Yamaha BB2025x "Super BB" PICS!!!!

[Sean]

[b]Manufacturer:[/b] Yamaha
[b]Model:[/b] BB2025x “Super BB”
[b]Colour:[/b] Vintage White
[b]Price:[/b] £2300.00 (ish)

[b]Introduction [/b]

Back in February this year I decided that I'd had enough of my Markbass LMK amplifier and convinced myself that I had to follow my heart towards a Mesa Boogie as a more hefty replacement. I went to Bass Direct to try out some gear and was totally sold on the Carbine M6. Job done.

While I was there I noticed a bass that I had first seen at Bass Day the previous November, the Yamaha BB2024x. I had seen them on the Yamaha stand but being the shy retiring type, I didn't check them out and at over two grand for a Yamaha hadn't someone in their marketing department got their maths wrong somewhere along the way? Anyway, Mark encouraged me to have a go, so I took it down, plugged it in and that was the end of that, really; never before has an instrument spoken to me like this. You know what it's like, it's like the bass is calling your name, you are like a sex starved sailor being beckoned toward the rocks by the seductive song of the mermaids only this time the mermaids aren't ugly seals they are beautiful young ladies!

I loved it! I immediately asked Mark to order me a five string version and then I had to wait a few months until it arrived. It turned out to be a long wait but was it worth it...?




[b]What is it? [/b]

This is a five-string alder bodied bass guitar with a bolt-on maple and mahogany laminate neck, passive P and J pickups, volume and tone pots and a three-way selector switch. The instrument is made in Yamaha's custom workshop in Japan where they produce a few hundred instruments a year, including the high-end SG1820/SG1802 electric guitars and the high-end acoustics. This instrument is overflowing with technology and that leads me to be both excited and sceptical at the same time. Does the technology work or like bifidus digestivum and pentapeptides is a load of bunkum dreamt up by marketing types?

The woods in this instrument are treated in an atmospheric chamber to age them so that they take on the properties of older pieces of nicely aged timber like extra resonance. Why not cut out the middle man and just use naturally aged timer, you may ask. Well, there's not a lot of it left and the stuff that is still around isn't very consistent, its resonant properties aren't homogeneous throughout the piece of timber. All the good old wood has gone.

Another thing that Yamaha do to these basses is to vibrate them; once they have been built they are subjected to precise vibrations so that the stresses between components, paint, wood, metals are all hugely reduced and the instrument starts to take on the properties of a naturally aged instrument that has been played, dropped and transported for many years and all this without the relicing process.

The bass is shipped with a high quality hard molded case with nice rubberised handles and clips that feels very military. All the usual case candy is included.





[b]First Impressions[/b]

Well, going back to my initial encounter with the BB2024x at Bass Direct my knee-jerk reaction was to order one so I was expecting first impressions of my BB2025x to be similar to what I had experienced with the four-string. This five-string, like many fives is just that little bit “more” than its four-string brother, I think the larger pickups and extra wood in the neck contribute to this a lot, it must be as these are the only differences between the two.

The BB2025x is a very comfortable instrument to play as it's relatively light, hugs the body well and the first fret seems quite close as the bridge is positioned right back on the body. Scale length of this instrument is 34” and the low B is superb, it's about as good as any 34” scale low B I've played and gives a very "piano-like" tone. Yamaha have put a lot of thought into the forty-five degree string-through stringing system and it's paid off and proves that you really can have legendary low B strings on 34” scales.

The vintage white finish is nicely applied as you might well expect and it's a very rich creamy colour that is set off well by the black pick guard. I'm a huge fan of the "Sid" colour scheme, it's easily one of my favourites along with Black/Black/Rosewood and I think the three available finishes of Black, White and TSB will be exactly what most people in the market for a bass like this will be after. One thing I'd like to see that doesn't seem to be in place at the moment is special orders; Yamaha made a maple fingerboard version of the BB2024x for James Lomenzo and also made his a P-P pick-up configuration but there doesn't seem to be a mechanism in place yet for Joe Public to have specials done. In my case this is probably for the best as it keeps me from living on the street


[b]Quality[/b]

The quality is faultless. The attention to detail is exactly what you would expect from a hand-crafted custom shop instrument. The fret job is outstandingly good, the rolled edges are just so and the satin neck finish makes playing effortless. The woods used in the neck are quartersawn and this apparently makes the neck more stable and stronger, the neck here seems to contribute hugely to the sound. The body shape is different to that of the factory-made BB basses, it's more sculpted and the top shoulder has been shaped very differently.


