👕 Get New Ernie Ball Merch Now!
  • Ernie Ball
  • Music Man
  • Sterling by Music Man
John Myung Bongo 4

Question stingray and bongo settings for quick changes

fevitz

fevitz

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Messages
111
Location
gold coast australia
Hi everyone , my question is , my svt3 is set-up to my 2006 stingray H which i believe is a ceramic p/up and am completely happy with the sound i get in any venue i play in , so when i need to use the bongo , ive had to change settings on the amp . Should i ! or would it be better to leave the amp settings as they are and adjust only the 2 double preamp knobs on the bongo to achieve a quicker adjustment ? The bongo HH booms on the E & A if i dont do anything . I havent tried this yet but would like to know if other players do this , and is it a better way to go ? Also i havent moved the pick-up position from its factory setting since i bought it new , so should i be thinking about raising the D & G end to compensate for the xtra volume from the E & A ? Id like to hear any advice regarding this . Thanks !!!
 
You will have a alter the amp for the difference between the 2 man

If I were you... I'd take a picture on my phone of the settings I like with the Stingray H & then setup the amp for the best Bongo tone & take another picture of the amp settings

I have to do this for different guitars & cabs. Very fast change & I have a Shuttlemax 9.2 with a million knobs
 
I use the TECH 21 VT Deluxe...it has programmable settings. That's as easy as it gets.

OR ...lower the volume knob on the BONGO..that's What I do...I have a RAY V and the BONGO
 
Sounds like ive got to go it this way , unless i try MK,s advice and invest in something programable . Ive always had my bass controls set to full and only set the amp , but now i have 3 ill probably need to think about keeping records . Those bongo preamp controls really very powerful so ill need to hold back with the amp settings
tunaman4u2 said:
You will have a alter the amp for the difference between the 2 man

If I were you... I'd take a picture on my phone of the settings I like with the Stingray H & then setup the amp for the best Bongo tone & take another picture of the amp settings

I have to do this for different guitars & cabs. Very fast change & I have a Shuttlemax 9.2 with a million knobs
Click to expand...
 
I never touch the controls on my PUMA 900. I do all my adjustments on the bass that I am currently playing.
I think it is easier to adjust the bass to sit in the mix vs changing the amp settings.....plus if you are running the amp rig through a DI jackin with the amp after the soundman has things set up is not a way to get in his good graces.
 
T28 said:
I never touch the controls on my PUMA 900. I do all my adjustments on the bass that I am currently playing.
Click to expand...

This! At church, when I play in my worship team, I often switch basses out every week. As a result, I simply do all of the adjustments at the bass. Much easier to do things this way and a lot easier for our sound guys too.
 
For me...I did my soundcheck..I was a good boy..

that LAST thing I wanted to do was start adjusting on the fly during a song...yeah...even with a volume knob.

The pedal made it easy for me. I had about 4 seconds while the idiot drummer would count off the song, watching me make the switch...god forbid he would wait ya know...!

The BONGO is so different, I just preferred using the pedal to make it easy on me.
 
MK Bass Weed said:
For me...I did my soundcheck..I was a good boy..

that LAST thing I wanted to do was start adjusting on the fly during a song...yeah...even with a volume knob.

The pedal made it easy for me. I had about 4 seconds while the idiot drummer would count off the song, watching me make the switch...god forbid he would wait ya know...!

The BONGO is so different, I just preferred using the pedal to make it easy on me.
Click to expand...
Hey M K , your drummer sounds like a consciencious pain in the ars . Id be thinking of ways of getting revenge , maybe loosening the screw on his bass drum kick beater when hes not looking . Adjusting the bass seems definitelythe way to go , so im gonna have to make a little compromise with the SR4 settings on the ampeg as the bongo doesnt quite do it for me with these settings , but the bongo,s gut feeling bottom end blows me away . Ill figure it out with my back to the wall !!! wall of sound that is !!!
cheers rick (fevitz)
 
fevitz said:
Mynan ive always had all ray knobs full on and set it all via the amp .
Click to expand...

That's a lot of boost...and probably not the way to get good tone from your Bongo. I think I would set the Bongo volume full, eq flat (center detent) and adjust the amp until you get the sound you like. Then plug in the 'Ray with volume full, eq set flat (center detent) and boost the eq until it matches the Bongo.

That may or may not work for you. For a while I had a Bongo5 and a 'Ray 5 and didn't notice a huge volume difference between the 2, but I keep the eq mostly flat. With the active eq on these basses, a little goes a long way. With the Bongo having an 18-volt preamp, you are going to get even more boost from the eq.

Cranking the tone controls on your active bass is like cranking the tone controls on your amp. You can set it that way if you like, but it's a little extreme and not how it was designed to be run.
 
I've used a Classic SR4 and a Bongo HH in the same set.

The problem I have is amp input stage volume - for the SR4 I use passive setting but the Bongo is much too hot for that - has to have the active pad setting unless I turn it right down (my Mark Bass doesn't have this issue - just turn down the input volume). My SR5H ceramic's output is not as hot as the SR4 Classic so this would be an even bigger issue swapping basses.

