Bass of the 2000's

[Misdee]

I think the Bongo is a beautiful bass. It's also a wonderful instrument in use.

 

I remember when they were first unveiled and I thought the EBMM were going to be inundated with demand. I couldn't wait to get one myself!

 

I still find it hard to understand why so many people object to the look of the Bongo, and I'm sure most detractors have never actually seen one in the flesh or indeed played one. The three dimensional chamfering is very attractive when you see it up close.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Misdee

[cetera]

16 minutes ago, Misdee said:

I think the Bongo is a beautiful bass. It's also a wonderful instrument in use.

 

I remember when they were first unveiled and I thought the EBMM were going to be inundated with demand. I couldn't wait to get one myself!

 

I still find it hard to understand why so many people object to the look of the Bongo, and I'm sure most detractors have never actually seen one in the flesh or indeed played one. The three dimensional chamfering is very attractive when you see it up close.

 

I've played one extensively and enjoyed the feel and sound....... but the 'look'..... urghhhh.....

 

[40hz]

25 minutes ago, Misdee said:

I think the Bongo is a beautiful bass. It's also a wonderful instrument in use.

 

I remember when they were first unveiled and I thought the EBMM were going to be inundated with demand. I couldn't wait to get one myself!

 

I still find it hard to understand why so many people object to the look of the Bongo, and I'm sure most detractors have never actually seen one in the flesh or indeed played one. The three dimensional chamfering is very attractive when you see it up close.

I almost bought one last year. Sound and neck feel were excellent. But, I thought it was just as ugly in the flesh.

 

That's not to crap on others choices - It's all personal, but I'd hazard a bet that's unquestionably the reason such a great bass never took off to the heights of it's stablemates.

Edited December 8, 2022 by 40hz

[Chris2112]

1 hour ago, Misdee said:

I think the Bongo is a beautiful bass. It's also a wonderful instrument in use.

 

I remember when they were first unveiled and I thought the EBMM were going to be inundated with demand. I couldn't wait to get one myself!

 

I still find it hard to understand why so many people object to the look of the Bongo, and I'm sure most detractors have never actually seen one in the flesh or indeed played one. The three dimensional chamfering is very attractive when you see it up close.

 

Yep, in person I think it really makes the slabby original Stingray design look like something from the stone age. It photographs well enough and is highly distinctive but the curves and the light basswood body make it even better to hold and play. I really liked it for the fact that it showed that EBMM weren't content to be a company that just rakes over the coals of their past glories. 

[Hellzero]

I had a few Bongo's, but even if they sound quite good, but not terrific (I'm addicted to luthiers basses), to me, the Bongo even looks uglier in the flesh... 🤢

[ARGH]

00s ?

 

Elixir strings...

ERBs appeared, and established, through much flame and hate from rancid small minded traditionalists.

Most string manufacturers offer +.175 guage strings to supply a need for F sharp or lower tunings, in extended scales. due to the above.

The 35" scale on 5 and 6 string basses, because Scale affects tone. (I was right) 

Musicman Bongo and Sub models...they were everywhere at one point

Warwick stopped with the heavy grain Wenge necks

Ashdown and Hartke REALLY pushed their amps in ads (Larrys Daughter tried being a model and annoyed the crap out of everyone with her spamming)

MarkBass... They appeared...

Seymour Duncan started up a retro vintage line or the Ultra in your face, Biggo magnet. Basslines range

Line6 Bass and Guitar Pods...

At the twilight of the decade Gary Novak's (Novax) fanned fret global patent ended and they started turning up on other makes, rather than exclusive to Curbow.

 

Emett Chapman was exposed to be the douche people said he was. and thus we have/had the Megatar and Warr (TLDR: He tried to state that he invented 'Tapstyle' playing, He did not and lost in court)

 

The Curt Cobain worship stopped around 2006 and people began to want to play lead solos again and didn't sneer at actually having ability and technique

 

Thanks, I now feel old.

