Sterling Bongo...worth the wait?

[jd56hawk]

https://sterlingbymusicman.com/collections/bongo

Good price. I was expecting $999.99

[Duarte]

Far out, I never thought this would happen. I've owned a heap of Bongos and they're so good. Render me intrigued.

[neepheid]

What price are you seeing?  According to Andertons, they'll be £999 here in the UK.  Honestly, SBMM can just eff off with their UK/EU price hikes.

[crazycloud]

US $700/780 for 4/5.

 

If there was a 6 in sparkly pink, I might be tempted.

[NancyJohnson]

I'm a huge Bongo fan, I owned a 5HH and loved everything about it aside from the ridiculousness of the preamp output level; I did post here years ago enquiring whether there was a route to make it passive.  You'd start a gig with a beautiful balanced tone, but inevitably you'd just keep nudging the controls up and an hour later [it] would be mush.  It was hard to keep under control.

 

Loved the quirky design, the neck carve, the string spacing, the colour and if I had £3-4k down the back of the sofa I'd consider another.

 

These, though?  I'm not saying no, more nah.  At present, I'm fairly uninterested.  I'm not saying Sterling kit is awful, far from it, but having witnessed a few bands supporting us where the bassists were using Sterling Stingrays, these instruments were some way off what they were copying.

 

 

[prowla]

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[HeadlessBassist]

A second hand 'real' Bongo would seem to be a better option. I keep hearing that the SBMM pickups and electrics are nearly, but not quite like the real thing. I'd hate to lay out a grand while all the time wishing I'd bought the real OA Music Man model.

[Duarte]

11 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

A second hand 'real' Bongo would seem to be a better option. I keep hearing that the SBMM pickups and electrics are nearly, but not quite like the real thing. I'd hate to lay out a grand while all the time wishing I'd bought the real OA Music Man model.

 

These are ceramic pickups with 2 band EQ, so yeah, their electronics are definitely not up to the real thing. Still, I'm interested to hear one.

[Terry M.]

6 minutes ago, Duarte said:

 

These are ceramic pickups with 2 band EQ, so yeah, their electronics are definitely not up to the real thing. Still, I'm interested to hear one.

I've had a few different EBMM SR5s and always preferred the ceramic era pickups over the alnico ones. My Warwick Thumb and Streamer have MEC pickups that use ceramic magnets and to me they're absolute tone monsters especially the Thumb. Bartolini US pickups use pretty much ceramic magnets exclusively.The famous MFD pickups in Leo's G&L L-series use them also. I guess I'm curious as to why ceramic generally gets a "lesser" reputation on the market over other alternatives?

[HeadlessBassist]

21 minutes ago, Duarte said:

 

These are ceramic pickups with 2 band EQ, so yeah, their electronics are definitely not up to the real thing. Still, I'm interested to hear one.

 

True, but often the 2-band instruments sound better than the 3/4 band ones. Definitely worth a look, I'd say.

Edited 12 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[Duarte]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

I've had a few different EBMM SR5s and always preferred the ceramic era pickups over the alnico ones. My Warwick Thumb and Streamer have MEC pickups that use ceramic magnets and to me they're absolute tone monsters especially the Thumb. Bartolini US pickups use pretty much ceramic magnets exclusively.The famous MFD pickups in Leo's G&L L-series use them also. I guess I'm curious as to why ceramic generally gets a "lesser" reputation on the market over other alternatives?

 

True, my 93 Sterling is a ceramic pickup and sounds phenomenal. The Bongo has always been neodymium though so it's interesting they've made that change. Looking forward to hearing one for sure.

 

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

True, but often the 2-band instruments sound better than the 3/4 band ones. Definitely worth a look, I'd say.

 

The 2-band Stingray is a beast of its own, it'd be interesting to hear a Bongo with similar voicing!

[HeadlessBassist]

8 minutes ago, Duarte said:

 

True, my 93 Sterling is a ceramic pickup and sounds phenomenal. The Bongo has always been neodymium though so it's interesting they've made that change. Looking forward to hearing one for sure.

 

 

The 2-band Stingray is a beast of its own, it'd be interesting to hear a Bongo with similar voicing!

 

Agreed - my 2-band 1995 Stingray is a monster. I guess that's really the proper original Stingray sound.

[Terry M.]

8 minutes ago, Duarte said:

 

True, my 93 Sterling is a ceramic pickup and sounds phenomenal. The Bongo has always been neodymium though so it's interesting they've made that change. Looking forward to hearing one for sure.

I had a 5 string EBMM Sterling with the single H which is what some say the ceramic SR5 always was. Anyway I'm still scratching my head over why I got rid of it as I preferred the smaller body and more traditional looking oval plate. They rarely pop up for sale these days.

[Musicman20]

https://www.andertons.co.uk/sterling-by-music-man-bongo-5-bass-in-firemist-purple-satin/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20740064305&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqebEBhD9ARIsAFZMbfzluWZstvyIdzYnPqDNx6l7fI3In8OhC-FjCSDIYJ7fkQSrM-QdHFQaAvZVEALw_wcB
 

Wow!

 

I’m sure you can get a second hand USA model for £1500-1700.

[Misdee]

10 hours ago, Terry M. said:

I've had a few different EBMM SR5s and always preferred the ceramic era pickups over the alnico ones. My Warwick Thumb and Streamer have MEC pickups that use ceramic magnets and to me they're absolute tone monsters especially the Thumb. Bartolini US pickups use pretty much ceramic magnets exclusively.The famous MFD pickups in Leo's G&L L-series use them also. I guess I'm curious as to why ceramic generally gets a "lesser" reputation on the market over other alternatives?

There's nothing at all wrong with ceramic pickups, but in this instance the point is that neodymium pickups are the essence of the Bongo's unique tone. It was the first EBMM bass to feature those magnets, and was probably one of the first basses anywhere with that type of pickup. Allied to that four band preamp, those pickups give the Bongo it's incredibly powerful output and tone. Without that formula you are may well be left with just a funny-shaped bass that ain't that cheap. 

 

I love the Bongo, always have done. At these prices, like others have suggested, I'd look out for a used USA one. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Misdee