dub_junkie

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='950872' date='Sep 9 2010, 05:59 PM']Well I had the bongo at a mini rehearsal on Tuesday (basement with practice amps and rolands drumkit). This bass is a monster, its got amazing depth to its sound and is very growly indeed. The setup on it is perfect with that slight buzzing on frets that I had with the stingray. The blend between the H and S pickup give the bass 2 lovely voices with of course a blended 3rd voice and then there is the EQ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,WOW. having the 4 band EQ is overboard for me, however if you try and take it away from me,,,,I will fight you. I didnt like the mids on the stingray as i found them too powerful, but hey,,,its a stingray, this is what stingrays do. The Bongo is a different animal altogether. The mids are more managable with the option of the hi and low mids. I found I used the low mids a bit more due to my preference in bottom end growl. The bass and treble settings are easily used and managable into getting a sound I like instantly. I have said it before,,,I loved the stingray I had, it looked lovely and played brilliant. However I just didnt like the sound once plugged in. Such a shame from a cracking bass. The Bongo 'fits' me. It has the same plug in and play factor that my Jaguar has. So my good good people of BC I think I am finally happy. Ever since seeing the stealth that shockwave was selling, I really wanted one of these. As his was a 5'er it may have thrown me a bit as I only play 4's..However this bass was worth the wait. I love it to bits and cant wait till I get it into full band rehearsal next Sunday.[/quote] +1 on your summary of the Bongo tone. If I plug in my Stingray 5 straight after the Bongo I'm always left a bit underwhelmed and wondering why all my volume and tone just dropped out. Its only after a few minutes of noodling on the Ray that I remember why I love them too. On the Bongo I blend the pickups 90% of the time. Its not that I dont like either pickup solo'd but panned dead centre it is one of my favourite bass tones ever. The 18v, 4EQ preamp and neodynium magnets give a much more expansive sound than a Ray which sounds mids focused in comparison. The playability of the 3 Bongos I've owned has been outstanding. My only gripes are the painted neck and the front pickups too close to the edge of the board but I've learned to live with both those niggles because everything else about them is top notch in my estimation. I even like the look of them nowadays,it took me a long time to get used to them but no worries now. your looks the same finish as mine,sapphire black which is one of (if not the) best colours on a Bongo imo

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='950072' date='Sep 8 2010, 11:13 PM']Somehow I knew it was going to be that before I even opened the thread (full title isn't shown in Gmail). Saw [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/G-L-30th-Anniversary-Pearl-Frost-L-2000-Bass-Ebony-New-/140450613936?pt=Guitar&hash=item20b3824ab0"]this[/url] one earlier on t'tbay.[/quote] looks even nicer there than on the G&L page. ebony board on their J profile neck,seriously nice!

cant get this particular L2K out my head,maybe its just the pickup covers but overall I adore the look. I doubt I'd be able to afford one but this is giving me serious GAS right now [url="http://www.glguitars.com/"]http://www.glguitars.com/[/url]

very nice indeed. I was well taken with the single coil on these when I used to own a white 4HS. no complaints about the 5HH I have now though. anyway I hope the Bongo works out good for you.

lovely! was sorely tempted to have a punt on that one [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='943852' date='Sep 2 2010, 07:50 PM']Excellent,The G&L gas is still building up for me now then![/quote] Don't fight it!

I'm sure the neck profile on the JB is their standard J shape (Asat/SB2/JB2) with one less fret. I have the same 21 fret J neck as an option on my L-2000 and it's a great neck shape imo,really comfy. If I were ordering one I'd go for their gun oil tint necks over the satin finish (for the same look as the MM classics)The necks are PLEK'd now as well. All the hardware is top drawer and the sustain is incredible. Both mine ring on for ages. Also their finishes are superior to Fender MIA Stds and ebmm imo - the G&L's I've owned and played all had a finish like glass (seen a fair number of both new and well looked after s/h ebmms and Fenders with sinkage in the clear top coat which always really bugs me just because the G&Ls are so perfect in this respect) G&L's MFD pickups aren't for everyone (quite dark/aggressive) but the JB and JB-2 have alnico single coils so totally different sound I'd imagine. There's a lot of love for these basses on talkbass,maybe worth a rummage around? I like G&L - I've got two USA basses and three USA guitars (Legacy/Invader XL/Asat Special) at the moment so I'm biased but I feel the same about Musicman too. I'm always torn between the two brands when buying my next bass or guitar.

