Good HH basses

[la bam]

Hi all, 

 

I've recently bought a very cheap second hand Harley benton mm84a which is a double humbucker active bass. 5 way selector switch. 

 

Weird thing - I absolutely love it!! So much so I'm thinking of using it full time for one of my bands. 

 

But just for info - does anyone else use or has anyone else used a double humbucker bass? What ones did/do you use? 

 

I had a USA cali l2000 over covid but it just didn't do anything for me in a band situation. Yet the Harley benton does? Weird. 

 

Any views on other double humber basses appreciated. I love mine as its like having 5 basses in one. From thinner harsher sounds to full fat sounds. 

 

 

[Mudpup]

I prefer them too. Don't know why but I've just ended up with my main gigging basses being HH ones. 

 

Of the mainstream ones available I can recommend the Cort A4 Plus. It's incredible vfm and easy to pick up used. A brilliant neck and great build quality with decent components. I've had some boutique stuff and this is easily up there with them.

 

And if you like knob twiddling try a Warwick Corvette or Streamer $$. The switches add about a squillion tone options to the pickups.

 

I too had a G&L L2000 USA and actually loved the sound in the band mix but couldn't get on with the neck on it. If it had a different neck I would probably still have it.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Mudpup

[Lfalex v1.1]

If the budget allows;

 

Bongo 4HH 

 

Epic things. 

[neepheid]

2 hours ago, Mudpup said:

I too had a G&L L2000 USA and actually loved the sound in the band mix but couldn't get on with the neck on it. If it had a different neck I would probably still have it.

 

Necks can be specced when ordering new from a selection, not quite custom shop level of customisation, but still, they cover the main areas, a J like, a P like and a middle kinda one.  Second hand, I guess you'd have to wait for the right one to come along!

[neepheid]

While I've owned many in the past, I've really gravitated away from 2 pickup basses these days to the point where only 2 out of my 8 have this configuration.  I've come to the conclusion that I'm a lazy dullard - just give me one good pickup in the central position and I'm as happy as a pig in the proverbial.  Not a big fan of bridge pickup sounds at all, be they humbucker or single coil.

 

Current HH basses are my Epiphone Les Paul Standard (which wears 2x DiMarzio X2N-B pickups these days) and my Epiphone Korina Explorer.  The bridge pickup on that is very useful as a thumbrest because that's where my hand naturally falls given the geometry of the situation, so at least I'm getting some use out of it...

 

Having said all that, I cannot explain my fascination with 3 pickup basses, sorry

 

[kodiakblair]

3 hours ago, la bam said:

does anyone else use or has anyone else used a double humbucker bass?

Had loads of them.

A Wal, Fender with 2 wide range HB, several Peavey Cirrus, Peavey C-5 and Grind; thats just tip of the iceberg.

Also had 5 Peavey T-40's. Spin-a-split for single coil was a crap idea so I nipped the red wire an left them humbucker only.

To further irk the purists one got a preamp, another converted to 5 strings 😄

[Mudpup]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

Necks can be specced when ordering new from a selection, not quite custom shop level of customisation, but still, they cover the main areas, a J like, a P like and a middle kinda one.  Second hand, I guess you'd have to wait for the right one to come along!

I had the J one and probably needed the middle one....

[Delberthot]

I have a Sterling HH but only use the bridge pickup. I only wanted a single humbucker model but this one came up for sale at a good price

 

The best two HH basses I ever played were these. The G&L was stunning and the Warwick almost played itself it was so good

 

 

[la bam]

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

If the budget allows;

 

Bongo 4HH 

 

Epic things. 

 

Id love one of the fuschia one of those!! 

[NickA]

Get a Wal (or two) ... two lovely fat humbuckers each with their own tone control.  Available in 4, 5 & 6 strings, with and without frets.

 

The only downside is the price .... and they don't slap very well.

[NickA]

The Warwick is only 1 1/2 humbuckers but actually sounds better with the bridge pickup tapped ( jazz bass mode).

[Owen]

Bongo. If you don't like the ergonomics, wait for 8 years like I did for a set of Bongo pickups and pre to come up 2nd hand. Then plumb them into a Stingray. I could not be happier. 

[la bam]

I do love the look of them bongos. They suffer from rickenbackeritis though, where they never come down in price! 

[Owen]

There is that. 

[gafbass02]

I play a HH bass, it has switches for series/parallel/single, but I just leave it in the loudest, punchiest mode whatever that is. 

[Machines]

MTD Kingston Super is a good shout too.

