The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[dave_bass5]

Ive got D’Addario XL’s balanced tension with a .130 B on my 425, and a  set of the new XT’s on my P34. 
 

[MDWagstaff]

13 minutes ago, MoJo said:

What strings are you guys running on your BB’s. I currently have Rotosound Swing Bass on both my BB425 and my P-bass and for 90% of the set, the BB sounds better IMHO in the mix. It’s only when we come to the ‘rockier’ stuff that the BB loses out to the P-Bass. It just doesn’t have that mid and upper mid bite that the P-bass does. I was thinking maybe a different string set might help. Thoughts?

I'm using Newtone Platinum's. Most excellent 

[CameronJ]

11 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive got D’Addario XL’s balanced tension with a .130 B on my 425, and a  set of the new XT’s on my P34. 
 

How do the new XTs compare to the XLs?

[dave_bass5]

11 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

How do the new XTs compare to the XLs?

I love them so far. Very, very similar to the XL’s. Ive not got a fresh set of XL’s to compare them to, but they don’t sound too different to the ones I took off. 
if they last a bit longer than the XL’s then I’ll be happy.
Never really liked the NYXL’s 

[CameronJ]

13 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I love them so far. Very, very similar to the XL’s. Ive not got a fresh set of XL’s to compare them to, but they don’t sound too different to the ones I took off. 
if they last a bit longer than the XL’s then I’ll be happy.
Never really liked the NYXL’s 

That sounds positive. I’m definitely with you in not liking the NYXLs at all. Tried them on my Dingwall and they lasted all of 45 seconds before removal. 

[TRBboy]

8 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

ah, I’ve cracked it.

Ive realised its not the frets, Its just the overall neck shape and size.
See I realised with my P Bass my hand cups the back of the neck, it fits like a glove, so my fingers are free to move without my whole hand moving. With the P34 being a bit narrower my hand extends further away and so my fingers need to be curled a bit more, and the hand is more floating rather than cupping the neck. Some would say bad technique, and I’d probably agree, but it’s how I play.  Its still a fast neck, but when I’m standing my fingers are curled even more. That’s where the lack of comfort is coming from. this also accounts for why I like playing 5 string, as the neck is a bit wider, but the sting spacing is normally narrower. 
Got a gig on Sat and I’ll take the P34. Might as well get a proper gig out of it before it goes. 

Interesting! And I get where you're coming from, it makes sense why a slightly 'fuller' feeling neck would suit you better. 

It does also mean that the new necks will probably fit me perfectly, because my LH technique is the polar opposite to yours! 😂

[TRBboy]

1 hour ago, MoJo said:

What strings are you guys running on your BB’s. I currently have Rotosound Swing Bass on both my BB425 and my P-bass and for 90% of the set, the BB sounds better IMHO in the mix. It’s only when we come to the ‘rockier’ stuff that the BB loses out to the P-Bass. It just doesn’t have that mid and upper mid bite that the P-bass does. I was thinking maybe a different string set might help. Thoughts?

I have a nicely worn in set of SS Dunlop Super brights (40-120) on my BBN5, and I use them on all my basses. They sound great IMHO, and even though I use a light gauge, they're low tension and stainless, they have a huge low /low mid response, and really punchy! They are very bright out the box, but I always figure it's easier to dull down a bright string than try to make a dull string sound bright! I love the feel of them, so easy to play. 

[TRBboy]

1 hour ago, MoJo said:

What strings are you guys running on your BB’s. I currently have Rotosound Swing Bass on both my BB425 and my P-bass and for 90% of the set, the BB sounds better IMHO in the mix. It’s only when we come to the ‘rockier’ stuff that the BB loses out to the P-Bass. It just doesn’t have that mid and upper mid bite that the P-bass does. I was thinking maybe a different string set might help. Thoughts?

Do you think the difference is maybe Alnico vs ceramic pickups? Making an assumption there that your P has a traditional alnico pickup.... But that would account for more warmth and presence in the mid range than the BB

[dannybuoy]

59 minutes ago, MoJo said:

What strings are you guys running on your BB’s. I currently have Rotosound Swing Bass on both my BB425 and my P-bass and for 90% of the set, the BB sounds better IMHO in the mix. It’s only when we come to the ‘rockier’ stuff that the BB loses out to the P-Bass. It just doesn’t have that mid and upper mid bite that the P-bass does. I was thinking maybe a different string set might help. Thoughts?

Are you just using the front pickup? If I want upper mid bite, I use the middle position.

Have you done much experimentation with different amps/preamps? I ended up using pedals to tweak my tone, strings and pickups can only go so far., and keeping strings fresh is both expensive and time consuming. I don't like the sound of my BB straight into my amp, but combine it with the right preamp and it's the best bass I've heard! The Tech21 VTDI is a favourite for bringing out the upper mid bite, and if the strings are going dead, all I have to do is turn up the character control a bit and the strings sound new again. Therefore the pedal pays for itself if your strings last all year!