are you getting one of the special offer black/rosewood 2EQs or paying more for a vintage sunburst with case? btw, just seen this and thought of you and the whole white/tort thing [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/G%26L_SB2White.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_sp...L_SB2White.html[/url] seriously you need to try an SB-2 someday if you haven't already. This time last year I had a USA SB-2, an MIA 08 blizzard pearl Precision Std and a MIM classic 60s white/tort Jazz all at the same time. The G&L was better than both the Fenders at their respective sounds imo and even though the fenders were both great basses I got shot of both of them and didnt miss them at all (the SB-2 had been factory modded with a tone control). Then this year I inexplicably sold the SB-2 which was the dumbest bass sale I ever made. I'd seriously love another and the blue Tribute SB-2 that has just come up FS on here has given me the first bout of serious GAS in ages

all of these are post '97. (well the green L-1500 was made in December 1997) no dot on the side at the 21st on my current two. iirc they werent on the SB-2 or Asats either and I like the newer headstocks with the eye gouger

I've been settled with my basses (and guitars) for the last year. I only ever got bad GAS when I wasn't out in a band or recording at home so I've kept myself busy playing. Now I don't think much about what basses I haven't got and those I'd like now,rather I appreciate the ones I have and what they can do.

^ black onyx Sterlings are cool

The L-2000 doesn't sound like a Stingray but it does do a great range of tones. Some of the P type sounds in passive/series are quite close imitations ( to my ears) and it has a lovely 2 pickup slap tone with the active/parallel switch settings. Compared to a HH Ray,with the G&L you cant have different combinations of the two humbuckers apart from both being on at the same time but you get parallel and series and active or passive.there's also a active with treble boost setting but like the L-1500 is very bright - I rarely ever use this setting. I mostly just run my L-2000 passive with the battery out. An L-1500 in parallel mode is much,much closer to the MM tone but the top end is fierce and will hurt your ears if you don't tame it. With the treble pulled back a bit, it sits in a mix much the same as a Ray if maybe a bit more upfront. It's nowhere near as versatile as the L2K but the L-2000 doesn't sound like the L-1500 either and that's why I have both. imo the L-2000 is a great bass for covering a lot of tones without much fuss. The switching is dead easy and becomes second nature in no time. I've said it before but I've found a G&L's tone doesn't disappear the way a Stingray/Sterling can with a couple of guitars,drums and the like going full tilt. I've compared the MM's to G&Ls at the same rehearsals with the same amp settings and the G&L's tone was way bigger and ballsier (that was when I had a couple of Asat basses with the same pickups and circuit as the L2K) I'm not knocking the MM tone which I love btw,just an observation from personal experience with owning both at the same time. Whether the G&L is the sound you want you'll need to try one for yourself. They're definetely darker sounding than MM's to my ears at any rate.

I love 'em but then again I'm a bit of a G&L fanboi I have a L1500 in the clear forest green and its one of my favourite finishes on any bass I've owned. Cherryburst looks really nice on the 5 too

I love it! Cant wait till the day I can afford one of these.It's going to be an s/s/s/ and not the single H and it'll more likely be a 4 string as they have the same neck profile as the Sterling.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='898012' date='Jul 18 2010, 01:11 PM']I just prefer the sound of the alnico pups and pickguard on the Rays, and luckily they now make Ray 5s with the same alnico pups. Sterlings sound more aggressive and hifi/modern to my ears.[/quote] I'm the opposite. I've never held onto a StingRay 4 for more than a few months probably because I prefer the tone of the Sterlings and SR5's. I also like the switching on both of those. It makes sense for ebmm to have the stingray 4/5 with alnico and the sterlings with ceramic.I've owned SR5s with both types of pickups. This is purely imho but the SR5 EQ sounds a bit softer and fatter to my ears and not as biting on the treble as the 4 string and I think the ceramic pup adds a bit of an edge. I can get the musicman tone I hear in my head with it every time and I choose it (almost) every time over my Bongo Stingray 5's aren't as aggressive sounding as the Sterlings either. I owned a few Sterlings and they were edgier than a SR4 when set flat (I owned both 4 strings together at one time).However the treble boost on the Ray in extreme positions was more than the Sterling which I didn't expect before comparing them.And I didn't expect the Sterling to have more bass on tap than the Ray either but to my ears it did. The mids on the Sterling are definetely more pronounced whatever the setting though.

dougal,did it used to belong to theosd? if so I tried (without success) to trade for it a while back. fwiw the colour's Carbon Blue Pearl anyway,it's one of the nicest looking SR5s I've seen p.s. I'm still taking good care of your old Bongo 5 Keir

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='873154' date='Jun 20 2010, 11:57 PM']Oh shoot! Look at what I've been and gone and done. [attachment=52702:G_L_L_1000_front.jpg] [attachment=52703:G_L_L_1000_back.jpg] [attachment=52704:G_L_L_1000_body.jpg] [attachment=52705:G_L_L_1000_haed.jpg] I've only gone and bought it. [/quote] congrats,that's a beauty!... the one with the fabled OMG setting