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Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience

NBD: Bongo 5H - Roasted, Black Sugar!!

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stu42

Well-known member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
562
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Well....it's finally here!! The bass I've been obsessing over for over 3 years and...wow, what a beauty.

First thing...the finish is astounding on this bass. The Black Sugar is really, beautiful. It's almost impossible to get a good photo of it because it seems like cameras don't have enough visual resolution to properly display the sparkles. All of the photos I've seen, including the ones I've got here, show the sparkles as being much bigger than they are. At least one of my photos shows the bronze-like colour of the sparkles which is very cool. Of course, the roasted neck is gorgeous and feels great...'nuff said!

Second...I spent about 15 minutes playing it so far and...holy crap is the pickup ever hot!! It seems like it's got a crazy amount of output. If you want growl and overdrive this is the bass. It sounds very different than my Bongo 5HS. I'll have to play with it some more to be able to say anything intelligent about the sound, though, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks to Brad (bdgotoh) for being an awesome guy to deal with!!

Here's some pics (sorry, the plastic is still on the pickguard) ...that's all I got for now...gotta go play!! :p

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lefenton

lefenton

Well-known member
Joined
May 31, 2010
Messages
240
Location
Toronto
I believe that you have the first Roasted in Canada...at least among the forumites. Beautiful bass man!!! Wish I had the cash right now to acquire one from down south. They are beauties!!!
 
S

stu42

Well-known member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
562
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Thanks guys. This is definitely an awesome bass.

In addition to looking beautiful this Bongo Single H just barks and snarls and has a beautiful woodiness to the tone. It seriously makes my amp sound better!! It's got a ton of output, mind you, so when I tried it with my VT Deluxe pedal using the settings I'd developed for my Sterling (and Bongo HS) I was getting a fair bit of overdrive I wasn't planning for.

So, I turned off the VT pedal and, honestly, now I feel I don't even need the VT pedal. This bass definitely has a ton of punch and attitude - kind of like a Sterling on steroids - but, that said, just by changing the way I pluck the strings it can sound quite mellow, fat and deep. Regardless, it really sits in the mix so well....in a way that is very clear and does not get lost at all.

To me the tone has a lot in common with the regular Sterling / Stingray line - much more so than the HS/HH Bongo, I'm sure due in large part to the pickup position, but it has that signature Bongo power and "boing" due, I imagine, to the design of the electronics. That's my non-technical / layman take on it anyway.

Amazing!!
 
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