Question ...help me choose a Bongo spec :)

[Movielife]

Right, its 2012, and I have wanted to try a Bongo since they first came out.

For some reason, I have never taken the plunge.

I want to order now the new tuners are out, and now I've got into my career.

I don't know what spec to get....I love my 5ers, but for my current bands, a 4 works really well.

I'm thinking of a HH or HS; I'd like a non-sweetspot bridge H for a tighter Musicman bridge tone

So, it will be a 4 HH or HS.

Next, colour. Has to be bright and bold. Must have a Pearl White Guard.

Sky Blue or Tangerine Pearl?

Can anyone advise on the pup configuration and the colours?

Cheers!

 

[KevinM]

Tangerine Pearl HH. Have you thought about adding a piezo?

 

[drTStingray]

Have you thought about adding a piezo?

Seconded - you really should

I couldn't choose between the two..........could you have both??

Btw the Strings and Things site (Musicman-uk) does show some Bongos in stock I think - you could try and get a dealer to get one on appro and try it. They have a very cool sky blue one I think (brought it to the bass guitar show - it was HH with cobalts)

 

[JayDawg]

I prefer the HH configuration. Very versatile and I think it looks better.

 

[ivbenaplayin]

If I had the basses you have in your sig, I'd go with a 4Hp... in sky blue (I'm biased towards the blue because I have one that color on order)

 

[stu42]

For what it's worth, the Bongo H already has a tighter bridge pickup tone/response compared to a Stingray or Sterling even though it's in the sweetspot. I can't say what is responsible for that - perhaps the Neodymium magnets or the 18v pre-amp. However, you can hear the family resemblance to a Stingray/Sterling but it is tighter and super punchy by itself and produces a very detailed, gnarly sound if you want it to.

From my memory from when I had a Bongo HS, I'd say that the bridge humbucker soloed on a Bongo HH/HS is probably closer in sound to the Big Al SSS bridge pickup soloed. So, that definitely is even tighter but definitely reproduces a lot less bass unless you boost the lows a fair bit - which will give it a very angry/aggressive sound but is not as full sounding.

There's no doubt the HH/HS models will produce a wider variety of tones but there is some serious magic in the Single H. Here's another thing to think about...HH/HS models (especially HH models) are fairly easy to find on the used market if you wanted to try one but the Single H models are hard to find used.

They're all great, they really are. I like to try to promote the single H though mainly because it seems to be the one that gets overlooked and I think it really deserves much more attention. More is not necessarily better - it's just different in this case. The Single H Bongo is quite a different animal than the HH/HS - more point and shoot but very satisfying.

My two cents.

 

[kamakazee]

Tangerine Pearl HH

 

[keko]

From what You wrote above, ...I'd recommend HH pickup config., ...also if white pearl PG than Sky Blue, ...if Tangerine pearl than black or tort PG!

That's my personal opinion according to Your wish list from the first post!