 

 

[NickA]

20 hours ago, la bam said:

I do love the look of them bongos. They suffer from rickenbackeritis though, where they never come down in price! 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/68538880-ernie-ball-music-man-bongo-4-hh-2004-metallic-red

 

pretty good value I think at £1500 .   £3150 new. 

 

I think the Wal is better still, but not > 4x  better

Edited November 5, 2023 by NickA

[Owen]

On 04/11/2023 at 11:40, la bam said:

Hi all, 

 

I've recently bought a very cheap second hand Harley benton mm84a which is a double humbucker active bass. 5 way selector switch. 

 

Weird thing - I absolutely love it!! So much so I'm thinking of using it full time for one of my bands. 

 

But just for info - does anyone else use or has anyone else used a double humbucker bass? What ones did/do you use? 

 

I had a USA cali l2000 over covid but it just didn't do anything for me in a band situation. Yet the Harley benton does? Weird. 

 

Any views on other double humber basses appreciated. I love mine as its like having 5 basses in one. From thinner harsher sounds to full fat sounds. 

 

 

Of course, the elephant in the room here is that you already have the twin humbucker bass you love.

[Eldon Tyrell]

6 minutes ago, NickA said:

https://reverb.com/uk/item/68538880-ernie-ball-music-man-bongo-4-hh-2004-metallic-red

 

pretty good value I think at £1500 .   £3150 new. 

 

I think the Wal is better still, but not > 4x  better

 

Even better value if you buy directly from BB, saves you another £100. Every little helps 😉

https://bassbros.co.uk/product/2004-ernie-ball-music-man-bongo-4hh-2/ 

[dub_junkie]

My Classic Sabre 😍

 

Gets me really close to a StingRay. Has the Lakland H+S mode and does the 'hollow' two pickup tone with the switch in the middle position. There's a lovely woody P bass mode tone on position 4 and lastly a nice fat warm neck humbucker on its own.

 

I prefer the 'Lakland' and 'P bass' inbetween settings on the Sabre 5 way compared to both inner and both outer coils settings on a StingRay HH.

 

 

[PaulThePlug]

Ibanez SR300...

[Franticsmurf]

I use a Sterling 34HH and I tend to find myself using the middle three (of five) switch positions - that is 'outer coils only', both pickups, inner coils only' . The neck pick up is the one I use least - largely due to the style of music I play which doesn't need that deep and powerful tone. I'll use the bridge pick up on its own if I need to cut through.

 

I like my 34HH but I have to admit that the quality control wasn't the best - the 5 way selector switch was noisy out of the box and while it doesn't affect the tone when I'm playing, I would have expected better from what is the most expensive bass I own. 

[Paddy777]

20 hours ago, Machines said:

MTD Kingston Super is a good shout too.

 

 

I play a Bartolini’d-up MTD Saratoga 5 and love it, I’ve been seriously interested in getting one of these, I’m waiting to see if one ever comes up second hand, cos they sound fantastic on the sound demos I’ve heard

 

As for OP - the Sire M5 (or M7 - only upgrade on M7 is wood/finishes) is a really great option if you’re looking to keep it under £500 - there’s an M7 4 string on the marketplace now for £325 in fact. Pickups are decent, preamp has parametric mids, active passive switch as well as series/parallel/single coil options - a proper modern double $$. Low end lobster some good reviews and comparisons for this bass - worth a look, but as often the case with Sire - you won’t get better at the price point. Ibanez also do some pretty decent mid range double humbuckers including some that come with factory Nordstrands and decent preamps but the Sire M5/M7 is a corker 

[jd56hawk]

Doesn't get much better than the L2000.

[dub_junkie]

7 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

I use a Sterling 34HH and I tend to find myself using the middle three (of five) switch positions - that is 'outer coils only', both pickups, inner coils only' . The neck pick up is the one I use least - largely due to the style of music I play which doesn't need that deep and powerful tone. I'll use the bridge pick up on its own if I need to cut through.

 

I like my 34HH but I have to admit that the quality control wasn't the best - the 5 way selector switch was noisy out of the box and while it doesn't affect the tone when I'm playing, I would have expected better from what is the most expensive bass I own. 

I owned both a Ray34HH and Ray35HH and I found the output drop on the in between positions 2 & 4 (both inner and both outer coils) made switching between those tones and positions 1, 3 and 5 almost impossible in a live band setting. The in between positions sounded great but almost impossible to keep a consistent output if switching settings. Shame really as both basses were otherwise really nice. 

 

I didn't get this problem with a USA deluxe Fender Dimension HH 5. That was a great sounding bass and the inner and outer coil settings sounded terrific.