Riddle me this...

[easelkillya]

I went down to Guitar Center today to buy some strings, and noticed that they had a Lava Pearl 4-string Bongo dual humbucker with a White Ice pickguard and a Piezo bridge. I had yet to play a dual humbucker, and I ordered one a few weeks back, so I decided it would be fun to play. Here's where it gets creepy... It sounded pretty mediocre. You couldn't even tell it was active. Does anyone have any explanation? It couldn't have been the bass itself, so I was wondering if it could've been a combination of bad strings, bad batteries, and/or misuse. It couldn't have been the amp or cab because I used exactly what I have at home, which isn't bad by any means. I might also add that I had the same reaction to the StingRays and Sterlings this same Guitar Center had. I went to a privately owned guitar shop that had a single humbucking Bongo a while back and was blown away by it. Any thoughts on this subject?

 

[basadam]

Room acoustics? I tend to believe that that factor has a huge impact on the sound! Also cab placement seems to be crucial, I remember once in a very crowded studio we never could get the sound we wanted. The studio owner has had placed guitar cabs on top of PA cab, we switched them so PA cabs were on top and that made a huge difference. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

>>>>Room acoustics? I tend to believe that that factor has a huge impact on the sound! Also cab placement seems to be crucial


Ditto

 

[bovinehost]

Guitar Center sucks the life out of everything it touches.

I think, though, if you buy it and get it out of there quickly enough, the life force comes back.

 

[easelkillya]

haha, I agree with you. Everything good turns to **** at Guitar Center. As for room acoustics, somehow I don't think that was it. I'm not saying that's not it, by any means, but I've played in a lot of different variations of clubs, bars, and even outdoors... Of course it's always going to be a factor, but my issue with that Bongo seemed physical. It was completely dead sounding... like those OLP basses, haha.