Bongo Vs Stingray Special.

[BassBeast]

Both have an 18v system. 
 

Have any of you played extensively with both? I’ve had the Bongo but sold due to unresolved technical issues. Had loads of power. 
 

My trusted 97 Stingray 3EQ classic is fine but it lacks something the lack of frets and voltage provides.  
 

Thank you!

Edited September 21 by BassBeast

[Bolo]

The pickups are in a different position.

Perhaps a three band Stingray is more what you're after.

[Misdee]

11 hours ago, BassBeast said:

Both have an 18v system. 
 

Have any of you played extensively with both? I’ve had the Bongo but sold due to unresolved technical issues. Had loads of power. 
 

My trusted 97 Stingray 3EQ classic is fine but it lacks something the lack of frets and voltage provides.  
 

Thank you!

I've got a Bongo and a Stingray Special.

 

They are very different basses  both in terms of sound and how they feel to play.

 

It would help to know a bit more about the problems you had with your Bongo and what it is that you are dissatisfied with about the Stingray.

 

Regarding 18 volts, I personally have never noticed much difference between 9 volt active EQ and 18 volts in practical terms, but I don't usually crank it up that much. It just depends on the design of the circuit.  For example, back in the 1990's I used to have a Status Empathy with an 18 volt circuit. I remember plugging in an old Wal with a 9 volt circuit and comparing the two. The Wal was literally twice as loud. When people talk about extra "headroom" I'm a bit sceptical  about how useful that might be in reality. Manufacturers are quite good at solving problems that folks never realised they had. There's plenty of 9 volt circuits that are perfectly good.

 

I've  certainly never come across a Stingray that seemed underpowered, going back all the way to the original pre-EBMM instruments. To my ears, the Stingray Special is a good-sounding example of that design, but it's not radically different to any previous Stingray, except it substantially lighter in weight.

[NancyJohnson]

Had a Bongo 5HH...while it played like a dream, the preamp was ridiculously hot and overwhelming.  You'd start a rehearsal with everything at noon and just tweak continually; by the end of the session tonally things would just be mush.

 

Never actually went under the hood to see whether there was any way to roll things off, in hindsight, perhaps I should have.

 

 

 

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Had a Bongo 5HH...while it played like a dream, the preamp was ridiculously hot and overwhelming.  You'd start a rehearsal with everything at noon and just tweak continually; by the end of the session tonally things would just be mush.

 

Never actually went under the hood to see whether there was any way to roll things off, in hindsight, perhaps I should have.

 

 

 

I had the same experience. The 18v wasn’t just headroom, it overwhelmed anything I plugged it into. It was lovely to play though. In hindsight I should have swapped the preamp for something sensible.

 

Personally I am confused why anyone goes for 18v / High Headroom bass preamps and then runs it into a compressor. Kind of defeats the object, but then again high headroom on an instrument that already has a huge dynamic range is a bit odd too. FOH always has to tame it down again.

 

Amps are still built with passive  P and J basses in mind simply because they are by far the highest selling instruments. Some basses are just so damn loud the input gain or active / passive switch isn’t adequate anymore.

 

I’d have another Bongo, but I would modify it.

 

[NancyJohnson]

2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I had the same experience. The 18v wasn’t just headroom, it overwhelmed anything I plugged it into. It was lovely to play though. In hindsight I should have swapped the preamp for something sensible.

 

Personally I am confused why anyone goes for 18v / High Headroom bass preamps and then runs it into a compressor. Kind of defeats the object, but then again high headroom on an instrument that already has a huge dynamic range is a bit odd too. FOH always has to tame it down again.

 

Amps are still built with passive  P and J basses in mind simply because they are by far the highest selling instruments. Some basses are just so damn loud the input gain or active / passive switch isn’t adequate anymore.

 

I’d have another Bongo, but I would modify it.

 

 

While I'm certainly not in the market for any more basses, if I had a shortlist, the Bongo 5HH would be on it.  £3.2k (Thomann)... it's a lot of swag, but not horrific.  I'm surprised it wasn't more.

 

I concur that something would need to be done with the preamp though; I did post here years ago about converting it to passive, but sold the bass on as stock.

[horrorshowbass]

Used bongos can be got for a lot less than £2k, especially in Europe.

Always wanted one, maybe some day.

[BassBeast]

I got me Bongo 4H Sapphire during Covid for 1K. It was erratic with me audio interface in terms of output. The preamp kept distorting its output. Had it repaired but no difference. Sold it to some dude in NZ who was happy to have it shipped from London. Made some really cool demos with it on me own but ultimately wanted it gone because of the insane excess output that was very difficult to manage on board with EQ knobs and input gain on the AI. 

[Misdee]

I've got an HH Bongo and I've recorded with it quite a bit. I've never had a problem with the output, even when I add some EQ from the  Bongo preamp. It's definitely very hot, but I've no recollection of it ever unduly overloading enough to cause obvious distortion, and I play moderately hard. No problems through a big amp and  4x10 cabinet either.

[Sparky Mark]

I used to own a lovely Bongo 4H and never had an output level issue. The one problem I had was the point of the lower bout digging into my thigh when playing whilst seated. I think that is an ergonomic fail. Standing up it's not a problem. 

[Misdee]

Come to think of it, I've also got a Reflex with what is essentially an 18v Bongo preamp in it. However, it has the added intreague of being switchable between active and passive mode. Never noticed much (any) difference in output level between the two, except if you were to crank up the bass and low mids in active mode, probably.

 

I seem to remember that EBMM recommended that the Reflex should always be plugged into your high impedance input, and I would surmise that the same would apply to the Bongo.

