The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[Guest MoJo]

20 hours ago, stewblack said:

I think it's love 

Be careful, you're treading a dangerous path

[Al Krow]

Very tasty! Your current herd and all 414s?

[TRBboy]

6 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Nice pic but shows off the lack of matching headstock even more.

Would definitely be better if it matched. And if they offered a maple board on the fiver!

[Guest MoJo]

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Very tasty! Your current herd and all 414s?

Sadly not current. All been moved on. My BB414 count is well into double figures since the model's launch.

In the past, I've also owned 3 x BB415's, 1 x BB424X, 1 x BB1024, 1 x BB350F, 3 x BB300, 1 x BB1500, 1 x BB1100S and 2 x BB405's.

My only current BB is a Vintage White BB425

[Baceface]

21 hours ago, stewblack said:

First time out together... 
I think it's love 

All well and good but I couldn't hide my slight disappointment to see that you've changed your distinctive look since the profile photo.
Was expecting something more along the lines of...

 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, MoJo said:

Be careful, you're treading a dangerous path

Polygamy! 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, Baceface said:

All well and good but I couldn't hide my slight disappointment to see that you've changed your distinctive look since the profile photo.
Was expecting something more along the lines of...

 

It got stuck in my hat 

[Al Krow]

11 hours ago, MoJo said:

Sadly not current. All been moved on. My BB414 count is well into double figures since the model's launch.

In the past, I've also owned 3 x BB415's, 1 x BB424X, 1 x BB1024, 1 x BB350F, 3 x BB300, 1 x BB1500, 1 x BB1100S and 2 x BB405's.

My only current BB is a Vintage White BB425

Yup vintage white rules! (Apart from orange of course)😁

I particularly liked the look of your old black fretless BB414.

[Guest MoJo]

42 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Yup vintage white rules! (Apart from orange of course)😁

I particularly liked the look of your old black fretless BB414.

The ebony fretboard was fitted by Andy Viccars in Milton Keynes. The neck was later transferred to the 'Chocolate Orange' BB414 that I believes still belongs to a BC'er

 

[Al Krow]

@bassfan ever considered doing something similar with your lovely BB1100S to give yourself a fantastic fretless? Just a thought! 

@MoJo just spotted you're a Black Country boy - my former parish!  

Edited November 27, 2019 by Al Krow

[Guest MoJo]

11 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@bassfan ever considered doing something similar with your lovely BB1100S to give yourself a fantastic fretless? Just a thought! 

Andy charged me £120 which I thought was a bargain and his work is top notch

16 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

@MoJo just spotted you're a Black Country boy - my former parish!  

I am indeed 😉

 

[bassfan]

30 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@bassfan ever considered doing something similar with your lovely BB1100S to give yourself a fantastic fretless? Just a thought! 

@MoJo just spotted you're a Black Country boy - my former parish!  

No mate. I’d rather keep it in fantastic original condition. 

[Vanheusen77]

If anyone is interested in a comparison between the BBP34 and a P bass (American Original) I made this since I could not find any comparisons of the two:

 

[dave_bass5]

21 minutes ago, Vanheusen77 said:

If anyone is interested in a comparison between the BBP34 and a P bass (American Original) I made this since I could not find any comparisons of the two:

 

Cool. ill have a listen later. Ive done my own between my P34 and Fender Sandblasted P, and feel the Fender has a more woody, 'Fender' tone, whereas the P34 has a slightly more scooped tone. Its more obvious as i play with a pick.

[dannybuoy]

I prefer a real P when it comes to the solo'd front pickup, the mids have more character. But no Fender on Earth can touch the P+J setting on the BB!

[Al Krow]

4 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I prefer a real P when it comes to the solo'd front pickup, the mids have more character. But no Fender on Earth can touch the P+J setting on the BB!

But what about Fender body clones? Sandberg VM, Sadowsky NYC PJ, Lakland...?

[dannybuoy]

I obviously haven't tried them all, but most PJ's are all pretty similar in terms of sound, using traditional alnico pickups in largely the same positions. I tried every single PJ available in Wunjos at one time and found a surprising variation in tone, but nothing with the grunt of the BB.  There's something about the output and positioning of the BB pickups that makes the combination work - having a stupidly loud J pickup probably helps!

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

I prefer a real P when it comes to the solo'd front pickup, the mids have more character. But no Fender on Earth can touch the P+J setting on the BB!

Absolutely - the very first thing I noticed about the yummy yammy

 

[Guest Corto14]

4 hours ago, Vanheusen77 said:

If anyone is interested in a comparison between the BBP34 and a P bass (American Original) I made this since I could not find any comparisons of the two:

 

Thanks a lot! The video I was looking for!
It should be interesting make a comparison between the two with the tone at 0, I'd love to hear the difference.
Anyway, how about the build quality? Which one is "better"? 

[Al Krow]

3 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

I prefer a real P when it comes to the solo'd front pickup, the mids have more character. 

Based on that clip, I have to agree, the Fender P edges it on solo P setting!

3 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

 But no Fender on Earth can touch the P+J setting on the BB!

Fender seem to have shied away from the PJ configuration for much of their range, certainly for 5 strings, so harder to do a like for like comparison.

But P+J does work really well on the Yammys and is also my default for playing in any band mix.

18 minutes ago, Corto14 said:

It should be interesting make a comparison between the two with the tone at 0, I'd love to hear the difference.

This is the other area where Yammys excel. Dialling the tone off gives a vintage tone that I've not heard matched on other basses and the tone control provides a lot of tonal variety.

[Vanheusen77]

29 minutes ago, Corto14 said:

Thanks a lot! The video I was looking for!
It should be interesting make a comparison between the two with the tone at 0, I'd love to hear the difference.
Anyway, how about the build quality? Which one is "better"? 

Thanks! I will see if I get the time to do another comparison another time with the tone controls at zero. Regarding build quality it is really hard to compare them since the P bass is made to 60's specs and the Yamaha is the complete opposite with a lot of modern improvements such as spline joint and laminated neck etc. I would say that the Yamaha is the more indestructible one and the one least likely to break on tour, but both are very high quality and durable. The Yamaha was definitely set up better for sure, and having the truss rod accessible without removing the neck sure is a nice modern feature!

[Vanheusen77]

Hi! I made another one with more pickup and tone settings, plus pick and slap at the end. I got several requests for quicker bouncing back and forth between the two, and also lowered the backing drum track.

 

[whamni]

2 hours ago, Vanheusen77 said:

Hi! I made another one with more pickup and tone settings, plus pick and slap at the end. I got several requests for quicker bouncing back and forth between the two, and also lowered the backing drum track.

 

  It's all down to psychology now  

[Cuzzie]

13 minutes ago, whamni said:

  It's all down to psychology now  

Thanks for that - really good

Without wishing to be a pedant....

Same string types and ages?

Same body and neck and fingerboard material?

Output and type of windings/magnets/pole pieces on the pick ups?

Cap values on the time pot and vintage/modern/linear etc.

Thanks

[stewblack]

16 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

Without wishing to be a pedant....

Careful what you wish for 😂😂😂