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Reviews
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Date of last review
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11
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25182
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Thu November 9, 2006
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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73% of reviewers
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$1,169.29
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9.6
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Description:
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5-String 12 3/4" Wide 1 5/8" Thick 47 5/8" Long
Weight: 5-String Single Humbucking 9lbs 4oz
Scale: 34"
Radius: 11"
Headstock: 9 3/4"
Nut: 1 3/4" (5-string)
24th fret: 2 13/16" (5-string)
Wood: Maple / Rosewood Fretboard
Finish: Opaque Satin Finish - Color Matches Body
Tuners: Schaller BM Tapered String Posts
Truss-Rod: Adjustable - no component or string removal
Body Wood: Basswood
Finish: High Gloss Polyester
Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity
Pickups & Controls: Optional Dual Humbucking with Neodymium magnets*
(4-band EQ: volume, bridge/neck pickup balance,
low-mid/high-mid, bass, treble)
*Piezo option available on all pickup configurations
(4-band EQ: volume, bridge/neck pickup balance,
magnetic/piezo pan, low-mid/high-mid, bass, treble)
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Author
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bovinehost
Registered User
Registered: December 2002
Posts: 3074
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Review Date: Tue March 30, 2004
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $1,300.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Big, sharp, nasty teeth; mean streak a mile wide. Leaps tall boutique basses in single bound.
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Cons:
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Slightly inebriated blues wankers unable to stare directly at bass.
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It looks different. Now just walk away from the visual aspects and play one.
Construction is exactly the kind of work you expect from the Ernie Ball crew. Everything is tight, smooth and even the fancy knob layout feels right once you figure it out. Why don\'t other manufacturers figure out this truss rod thing? You stick a screwdriver or an icepick or whatever in one of the little holes in the wheel and - ta da! - you\'re adjusting your truss rod! Is this so hard? Plus there are small details like little funky grooves in the bass side of the pickups - the perfect place to anchor finger, thumb or very small watercraft.
The neck is painted. The paint is under the finish, which makes sense when and if you consider it. It feels just like a finished neck, which again makes a considerable amount of sense. It feels GOOD.
You want Stingray tone? You got it. Much better than the Sterling or Stingray 5. It does the Stingray thing. Then you dial in that neck pickup and suddenly the first five rows are losing dental work and all cartilage turns gelatinous. Do not play this around sharks or rays. It\'s big, it\'s fat, it\'s a Bongo and you want one.
The electronics kill. I was in a situation a while back in which there was no bass amp. Expecting a bass amp, I had no DI, so I had to plug directly into the PA. Do not do this if you don\'t have to, but, if you do have to, get a Bongo. The high mid/low mid controls saved me.
I have played rock, country, blues and, in a series of events that should fall through the cracks of hisotry, Christmas music with this Bongo. It has such a wide range of usable tone that I would not hesitate to play polka or perhaps join some kind of didgeridoo orchestra and I would dare them to make fun of my Bongo.
Buy one. Or, do what I did - buy two.
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"Jesus cant play bass anymore because his hands were broke off when he jumped off my desk."
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Ohface485
Registered User
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Sat May 1, 2004
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $1,250.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Easy to play, sweet body, good tone, good intonation, two octaves, hi/mid/lo
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Cons:
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Needs batteries
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My bongo is sweet. I ended up playing on this each ghetto amp, but it was all good since i the bongo has its own set of hi/mid/lo. Also, the body shape is awesome. BMW did a great job in designing that. Overall, its just a sa-weet bass. No regrets in buying it.
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Anonymous
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Review Date: Sun July 4, 2004
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $1,060.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Great tones, beautiful design, comfortable, smooth neck.
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Cons:
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no case
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Just ordered mine yesterday!!!!
I love this bass. I went into guitar center to check out the Fender Aerodyne and some others. I picked up the Bongo just cause I read up on it and fell in love with the beast!!!! What a great surprise 
Kudos to EB and BMW.
What color is the Bongo posted on this thread? It looks sweeeeettt.
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Neeto
Registered User
Registered: July 2004
Posts: 7
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Review Date: Sat July 31, 2004
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $1,200.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Beautiful, not heavy, sounds great, versatile, comfortable!
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Cons:
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No Case / Had to raise the B string to stop buzz.
