Al Krow

Yup, I've had three Ciocks PSUs and a OneSpot previously, all excellent and in the case of Ciocks premium priced. But I've been very happy to go "downwardly mobile" with these HB Iso-Pros.

Continuing on the theme of John's PB hack for PT Metro / Nano boards: having glued (and "clamped" while the glue set) the new feet in place, my HB Iso12 arrived from Thomann and is now snugly in place, with enough clearance over the floor. I slightly angled it using an adhesive cushioned strip at one edge to allow me to use the longer end of the connectors at the PSU and the shorter end above board for use with the pedals. Now just waiting for my Boss OC-5 to arrive from Amazon... The HB Iso series are very good value and really compact which is a great combination! I've had a really good experience so far with its smaller sibling the HB Iso-5 Pro which is incredibly compact but also pretty much noise-free, so no hesitation in getting this more powerful unit from HB. The Iso12 Pro provides 9 x 300mA (all 9V) + 3 x 500mA (with 9V/12V/18V selector switches) all individually isolated. All this for < £95 from Thomann to your door.

But is that really a normal "bass" in common parlance?

I'm pretty sure he was using a Warwick Thumb NT as his goto for quite a while? - 26 frets and defo not short scale!

And yet so many people, at the same time, say that we are "all the same"... gotta be a song in there somewhere? 😄

Fair observation RR. But one person's "laziness" = another's easy work flow to actually get something done?

Pulling these two posts back onto the right discussion thread 😊 Blimey - tracking down to a low B without glitching?!!! That's super impressive (and reminds me of what my SY-1 does, so maybe they did share tracking algorithms which would make perfect sense). But even if it tracks down to "only" give an octave below a low E, that for me is plenty good enough, as you're then going below what we can actually hear, although not having a glitchy note impacting your bass line if you're going even lower is an added bonus. Looking forward to Kev's feedback, too, shortly and hopefully mine will arrive at some point next week also.

Which (will hopefully be again shortly) touring bassists currently pretty much only play 6ers these days? Not being snarky - genuine curiosity question.

How's that going? 😁

Ordered a HB PSU (they really are good value and very compact!) from Thomann. Under £135 so no additional charges to pay UPS. Arrived within a week and completely hassle free. All good: somehow, despite you know what, the world is still turning 😊

Sorry I beat you to it this time around 😁 (PS did you get around to re-checking the OC-5 tracking?) To the OP: if this is your first 6er then good for you. Taking up a new challenge after your 30 years of playing bass is a great way of keeping things "fresh", particularly with the current lack of gigs.

Jaco wasn't addicted to 6 strings 😁

Congrats. Already sounds like you're going to enjoy this a LOT; not least for the fantastic price you managed to bag it for!

Having recently got a predecessor Carvin BB, I've started noticing Kiesel a lot more these days and just come across your post Rick. This PJ 5er, 24 frets, headless, could be an interesting alternative to a Status.

Wow! Thanks for that confirmation - and look forward to getting your update. I have to agree with your comment about the OC-3 which, FWIW I rated as my worst bass gear purchase in 2019(!) - but mostly from a poor tracking perspective. I guess why I'm really glad to be hearing the comments above about how well the OC-5 tracks. Seems like Boss may well have taken some of the tracking tech from their SY-1 pedal which is sitting on my board and has ridiculously good tracking.

Indeed we are! I was actually referring to all the contributors to this 4 year old thread, which seems to be as popular as ever. I guess it's a simple testimony to just what great basses these Yamaha BBs are 😊

Here's my Metro 24 with John's 'pedal risers' attached over the existing feet, with the suggested bit of glue to stop them popping off. I "clamped" overnight with some heavy books across either end and it seems to have worked a treat - but will be interesting to see how they securely they remain in place when the board is used and knocked in a live setting. @jrixn1 - ok if I recharge the cost of the HB Iso12 and the Boss OC-5 to your account, that have both been ordered in the past week directly as a result of your (excellent!) hack? 😁

Great to hear! In terms of tracking - how low are you managing to get it to track without glitching?

That's a good price - thanks for the heads up. Also ordered.

Yeah I've noticed an increased prevalence of short scales with us aging BC'ers! But Hooke's law dictates (or, if not that, whatever the relevant physics is!) that we are likely to get a muddier E and certainly low B string with shorter scales, although maybe 32" is still ok for a low B? Be really interesting to see how you find it on that score. 6,000 posts? How did that happen? 🥂 😊

My white BB425 got moved on a while back (not sure which BC'er has it now!) and the current white model I have is the mid range BB1025, which is a bit more expensive than the 425, but still great value. The spacing is usually 18mm on Yammy 5ers - is that too wide for you? If so, I guess you're going to be limited to basses like your existing Ibby SRs with their 16.5mm or Spectors with their 17.0mm - albeit with a 35" scale that took a little getting used to initially for me, having been a purely 34" scale player beforehand.

You about to come over to the light side and get a Yammy, Woody?! Wasn't expecting that! Tbf a £150 BB425 in good nick would be an absolute steal. But also an excellent bass, not just "for the money!"

Agreed.

I'm just responding to krispns query earlier and also trying to get my head around the issue of string forces (which I have now done to my own satisfaction anyway!) With regard to 4 a side headstocks, maybe we're at cross purposes here? The tuner positioning certainly isn't to one side with the traditional headstock, but actually pretty evenly spaced across the width of the head.

John - absolutely brilliant hack, thank you! Ordered a pack of 4 (just under £6) and they fit like a glove on my Metro 24. Bit of Uhu glue going on shortly, as per your recommendation, and a decent PSU (HB Iso-12) to slot underneath on its way from Thomann 😊