Al Krow

Yeah apologies - I expressed that poorly / inaccurately earlier. What I should have said is as above. The BB range was Yamaha's iconic design to take it away from potential Fender litigation. Krispn's headstock point is very valid, but I think it was only established relatively recently. Hence the reason, I believe, for Sandberg altering their headstock design (personally I prefer the older Fender headstock on my California TM4 Mk2, but that's me). Back in the 70s / 80s that point wouldn't yet have been established in law / tested by the Courts so Fender would have been able to wheel out their legal team to threaten design-infringement law suits with much greater effect. Have to say I'm actually very sympathetic to Fender on this - I think blatant copying of designs is a form of IP theft and at a minimum there should be some royalty payment.

Interesting point. But when was that established by the Courts?

That's exactly right! I think the BB800 was in fact one of the very earliest BB models around 1978 to 1981. I'm guessing Yamaha subsequently swapped to adopted their own iconic designs following threats of litigation from Fender.

That makes sense. The shape of the NE2 pup is taller (hence stacked) vs a a broader flatter 1005J pup. But glad they are managing to justify the £3k price premium somehow then - lol! You seen the RRP of the NE2 lately? It's ridiculous!

+1 from me Dealt with a 14 day return for a pedal that didn't hit the mark for me promptly and with quick replies to email. Thomann were even better on returns (if I remember correctly) as they also cover the cost of returns, whereas GG don't (which actually is fair enough). Will certainly be using them again and hopefully holding onto the piece of kit I buy from them next time!

I'm not 100% certain they are exactly the same but Yamaha seem to use the same description for the pups for both basses i.e. "Alnico V hum-cancelling pickups" If you look at the size / shape of the NE2 pups they appear to be "single" hum cancelling rather than the more traditional dual coil "MM" style humbuckers.

Interesting - my first reaction is that's going to be quite a mid heavy, bass light vintage tone and would not thought to have tried it. But if it works, it works! Look forward to hearing how @MDWagstaff finds this works out on his 734A.

As you pointed out, the NE2 has two Alnico V hum-cancelling pickups which look to be the same as on the TRB 1005J, so I guess the TRB1005J with its 3 band EQ is in some ways the modern day "electronic" successor to the BB2005 and a more budget version of the NE2? Obviously they are quite a way apart on body design features. They're great pups btw! A very full bodied red wine if I was using a drink analogy!

Agree on both counts, mate! I think the Scrutator could just be about to be knocked off its perch...

Our very own @Ba55me15ter playing a relatively rare BB1500A!

Great playing and nice Yamaha bass - which model?

Well this could prove fun then...😂

I think it will be shipping in Feb and has a launch price of around $180, so I guess something similar in £ over here. Update: GuitarGuitar have them for pre-order at £165. I'm just wondering whether this will double up as an analogue octave pedal.

fixed

For Audient lovers, these guys aren't resting on their laurels with the release of their Mk2 models of the iD4 and iD14 and they've kept prices pegged at the old Mk1 pricing.

Pigtronix Space Rip - Analog Synth Check this out! Analog synth offering sawtooth and square wave in multiple voices: with both a sub and octave down. Shares the tiny form factor of the Bananana Matryoshka (remember that - seems to have all but disappeared from view?) although without quite such tiny knobs! If it provides a few more usable sounds on bass than the BM did and has the excellent tracking promised by Pigtronix it could be worth investigating further. Colour me interested!

Red Panda Bitmap 2 NAMM 2021 - this looks like it's just stolen a march on the bitcrush competition! Bitcrusher, sample rate reduction AND modulation with triangle, square and random waveforms. Even allows you to save presets.

@LukeFRC are you a "grandmama" or "granny" person down the pub?

Fair enough. I just recall someone mentioning him before on this thread (might have been me 😁) Due to the terms of my NDA, I'm not at liberty to discuss this further. Absolutely, probably more so.

You're giving me FAR too many open goals JB! Do I resist saying would that be first 34 or the second 34, or just any old 34 sir? 😁

Did Bunny Brunel have zero input into the design of the Yamaha Broad Bass range? Partly asking because I find myself strangely drawn to both the Carvin BBs (Bunny Brunel) in the FS. Probably 'cos they are neck through, look great, and have the same initials as the Yamaha BBs (Broad Bass) which you all know I'm a huge fan of. And they do have a passing body shape resemblance to the Yammy BBs too, agreed? Any of you good folk perchance come across Carvin BBs in your travels?

So I guess the starting point is for you to spill the beans on what you felt your 343434343...434 was missing? Apart from a low B string 😁

Well a BB 343 would certainly, absolutely, no question, totally, all night long give us something to talk about...but we know what you meant 😁

V good analogy of TC and SA pedals! Potentially / actually great pedals with shocking on-pedal UI IMO, YMMV etc. Spectracomp would be a good case in point: apparently awesome potential under the hood but one knob "spawn of the devil" (quoting our fav @51m0n) with no metering on the pedal itself. Ugh!! But tbf both TC and SA have a large fan base.