Edited September 22 by Misdee

[binky_bass]

I've had a few Ray's and currently have a Bongo 6 HH BFR which is a phenomenal bass. Personally, it's great for me and what I play (a lot of tap style and 'lead bass') so it being hot and cutting through the mix like a hot knife is great - for me. I can very much understand that it's not the right bass for everyone. If you're playing classic rock, covers standards etc, I'd probably not recommend it. But, that's just my humble opinion! 

Edited September 23 by binky_bass

[BassBeast]

Question then,

 

Is a Stingray 4H Special going to be as hot as a Bongo 4H simply because of the the 18v circuit?

 

😇

[Bolo]

9v or 18v has very little to do with how hot the output signal is. I've had passive basses with a hotter output than any of my stingrays. 

A higher voltage pre could theoretically give a more dynamic signal, if providing higher peaks and a lower noise floor.

[drTStingray]

46 minutes ago, BassBeast said:

Question then,

 

Is a Stingray 4H Special going to be as hot as a Bongo 4H simply because of the the 18v circuit?

 

😇

Not sure about the H versions (the H Bongo has a three band, not four band EQ). I have a Bongo 5HH and both 4 and 5 string HH Stingray Specials. 
 

Id say the output signal is similar on all of them and I run the input gain on my Markbass LM3 lower when using these basses than using 2, 3 band or passive Stingrays. One thing that’s very noticeable on the Stingray Specials is the amount of boost available on the EQ - and specifically the bass EQ - I’d say it’s comparable with that on the Bongos. 
 

I used the 5HH Bongo on a blues/funk/soul gig recently - it was actually very good indeed and made a good late 70s onwards bass sound. It drew a lot of interest as well.

 

The Stingray Specials also nail the 70s Stingray sound very well (it may also help that I’ve been playing that style since the 70s…… along with Stingrays of various types 😀)

[horrorshowbass]

16 hours ago, binky_bass said:

I've had a few Ray's and currently have a Bongo 6 HH BFR which is a phenomenal bass. Personally, it's great for me and what I play (a lot of tap style and 'lead bass') so it being hot and cutting through the mix like a hot knife is great - for me. I can very much understand that it's not the right bass for everyone. If you're playing classic rock, covers standards etc, I'd probably not recommend it. But, that's just my humble opinion! 

Am I being overly simplistic to say id far rather have a hot bass and turn down my master volume than say a passive bass that I'm cranking everything to get heard?

Power wise id rather be looking at it than for it. Again just my personal preference.

[BassBeast]

I record at home only these days. The Bongo was so hot I’d have to turn its Vol pot so not to overload the audio interface. By doing so, I took some of the meat away from its preamp. Don’t have to do this with the Stingray Classic. 

[Misdee]

51 minutes ago, BassBeast said:

I record at home only these days. The Bongo was so hot I’d have to turn its Vol pot so not to overload the audio interface. By doing so, I took some of the meat away from its preamp. Don’t have to do this with the Stingray Classic. 

I've heard of other people having the same problem with the Bongo overloading their audio interface, it must be said. It's never been a problem for me recording my Bongo onto my computer, but I was using a very antiquated method via the headphones input of my PC via an archaic digital signal chain. I've got a new modern setup now, but must admit I haven't got round to trying the Bongo. Maybe the input level on the interface is tweakable? Or maybe going through a preamp before the interface might help.

[BassBeast]

Considered a preamp but there’s so many to choose from and each has its own colour that will have to be managed. 😎

 

[BassBeast]

Is a Stingray Special as hot at a Bongo?

[Misdee]

2 hours ago, BassBeast said:

Considered a preamp but there’s so many to choose from and each has its own colour that will have to be managed. 😎

 

I totally get where you are coming from, but look at it this way; you could say the same thing about any amp and speaker cabinet you play through. The Bongo is such a good sounding bass that most preamps will compliment it well. I've got a Tech 21 BDDI V2 and it's one of the most coloured -sounding preamps on the market, but it's also one of the most useful in recreating the sound of a big amp and cabinet. It compliments most basses and styles of music pretty well if you take some time and experiment with it. It's also pretty reasonably priced. I mostly used to record my Bongo with a very old plugin of a vintage SVT combined with a studio compressor and it sounded terrific.

[Misdee]

2 hours ago, BassBeast said:

Is a Stingray Special as hot at a Bongo?

That's a difficult call to make. The Bongo seems a bit hotter, maybe because the mids are a bit more prominent than on a Stingray. The frequencies that tend to push the dial are there a bit more, maybe. 

 

 

[BassBeast]

2 hours ago, Misdee said:

I totally get where you are coming from, but look at it this way; you could say the same thing about any amp and speaker cabinet you play through. The Bongo is such a good sounding bass that most preamps will compliment it well. I've got a Tech 21 BDDI V2 and it's one of the most coloured -sounding preamps on the market, but it's also one of the most useful in recreating the sound of a big amp and cabinet. It compliments most basses and styles of music pretty well if you take some time and experiment with it. It's also pretty reasonably priced. I mostly used to record my Bongo with a very old plugin of a vintage SVT combined with a studio compressor and it sounded terrific.

Where in a pedal chain does your preamp go? Is there an ideal place for it? At the end? At the beginning? After a compressor? It’s all so confusing. 

[BassBeast]

Tech 21 BDDI V2. Was looking at these recently. Couldn’t find a price I liked sadly. 

[Misdee]

58 minutes ago, BassBeast said:

Where in a pedal chain does your preamp go? Is there an ideal place for it? At the end? At the beginning? After a compressor? It’s all so confusing. 

I put mine at the beginning, then a Diamond BC1  Bass Compressor. But I'm no expert with comes to pedals. I'm experimenting just like you.

 

It might be worth contacting EBMM customer service and explaining your dilemma. The might have some recommendations on how to connect 18v bass to avoid overloading the input. It's probably going to involve some kind of a buffered input.