I'd start with the controls on the Bongo flat and adjust to suit the room or what you're playing - that EQ is massive, as you will know - a little goes a long way. Also, settings for an H Ray may well sound more bassy if you start playing the Bongo with the pu blend anywhere from centre towards neck pick up - you may have to reduce bass on your amp or on the bass to compensate - or have the blend knob the bridge side of centre detent.
 
Last edited:
Both mynan and dr T , your replies make sense . The bongo volume is louder than the SR4 and i think thats been half the battle . The SR4 with all eq full on is not as overdriven sound compared to the bongo with the same settings on the amp . So it makes sense to set the bongo eq flat (centre detent) the ray gets toppy and the bongo is perfect OR the ray is perfect and the bongo is way too hot . Bongo really,really is potent . I thought that by dropping the pickups down (HH) i could get the volume level the same as the ray (H) with volumes on full . I lowered them as far as they would go and the bongo was still louder , stands to reason i guess . Im looking forward to trying your idea , so ill let you know how it goes when i reach nirvana
 
I run all my basses with the mode set to "active", as even though the standard volume isn't that much above normal, when you boost the mids and bass it can get kinda hairy.
 
tbonesullivan said:
I run all my basses with the mode set to "active", as even though the standard volume isn't that much above normal, when you boost the mids and bass it can get kinda hairy.
Click to expand...
Yes and spkrs dont like it . Your 4H & 5H alnico p/ups id imagine would be a closer match to the HS ceramic than my H ceramic & neo HH though ! ive got an alnico on my 5 string , i find it a nicely fits between the 2 others .
 
Dr T brought up an excellent point about using the pickup blend knob... don't know how you usually run it on your bongo. I dont usually switch between different basses during a gig, but I've found that rolling the blend knob to favor the bridge pup more will get rid of the boom and actually cut through the mix better without messing with the eq on the bass or the amp... just a thought that I agree with. Disclaimer: I play through a Gallien-Krueger 2001 RB, not Ampeg...
 
ivbenaplayin said:
Dr T brought up an excellent point about using the pickup blend knob... don't know how you usually run it on your bongo. I dont usually switch between different basses during a gig, but I've found that rolling the blend knob to favor the bridge pup more will get rid of the boom and actually cut through the mix better without messing with the eq on the bass or the amp... just a thought that I agree with. Disclaimer: I play through a Gallien-Krueger 2001 RB, not Ampeg...
Click to expand...
Its my first HH bass so up till now ive had it set mid way which is all about to change .
for the better part today rolling the blend knob whilst seeking a good all round position for the pre-amp . I am getting closer to it as im noticing the electro magnetic" "sound" (thats what i call it ) on the G string is starting to go and im now beginning to get some sustain back . The pickups will need to be raised !!! or will they ???
 
I have found that in general while I may like the sound of mid way or the neck pickup more on basses, that the bridge pickup is what will really help cut through the mix in a live situation. Also mid-way you do get some degree of phase cancellation when the two pickups are mixed together.

On the bongo, are the pickups wired together in series or parallel? Not the pickups themselves, but the connection between the two.
 
Fevitz don't get me wrong on this. The blend knob on the Bongo in the centre or towards the neck is just great for a nice focussed bassy sound - absolutely fabulous for ballads and the like where you want to fill out the sound. But it will sound very different from the Ray if you run it like that - great if it suits the music style, not so good if it doesn't.

When I got my Bongo (used via Duarte, who in turn got it from Stingray96161) the neck pick up was flat against the pick guard - BUT it still was loud!! I emailed CS and asked for settings as I knew the Bongo pick ups are hot - the settings they gave me were basically as per the HH Ray, with the neck pick up a hair lower. You will not lose volume by lowering the pu (well not a lot anyway) - in fact Golem talks about having them very low deliberately, to suit his playing.

I'm guessing you will have to lower the input gain and possibly the volume on the Bongo. I even used to have to do this swapping between a 2 band Ray and a 3 band Ray fretless - well actually it was a mid range issue with that changeover as the 3 band had more mid at centre detent and thus more apparent volume.

Or you could go with the type of thing Keko mentioned - I'm afraid I'm too lazy to have loads of extra outboard stuff.

TBone - not sure of the answer to your question - I think it only applies to PU wiring (not sure whether the Bongo is series or parallel) but the Bongo, to me, just has a plain blend knob which give you full bridge PU and one end of the range and full neck PU at the other, and a graduated scale in between - I have a further complication (nice one though) in a piezo, which also has a blend control - blend between magnetic and piezo.

On other MM basses you get coil selectors. And yes, you get more scooped sound with both pick ups running full (as with many two pick up bass) (this is very apparent on my SR4HH which has a fabulous scooped slap sound with both pick ups in H mode). I haven't noticed it so much with the Bongo though.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Jacquard Straps
Back
Top