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Question for EBMM users

#41
FromTheBassMent said:
All of this "good for rock" and "good for metal" nonsense is based on the very narrow-minded view that there is only one acceptable bass tone for any given style of music. This is utter bollocks. The current craze in "nu-metal" and other contemporary rock styles seems to be for basses with a huge midrange bite at the expense of low end, and gritty amp settings. But if you listen to decades of "rock" leading up to March of 2010, you will find a ridiculous variety of bass sounds used in the genre's history. None of them is more "good for rock" than another. What's "good" for any style of music is finding a tone you like and setting yourself in the mix with your bandmates.

I play a Stingray 5 fretless set up with a fairly aggressive tone in a country/folk setting. I get great comments on my sound all the time.

But if I asked around here at TB, most people would say "a fretless Stingray 5 is not 'good for country.'"

I think such pronouncements are only applicable to players with mediocre skills and immature ears. If you've got the chops, you can make just about any bass work in just about any situation.
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Never did I say that only one bass is acceptable for any style. Some do it better than other... And I can see you missed my huge sentence.
 
#42
Is this thread still about the Bongo and Sterling? haha
I kind see both sides of Tommygunn vs. the rest of TB

like some tones just aren't possible on certain basses... like your not gonna get a bright, scooped slap tone out of a pbass. and sometimes when you think of a genre of bass, you think of a certain tone (slap... bright, scooped). BUT! who's to say that you can't play a certain style of music with an "unconventional" tone? i think that's whats Tommygunn's getting at... if your looking for the generic tone of a certain style of music, certain basses are just the obvious places to start. It's not like you have to follow that... it's just a good place to start.
 
#43
travisivart said:
Is this thread still about the Bongo and Sterling? haha
I kind see both sides of Tommygunn vs. the rest of TB

like some tones just aren't possible on certain basses... like your not gonna get a bright, scooped slap tone out of a pbass. and sometimes when you think of a genre of bass, you think of a certain tone (slap... bright, scooped). BUT! who's to say that you can't play a certain style of music with an "unconventional" tone? i think that's whats Tommygunn's getting at... if your looking for the generic tone of a certain style of music, certain basses are just the obvious places to start. It's not like you have to follow that... it's just a good place to start.
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There are some valid points in that that I agree with. I prolly agree with the whole thing actually, especially the bolded part.

For example (this arguement is meant for another time) do pbasses have a signature slap tone everybody is used to (Lets say the M Miller tine)? No it does not. Do people use a pbass for slap? Yes, cause in it's own way it has a good slap tone. I guess the same can be said for the Bongo vs Sterling relationship. But Some want one certian tone for something, for rock the tone I want (and IMO is better) comes from the sterling.

Oh and most vs threads end in my bull headin my opinion, vs everybody else. Cause it's not 'cool' to disagree with the "Smarter, wiser, elders" of TB. Do I give a rat's butt that I don't agreee and my opinion is unpopular? No. Is the the case? Maybe, but it is how is see it, with most threads I see it is how it works.

There we go
 
#44
Getting back on topic, here's some photos of me playing Bongos in jazz bands ....

clarendon2.jpg

sidehome.jpg

markhome.jpg
 
#50
Tommygunn said:
:scowl:

Sorry excuse for a joke... tasteless.
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Man, wouldja quit taking everything so personally and so freaking seriously? It was just a bit of fun.

I can't speak for the other TBers, but I personally don't judge you for your age. Hell, you know more than I did at your age.

But when you say things like one kind of bass, especially a popular one, not being good at a given genre, you'd better be ready for some heated disagreement. It's obviously true for you, but the way you said it earlier in the thread made it out to be more like an established fact. You can be of that opinion, but again, you'd better be ready to defend it if you're ready to post it on a public forum.

I don't care if you're 14 or 40, people are going to disagree with you and are going to want to talk about it. Sort of comes with the territory, being a public place and all.

Bottom line - lighten up a little. We're TB brothers. We can kid with each other, we can disagree, we can discuss it and be civil about it, and we can move on. :)
 
#52
Tommygunn said:
Never did I say that only one bass is acceptable for any style. Some do it better than other... And I can see you missed my huge sentence.
Click to expand...

Rubbish. I didn't miss anything that you or anyone else in this thread said.

Look, you can take an SX P bass and run it through $10,000 worth of studio gear (preamps, modelers, whatever) and make it sound like any damb bass in the world. You can run Gwen Stephani's voice through $10,000 worth of studio gear and make her sound like David Bowie. So?

The point is, stuffing basses into various niches based on uninformed and inexperienced prejudices is going to get you flamed on TB.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I know a guy who plays hardcore metal on a Pedulla Pentabuzz played fingerstyle, and he freakin ROCKS.

And I can't WAIT to hear someone playing a Ric in a trad jazz trio. I'll bet you someone is doing it, and doing it well to boot.
 
#53
Tommygunn said:
Oh and most vs threads end in my bull headin my opinion, vs everybody else. Cause it's not 'cool' to disagree with the "Smarter, wiser, elders" of TB. Do I give a rat's butt that I don't agreee and my opinion is unpopular? No. Is the the case? Maybe, but it is how is see it, with most threads I see it is how it works.

There we go
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No one minds you having your opinion, but they do mind you trying to cram it down their throats.

To answer the original posters question, I haven't played the bongo, but the neat thing with the single pickup sterling is the ability to set parallel/series/single coil. I personally haven't ever had too much interest in the bongo because of the looks (yes I'm shallow). Have you looked into the big al at all?
 
#54
I never thought it would have gone so far hahaha.

Well, I ask the question because there isn't a lot of EBMM product avalaible where I live and I never saw a lefty one so.

I think I will have to try a right handed version of what I have under my radar even if it isn't what it will be as a lefty.
 
#55
Tony Levin, Dave Larue, John Myung, Jason James (bullet for my valentine), bassist from porcupine tree.
And those are just a few big names that use a bongo for rock and theres plenty of other bongo owners who use them to play rock. Then again your opinion and experience does outweigh the actual opinion and experience of artists. Chief.
 
#57
FromTheBassMent said:
Rubbish. I didn't miss anything that you or anyone else in this thread said.

Look, you can take an SX P bass and run it through $10,000 worth of studio gear (preamps, modelers, whatever) and make it sound like any damb bass in the world. You can run Gwen Stephani's voice through $10,000 worth of studio gear and make her sound like David Bowie. So?

The point is, stuffing basses into various niches based on uninformed and inexperienced prejudices is going to get you flamed on TB.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I know a guy who plays hardcore metal on a Pedulla Pentabuzz played fingerstyle, and he freakin ROCKS.

And I can't WAIT to hear someone playing a Ric in a trad jazz trio. I'll bet you someone is doing it, and doing it well to boot.
Click to expand...

The only pentabuzz I've ever played was a fretless and highly versatile. Same with the ric I played... it could do anything IMO
 
#59
Their is a bassist in a little known prog band called Dream Theater. His name is John Myung and he plays Bongos.

I also used a Bongo at one time in a hard rock band and it did absolutely fine, better than a lot of other basses I've owned before and since. So, maybe you would not choose a Bongo for those styles, but lots of others do and there is quite a bit of evidence that they DO work rather well for hard rock and metal, in spite of your misgivings.
 

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