I miss my Bongo...

[bassmonkeee]

You must not have your pickup heights set up correctly. My Bongos sound just fine with the neck pickup and bridge pickup soloed.

 

[Big Poppa]

makee each to his own...this is the first ive heard of either pick u pnot sounding good by them selves

 

[five7]

I agree, mine sounds great with either pickup solo'ed or any blend. I usually blend a little of one or the other before I touch the tone knobs.

 

[tunaman4u2]

You must not have your pickup heights set up correctly. My Bongos sound just fine with the neck pickup and bridge pickup soloed.

I actually started a thread on pickup heights. I love changing them around.

I think that people on this site dont come out & say certain things that people say on TB but I've heard the same thing about the Bongo often... but people including myself love the bass. I love soloing my Sterling HH bridge pickup. With the Bongo I blend about 50% between center & max for the bridge pickup to get the tone I like there, any bit past that & I feel its just not a "huge"...

I'll have to revisit this again later on tonight. Usually I don't grab the Bongo for MXPX, Less Than Jake like punk... I grab the Sterling but if I were to test if the Bongo bridge pickup soloed would fit, that would be the genre. I'll give it another go

The Bongo is my "Church" bass & its perfect for smooth, warm but still with a little bit of edge tone.

I used the Bongo the other day for some covers that drop tune... Summer of 69, Save a horse ride a Cowboy & it was great.

Bongo + Streamliner tube tone BTW is fantastic

EDIT: Going with Black Ice from Perfect bass for my guard, just ordered it

Can't wait to post new Bongo pics with Madbass (Again) ha ha ha

 

[bovinehost]

...this is the first ive heard of either pick up not sounding good by them selves

If I'm playing the HH and running everything fairly flat - often the case - it sounds great with the pan centered. What I do not expect is to then solo one pickup using the same EQ settings and have that be perfect, too. I believe this is why Moses brought us "knobs" down from that mountain, or maybe that was Dudley or Sterling, they all look a lot alike from a taxonomy point of view.

One my favorite things to do is solo the bridge pickup and bump up the low-mids and bass. It's such an angry sound. Not appropriate for all things, but that's how I ride.

 

[tunaman4u2]

One my favorite things to do is solo the bridge pickup and bump up the low-mids and bass. It's such an angry sound. Not appropriate for all things, but that's how I ride.

Very true, let me give it a second chance... usually I roll near center with EQ & it sounds wonderful... maybe when at extremes of the blend I need to extreme the EQ as well

 

[bovinehost]

You will thank me later.

 

[Big Poppa]

ok why did you have to bring up that people say things on another forum....The pickup heights are CRITICAL and should be lower rather than higher...the factory spec is carefully thought out with scopes and serious technical measurements

 

[madbassplaya]

I'm trying to decide what pickguard I wanna put on mine as well. I had no idea Black Ice was still being made and am leaning heavily towards that one.

Any thoughts, guys?

 

[tunaman4u2]

Its fun to try different heights to reach different tonal goals... it doesn't take a huge adjustment.
I've had a few EBMM through the years & gone & seen a bunch at the stores... seems like they are all a little different

The Bongo I just got had the neck pickup pretty recessed into the body, once I noticed & moved it to flush with the body it was clearly better for what I was looking for. The bridge pickup is a tad above the body & as I understand thats pretty much what yall are looking for

I just got my "other" bass from the shop so I'm giving that a whirl too vs the Bongo tonight...
Enough yappin & more playing... We'll see how it goes Bovine, thanks for the help\support boss

BTW: My EBMM are made so damn well they never have to see the shop, ha ha ha !

EDIT: So Bovine was right... the Bongo does sound pretty damn good open wide on BOTH the neck & the bridge pickup. (It may be that I haven't tried since I did the pickup adjustment) I don't even have to EQ as much as I thought. On my Bongo I do have the bridge pickup slightly diagonal with the poles closer to the neck higher a hair. The old Bongo I had definitely didn't sound as cool at the extremes. Its even better in the mix.

Thanks again Bovine! Glad you had me give it a 2nd chance!

