Family portrait: 8 basses, 40 strings

[sb69coupe]

On Sunday I had a couple fellow bassists stop in for a visit. One is considering joining the family of Knuckleheads and wasn't really familiar with the different models of EBMM basses. What better motivation is there to pull out the different models and do some side by side comparisons over a few beers?

He pretty much fell in love with the Sterling 5, but liked the versatility of the HH config of my Dargie SR5. He's going to borrow the Sterling HS5 for his church band rehearsal next week, to see how he likes it in a band setting. But I have a feeling that he's sold on EBMM and will be joining us real soon.

So, while I had them all out in the stands, I decided to line 'em up and take a pic. Sorry for the poor-ish quality, low light in the basement and I didn't have time to move them outside into decent natural light.

Top row, left to right. Dargie Delight SR5HH, Blue Pearl SR5H (2000 model), Trans Orange Sterling 5HS, Dargie II Sterling 5H.

Bottom row, left to right. 25th Anniversary HSS, Black Big Al 5H, Sterling Silver Big Al 5SSS, Mint Green Classic SR5H.

 

[five7]

Very nice!

 

[bassmonkeee]

Hubba hubba. Even without a Bongo in the lineup (what the hell?), that's still a damn impressive set of Balls.

 

[sb69coupe]

I know it's heresy 'round these here parts, but I have to say it anyway....

The Bongo is the only EBMM bass that I've been unable to bond with. I owned a Bongo 5 HHp and just couldn't quite come to love it the way I do with the rest of these basses. I traded it for the orange Sterling 5HS in the photo.

 

[bassmonkeee]

I know it's heresy 'round these here parts, but I have to say it anyway....

The Bongo is the only EBMM bass that I've been unable to bond with. I owned a Bongo 5 HHp and just couldn't quite come to love it the way I do with the rest of these basses. I traded it for the orange Sterling 5HS in the photo.

Having owned two Big Als, a Stingray and one 25th Anniversary that didn't last too long at Casa de Bassmonkeee, I can appreciate that not all Musicman basses are for everyone. If they were, we'd all own a black Stingray.

 

[KevinM]

Nice collection.

 

[ivbenaplayin]

very nice collection! I really like that Trans Orange Sterling... I have been checking out Sterlings lately in an attempt to divert myself from the thoughts of the Bongo I have on order...

 

[Chuck B]

Congrats on that great collection...

 

[five7]

which one gets the most play time?

 

[Sonnyonbass]

Nice! How are those Big Al 5ers?

 

[sb69coupe]

They all get gig time, each of them has been played on multiple gigs at this point. The silver Big Al gets a lot of play time, and the two Dargies don't see as many gigs due to the difficulty in replacing them if something were to happen.

I really dig the Big Al 5. The SSS is super versatile. I have used it on quite a few gigs and can cover everything from aggressive modern rock to bluesy p-bass tones. I got a great deal on the 5H, used, and bought it with the idea of refinishing it in a custom color sometime down the road. The 25th is probably the most versatile and best sounding one of the bunch, to be honest.

 

[stu42]

I know it's heresy 'round these here parts, but I have to say it anyway....

The Bongo is the only EBMM bass that I've been unable to bond with. I owned a Bongo 5 HHp and just couldn't quite come to love it the way I do with the rest of these basses. I traded it for the orange Sterling 5HS in the photo.

If you get a chance...try out a Bongo 5H. It's quite different than the HH/HS models. You may like it if you prefer a more traditional EBMM sound as I see the Bongo H as a highly evolved Stingray/Sterling whereas the HH/HS models are a different kind of beast - a very powerful beast but different.

 

[Arctic11]

That is a nice looking family!

 

[Holdsg]

Great collection, i love the mixture of colors, fretboards, models.

Reminds me of that song "88 lines about 44 women" for some reason.

 

[sb69coupe]

I should probably give a Bongo 5H a try, but honestly, the neck and I didn't really see eye-to-eye either. I prefer the wax finished necks, and maple fretboards.

The other thing that didn't play in the Bongo's favor was the length of the bass. I use a couple of hybrid cases for gigging, and leave the factory cases at home so they don't get all beat to death. The Bongo is too long to fit in those cases.

But perhaps I should re-visit a single pickup Bongo in the future......

 

[sb69coupe]

A buddy of mine grabbed the photo off facebook and did a photoshop hack on it. Here's the result.

 

[Holdsg]

that's at least,,,inspirational

 

[pnts]

Impressive..

 

[TSanders]

Wow. wish you lived closer to me, lol

 

[J Romano]

Nice hack job, very nice!!!!!