Is the piezo pickup on a bongo 4H supposed to be quiet?

[gpk]

I just got a great used bongo 4H bass with a piezo in the bridge.

The piezo pickup is really quiet compared to the humbucker. Is that normal, or is there a malfunction?

I've attached recording with HB only first, then the piezo only.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Golem]

I just got a great used bongo 4H bass with a piezo in the bridge.

The piezo pickup is really quiet compared to the humbucker. Is that normal, or is there a malfunction?

I've attached recording with HB only first, then the piezo only.

Any advice is appreciated!

View attachment 53232

They should be close to equal.

I run mine mixed close to 50/50, just very slightly dialed in favor of the piezo. But I have the HB lowered into the body almost as far as possible. I do that even on basses without piezos, so its not some crutch for weak piezo volume, but obviously if you set your HB raised up close to the strings, that will affect the mix.

Also if you use cobalt strings those will boost the HB volume but have no effect on the piezos.

More also, I just noticed your bass has frets. That might affect the mix. It would never have occured to me to have piezos on a fretted bass. Whyfor wazzup widdat ?

Last thing is the trim pots behind the bridge. There should five for a 4-string. One is is the master for all four saddles together. Check whether its set too low.

 

[gpk]

Thanks for the info.

Mine is not close to 50/50, so I suspect something is wrong. Like you, I lower my HB, not to correct for the piezo, but because I don't like hitting it with the pick if it's too high. But still the piezo is really quiet.

I bought the bass used and wasn't really aware that there was a piezo pickup until later . It's fabulous without the piezo, but I'm curious how I could use the piezo. With it being so quiet, it's not really useful.

I checked the time pots under the bridge, and they turned up all the way.

I put a query into Music Man tech support but haven't heard back. I’m thinking maybe I should just take it to a local luthier. There's no shortage of ace luthiers here in Toronto.

Anyway, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Cheers!

 

[Golem]

Thanks for the info.

Mine is not close to 50/50, so I suspect something is wrong. Like you, I lower my HB, not to correct for the piezo, but because I don't like hitting it with the pick if it's too high. But still the piezo is really quiet.

I bought the bass used and wasn't really aware that there was a piezo pickup until later . It's fabulous without the piezo, but I'm curious how I could use the piezo. With it being so quiet, it's not really useful.

I checked the time pots under the bridge, and they turned up all the way.

I put a query into Music Man tech support but haven't heard back. I’m thinking maybe I should just take it to a local luthier. There's no shortage of ace luthiers here in Toronto.

Anyway, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Cheers!

The trim pots are not normally set to maximum. That suggests a prior owners attempt to deal with too-quiet piezos. Have one of your local luthiers check it out.