danny-79
Well-known member
Nice one ! 
- Thread starter bovinehost
- Start date
rizzo9247
Well-known member
I really need to know what this single H Al is all about...
cellkirk74
Well-known member
Me too.
Hopefully Mr. Bovine will provide us with some deeper information and review soon.
Movielife
Well-known member
Please let us know! I am so impatient its unreal.
I was thinking about a single H 4 string and this might just be the one...if its as good as the specs sound
I was thinking about a single H 4 string and this might just be the one...if its as good as the specs sound
MK Bass Weed
Well-known member
He can't type holding the NEW BABY and the new new Baby...
adouglas
Well-known member
Teach the kid to type.
Big Poppa
Well-known member
he is a slacker
Movielife
Well-known member
Im pretty sure this single H is going to be one of the finest single H's out there! Especially going by your discussion of it BP
Movielife
Well-known member
I am getting a quote on a 4 string H white/tort/rosewood as I type.
Its part of my huge triple order thread below/
Its part of my huge triple order thread below/
bovinehost
Administrator
This much is true.
But:
I've been re-stringing and adjusting and I've just about got the setup right where I like it. Who's on Monday Night Football? This could delay things even further.
Freddels
Well-known member
Pats v. Fins
oli@bass
Well-known member
Congratulations, that's a cool one!
Freddels
Well-known member
I definitely want to hear the single H with the flats on it. In fact, I want to hear more samples of the single H Big Al.
MattOfSweden
Well-known member
Really nice bass there, looks absolutely killer - congratulations!
bovinehost
Administrator
I've been thinking about how to do this - do I compare it with a single H Bongo? To the other Big Al with the singles? To a SR5? To a Dean Stylist? To a honey badger?
I don't know, I really suck at written reviews.
So what I finally did was sit down with both Bigger Alberts and just played them both for a while. Then I played the same song a couple of times with each bass. Shawn Colvin's "Nothing On Me" for the record. Then a few other things, but the Shawn Colvin was the test tune because I can play that without really engaging my brain, leaving me free to just listen to the bass.
I set everything flat (even the treble, which I normally just turn off) and took a few runs through the song.
I think Dargin made a good call when he told me to get the SSS a few months ago - "You already have a bunch of basses with humbuckers." The SSS is as different as it gets from a big scary single H Bongo, for instance. There is, to me, a bit more inherent bottom to the SSS package - and while the signature Music Man tone certainly is in there, there is perhaps less of it than with the single H basses - which makes sense. You can dial it in nicely by just using the bridge pickup and bumping up the bass - but there is a more organic vintage sort of tone to the SSS.
Or maybe not "vintage" - I hate using that term - but more.....traditional. Yes, that's better - traditional. Again, with the EQ and those three pickups, you can dial it in or dial it out. Very versatile.
While I find it completely comfortable in a Music Man way, there is also this: my friend Bob played it a while back - and Bob is really, deep-down, a Fender guy. I don't even hate him for it. Well, not much, anyway. But Bob's a Fender guy, and 4 strings are plenty for him. He played the Big Al 5 SSS for a bit and said, "Well, hell. I guess I have to get one of these." And he is. He is getting one, a 4 banger. Make of that what you will. I'll just say this bass could win over a metric ass-load of Fender diehards. (And then they'd all have to buy Bongos, too.)
The Bigger Al single H is a more familiar sort of weapon to me. It brings the underlying Music Man tone to the front without any diddling at all. How not? It has a big fat scary humbucker at the bridge. It does not require any effort to get a good sound. It's point and shoot.
Given my kind of gigs, it's probably what I'd grab first. Set it and forget it. How many freaking tones do you NEED out of a bass? It's your hands, anyway, who's with me? Of course it's true. Pluck back at the bridge, it's sharp and cutting and ANGRY. Oh, you need to play a ballad? Well, first, I'm really sorry that you have to do that, but let's just say you're making good money doing it - move your right hand. There, done.
So that's my take. If you really like versatility, get the SSS. It's easy enough for even a dumbass like me to figure out the buttons. Hidden away at home, I'll probably use the SSS a lot. No one will see me pushing buttons and turning knobs!
For straight-out-of-the-box utility, no fuss and no muss, it's the single H. Plus, the single H is Sterling Silver w/matching headstock and that, my friends, is dead gorgeous.
Certain highly placed individuals have said this is the best single H the company has ever built. I'd be a fool to argue with HIM, trust me. (It's been tried. I always lose.) Being Lord Bongo and all, though, I would have to say that it's close. I might still think my Candy Red Bongo that I've had for years now is a bit better - but I've logged a lot of time on that bass.
I can see it coming down to the red Bongo and the silver BA5. You know how you sometimes imagine you can only have two basses? Well, that would suck. Let's not imagine that too much.
You Bongoloids will dig the single H Big Al. It brings that same amazing focused tone - but with a mahogany body and ceramic magnets, it IS just different enough to say, "Hmm, I guess I'll have to have one of those."
I'll try to answer questions.
And thanks again to Dargin and BP - you guys make my life way more interesting.
Jackie
I don't know, I really suck at written reviews.
