bovinehost
Administrator
Crucial point.
But then everyone is going to have their favorite. Right?
I played Music Man single pickup basses for so long that I never really even considered there might someday be something else. Really. So when rumors were swirling and there were photos here and there of Dave LaRue playing this INSANE looking thing with two pickups, I was.....well, "interested" doesn't quite cover it.
My buddy Lowell went to NAMM that year and, knowing me as he does, sent me photos right quick of the Bongos.
Well.
There was a flurry of internet crap, of course. Some thought it was a horrid thing, and why was it called a Bongo, anyway? Me, I was looking at the first dual pickup Music Man bass and thinking, "That's for me."
So my first Bongo - and I still have it - was an HH and it made quite an impression, to say the least. Heh. "An impression." So anyway, I have a soft spot for HH Bongos, but a few years back, after being harangued (in a nice way, of course, because he's always nice) by BP about the single H being the "secret weapon", I sort of converted. I have three single H Bongos now - and two HH Bongos.
And, if I had to choose, which I DON'T, by the way, I would say the single H Bongo is my favorite, and I've had a few years to consider this.
But.
While the single H Bongo IS the secret weapon, the HH Bongo is also, without any question, very serious weaponry, too.
And I have a confession to make.
I've liked the HS Bongos I've had here and there. But I wasn't in love. I wasn't just nailed like I was with the H and the HH.
That might be changing. I have this Blue Dawn 5 HSp that is just FORCING me to admit that I've been.....well, not 'wrong', exactly, but perhaps not as open as I should have been to the wonders of the single coil.
That bass is in my lap right now, and has been for the last few weeks, working its magic on me. So color me wishy-washy on the question of what pickup configuration is my personal fave on the Bongo.
They all kick my ass.
For those of you keeping score at home, though, you'll probably already know that my two SR5s are single pickup models. There's a reason why, when so many other people were ordering their 20th SR5s with dual pickups, I went back to basics and got the single pickup 20th SR5. It makes the noise I want to hear.
And that's my longest post in quite a while, isn't it?
Here endeth the screed.
Jack
