If a Wal and a MM Bongo had a baby...

[Russ]

... it'd be a "Wongo".

 

I've always wanted a Wal, but I'm not prepared to wait three years for one, nor do I have a spare £6,000 knocking about. However, I have four MM Bongos. Yes, I know they look like bog seats, but I love them and they sound immense.

 

So I came up with the idea of "Project Wongo" a little bit Wal, a little bit Bongo. I ordered a pair of Martin Herrick's fantastic multicoil pickups and a Lusithand filter preamp, and they're in the process of being fitted to one of my Bongos. The Herricks are a bit thicker in dimensions than the stock MM pickups, so a little bit of routing was required, but they're in, and the preamp is mounted but not yet wired up. Here's the progress so far: 

 

S

 

The bass should hopefully be wired up and back together over the weekend - full report coming then.  I might even make a video!

 

[Mykesbass]

Great project. Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[horrorshowbass]

Starry night bongo 🤩

 

[BreadBin]

Shouldn't it be a Wango?

[Skybone]

Bongal?

[Russ]

53 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

Starry night bongo 🤩

 

Yep. They only made a small number of them. They were selling them exclusively through Sweetwater (big US online instrument retailer) a few years back.

 

I'm not normally into sparkly finishes (I really wish they'd make a natural-finish Bongo with a pretty exotic wood top) but this one is stunning. My other three are CAR, firemist purple and stealth black. 

[ezbass]

50 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

Shouldn't it be a Wango?

Sounds like a courier company. It also puts me in mind of the old word processing equipment company Wang. They used to answer the phone with that office's location, for instance, "Hello, Wang UK." Fairly innocuous until they had a temporary, exhibition office in Cologne.

 

 

[Russ]

Just now, ezbass said:

Sounds like a courier company. It also puts me in mind of the old word processing equipment company Wang. They used to answer the phone with that office's location, for instance, "Hello, Wang UK." Fairly innocuous until they had a temporary, exhibition office in Cologne.

 

 

Yep. And I guess "Wongo" sounds like that dodgy payday loan company! Open to alternative naming suggestions though.  If all else fails, it can be Susan. Or Dave. 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, Russ said:

Yep. And I guess "Wongo" sounds like that dodgy payday loan company! Open to alternative naming suggestions though.  If all else fails, it can be Susan. Or Dave. 

I'm hoping 'Awesome' will be appropriate.

[TheGreek]

14 hours ago, Russ said:

... it'd be a "Wongo".

 

I've always wanted a Wal, but I'm not prepared to wait three years for one, nor do I have a spare £6,000 knocking about. However, I have four MM Bongos. Yes, I know they look like bog seats, but I love them and they sound immense.

 

So I came up with the idea of "Project Wongo" a little bit Wal, a little bit Bongo. I ordered a pair of Martin Herrick's fantastic multicoil pickups and a Lusithand filter preamp, and they're in the process of being fitted to one of my Bongos. The Herricks are a bit thicker in dimensions than the stock MM pickups, so a little bit of routing was required, but they're in, and the preamp is mounted but not yet wired up. Here's the progress so far: 

 

S

 

The bass should hopefully be wired up and back together over the weekend - full report coming then.  I might even make a video!

 

 

Martin produced a pair of custom pickups for my Kawai. 

The bass is currently with @Grangur. TBH I can't wait to get it back even though I haven't picked up a bass for about a month because of my arthritis. 

Martin also made the "invisible " pickups in my Psilos which give a warm,  lush tone. 

I'm glad that Martin's products are taking off...he's a good lad. 

[horrorshowbass]

51 minutes ago, Russ said:

Yep. They only made a small number of them. They were selling them exclusively through Sweetwater (big US online instrument retailer) a few years back.

 

I'm not normally into sparkly finishes (I really wish they'd make a natural-finish Bongo with a pretty exotic wood top) but this one is stunning. My other three are CAR, firemist purple and stealth black. 

Wowzers

Seen Dream Theater live few months ago and Myungs bongo sounded huge.

[Russ]

38 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

Wowzers

Seen Dream Theater live few months ago and Myungs bongo sounded huge.

I love Myung, and he's sounded so much better since he switched to the Bongos from the old Yamahas, but my main inspiration for getting the stealth black Bongo 6 was Squarepusher, who has an identical one.  

 

[horrorshowbass]

Oh thats interesting, could never get into Squarepusher but thats one mean bass

[Russ]

21 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

Oh thats interesting, could never get into Squarepusher but thats one mean bass

Here's Tom doing his thing, and sounding amazing on his Bongo 6. Also, the drummer is INCREDIBLE. 

 

[Hellzero]

All right! It's Zee Wango, Zee Tango...

[Eric.C.Lapton]

I’ve been looking at the Herricks lately so interested to see how they perform before I pull the trigger 

[Misdee]

I am really interested in how this turns out! Keep us posted. 🙂

[ezbass]

On 16/12/2022 at 21:52, Hellzero said:

All right! It's Zee Wango, Zee Tango...

Ah ha! We’re onto something here. Going down this route, we could have a somewhat cryptic name: The Ted; The Nugent; The Duke or The Amboy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the record I disliked Wango Tango and Cat Scratch Fever back when I was into TN (pre his more publicised, outspoken views) and this has intensified over the years. I loved the Ted Nugent - Ted Nugent album, but Free For All was disappointing and Cat Scratch even more so. Sorry for the derail.

[Russ]

I should hopefully be picking up the Bongo tonight - my guitar tech assures me it's got the sound I was after (I told him to give it a try and see if it sounded like 1980s Geddy Lee - that's kinda his era  ). Full report either later or tomorrow!

 

Seems there was a minor earthing issue with the pickups, but Martin Herrick was quick to respond and it got sorted quickly and easily. 

[lidl e]

7 hours ago, Russ said:

I should hopefully be picking up the Bongo tonight - my guitar tech assures me it's got the sound I was after (I told him to give it a try and see if it sounded like 1980s Geddy Lee - that's kinda his era  ). Full report either later or tomorrow!

 

Seems there was a minor earthing issue with the pickups, but Martin Herrick was quick to respond and it got sorted quickly and easily. 

I just put a lusithand jazzplate in my jazz bass and really love it.

 

So much so i bought their compressor

[Russ]

So we still have a few electronic gremlins to address - the neck filter is massively distorting if it's in anything but the completely open position, and the bridge filter seems to have no effect whatsoever. Probably a simple fix, but the bass didn't get to come home with me tonight.

 

We'll get there though! 

[Owen]

This hardcore stuff is the kind of stuff we need!

Edited December 20, 2022 by Owen
because of the spelling. Always because of the spelling.

[Russ]

It's home.

 

First impressions - exactly what I was hoping for. The output level is INCREDIBLY loud - too beefy for my practice amp. So I'll have to dig out the big rig to give it a proper shakedown (and maybe make a video). Any riff requests?

 

Interestingly, it has a big dose of that Wal flavour (it's got that "complexity" in the upper mids), but it's also retained some of its Music Man-ness, probably because the pickups aren't in the Wal positions. 
 

[Misdee]

I think bass players worldwide would like to hear you unleash this beast in a video! The bass looks good too, by the way.

[Mykesbass]

Congratulations on a bold project! Looks great.

 

As for riff requests, it would be great if you did the demo in the style of Ed Friedland or our very own @Dood playing the same short riff/motif through all the different settings.