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The bass is a dream. The buttery soft neck makes me feel like I am in bass heaven. The massive humbuckers are scary looking, but sound wonderful. So many sounds can be dialed in.
My problem now is how much to rely on my amp/bongo bass/exciter!
It\'s sort of a battery hog. But it\'s not too bad. (better than running an ac adapter from it lol)
I had to do some minor adjustments during setup to get the low b to stop buzzing. Was just too flabby with the default Ernie Ball strings on it. (they sound and feel great elsewhere, just not on the low b)
My hangup is the case. It sucks that there is no case. It sucks bad! If you buy the bass from basscentral.com, don\'t get the damn G&G case. Look for some other brand. It\'s a ghetto case at a premium price. The thing will fall apart if I breathe heavily on it!
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Anonymous
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Review Date: Fri May 6, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: $1,200.00
| Rating: 0
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Pros:
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Rocks
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Cons:
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Other bass (1976 ric 4001) might be jealous
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doing the first public gig with it tonite so I might have to come back and ammend this a little. Went up to G.C. and picked it up. I demanded a hardshell case for it and they supplied one. Not an E.B. case (which they are ordering at no extra charge) so I do have to make the trip back and swap that out.
I\'m a tad worried about buzzing on the B but so far the action on it is very sweet.
Plugged it into my Ampeg 220 with the same volume I usually use with my Ric and sent the dogs scurrying.... Oops... guess I\'ll need to watch that a little.
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Joe Nerve
Registered User
Registered: October 2000
Location: New York City
Posts: 5521
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Review Date: Thu July 14, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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[edit] oops, I was talking about a Bongo 4, but ditto on the Bongo 5. I bought one shortly after Humbucker/single coil), but sent it back for another (dual humbucker) that I\'m still waiting on.
-----------------------------------------------
Bovinehost pretty much said it all. I\'ll add whatever I can. I\'ve owned LOTS of different basses, and nothing has ever come close to this. The bass I was using exclusively before the Bongo was a MM Sterling. I took the Bongo straight from the store I bought it at to a stage, and I haven\'t taken another bass to a gig since (aside from the 5 string Bongo I bought shortly after).
Contrary to what some people believe, the bass has gotten lots of comments on it\'s looks. I\'ve been told by more than one person that it\'s a \"sexy\" bass. I\'ve played over 1000 gigs and nobody ever before told me my bass was sexy.
What really sold me on it though was the EQ options and the thunder that the neck pickup rolls into the mix. I started the first show I played with the blend control in the bridge pickup position (because I was used to it with my sterling) and as the show went on slowly dialed in the other pickup. I can\'t begin to tell you how much it adds. My sterling always cut through the mix like a razor, now the Bongo was doing the same thing but with tons of bottom. Before the Sterling a played a bubinga warwick which had more bottom than any other bass I ever played. Now the Bongo was giving me the best of all worlds. Felt like everything I loved about the Sterling with the bottom of the Warwick that I sometimes missed.
Last note: All my basses always seemed moody, and I\'ve been in situations (sometimes auditions) where my sound was just horrible because of the amp, acoustics whatever. The 4 band EQ and 2 humbuckers gives all the control I need to minimize those situations. I find myself able to dial in \"my sound\" in just about any situation I\'m thrown into. A control freak\'s dream.
Last last note: I find it amusing that I have not yet once seen anyone who\'s owned a Bongo say anything bad about it whatsoever. That\'s all, the rest is in everyone else post here.
------------------------------
www.myspace.com/joenervebass
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mr.shadow
Registered User
Registered: August 2005
Location: Cumbria UK
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Thu August 25, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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See Bovinehost, Joe Nerves Posts
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Cons:
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In my view None
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Not really a great deal I can add to this as Bovine and Joe have it pretty much covored. Like Joe, prior to the Bongo5 I owned a Sterling (Onyx), prior to the Sterling I owned a Thumb4. Both ok in there own right, but both lacking. In the case of the Sterling, it lacked bottom, as for the Thumb, well, it had bottom but that was about it (the sound of wood, my arse!)
The Bongo5 has it all, growling low end, snarling mids and shrieking top a briliant all rounder.
Not that long, I would read all sorts of comments regarding the Bongo, that really pi*sed me off, generally about its looks. \"HaHa play one of them...It looks like a bloody toilet seat or some kinda weird tin opener\". These were obviously peeps who hadn\'t put fingers to strings and were just listening to a lot of crap opinions going around at the time. Clueless bloody sheep, BaaaramU.