[Al Krow]

24 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Are you just using the front pickup? If I want upper mid bite, I use the middle position.

+1^^ 

I do agree with @MoJo that the P setting by itself on the Yammys can sometimes get a bit lost in the mix.

The other option is boosting the mids on the amp or preamp pedal if you're using one ('cos there is no option to do this on the bass unless you are playing a 734A/5A in active mode).

24 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I don't like the sound of my BB straight into my amp, but combine it with the right preamp and it's the best bass I've heard! 

The first bit of this I disagree with. With a decent amp and equally a quality cab, which can often be the most overlooked part of our signal chain, I think my Yammy BB sounds just great with nothing in between! 

Using pedal preamps with passive basses, now that's a whole separate topic! Some may say just get an active bass! 

[Guest MoJo]

37 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

Do you think the difference is maybe Alnico vs ceramic pickups? Making an assumption there that your P has a traditional alnico pickup.... But that would account for more warmth and presence in the mid range than the BB

The P has a DiMarzio model P in, which I believe is ceramic 

[TRBboy]

4 minutes ago, MoJo said:

The P has a DiMarzio model P in, which I believe is ceramic 

Yeah they are ceramic, but very hot and warm (ooh-er!) for a ceramic pickup. The tone profile on the dimarzio website kinda shows this. I had a BB414 way back, same pickups as your 425, and I found them a bit 'empty', seemed to be lacking presence in the low mids to my ears. That was a long time ago though.... 

[TRBboy]

10 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I'm still agonising over which model would be best suited to me... I'm chasing a more traditional vibe at the moment (but in a 5 string format!). From the videos I've watched, the 700 and P series sound a bit more.... Modern to my ears, I'm assuming because of the fillet of maple in the middle. This makes me wonder if the 400 would be best for me, with its more conventional solid alder body... Plus the 400 seems to be lighter than the two higher ranges, again presumably due to the maple. 

But I know the P35 would be best quality and probably feel nicest.... 

.... Plus the 400 is cheaper! 😜

Decisions, decisions! 🤔

Think I'm leaning more and more towards a 435.... 

Although I still keep looking at the 735a and P35 for sale on BC! 😂🤦‍♂️🤔

[dannybuoy]

21 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The first bit of this I disagree with. With a decent amp and equally a quality cab, which can often be the most overlooked part of our signal chain, I think my Yammy BB sounds just great with nothing in between! 

Using pedal preamps with passive basses, now that's a whole separate topic! Some may say just get an active bass! 

Don't get me wrong, there will be amps out there that would sound glorious with the BB straight in. An Ampeg tube monster set to ear bleeding levels for example! But my Orange Terror doesn't have much tone shaping on offer, so I treat it like a power amp, and treat my preamp pedal as an extension of that. So in theory, I am plugged 'straight in' to my chosen preamp/poweramp combination!

An active bass will not deliver what I'm after though, I want more than just a clean EQ. Bass sounds wrong to me without a bit of drive!

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, TRBboy said:

Interesting! And I get where you're coming from, it makes sense why a slightly 'fuller' feeling neck would suit you better. 

It does also mean that the new necks will probably fit me perfectly, because my LH technique is the polar opposite to yours! 😂

Even more strange is im fine with my Jazz bass, so its not that the neck is too narrow per say, just that it seems to fall in between the P and Jazz necks that im used to, coupled with the slightly higher frets.

Im sure i can get used to it, but maybe i need to practice more standing up. Still getting rid of it at some point though, but maybe not just yet.

[Guest MoJo]

10 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

ah, I’ve cracked it.

Ive realised its not the frets, Its just the overall neck shape and size.
See I realised with my P Bass my hand cups the back of the neck, it fits like a glove, so my fingers are free to move without my whole hand moving. With the P34 being a bit narrower my hand extends further away and so my fingers need to be curled a bit more, and the hand is more floating rather than cupping the neck. Some would say bad technique, and I’d probably agree, but it’s how I play.  Its still a fast neck, but when I’m standing my fingers are curled even more. That’s where the lack of comfort is coming from. this also accounts for why I like playing 5 string, as the neck is a bit wider, but the sting spacing is normally narrower. 
Got a gig on Sat and I’ll take the P34. Might as well get a proper gig out of it before it goes. 

I had exactly the same issue with a TRBX504, the neck was too shallow, front to back and I found it uncomfortable to play after 30 minutes or so, on a gig.

[Guest MoJo]

1 hour ago, TRBboy said:

Yeah they are ceramic, but very hot and warm (ooh-er!) for a ceramic pickup. The tone profile on the dimarzio website kinda shows this. I had a BB414 way back, same pickups as your 425, and I found them a bit 'empty', seemed to be lacking presence in the low mids to my ears. That was a long time ago though.... 

