flat_no.mp3


Bongo 5HH, flatwounds, piezo only

http://home.mindspring.com/~bionicman/Bongo_5HHflats_flat_only.mp3

 

[keko]

bassmonkee, ...that was great demo! Thanks for Your time!

In the mean time I've found this from our forum friend member Alvabass, ...it's HHp 5 Bongo in interesting Latino style bass line, ...according to tone I suppose that this solo is played with piezo in the mix:

"La Candelosa": Una de las mejores líneas de bajo latino (tropical) en existencia. - YouTube

 

[cellkirk74]

I also like this one:
(LATIN) Fretless Salsa: Héctor Lavoe's "Escarcha" - YouTube

 

[tunaman4u2]

Great clips Monkee but the question is what are the strings?

I thought the flats & rounds were surprisingly similar so I'm thinking you have the EB Group III \ Chromes as flats?

 

[bassmonkeee]

Yeah, I believe those are relatively new Group III flats in the recordings.