Sterling Bongo...worth the wait?

[Stub Mandrel]

If it's as easy to convert those pups to neodymium as to convert jazz pups... 

[Russ]

49 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

If it's as easy to convert those pups to neodymium as to convert jazz pups... 

Not sure I've come across any replacement MM pickups that use neodymium magnets - they're all ceramic or alnico, and hence don't nail the Bongo sound. If anyone knows better, please let me know - might sway my decision to get one. 

 

Noll do a 4-band EQ that Klaus can configure with the Bongo frequency centres (for reference, they're bass at 40Hz, low mids at 400Hz, high mids at 2.5KHz and treble at 6.3KHz, all at +-15dB). 

Edited 5 hours ago by Russ

[itu]

4 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

It's almost impressive how much they can increase the prices between the US and other markets now.

 

48% difference in retail prices between the US and the UK. Right enough.

Aren't US prices VAT excluded? Local taxes + VAT = a lot more. 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

Not sure I've come across any replacement MM pickups that use neodymium magnets - they're all ceramic or alnico, and hence don't nail the Bongo sound. If anyone knows better, please let me know - might sway my decision to get one. 

 

Noll do a 4-band EQ that Klaus can configure with the Bongo frequency centres (for reference, they're bass at 40Hz, low mids at 400Hz, high mids at 2.5KHz and treble at 6.3KHz, all at +-15dB). 

 

If it's possible to push the pole pieces down a few mm, you can sit neodymium button magnets on top.

 

It may sound dodgy but it works absurdly well. So well that putting a neodymium button on the bottom of each pole piece may sound better.

[LowB_FTW]

11 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

the "Access" Trim level Dacia Duster with the steelies and zero equipment

Hey, that's my car!

 

Mark

[neepheid]

3 hours ago, itu said:

Aren't US prices VAT excluded? Local taxes + VAT = a lot more. 

 

Sales tax varies by state, some states have none.  None of them are anywhere near our 20% VAT.  There is no US-wide sales tax.

 

"The five states with the highest average combined state and local sales tax rates are Louisiana (9.56 percent), Tennessee (9.55 percent), Arkansas (9.45 percent), Washington (9.38 percent), and Alabama (9.29 percent)." - from https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2024-sales-taxes/

 

Edited 56 minutes ago by neepheid
VAT rate corrected - brain in importing mode

[Misdee]

Take it from me, we have it easy in the U.K compared to the U.S.A ( for now, anyway...). Relative prices is a very complex equation, of which the exchange rate is only one factor.

 

Let me put it this way, if you are living in the U.K and  struggling to afford a bass, chances are if you had the equivalent life in America you would struggle even more. It's an unforgiving place with some very harsh realities when it comes to money, especially if you don't have much.

[Russ]

1 minute ago, Misdee said:

Take it from me, we have it easy in the U.K compared to the U.S.A ( for now, anyway...). Relative prices is a very complex equation, of which the exchange rate is only one factor.

 

Let me put it this way, if you are living in the U.K and  struggling to afford a bass, chances are if you had the equivalent life in America you would struggle even more. It's an unforgiving place with some very harsh realities when it comes to money, especially if you don't have much.

Given my situation (Brit living in the US... for now), the cost of living over here is astronomical. Almost everything is more expensive, with the exception of petrol and some consumer goods. And the consumer goods are getting more expensive because a certain Tango-tinted sociopath decided to add an import tax to everything not made in the States. 

 

I earn quite a lot more here than I ever earned in the UK, but have less disposable income. Groceries/shopping - anything from 50% to 100% more expensive, for sh*tter food. Medicine - don't go there. Bills - energy about the same, phone/TV/broadband much higher. Taxation - once you add up federal and state, not much different in my income bracket. Property taxes - dependent on location, but makes council tax look like a bargain in many places. Loads of "stealth" taxes too. And then, of course, you have health insurance and all its associated expenses, which is just plain usury. 

[Woodinblack]

50 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Sales tax varies by state, some states have none.  None of them are anywhere near our 25% VAT.  There is no US-wide sales tax.

 

Wow - your vat is high in scotland!

[neepheid]

7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Wow - your vat is high in scotland!

 

Brain stuck in importing mode, had the "25%" rule of thumb in my head, whoops!