The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[dave_bass5]

I guess you would also need to compare new for new. After all, a bass that's a a few years old will already be nicely settled in. 

[AlphaK]

7 minutes ago, krispn said:

It’s interesting they stopped one of the treatments...🤔

I think partly to justify the fact that the P34/5 had a RRP of circa £1k less than the 2024/5 and therefore to put it within reach of a wider market of bass players.

[dave_bass5]

5 minutes ago, AlphaK said:

I think partly to justify the fact that the P34/5 had a RRP of circa £1k less than the 2024/5 and therefore to put it within reach of a wider market of bass players.

Like a budget version 😂

[Cuzzie]

13 minutes ago, AlphaK said:

I think partly to justify the fact that the P34/5 had a RRP of circa £1k less than the 2024/5 and therefore to put it within reach of a wider market of bass players.

What’s the price differential now without the ARE between the 2

[krispn]

6 minutes ago, AlphaK said:

I think partly to justify the fact that the P34/5 had a RRP of circa £1k less than the 2024/5 and therefore to put it within reach of a wider market of bass players.

Yeah but if ‘market research’ or player feedback was showing that it wasn’t delivering a tangible difference then all that cost, expense etc would only make it prohibitive and like you point out not worth translating to a higher priced bass for a non perceivable ‘benefit’

As you know I like that Yamaha innovations make it into their lower priced models as done with the angled six bolt neck fitting previously only found in higher end artist models and the sandwich design in the 734/735. But I think we’re a bit off vibration treatment across the entire range just yet. 

[dannybuoy]

58 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

What’s the price differential now without the ARE between the 2

Difficult to say because there was never a truly nailed down price for the 2024/2025! I had my eye on them since they came out when they could be found around the £1600 mark, although Yamaha store in London currently have a BB2025X up for £3296!!!

[Al Krow]

Looking to add a 1025X to your lovely 1024X I see!  Fair enough 😁

 

[krispn]

There’s a black one going on the for sales now not too far from me too! 

[CameronJ]

Weren’t the 2024x/2025x basses selling around the £2k mark (and above) in most places? The newer P34/5s are much less expensive.

[Al Krow]

@CameronJ just following up on our earlier chat about weights of our 1025s and there must be quite a lot of variation between the same make / model.

I just checked and my BB1025 weighs in at a svelte 9.7 lbs.

[Cuzzie]

6 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Weren’t the 2024x/2025x basses selling around the £2k mark (and above) in most places? The newer P34/5s are much less expensive.

That is a lot of lolly

[CameronJ]

2 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

That is a lot of lolly

Yep, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the decision to stop doing the A.R.E treatment on the newer basses (thus lowering the cost) was in response to Yamaha being aware that they were slightly pricing themselves out of the market with the 2024/2025. At under £1,500 I’d imagine the new P34/5 basses are selling in greater numbers than their ancestors did.

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

@CameronJ just following up on our earlier chat about weights of our 1025s and there must be quite a lot of variation between the same make / model.

I just checked and my BB1025 weighs in at a svelte 9.7 lbs.

I reckon my 1025x was even a bit heavier than that. The 735a felt like it was at the 9lb mark or not far off, judging it against the weight of my other basses at the time.

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

I reckon my 1025x was even a bit heavier than that. The 735a felt like it was at the 9lb mark or not far off, judging it against the weight of my other basses at the time.

Weird that you and I have had such contrasting experiences of our BBs in terms of their weights.

My 735A was pretty much identical in weight to my BB 1025. My P35 was a little heavier at just over 10lbs.

[dave_bass5]

My P34 weighs 9.8lbs. Lighter than that Sire V7 which weighs 10.2lb, my heaviest bass. 

[jrixn1]

I looked up my old marketplace adverts:

BB735A
"my older digital kitchen scales said 4.4kg [9.7lb], and the newer ones said 4.6kg [10.1lb]"

BB425X
"The bathroom scales weight is 4.7kg (10lb 6oz)."