So what I finally did was sit down with both Bigger Alberts and just played them both for a while. Then I played the same song a couple of times with each bass. Shawn Colvin's "Nothing On Me" for the record. Then a few other things, but the Shawn Colvin was the test tune because I can play that without really engaging my brain, leaving me free to just listen to the bass.
I set everything flat (even the treble, which I normally just turn off) and took a few runs through the song.
I think Dargin made a good call when he told me to get the SSS a few months ago - "You already have a bunch of basses with humbuckers." The SSS is as different as it gets from a big scary single H Bongo, for instance. There is, to me, a bit more inherent bottom to the SSS package - and while the signature Music Man tone certainly is in there, there is perhaps less of it than with the single H basses - which makes sense. You can dial it in nicely by just using the bridge pickup and bumping up the bass - but there is a more organic vintage sort of tone to the SSS.
Or maybe not "vintage" - I hate using that term - but more.....traditional. Yes, that's better - traditional. Again, with the EQ and those three pickups, you can dial it in or dial it out. Very versatile.
While I find it completely comfortable in a Music Man way, there is also this: my friend Bob played it a while back - and Bob is really, deep-down, a Fender guy. I don't even hate him for it. Well, not much, anyway. But Bob's a Fender guy, and 4 strings are plenty for him. He played the Big Al 5 SSS for a bit and said, "Well, hell. I guess I have to get one of these." And he is. He is getting one, a 4 banger. Make of that what you will. I'll just say this bass could win over a metric ass-load of Fender diehards. (And then they'd all have to buy Bongos, too.)
The Bigger Al single H is a more familiar sort of weapon to me. It brings the underlying Music Man tone to the front without any diddling at all. How not? It has a big fat scary humbucker at the bridge. It does not require any effort to get a good sound. It's point and shoot.
Given my kind of gigs, it's probably what I'd grab first. Set it and forget it. How many freaking tones do you NEED out of a bass? It's your hands, anyway, who's with me? Of course it's true. Pluck back at the bridge, it's sharp and cutting and ANGRY. Oh, you need to play a ballad? Well, first, I'm really sorry that you have to do that, but let's just say you're making good money doing it - move your right hand. There, done.
So that's my take. If you really like versatility, get the SSS. It's easy enough for even a dumbass like me to figure out the buttons. Hidden away at home, I'll probably use the SSS a lot. No one will see me pushing buttons and turning knobs!
For straight-out-of-the-box utility, no fuss and no muss, it's the single H. Plus, the single H is Sterling Silver w/matching headstock and that, my friends, is dead gorgeous.
Certain highly placed individuals have said this is the best single H the company has ever built. I'd be a fool to argue with HIM, trust me. (It's been tried. I always lose.) Being Lord Bongo and all, though, I would have to say that it's close. I might still think my Candy Red Bongo that I've had for years now is a bit better - but I've logged a lot of time on that bass.
I can see it coming down to the red Bongo and the silver BA5. You know how you sometimes imagine you can only have two basses? Well, that would suck. Let's not imagine that too much.
You Bongoloids will dig the single H Big Al. It brings that same amazing focused tone - but with a mahogany body and ceramic magnets, it IS just different enough to say, "Hmm, I guess I'll have to have one of those."
I'll try to answer questions.
And thanks again to Dargin and BP - you guys make my life way more interesting.
Jackie
bovinehost
Administrator
FTR, I have way too many cool basses to get it down to just two.
shakinbacon
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2008
- Messages
- 791
bovine your review is quite good. metric *#&load is my quote of the day
damn you for making me want a BA5
congrats!
damn you for making me want a BA5
congrats!
Big Poppa
Well-known member
I think youmneed more time with the ba5. The active passive serie parallel are really fun to play with
strummer
Enormous Member
Good review, at least the part about Bob
How does the BA5 hang on your body compared to a Bongo or SR5? I mean, going from SR5 to Bongo the nut end is a bit farther away...
And I'm with Sterling, fiddle witht those buttons!
How does the BA5 hang on your body compared to a Bongo or SR5? I mean, going from SR5 to Bongo the nut end is a bit farther away...
And I'm with Sterling, fiddle witht those buttons!
Movielife
Well-known member
Great review, and definitely makes me glad about the SSS as well. I must admit, the whole idea of a MM bass that is very ‘vintagey’ but also trumps all those manufacturers due to the quality and versatility seems great to me.
Im going to get the Al 5 SSS, just because I DO want something different and versatile, yet with the EBMM quality and tone. It even looks different, which is another plus point.
I may also swap out the Sterling 4 H I was tempted to order and get the Big Al 4 H, for my point and shoot rock/punk bands. 4 strings, 1 H, rock n roll.
What Im personally interested in is what that H really sounds like with all the cool options? Active/passive + tone control is flat out amazing in my books, but what does that 4 band EQ add to the game? Then we have series/parallel! Woah…
Im going to get the Al 5 SSS, just because I DO want something different and versatile, yet with the EBMM quality and tone. It even looks different, which is another plus point.
I may also swap out the Sterling 4 H I was tempted to order and get the Big Al 4 H, for my point and shoot rock/punk bands. 4 strings, 1 H, rock n roll.
What Im personally interested in is what that H really sounds like with all the cool options? Active/passive + tone control is flat out amazing in my books, but what does that 4 band EQ add to the game? Then we have series/parallel! Woah…