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by ARGH

[Misdee]

Extended range basses really started coming to the fore in the late 1980's, not the 2000's. Maybe in the 2000's they reached a different audience with the advent of progressive metal players adopting them.

 

I remember the Ken Smith 6 string being a game changer in so much as it had wider spacing so you could actually adapt to playing it without spending several months in seclusion trying to adjust to 15mm spacing. I remember the first ones arriving at the Bass Center at Wapping  around 1987-88 and they were selling them like hot cakes. They were all either spoken for or sold within a few days.

 

And by the late 80's/early 90's five strings were de rigueur. You had to offer an excuse or explanation for why you didn't have one.

 

For me, in the 2000's the main trend was mainstream bass players going increasingly retro, leading to the fetishization of all things vintage that we enjoy today. In the 80's/90's a trendy bass player would have spent his money on a brand new Trace Elliott stack and revel in its clean power. The same bass player today would spend his money on a vintage Ampeg B15 and marvel at its historical authenticity. Presumably also when it's authentically knackered and being repaired again.

 

[gjones]

A Sue Ryder?

 

Edit: some other smarty pants suggested that one before me.

 

......Oh well, I'll get me coat.

Edited December 19, 2022 by gjones

[White Cloud]

On 02/12/2022 at 14:24, chris_b said:

IMO Precision and Jazz basses dominated like they do in every decade.

I take your point however, also recall the 80's very well wherein Fenders were generally considered as 'naff' by a great many players.

[ARGH]

Naaa I’m talking the really far out 8,9,10+ string instruments… Dzrod, Conklin, Bee etc

Stew McKinsey, Trip Walmsley, Jean Baudin pioneering the big boards.

 

 

I recall that Les playing a fretless 6 in 91 was really brave, now it’s kind of, ok, nothing too far out. 

[nilorius]

If we are talking of 1 exatcly bass, for me it's absolutely 2006. Ibanez GWB1005.

[Misdee]

19 hours ago, ARGH said:

Naaa I’m talking the really far out 8,9,10+ string instruments… Dzrod, Conklin, Bee etc

Stew McKinsey, Trip Walmsley, Jean Baudin pioneering the big boards.

 

 

I recall that Les playing a fretless 6 in 91 was really brave, now it’s kind of, ok, nothing too far out. 

It just shows how old school I am that a five string bass is extended range to me.🙂

 

Those big basses never really became a mainstream trend though, did they? If Flea had adopted one it could have been a different story. Maybe.

 

 

[Misdee]

22 hours ago, White Cloud said:

I take your point however, also recall the 80's very well wherein Fenders were generally considered as 'naff' by a great many players.

Funnily enough, I remember Fender basses being much harder to come by in the 1980s. New Fenders at the time were not very nice and ones from the Seventies and earlier were not as numerous as they are today. 

[White Cloud]

3 hours ago, Misdee said:

Funnily enough, I remember Fender basses being much harder to come by in the 1980s. New Fenders at the time were not very nice and ones from the Seventies and earlier were not as numerous as they are today. 

That's true. Cut a long story short I basically took a hiatus from playing over the 90's. When I returned I was staggered that Fenders - and Fender clones - were 'the thing' and more or less dominating music shops.

[Machines]

On 06/12/2022 at 12:55, Machines said:

 

RBX has been around in a few different forms. That's a late 90s model most likely, they revamped it in the 2000s to be more like this, of which I still have mine from 2004 (defretted and refinished in that time though).

 

 

Fun fact, I just bought this.

[Mykesbass]

On 20/12/2022 at 09:44, Misdee said:

Funnily enough, I remember Fender basses being much harder to come by in the 1980s. New Fenders at the time were not very nice and ones from the Seventies and earlier were not as numerous as they are today. 

Not as numerous - or in the case of 70s Fenders, very undesirable. Funny how they got better with age 😏