Yeah, exactly that, lacking in the low mids. With the bridge pickup dialled in too, it brings me out in the mix more but it's a totally different tone to the one I'm looking for, nearer to a Jazz with both pickups dialled in

Edited September 17, 2019 by MoJo

[TRBboy]

For anyone who's interested in the differences between the pickups, I just had a conversation with Yamaha, and they kindly sent me a chart showing the differences. There's not actually that much difference between the V5 and V7 pickups;

-the coil wires are enamel coated on V7 vs urethane coated on V5

-V5 have slightly more windings, and a slightly hotter output

-V7 has cloth covered leads and V5 has vinyl

Other than that they're the same magnets, bobbins, wire gauge, etc, etc. 

[Al Krow]

Ah cloth covered leads instead of vinyl. I knew there was a good reason for all that extra cost 😂

[javi_bassist]

7 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I have a nicely worn in set of SS Dunlop Super brights (40-120) on my BBN5, and I use them on all my basses. They sound great IMHO, and even though I use a light gauge, they're low tension and stainless, they have a huge low /low mid response, and really punchy! They are very bright out the box, but I always figure it's easier to dull down a bright string than try to make a dull string sound bright! I love the feel of them, so easy to play. 

Since I first tried them, I don't use other (roundwound) strings. The lower tension is incredibly comfortable and they tend to last. At first I have to turn the tone know (or the treble) a little bit down,.

6 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

Don't get me wrong, there will be amps out there that would sound glorious with the BB straight in. An Ampeg tube monster set to ear bleeding levels for example! But my Orange Terror doesn't have much tone shaping on offer, so I treat it like a power amp, and treat my preamp pedal as an extension of that. So in theory, I am plugged 'straight in' to my chosen preamp/poweramp combination!

An active bass will not deliver what I'm after though, I want more than just a clean EQ. Bass sounds wrong to me without a bit of drive!

I use all my basses with the Tone Hammer preamp. With my BBs (734 and 735) I just use it as DI, but since I'm going ampless 99% I needed one. However, it also gives me some tonal options in the mids that the BB preamp doesn't have. Still, I don't usually use the EQ with my BBs.

And what you people were talking about increasing the mids in the BB, with the 735 I just boost a little bit the mids and it sounds awesome with the P pickup or with both (I don't like it that much only with the bridge one).

 

[TRBboy]

1 hour ago, javi_bassist said:

Since I first tried them, I don't use other (roundwound) strings. The lower tension is incredibly comfortable and they tend to last. At first I have to turn the tone know (or the treble) a little bit down,.

I use all my basses with the Tone Hammer preamp. With my BBs (734 and 735) I just use it as DI, but since I'm going ampless 99% I needed one. However, it also gives me some tonal options in the mids that the BB preamp doesn't have. Still, I don't usually use the EQ with my BBs.

And what you people were talking about increasing the mids in the BB, with the 735 I just boost a little bit the mids and it sounds awesome with the P pickup or with both (I don't like it that much only with the bridge one).

 

Earlier, I thought I was set on a 435,but now you're making me think about the 735 again! 😂😭

[dannybuoy]

I'm guessing a 735 in passive mode will pretty much sound like a 435. Does the treble control turn into a tone control in passive mode?

Still lusting after a black 735A to complement my black 1025X, but have other spending priorities in life right now. Although if I join a band again, I will surely need a backup, that will one day be my excuse!

[TRBboy]

2 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I'm guessing a 735 in passive mode will pretty much sound like a 435. Does the treble control turn into a tone control in passive mode?

Still lusting after a black 735A to complement my black 1025X, but have other spending priorities in life right now. Although if I join a band again, I will surely need a backup, that will one day be my excuse!

I'd guess it'll sound more like the P35 in passive mode, as it has the same pickups, same body construction, and same bridge. I believe the treble control does act as a passive tone control. 

I'd love a black one too, but the coffee burst one belonging to our friend @jrixn1 is looking increasingly tempting..... 

[jrixn1]

9 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

 Does the treble control turn into a tone control in passive mode?

Yes it does.

 

3 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

I'd love a black one too, but the coffee burst one belonging to our friend @jrixn1 is looking increasingly tempting..... 

I'm obviously biased, but yes I think it's classy 😎

[Al Krow]

On 26/08/2019 at 10:46, TRBboy said:

Scored a BBN5 for very little not long ago, in very good nick! Bought as a backup /practice bass, but it is fantastic, I really love this era of BB's. Planning to refinish in a teal/turquoise stain, make a cream jazz bass style scratchplate, and change the knobs for cream speed knobs. Thought I was going to change pickups, but they sound superb, pretty hot too! 

 

On 26/08/2019 at 11:35, TRBboy said:

All time dependant really Al, have a kitchen to finish, benches to make, various other DIY things which have to take priority at the moment! Not sure about the pickguard yet, think it'll be a PITA to make...  Maybe do the refinish and knobs first, then see how I feel about it. 

So how is the kitchen coming along?! 😀