When is a MM SUB not a SUB? When it is a Bongo.

[Owen]

I picked up some Bongo electronics. I have owned some (!) Bongos in the past but found them uncomfortable when seated. But I loved the electronics.

 

Our own @Manton Customs did the routing work and all that malarky. New scratchplate, control cavity, battery and pickups. The control knobs are all sorts of wrong, but I will source some better ones.

 

The before pictures are here.

 

Share my joy.

[Owen]

Sorry, I should have noted, Mr Manton does lovely work!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Interesting.

Which pickups are you using?

Have you managed to source some Bongo units,  or are you using something else?

(Potential for coil switching beckons!)

[Owen]

They came out of a Bongo. I waited a long time to find some. 

[Lfalex v1.1]

I thought that the neck p/u was too far back...

 

Of course, it's not. The neck is 3 frets less than a Bongo at 21, hence the larger gap 🙃

 

I bet it sounds great. 

Are the controls;

 

Vol/Balance (the silver stack)

H mid/ L mid

Treble / bass 

?

[Owen]

MORE ROOM TO SLAP!!!!!! That is not going to happen.

 

I have not actually had a chance to plug it in yet but from what I recall of Bongos, you are correct. I had to put the Vol/Bal on a dual concentric otherwise it would be a 4-pot plate. I like a front-loaded jack socket.

[Paul S]

4 hours ago, Owen said:

I picked up some Bongo electronics. I have owned some (!) Bongos in the past but found them uncomfortable when seated.

 

 

They are usually OK, though?

 

[sprocketflup]

Having never had a chance to pay a Bongo, and I mean this in the nice way, what is special about the Bongo electrics?

[Lfalex v1.1]

(For me, and this relates to the 4EQ models)

Bongos just have effortless headroom and a great degree of tonal adjustability.

It's the 18v electrics coupled to the Neodymium pick-ups and 4 band eq.

 

They can pack a mighty punch when required, but can equally just sit neatly in a mix. 

 

[Owen]

52 minutes ago, Paul S said:

 

They are usually OK, though?

 

I see what you did there!

[Owen]

35 minutes ago, sprocketflup said:

Having never had a chance to pay a Bongo, and I mean this in the nice way, what is special about the Bongo electrics?

They are just super grunty. I realise that that is a super subjective way of putting it, and pretty meaningless really as anything could be grunty given enough gain at the front end. They have clarity and a cut which is quite unlike anything else I have tried. Like a full-throated roar if needed. When I say clarity I am not talking about shiny high frequencies. Wow, tone words! They mean nothing!

[Beedster]

That is lovely @Owen 👍

[LukeFRC]

Awesome

[Owen]

10 hours ago, Beedster said:

That is lovely @Owen 👍

 

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

Awesome

I cannot deny it.

[bloke_zero]

14 hours ago, Owen said:

They are just super grunty. I realise that that is a super subjective way of putting it, and pretty meaningless really as anything could be grunty given enough gain at the front end. They have clarity and a cut which is quite unlike anything else I have tried. Like a full-throated roar if needed. When I say clarity I am not talking about shiny high frequencies. Wow, tone words! They mean nothing!

Tone words mean nothing?! I feel like I'm understanding you more clearly than I do many people!

[Owen]

Tone words. I played the Umm.....Bongo at church this morning. In a kind of strange analogy, it was like playing bass on an Aston Martin V8.

[Owen]

Ummm....Bongo - copyright @LukeFRC

[Richard R]

17 hours ago, Owen said:

... like playing bass on an Aston Martin V8.

 

Two of my favourite sounds in one sentence!

[Owen]

It's gratifying when a concept actually comes to fruition like you hope it will. My track record of "improving" basses is chock full of "Ah, not all that after all" moments. This is all I hoped for. 

[Grreth]

Looks amazing!

[Owen]

 

53 minutes ago, Grreth said:

Looks amazing!

I cannot deny it.