The bassplayers M5, the Bongo is an outstanding piece of kit, that nothing, in my view comes near
Nice one Sterling/Beemer.
Price paid £1350ish
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Anonymous
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Review Date: Thu December 29, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Pros:
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Versitility,action, musicman!
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Cons:
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I asked 3 people if it looked funny
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I have been playing bass for a little over a year. I got my start on a borrowed Squire P-bass. I hit my local GC I played a sterling and a Stingray, first time on either. The Sterling had a narrow neck, good tone and great playability. The Stingray blew me away with its low tones (first time to experience the legend) I was ready to leave. But I went back and asked if there was anything else I should try out. Being new to the bass I was really trying to find something comfortable for me. When he pulled that bongo stealth 4 down, I had to take a double take, the style different. The bongo fit me like a glove, the playability and action are awesome. The low tones can be dialed in. This things Growls and sounds awesome. It might look different, but the body shape is more business then pleasure a very nice fit, good contours. This bass is very well designed. Get your hands on one
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ras1983
Registered User
Registered: December 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1520
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Review Date: Mon August 7, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Tone, playability, versatility, cuts through the mix like a hot knife, different styling
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Cons:
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none
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Fantastic bass. i tried every single mass produced 5 string on the australian market before i decided on buying the bongo. its a stealth 5HH model.
basically, it had more low end than anything, more mids than anything, more highs than anything, and it played better than anything that was mass produced. in my hands, it was the perfect bass.
i remember Victor Wooten saying that is doesn't matter what the headstock says, if the bass feels good in your hands then its worth its weight in gold. and this bass felt PERFECT in my hands. the HH adds a lot of bottom end, and the mids and highs are fantastic also. the 4 band eq makes it easy to dial in any tone i desire, and the top end is so snappy and authoritative, its incredible. it cuts through the mix like a hot knife through butter, or like a chainsaw through a log. it is just incredible. the 24 fret neck gives a little extra range when playing those chords or when taking a solo, and the neck is lovely and smooth.
for me, it really is the perfect bass.
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http://www.basscentre.com.au/
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daveonbass
DIE! Dugga dugga DIE! Dugga dugga DIE! DIE! DIE!
Registered: April 2001
Location: Waupun, WI
Posts: 290
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Review Date: Sun August 13, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: $1,275.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Stealth looks cool
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Cons:
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Tone, batteries
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Well, this was a very short lived bass in my collection. I had a Stealth HH. Loved the way it looked, but black is my favorite color. Just could never get a sound from the thing that I liked. And I'm used to the Lakland/Fender "wider" string spacing - the Bongo has the strings closer together, I definitely prefer the wider string spacing.
I think it's a well made bass. Saw the guy in Collective Soul use one when we did a show with them, that's what got my interest in the first place. Just not the bass for me at all. But the guy I sold it to loves it, so... to each his own I guess...
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DaveOn Bass Website: http://www.daveonbass.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/daveonbass
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/daveonbass
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/daveonbass
LOG #132
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justinb515
Registered User
Registered: May 2006
Location: Murray, KY
Posts: 579
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Review Date: Thu November 9, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Amazing Tones, Different Look (if you like it) Quality of build, and Value
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Cons:
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Look (if you don't like it) It's not a Stingray (if you're a close-minded fool)
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Basically, I don't believe that you can get a more versatile bass for the money. If you like active basses, and you like the look (which I do), then this bass is for you. The only thing I can complain about would be that the 34" scale makes for a somewhat boomy B string. This seems to vary from Bongo to Bongo, however, as some I have played were less boomy than others. The first thing you will notice upon seeing this bass in person is that the build quality is top notch, typical Ernie Ball. This bass looks very expensive. As far as playing goes, I've never played a bass I liked better. The tone is monstrous and totally shape-able, and the look is amazing (if you're into it.) Personally, I like having a bass that looks different. Everyone who has seen mine loves it, although I do live in western Kentucky. I can think of no reason to fault this bass, especially considering its price. You can find one for under $1000 easily if you buy used, $800 or less if you are patient (which I'm not.). I would totally recommend this bass to anyone who can stand the way it looks. Awesome.
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