Question about Bongo 5 HS Piezo - bass EQ

[eno_hn]

Dear friends,

I've decided to ask you what do you think about my sound from Bongo 5 HS Piezo.

I have a problem.
No matter how many gain I put into the amplifier, when I turn my BASS (pot on guitar) full, I have distortion, fuzz, whateva'. On the 4th and 5th string . On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd there are no problems.

My question is , is that really necessery ?

It's not about pickup height, I tried every combination, I use ampeg svt3 pro, and ampeg 410 prhlf bass cabinet, and I used to have stingray before, but now I traded it for bongo, and since I started to use for the first time 5 string bass, I have that doubt about fuzz... On my amp - all flat, and on my guitar all flat except for example, bass full - and I get fuzzy tone on B string and E string.

Here are examples:

Bongo 5 HS Piezo Test folder - Folder Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

(in all samples, there are specifications about EQ settings ) number 8 is problem.

It's been recorded via Line6 Backtrack - directly.

and this is me

 

[TommyK-Stingray]

Hey nice looking bass man!!

Just a quick thing to check first..... How old are the batteries...?

Always worth trying some fresh ones in this situation, In my experience anyway

+ I only just got a Bongo myself and I think there will be very few occassions that i can see me ever needing the Bass pot full on!! It is a Very POWERFULL EQ dude!!

Hope you get this resolved soon...

 

[cellkirk74]

Boosting the Bass on the Bongo is too much for most amplifiers. Try to cut the highs / mids instead. Also check if your amplifier has a selector switch for active / passive instruments. Set it to active.

 

[stu42]

Yeah, I'd echo what the other guys said. If I turn up the bass pot on my Bongo 5HS to full my amp sounds like it's going to explode! On my Sterling I can turn up the bass pot to full and the amp can handle it but the Bongo's preamp is crazy powerful so....yeah, I would never think to turn the bass on full on the Bongo.

I like to boost the bass maybe 25% but I find that turning down the highs is really great to fatten up the sound. I also turn down the low mids a small amount. That makes the low bass frequencies stick out more and should provide a ton of punch.

Cheers!

 

[bassmonkeee]

I've owned Bongos with piezos for 7 years, and I've never once put the bass knob on full blast.

I think the best way to answer your query is with a joke:

Patient: Doc--it always hurts when I do this.

Doctor: So, stop doing that.

 

[eno_hn]

Hehe, first of all, thank you for all your comments. You were very helpful.

Now, I just want to say few things. Batteries are brand new I've set up my amplifier on ACTIVE mode ( that's -15dB switch ).

And, no, I don't need my bass EQ to be on maximum, I just wanted to ask you is that normal side effect. Because I don't think that that should be let's say, ''normal'', but if you all say the same thing, why bother anymore with same boring question hehe


Again, thank you all, I really appriciate

 

[adouglas]

IMHO maxing the bass EQ on a Bongo accomplishes much the same thing as revving a big-block V8.

It makes an impressive noise and puts a smile on your face, but serves no useful purpose beyond that.

Unless you want to knock stuff off tables or make hanging pictures crash to the floor, that is.

I agree that it's overdriving the input on your amp. Turn your gain down and see if it goes away.

 

[eno_hn]

it's not going away at all, as long as my full bass EQ pot is fully set. 90% is ok in any setup , but more than 90% is overdriving. no matter how amp gain I set. it's always overdriving, but I solved the problem with turning it not more than 90 %. It's a little weird for me, but, I can handle that.

 

[Manfloozy]

One thing to remember.... The boost/cut on the Bongo is no where near the same as a Stingray or Sterling. If you are dining it just because that's what you are used to... don't. The Bongo uses a completely different, 18v preamp. A little goes a LONG way. You should be able to get a similiar maxed Stingray sound with FAR less EQ gain. It's like kilometers and miles, different scale.

Beautiful bass, I hope you find the sound you are looking for!

 

[keko]

Pozdrav prijatelju iz Crne Gore!

Welcome our new Monte Negro friend!

Great looking Bongo You got there, ...may I ask where did You bought it?

For Your tone problems feel free to PM me so we could use our native neighbor languages for better understanding!

I hope we're gonna fix this problem for Ya!

Cheers!

Edit: ...it could be some piezo problem, but make contact to me via PM, so we'll see...

 

[groove]

Here is a small ex YU community...welcome Eno

 

[keko]

Here is a small ex YU community...welcome Eno

Yeah, I would say small Balkan community, sounds better to me ...never liked ex YU communistic regime but people are great here, so as our domestic etno music as well!

I just contacted Eno, this is just exactly Bongo I wanted to buy recently, I recognized it just like that!

I hope we will discuss this matter step by step in our native languages, so this overdrive problem will be solved soon!

 

[eno_hn]

Dear all musicians, I have an announcement to make. I've got set up my bass correctly now. There is no fuzzing, overdriving, fart, ecc. Where was the problem ?

First of all, my buddy keko told me to analize the problem. Is it fuzzing on the neck pickup, bridge pickup or piezo. So I made the recordings. During the playing - I noticed fuzzing that at the neck pickup and piezo, and the bridge pickup was ok. So I've opened the preamp and reduced the signal on the BLUE pot. I've turn it to practically 10% . And it was at the 50% . That helped. And also, I've opened the piezo pot, reduced every string - by 10 % and then generally reduced the gain by 15-20 % . So after that, everything went smooth as silk.

I will make the general review one day, with the pictures and sound samples and put it online, to everyone who have this problem.

Once again, my ''neighbour'' keko helped me with the idea of setting the knob inside. I guess our little ''ex Yu, or Balkan'' community here, is real thing hehe

Thank you Ernieball, for this beautiful guitars.


Eno, from Montenegro

 

[keko]

Yeah, it was a hell of the work, but I'm glad that Eno did it well!

I'm pretty sure that previous owner was messing around badly with piezo preamp, so as with S pickup electronic unit!

But thanks to Eno's steel nerves (and mine too ) we finally did it!

P.S. ...I think we could establish now "Balkan Customer Service" for EBMM products!

 

[J Romano]

Yeah, it was a hell of the work, but I'm glad that Eno did it well!

I'm pretty sure that previous owner was messing around badly with piezo preamp, so as with S pickup electronic unit!

But thanks to Eno's steel nerves (and mine too ) we finally did it!

P.S. ...I think we could establish now "Balkan Customer Service" for EBMM products!

This is why I love this forum, friends helping friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!