ern500evo

Nige's suggestion in the last thread wins it for me: A twat of old bastards! Which would also make a great name for a blues band!

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1398760164' post='2437219'] Ay, and Promenade Music offer great new prices on them. The standard black ones and sapphire black are much more common in the UK, but thing like Sky Blue and Tangerine Pearl...well, there are barely any. One of the best pre-amps I've ever played...in fact one of the best bass designs I've ever played. [/quote] I was looking at Bass Central's website before I ordered mine, they had some amazing Tangerine pearl ones, I also like that Dargie's Delight green they do. About as far from my Stealth black as you could get but really cool colours!

I guess one option would be to buy a used one and have it refinished, at least that way all you're restricted by when searching, is the pup config. Trouble is with Bongo basses, as I found out, used ones don't seem to appear very often. As for the pricing debate, when I was searching for my 4HS Stealth, the cheapest I could find anywhere in the UK was approx £1600 and would have had to wait for it to be built. Other option was Thomann who had one in stock at £1650, I spent what felt like days trawling through MM's euro dealer websites, but eventually got one for £1100 incl delivery from Holland. Ordered tuesday at 3pm, on my doorstep by 8am thursday! So they can be got cheaper, it just takes a bit of searching.

Forget the wattage issue, if the 450 is loud enough for you does it make any difference if it's 450w or 236w? I've had a RH450 and I now use a RH750, I changed because I sometimes want a clanky sound with some real top end sizzle, and as I don't really use a pick the 750 gets that sound easier, I also got it for a great price which helped! I'd say just bear with it and let YOUR ears decide. BC is an amazing place to get advice from some incredibly knowledgable people, but ultimately you have to decide if you like what you hear from it. As an example, look at how many people around here hate Ashdown amps stating they're unreliable and lacking oomph, I've got an original ABM500evo RC which has only ever been serviced once yet has never ever let me down, and I've never had a volume issue with it, no matter what setting or band situation I've used it in.

I have virtually no 5 string experience, but the guy I bought my RH450 from had a SR1205 and I played it to test the amp. It played beautifully, really good quality feel to it. Granted I only played it at house volume but it sounded lovely, the low B was killer. I ended up asking more questions about the bass than about the amp I was buying!

Just sold my RH450 to Mike, great guy to deal with. Instant payment and good communication, would highly recommend.

Another cool piece from Stuart: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSYVEqVyVc

Bought a pickup from Matt. Great guy to deal with, good communication, quick delivery. Deal with confidence people!

If this is a 2024 it sounds fantastic! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xYpzAw0IiCM

Yes the videos are on Elixir's channel. The guy is John Carruthers, he makes it very easy to follow and understand. I used it live for the first time last night, it sounds great. Going to take a little bit of getting used to, the body and neck feel bigger than my Warwick. Biggest thing though is finding somewhere comfortable to rest my thumb, the H feels too far back and the S feels too far forward! I've always rested it on the P pickup on my Warwick which would sit in the gap between the 2 pups on the Bongo.

My mum got me into some good music, she used to listen to a lot of Motown, Cream and The Rolling Stones. My dad used to work away a lot so on saturday nights he'd take my mum out, and every week without fail he'd come into my room to put his Fats Domino record on to listen to while he had a bath and got ready. Whenever I hear the opening piano part of Blue Monday now it puts a big smile on my face and takes me straight back to that time.

[quote name='Bassman Sam' timestamp='1394156898' post='2388637'] Looks great for it's age, lush. Through the Ashdown it will sound fab. Time to brush up the Cream licks. [/quote] Agreed, first thing you have to play on these is some Jack Bruce, it's the law!! Congrats, very cool bass.

Thanks guys, it did just need a minor tweak of the truss rod to sort the buzz. The rest really was just checking stuff as I watched the videos, which by the way are very good. I had to do it, it would've been too painful to leave it at home for saturdays gig! The more I play it the more I like it, and I know I'm biased but I think the stealth black finish looks pretty cool.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1394114015' post='2388052'] Congrats on the new bass! Really not sold on the looks, however the sound and playability is superb, best of Musicman for sure [/quote] I know what you mean about the looks Kev, it took a while for me to be convinced.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1394114623' post='2388065'] It looks lovely (like the Knight Rider bass rig!) You couldn't believe that in 6 months you'd be buying one... In 6 months you won't believe that you were scared to do a set-up on it!! (And wonder why you waste money paying someone for a set-up when it's so easy!) [/quote] Well i did it! i got the tools needed together, sat down and watched a series of 4 short videos by John Carruthers and went for it!! Did the truss rod first, and immediately the buzz started disappearing,. Then followed his instructions and did saddles, checked intonation etc. Only thing i didn't have to do was the height at the nut, which i'm rather glad about because he might have looked confident filing away at a brand new bass but i wouldn't have been! Still going to keep practicing it on my OLP though, but both HowieBass and yourself are correct, i did sit there after thinking "Well that wasn't as bad as i thought"!

[quote name='Nodd' timestamp='1394113029' post='2388038'] Welcome to the enlightened level of Bongo Nirvana! 18V of Donner und Blitzen [/quote] Thanks man, I've been just playing about at home with it, so not really loud but have to say it sounds great. Really versatile, can't wait to get out and hear it in the band mix at the weekend!