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The Yamaha BB mega-thread

Al Krow

By Al Krow,
in Bass Guitars

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javi_bassist Experienced

javi_bassist

Posted
Posted

Hello guys

I've finally spotted a BB605 in that sexy red that I love. So, it's on its way. It should arrive next week. In the meantime, does any of you have one? I'd like to know more about the preamp and the pickups. I thought it was like the 735 but the switch affects the mids I think. Any experience/recommendation?

 

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AndyTravis Grand Master

AndyTravis

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, javi_bassist said:

Hello guys

I've finally spotted a BB605 in that sexy red that I love. So, it's on its way. It should arrive next week. In the meantime, does any of you have one? I'd like to know more about the preamp and the pickups. I thought it was like the 735 but the switch affects the mids I think. Any experience/recommendation?

 

I just really remember liking the bb604, a real “sleeper” bass as they don’t go for silly money.

Edit - this chap is on a lot of Yamaha groups on Facebook and seems to utilise a 605WR to great effect

https://www.facebook.com/100000516907786/posts/4391140704246450/?d=n

Edited by AndyTravis
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MDWagstaff Community Regular

MDWagstaff

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, javi_bassist said:

Hello guys

I've finally spotted a BB605 in that sexy red that I love. So, it's on its way. It should arrive next week. In the meantime, does any of you have one? I'd like to know more about the preamp and the pickups. I thought it was like the 735 but the switch affects the mids I think. Any experience/recommendation?

 

I had one for about 2 years. It was a perfectly fine bass, could benefit with new electronics and tbh I wasn't a huge fan of the neck. 

The switch activates a sweepable mid-scoop control. I didn't have much use for this, although it was useful for giving a pseudo-volume jump for tapping or slapping parts if you don't have a compressor. 

I did like the redbust/gold combination 

FB_IMG_1613647764546.jpg

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Munurmunuh Grand Master

Munurmunuh

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Feeling sorrowful at the continuing non-appearance of the bass I ordered way back in September, I had a go at persecuting myself by thinking of readily-available shiny new basses I could have bought instead.

Eg the BBP34. One of the videos of the I just watched was an A/B comparison of it alongside a Fender Original 60s P. When the neck pickup, there was almost no difference at all. So the lesson to be learnt was that if you want a P, you should buy a BBP, but since I don't want a P, my attempt to annoy myself failed.

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javi_bassist Experienced

javi_bassist

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Posted (edited)
47 minutes ago, MDWagstaff said:

I had one for about 2 years. It was a perfectly fine bass, could benefit with new electronics and tbh I wasn't a huge fan of the neck. 

The switch activates a sweepable mid-scoop control. I didn't have much use for this, although it was useful for giving a pseudo-volume jump for tapping or slapping parts if you don't have a compressor. 

I did like the redbust/gold combination 

FB_IMG_1613647764546.jpg

Cool pic!

And thanks for the info. Actually, I already thought about changing the pickups and the preamp. I want to see if I like the stock ones, but I will probably put on some Delano pickups and I'm not sure about the preamp. I like the 3 band by Nordstrand, but I won't know until I got it.

Anyway, my main bass will still be the BB735. 

Edited by javi_bassist
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LukeFRC Grand Master

LukeFRC

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Feeling sorrowful at the continuing non-appearance of the bass I ordered way back in September, I had a go at persecuting myself by thinking of readily-available shiny new basses I could have bought instead.

Eg the BBP34. One of the videos of the I just watched was an A/B comparison of it alongside a Fender Original 60s P. When the neck pickup, there was almost no difference at all. So the lesson to be learnt was that if you want a P, you should buy a BBP, but since I don't want a P, my attempt to annoy myself failed.

What did you order? 
 

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Munurmunuh Grand Master

Munurmunuh

Posted
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Btw, the other day I was complaining about the blend knob on my TRBX being of limited utility.