[b]Sounds[/b]

I initially tried this bass through my Mesa Boogie M6 Carbine with the EQ frowning and the gain at 1 O'clock to get a tiny bit of break up - nice and middy! The cabs are a pair of Bergantino AE210s with the horns in mid position setting. This bass was designed in collaboration with a lot of rock bassists; Marco Mendoza, Michael Anthony, Justin Meldal- Johnsen, Tony Kanal and others so you just know it's going to be a rocker's instrument from the off and it certainly delivers in spades. I don't understand what Yamaha have done in designing the all-new pickups for this bass but they have done everything right, it sounds epic. The best P/J sound I have ever heard. With the flick of a switch it can give you an enormous biblical Ben Hur of a P pickup sound. If that tw*t (you'll agree if you've seen him) on the Fender website describes the generic P pickup sound as a punch verses the J's karate chop then this P pickup is more like a truck driving through your chest. The tone and volume are very useable and give some nice variations that are very easy to use on the fly. Don't think of this bass just a rocker though, it's a very versatile instrument and suitable for pretty much anything but when played with a plectrum through a big hefty amplifier it takes on a huge personality that is very addictive. I find myself wanting to play Mike Mills lines from What's the Frequency and Living Well is the Best Revenge. I've had to go and order a dozen 1mm Tortex picks just for shits and giggles.

The J pickup on this bass is fantastic, many people think that the J pickup on a P-type bass is a placebo and I have to agree, the Js are often of much lower output and serve to add very little except a bit of articulation to the P sound but this one lives on its own and is very well balanced in volume with the P.

What strikes you most about this bass is how incredibly resonant it is. There are so many rich overtones coming from this and it is apparent that this must be from all that wizardry with the wood treatment. Just playing this instrument unplugged it sounds amazing and full of character and there has never been another bass I find so hard to put down.

[b]Overall[/b]

It's not a cheap bass by any stretch and doesn't have all the versatility and exotic sophistication of many active instruments in this price category but it is beautifully made, does what it's meant to do extremely well and sounds as good as anything I've played. It unapologetic, aggressive, punchy and absolutely adorable. Make sure you try one if you get the chance.


Photos to follow as well as a good few edits and additions.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Sean

[Sean]

Photos added.

And yes, I've started using those Grolsch rubber washers instead of Schaller straplocks as I was finding that the straplocks on the end of the straps were damaging my basses. I'll explain some other time - too tired now and doesn't makes sense...

[Musicman20]

Stunning colour! I like!

I must admit, im the same with the Grolsch washers. I cant stand strap locks clanking about and they seem to mark things quite easily sometimes.

It might be a cheap option, but its a very clever option! No mods, no messing about, pop them on and enjoy without worry! (I still worry anyway, but these help).

[LawrenceH]

Great review, I really, really want to try one of these. But on the other hand if I do, it would ruin me, so I mustn't!

[Lfalex v1.1]

I really like these, even down to its cheaper stablemates such as the 414x etc.
There's just one thing that stops me getting one.
Why oh why does it have the 3 position switch? Who uses the J on its own? Really?!
If it were VVT or had a pan pot, it'd be fine. I could mod it, but my soldering skills suck, and my soldering iron's rubbish. I'd have to factor in the cost of parts, solder and a new iron. Suddenly a 414x doesn't look so cheap anymore

[MythSte]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1296259' date='Jul 7 2011, 06:35 PM']I really like these, even down to its cheaper stablemates such as the 414x etc.
There's just one thing that stops me getting one.
Why oh why does it have the 3 position switch? Who uses the J on its own? Really?!
If it were VVT or had a pan pot, it'd be fine. I could mod it, but my soldering skills suck, and my soldering iron's rubbish. I'd have to factor in the cost of parts, solder and a new iron. Suddenly a 414x doesn't look so cheap anymore [/quote]

I have a 424 and the J on its own is plenty meaty enough. If you're used to 70's positioning then I can understand your hesitance. I'm pretty sure this is slightly further from the bridge resulting in a really tight but still useable tone.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='MythSte' post='1297342' date='Jul 8 2011, 03:41 PM']I have a 424 and the J on its own is plenty meaty enough. If you're used to 70's positioning then I can understand your hesitance. I'm pretty sure this is slightly further from the bridge resulting in a really tight but still useable tone.[/quote]

Not nomally too fussy, but

Must....have...Pan Pot....!