Al Krow

Yeah - I totally get that. But methinks it can be done pretty subtly and professional in appearance with some adhesive micro dots. That could actually be very useful for both a couple of my basses and several pedals! Now why didn't I think of that before? - clearly you've inspired me to get my thinking cap on with this discussion! Time to go hunting on the net - if any of you get there before me / are using already, please do share!

Oh and if you think the NE2 EQ gives you too much choice, then definitely steer clear of Status S3 parametrix! 😁

I think that's very fair and a great way of deciding whether the BB NE2 is going to be worth spending some serious coin on or not. The issue of remembering what the sweet spot settings on analogue pedals (without presets available on digital pedals) is an age old one and plenty of folk deal with this by putting some markers on their pedals. If you thought the NE1 was tricksy, I would wager the VT Bass DI is even more so - really liked what ead has done with some simple markers on his:

I haven't, but this chap is selling one (and for a fair bit less than the one eBay, albeit it's a 4 strings) - and he, or the chap he brought it from 10 years back, would be able to speak from experience about the bass. The electronics aren't quite the same though: it looks like it doesn't have the NE sweepable mids i.e. it has the same EQ config as that on current BB734/5A.

Nice little review by this zany crew. The iconic Rick clank is very clear at 0.25 into the clip. Just wondering whether I can avoid dropping £2k on one of these (the prices do seem to have come down a bit and are retailing closer to the £2.2k mark these days) and get that clank via a Tech 21 pedal or something similar? If any of you feel you've got that Rick sound bottled in a pedal, please do share your ingredients!

Hey HJ - methinks we need to coax you for that review! (Unless it's been done and I somehow missed it along the way!)

Agreed I would generally mid boost rather than cut when gigging. The point about the NE EQ is that it overlays a trad 3 band EQ. So you can mid boost the mids using the 3 band EQ, but then layer a boost / cut to different mid frequencies to get your "sound". That's the NE2 USP in a nutshell. We've just been discussing the lack of EQ centre freq info (on the Sire P7 thread) and this is certainly true for the NE2, but I've been advised that we can use a DAW to glean this info. But it seems to me that before diving in to get an NE2, you could very usefully get a Nathan East pedal (they have come up in the FS from time to time) and see if it gives you anything extra on the sound. If it does then you'll know much more what you're getting with the bass itself.

It's very good as a solo P and, yes, provides a solid P bass sound. I'm a huge fan of Yammy PJs, but I actually prefer the Sire solo P to the Yammy solo P; it gets closer to iconic Fender P to my ears. And the Sire has the benefit of an active circuit for additional punch whereas a lot the Yammy BBs are purely passive. ... But for completeness / balance: I prefer the Yammy PJ blend over the Sire PJ blend. The solo bridge Js are both very usable on both the Sire and the Yammy. And it's certainly good to have a passive Yammy BB bass in the arsenal.

Yeah totally agree, was thinking earlier it would be super useful if more bass makers disclosed this stuff in the same way that most amps seem to do these days, and the way Sire have done. But thanks for the tip-off from you and Dave about using a DAW to uncover this info.

Thanks John - that's very helpful. Also explains why the low end boost needs to be used so sparingly if the bass EQ has been centred at 20Hz! On the other hand, I suspect it's going to be quite an effective HPF / "low end crud" eliminator when cut.

Dunno if any my fellow Sire P7 owners have worked out what mid freq setting is when the para mid dial is in it's mid 'notch' position? The para mid frequency is stated as going from 80Hz to 2kHz, so it's clearly between these two. Helpfully for me the mid 'notch' position seems to be a really good default in terms of both sweetening the tone when cut and providing additional mid punch when boosted.

Unfortunately your own words betray your lack of memory m'lud 😂

@FLoydElgar Great clip! I'm not sure I'm going to be able to resist taking my Smith out on the road when we will all get back to gigging! Here's one that Ped shared with me when I was trying to get my head around whether to scrape together coin to get my KS. He gets a bit flash from 3.50 onwards 😊

@PJ-Bassist did you get Mark's Walking Bass-line course? If so how are you finding it.

But on the plus side, if it never arrives you don't forfeit your £fiver (see OP) 😁

+1 ^^ I'm sure Zons are excellent basses and maybe it's just my ignorance, but I've never heard folk refer to that distinctive "Zon sound" in the way they do all the time to a P bass or Stingray sound.

Congratulations! I thought you were after a 5er, didn't realise you are also a dab hand at 6s! Is it going to get live use (when such things start happening again) or mostly played at home?

Given that the NE2 is purely active, the electronics are definitely a very big part of the appeal and its USP, for me, is the Nathan East pre-amp with semi para mid cut. Tbf you can get the 'Nathan East' sound in a relatively inexpensive pedal format and I'm guessing you could add to your bass to get a pretty close approximation - I'm basing that on comments from Sadowsky pre-amp pedal owners who feel that their pedal gives them a big slice of the Sad sound when added to to their P or J basses. I'm guessing you'll need a pretty uncoloured set of pups and EQ for that to be the case, though.

Hmmm...can't comment on Tobias / MTD or Vigier. But I wouldn't put Smith in the same tonal ball park as the NE2 or Spector. It's very much more its own sound - but you've owned a couple yourself so you're in as good a position as anyone to comment on that. The craftsmanship and attention to design and build detail on a Smith is in a league above the NE2 or Spector IMO, which is saying something given the quality of the latter two.

What's the story behind Jon S having your Spector since 2016, is he doing a repair? Interesting that you have landed on the NE2 and a high end Spector - for me the NE2 makes more than passing design & tonal reference to Spector with its sculpted body shape, neck through design, and outrageously meaty low end. In fact, I feel that my Euro LX5 and NE2 have more in common with each other than the NE2 has to any of the other Yammy BBs that have passed through my hands. FWIW - I think the new price of the NE2 is exorbitant but a vgc used one, on the other hand, justifies being in its price bracket when compared to similarly spec'd basses.

You thinking of getting one?

Ooooh that is exciting. I hope they remember to release a BB1205S whilst they're at it!

Ah Mick, if you read the small print it says the club is open to all current and former owners of Yamaha BBs, so I think you have lifetime membership and will always be very welcome! Congrats on getting yours away, particularly during lockdown!

Tbh, the Wal isn't a looker even upside down (gets his coat)...But I bet it will sound great. Alembic for the best of both?

I thought it let you plug your guitarist into the tuner so that he played the right chords?