Since then I've read - and again the technical details went miles over my head - that blend knobs work much better on active basses. My opinion had been based solely from using it on passive.

And now I think about it, I've noticed that Yamaha have Vol-Blend on active basses (eg BB734, TRBX604) and Vol-Vol on passive (eg BBP34, BB434, TRBX174)

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Al Krow Grand Master

Al Krow

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2 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Btw, the other day I was complaining about the blend knob on my TRBX being of limited utility.

Since then I've read - and again the technical details went miles over my head - that blend knobs work much better on active basses. My opinion had been based solely from using it on passive.

And now I think about it, I've noticed that Yamaha have Vol-Blend on active basses (eg BB734, TRBX604) and Vol-Vol on passive (eg BBP34, BB434, TRBX174)

 

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I prefer blend knobs to volume / volume, but yes, you are right, they aren't as useful on passive basses, as at full blend your pickups have half the volume down anyway.

 

1 hour ago, jrixn1 said:

Those are pot tapers (if anyone didn't know).  If you use the correct pot, it will be full volume both in the middle and at either end.

It's an ineresting point. On my purely active Spector which blends purely via separate V/V knobs for each pup, if one pup is maxed at 10/10 I only really notice the other pup starting to impact tone at 7/10 and only having a significant tonal impact at 9 or 10, which kinda ties in with your comments above. 

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jrixn1 Mentor

jrixn1

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Posted (edited)

I think there are two different issues.  The first is the blend knob not doing much actual blending.  On some basses I've found them to behave more like a three-way switch; i.e. just a small amount off centre sounds the same as rotating it all the way. Same with VVT; one pickup on full + one pickup nearly on full is not much different to one pickup on full + the other one off.

The second is using the correct type of blend pot.  In the centre position (i.e. on the detent, if you have one), you should be getting 100% neck and 100% bridge.  If you're only getting 50% neck and 50% bridge, you have the wrong pot taper.

However, if you get mega volume and tone drop on equal blend, it might be that your pickups are out of phase. (I think this might apply more for a bass with identical pickups, like a jazz bass? Not sure.)  If so, swap the wires of just one pickup.

Edited by jrixn1
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LukeFRC Grand Master

LukeFRC

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There are electrical differences too - two volumes uses two 250k Ohm (or whatever value) pots... a blend control uses three 250 Ohm tracks (in two pots). 
The pots at 100% in the centre are labelled MN 

One of the main selling points of some of John East's preamps is he uses active buffered blend so each pickup isn't effecting the other. 

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dannybuoy Veteran

dannybuoy

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Posted

Audere preamps are a good solution to the blend issue. Instead of passive mixing just before the preamp like most active basses, the preamp buffers each pickup individually and the blend then works more like the cross fader on a DJ mixer. Nice smooth transition end to end rather than impedance issues getting in the way that make it behave more like a 3-way switch.

I don’t know if there are any other preamps that take this approach? Only downside I guess would be that you wouldn’t faithfully replicate the tones you get from a passive bass.

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GreeneKing Mentor

GreeneKing

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Posted
13 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

Audere preamps are a good solution to the blend issue. Instead of passive mixing just before the preamp like most active basses, the preamp buffers each pickup individually and the blend then works more like the cross fader on a DJ mixer. Nice smooth transition end to end rather than impedance issues getting in the way that make it behave more like a 3-way switch.

I don’t know if there are any other preamps that take this approach? Only downside I guess would be that you wouldn’t faithfully replicate the tones you get from a passive bass.

From memory John East pre-amps have an 'active' style blend. 

Quote:

  • Totally independent active and passive signal paths guarantee completely smooth blend when set to active.
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LukeFRC Grand Master

LukeFRC

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, GreeneKing said:

From memory John East pre-amps have an 'active' style blend. 

Quote:

  • Totally independent active and passive signal paths guarantee completely smooth blend when set to active.

it's almost as if I hadn't said that a few posts up! :D 

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