EDIT 2: The "Other" bass went back into the case real quick, not even close to the Bongo

Bongo 5 + Sterling 4 pretty much covers all the tones I can think of (Although I am curious about the Reflex HH in place of the Sterling eventually with the right spacing)

 

[tunaman4u2]

I'm trying to decide what pickguard I wanna put on mine as well. I had no idea Black Ice was still being made and am leaning heavily towards that one.

Any thoughts, guys?

Take a stroll through Pickguardian, Pickguard heaven & Perfect bass... those are the go tos... I think you'd be great with a white pearloid\ice

Good luck mad!

 

[JayDawg]

Before I switched to Music Man basses, on my last brand that I used, I have a black and a metallic red bass. They were my main 2 for years. With my Bongo's, I want more. I absolutely love these basses so freaking much. I already have my black BFR roasted neck so I have thought about getting a metallic red one that is a 4H to compliment it. Then for my DDII, that is a 4HH, I would eventually like to get something to compliment it as well. If there is a 10th Anniversary Bongo next year, then that is probably what I'll get.

Now will the new tuners be option only or standard equipment?

 

[JayDawg]

Ahhh These threads make me feel less of an idiot for coming out with the Bongo...that and last weekend with Randy jackson, Dave La Rue and I all playing them...we all could have played any basst hat we make. Randy is determined to bring back the bongo played his blue one on Leno last week

BP, please don't ever feel like an idiot for making these basses! I have learned to love them. My DDII 4HH I bought without ever even playing a Bongo because you recommended it. I remember I was still a noob on here and commented that I was curious about the basses but didn't like the shape. You said to give it time and it would grow on me and you were right it did so I bought my first one out of curiosity. When I got it, I fell in love. When I had it on layaway at Bass Central, you guys started taking orders for the BFR roasted necks. You had said the 4H was your favorite configuration on the Bongo and even though I had still never played a Bongo yet, I ordered my BFR is a 4H configuration again because you recommended it and because I knew from other peoples posts that the 4H Bongo was a rare beast. Sure enough, I think only 4 or 5 were made in the roasted neck. Well, when I got both of those basses, I was blown away. They instantly became my 2 main go too basses. As a result, I am so glad you took the risk to make these things. I'm glad your not afraid to push the envelope and do something new. Thanks again for all you do!

 

[bovinehost]

When I see a Bongo in a color I don't have - and I know this is ridiculous - I secretly plot ways to get one. It is still, for me, THE BASS. I'm not exaggerating - seriously - when I say the Bongo changed my life. I want one in every color. I really do. I used to be a lot more interested in trading and buying and selling and wheeling and dealing and even now I look back at the photos of the ones I don't have anymore and think, "I wish I had that one back....and that one....and those two....."

Being who I am, whoever that may be, I sort of feel like I have to at least try every other Music Man bass and I'm doing a fair job of keeping up. I have or have had at least one of everything. ("At least.") And I'm in love with my 25th and plug my Big Al 5 in regularly and of course look forward to my Reflex on order. (I had a DREAM about this bass. Weird. Never had a dream about any bass before.)

But it's the Bongo for the win and has been for me since late 2003.

 

[KevinM]

I'm considering joining the Bongoloid crew myself

 

[Grga]

A good new year to the community, a very nice thread

 

[syciprider]

I only have one Bongo but I must admit that it beats my Rays (and my other brand basses) when it comes to tone.

 

[tunaman4u2]

I only have one Bongo but I must admit that it beats my Rays (and my other brand basses) when it comes to tone.

I'd still take my Sterling HH first, Bongo second & the rest of the pack I have... way back

 

[syciprider]

Had a Sterling 5 HS once. Number 4 was my fave setting.

 

[madbassplaya]

I pm'd a friend of mine on talkbass the news about me getting a Bongo again. He said: "man, those sound great, but I just can't get past the look." I asked: "have you ever played one? If not, you should and it's not about getting past the Bongo's look...it's about embracing it! The Bongo is a very sleek design. It's different, yes, but different isn't always a bad thing. I like that on stage I'm playing something that looks very unique and not the same thing that everyone else is playing."

The Bongo proves a couple of things:

1. Sterling Ball is a genius.
2. Some people just don't like change.