BB404F
"Digital bathroom scales weight: 3.2 kg (7.1 lbs)."  😮

[Paul S]

1 minute ago, jrixn1 said:

I looked up my old marketplace adverts:

BB735A
"my older digital kitchen scales said 4.4kg [9.7lb], and the newer ones said 4.6kg [10.1lb]"

BB425X
"The bathroom scales weight is 4.7kg (10lb 6oz)."

BB404F
"Digital bathroom scales weight: 3.2 kg (7.1 lbs)."  😮

You wouldn't think fret wire was so heavy, would you.

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Paul S said:

You wouldn't think fret wire was so heavy, would you.

But the funny thing (apart from your quip, Paul!) is that fretless basses do seem to be lighter!

I had just assumed my Ibby Portamento 5 was an outlier compared to my other Ibby basses which are all already the lightest in my herd. The fretless Ibby comes in at a feathery 7.7lbs. But seeing John's weights for his basses makes me think this may be something more widespread? 

[AndyTravis]

2 hours ago, Paul S said:

You wouldn't think fret wire was so heavy, would you.

The 404 is the slimmer Nathan East body

[TRBboy]

12 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

The 404 is the slimmer Nathan East body

Same style as my BBN5, which is also very light. Ironically the couple of NE sig models I've tried from this era were super heavy though! 

[Al Krow]

9 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

Same style as my BBN5, which is also very light. Ironically the couple of NE sig models I've tried from this era were super heavy though! 

My more "modern" NE2 is coming in at 10.1lbs, which is top end of comfortable for me. But worth the weight!

I'm guessing the ones you played were a fair bit more?

[mrtcat]

9 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Looking to add a 1025X to your lovely 1024X I see!  Fair enough 😁

 

Yep, I'm fortunate enough to have funds available at the moment and I really want to have a decent 5 string in the stable. 

[TRBboy]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

My more "modern" NE2 is coming in at 10.1lbs, which is top end of comfortable for me. But worth the weight!

I'm guessing the ones you played were a fair bit more?

Yeah it was the original quilt top one with the jack socket recessed into the back on an angle. Couldn't actually weigh it as it was in a shop, but felt like it was around 50kg 😂

Played one of the slightly newer style ones too, which wasn't as heavy but still pretty hefty! Lovely instruments in all other ways though. 

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, mrtcat said:

Yep, I'm fortunate enough to have funds available at the moment and I really want to have a decent 5 string in the stable. 

Slightly off beam thought to leave you with: given that your 1024 and 1025 will be über similar other than the major difference of 4 vs 5 string - would it be worth considering a 735A instead? It gets pretty close to the 1025 in passive mode, but gives you additional ability to cut through with its active pre-amp.

[Muzz]

Just to chip in with my 2p...I think Yamaha suffered with the pricing of the old 202x series because they were the ultimate 'sleeper' bass: I played one for a good while at Bass Direct when they first came out, and it was the best thing I've played in there when it came to feel and tone. Very very nice indeed - whatever voodoo they were doing, it certainly produced a terrific bass. As we've already said, though, it's hard to distinguish visually between their flagship (IIRC they were about £2400 at first, then dropped to £1600 when retailers started unloading them a year or so later) and their entry level basses some £2k less, and I think this was the problem.

I'm still unsure as to whether to pursue a 2024 (the reunion gig I bought the 414 (and a 1024x) for was a success, and we're playing some bigger gigs next year, so I can justify it), because I still don't know about the neck profile: I sold the 1024x because the 414 had a slimmer neck, and that's become a deal breaker for me over the last few years, and I don't know about the 2024 neck profile vs the 1024. If they're the same, I guess I'll save myself a big chunk of cash, because the 414 is just fine. Back in the day, I had a BB3000A (I'd have another of those, too, but the prices are daft now) and a backup BB300, and I never minded using the 300, as that was a great bass, too...

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Muzz said:

guess I'll save myself a big chunk of cash, because the 414 is just fine.

There's your answer right that 😁