Al Krow

Great review, thanks! @dmccombe7 - Dave if you decide you are interested in Yammys the above little review is a very well put together comparison of a couple of the 'work horse' models.

Is that 3000MA still available (if it is and it's in good condition, I would be very interested) or has that particular ship sailed a long while ago? I am not 100% sure whether you mean that as a compliment (= very solidly built) or as a criticism (= heavy and slow)?

The MAs all have reverse-Ps which is supposed to tighten the sound of the low B string (by picking up the signal at a point in the string that is a little bit tighter due to its proximity to the bridge). Nice feature - wish it was available in more Yammys.

@gobasserk quite a bit of Yammy BB royalty there!! You're just missing the 1200 and 1200s - but @hookys6stringbass and @hypercarrotshave about 10 between them so I'm sure they could probably spare you one (and let me have one at the same time, please? 😉) Which of them do you still have?

Yup - big step to remove that metal bridge pup cover, which seems to be a very marmite feature. Was there ever a good reason for that (thumb rest?), or just cosmetic?

@krispn - loved the post! You're resident in Scotland and have been for bloody ages, which is what gets me confused every time (soz for that one though). But at what point does a person adopt the nationality together with some or a lot of the identity of your host nation? In my case, not long after arriving in England at the age of four... The key thing I am going to take away from all of that is that you are perspicacious (a fine word indeed, thank you, who's impact was not too dulled by the preceding 'to'). @dmccombe7 - totally agree with Cuzzie that used is the way to go; particularly on a forum where it seems to me that we get treated really well 99% of the time with only the very occasional bad apple.

I have to admit preferring > 300W (at 8 ohms) on tap for pub gigs so I have plenty of headroom and don't need to be 'thrashing' my gear. If I was buying another combo, I'd be very tempted by the Fender Rumble 500 or 800: which deliver the combination of power, portability decent sound as well as reasonable pricing I'd be looking for. A bunch of useful effects on the 800 would likely get used by me too.

The BB 3000 is indeed supposed to be a really lovely bass - there was a fair bit of drooling over a mint one that came up in the FS recently (now been snapped up). If you're a 4 string player and fancy trying a Yammy you could do far worse than to pick up a used BB 1024 (or the current BB 734A). A LOT of bass for the money. You'll be able to get a very good condition 1024 for around £400 to £450. I'd actually say they have a touch of 'grit' in the sound, which I particularly like, rather than being super clean particularly on PJ setting which seems to be equal fav to the pure P setting for many owners. Are you close by a store that stocks Yammys, if so then worth a visit? One of my Scottish BC buddies (who has bestowed me with a 'Yambassadorship' 😂) avoided Yammys for decades, made the mistake of wandering into a store and later ended up getting a used BB 734A down south for a very good price. And just to bring this back on topic: he may or may not now currently have his Berg up for sale... 😋

Haha - now you have me completely confused! But given I don't have a Sadowsky pre on any of my basses, I suspect the confusion will pass... 😄

You're definitely making up in quality what you've lost in quantity. I guess all part and parcel of the new 'slim line Trav'? 😄

Bloody hell, that would have me completely up s*hit creek 😂 You're clearly less senile than me. ...actually no wait, reading your post again - isn't that pretty standard on most basses now I come to think of it?!

Aha - so still not actually released yet? With you in being seriously tempted. Besides it's 'bout time I tried something else besides Yammy BBs 😂

Yup totally agree. But just need to 'unlearn' previous habits, right?

Will let you know when I've rehearsed and gigged the P35. Was hoping to take it out tonight, but we had to cancel due to our singer losing her voice entirely today after managing to somehow get through a gig last night when not feeling 100%. (Last night's gig went surprisingly well, given the circs, although I need to get the stage monitoring by the venue sorted next time as I could hardly hear myself and, with due respect to the rest of the band, enjoying the bass line is a big part of the fun for me - lol!). I suspect it will boil down to 735A having greater tonal options vs the P35 being the nicer / better quality purely passive bass. It actually takes me a little while to get into a new bass: my reactions tend to be fairly muted until I've got to know them - but I am liking the P35 a lot already. The question I'm going to find equally interesting is whether there is a tangible step up between the older BB1025 (which I rate highly as you know) and Yammy's new flagship P35; I suspect it will be a nuanced improvement rather than anything 'startling' and that was a big reason in my hesitating buying Mark's P35 off him in the first place. But I'm very glad I did now - it was a real pleasure to meet up with him today and it's always a privilege, in my books, to spend time with a pro bass player such as Mark.

Some decent options in 5 string Ricks would certainly be very welcome

One little quirk that initially had me confused earlier. The EQ on the 735A follows a lot of 3 band EQs layout with volume dial, pup selector / blend dial, and then 3 band EQ in active mode and treble / tone roll-off only in passive mode. So 'muscle memory' kicks in and I'm expecting the same i.e, vol dial, pup blend dial, and tone dial on the P35. But, as those of you that already have them will know, that's not the case with the new BB "3 series" passive basses: instead there is a separate volume control for each pup and you blend accordingly. Will just need to make sure I remember which is which and that they are not the same when I take them out gigging!

@mcnach - nice post above. It's totally cool not liking Yammy BBs btw: it's not yet (as far as I'm aware) been defined as a bass sin by the mods so no real risk of getting an upgrade to first class on your flight to down under. Besides, the competition for the really nice BB stuff is already pretty hot, so it's a blessing (note the anti-thesis to sin) not having you to compete with on that front as well 😁 On the other hand, if the OP hasn't yet laid his hands on a BB P35 (if he's into purely passive) or a BB 735A (if he wants a bit of 'activity' in the mix) then he might be pleasantly surprised by the quality of both basses and the outstanding value of the latter. BB eulogy over.

@ReggaebassThat's a sweet looking rig! If a Markbass cab handles the low B well for reggae then no one should be in any doubt that it can handle it well for anything! +1 ^^ that's one fine Trav and a half! Although to (mis)quote Cuzzie, they do appear to be lacking 4 strings 😉

There's a certain delicious irony in my indirectly funding the acquisition of Berg basses, wouldn't you say? 😂

A little (and final for 2019) Yammy addition today to make up a Full Trav:

Haha, I'm sure I already did! 😁

Could well be a fair point. But how much would a typical set of Black Labels or Haussels be to replace both the pups on a VM or VT? (Need to preferably be hum cancelling). If you're 'just' a bass player and not good at tech (I'd be in that camp and I'm guessing from what Dave is saying, he is too) how much would it typically cost to get put in? Then if you need, add in eg a quality John East uni pre (plus fitting)? (Or take the lazy person's route and get a Yammy BB P35 and be really happy with it from day 1).

Oh my, that is lovely!