The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[Doctor J]

5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Following on from the v interesting / useful chat above, I'm thinking that the following mod might work well:

 

1. Pup/Blend --> Pup/Blend + push-pull Parallel (down) & Series (up)

2. Vol (unchanged)

3. B --> T

4. T --> M

5. NE mid cut --> B

6. NE by-pass --> active/passive 

 

What do you reckon?

 

I would have the volume as the push/pull and leave the blend as is. I'm not sure what kind of availability there is for blend push/pull pots but I can imagine it would be a challenge to solder up cleanly, given the amount of lugs it would have.

[pete.young]

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

My BB2005 has the stock pre-amp set up as follows:

 

 

Following on from the v interesting / useful chat above, I'm thinking that the following mod might work well:

 

1. Pup/Blend --> Pup/Blend + push-pull Parallel (down) & Series (up)

2. Vol (unchanged)

3. B --> T

4. T --> M

5. NE mid cut --> B

6. NE by-pass --> active/passive 

 

What do you reckon?

 

Oh and maybe swapping the chrome knobs --> black knobs to match the pups, but jury still out on that one, given the bridge and tuners are chrome.

 

I'd leave it as it is and not mess with it. No-one in the audience will be able to hear any difference.

[Al Krow]

37 minutes ago, pete.young said:

I'd leave it as it is and not mess with it. No-one in the audience will be able to hear any difference.

 

Haha - very true and mostly correct! And yup, I know that's my line / stuck record / petard! 😁

 

However...

• Currently I have the NE mid-cut set on by-pass so it's pretty much pointless being on there - be nice to have a full 3 band EQ like the NE2 had and, being able to give the mids a boost occasionally can be quite a useful feature to have on tap, live. Would essentially mean replacing the pre-amp, but again not necessarily a bad thing in 17 y/o bass - the electronics are not entirely immune to w&t and folk do speak very highly of John East's preamps.
• If I'm getting that done, then may as well think about changing the NE switch to an active / passive one - always nice to have the "emergency" option of switching to passive if the battery cuts out mid-set;
• in which case I may as well, at the same time, look into changing the volume pot (as per DocJ's suggestion above) to a push / pull  parallel / series set-up for the pups.

The latter two would be "nice to haves" that my NE2 didn't feature.

 

The BB2005 is already one of my all time favourite basses, despite having cost me a lot less than many others. In addition to its sound and build quality, I particularly love the way it's beautifully balanced with zero neck dive which makes it so comfortable to wear. With these electronic upgrades / tweaks, I may just end up with something I actually like more than my old NE2, but for less than half the used price. 

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Al Krow

[krispn]

What preamp did you go for in that carvin bass you had and how is ot working out? You had been talking about an East pre from waaaay back and again for that one IIRC?

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, krispn said:

What preamp did you go for in that carvin bass you had and how is ot working out? You had been talking about an East pre from waaaay back and again for that one IIRC?

Hey matey, I went for the more budget option of a Glock 3 band EQ, partly based on the recommendations of another Carvin BB owner who had trodden the same path before me and really liked the upgrade. Very glad I did: it's made a massive positive difference replacing a very tired stock Carvin preamp with the Glock - the bass has really come alive. And having found a superb lovely tech, relatively local to me (our very own @gary mac, whom I'm really happy to give a plug to as he is too modest to do so himself), I'm much more open to thinking about similar improvements to basses I know that will be keepers. Appreciate that you can spend £150 to £200 on parts and labour on this stuff, which you may well not recoup on a resale - fortunately the Carvin upgrade was actually "pre-paid" in the sense that the seller recognised the sorry state of the existing preamp and adjusted his price down to take account of it. But if you're going to be holding onto the bass for a while, then that changes the cost / benefit perspective entirely.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Al Krow
Usual Krow typos!

[Maude]

10 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

I've not read of anyone adding a switch like that to a Stingray – perhaps in series its humbucker would lose its sting?

 

Oh yeah, I forgot my 'Prejazzray', P body, J neck & Stingray pickup. 

It's passive with a four way rotary switch which looks the same as the volume and tone. Turning it scrolls through single bridge coil, both coils parallel, both coils series, neck coil. 

It's very good. 

[krispn]

2 minutes ago, Maude said:

 

Oh yeah, I forgot my 'Prejazzray', P body, J neck & Stingray pickup. 

It's passive with a four way rotary switch which looks the same as the volume and tone. Turning it scrolls through single bridge coil, both coils parallel, both coils series, neck coil. 

It's very good. 

 

That's kinda how Dingwall wire up a number of their basses.

[pete.young]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

H

• If I'm getting that done, then may as well think about changing the NE switch to an active / passive one - always nice to have the "emergency" option of switching to passive if the battery cuts out mid-set;

 

 

In theory. But this is about as likely as winning the National Lottery, or being struck by lightning twice. I have active basses with batteries older than your BB2005 pre-amp.

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, pete.young said:

In theory. But this is about as likely as winning the National Lottery, or being struck by lightning twice. I have active basses with batteries older than your BB2005 pre-amp.

 

I'm due to win the lottery soon, then! I've just had to change the battery on one of my active basses a couple of days ago. Measured the voltage on it and it was as dead as a dodo...I'd best pop out and buy a ticket 🙂

Edited December 8, 2021 by Al Krow

[krispn]

15 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

I'm due to win the lottery soon, then! I've just had to change the battery on one of my active basses a couple of days ago. Measured the voltage on it and it was as dead as a dodo...I'd best pop out and buy a ticket 🙂

wouldn’t it have been obvious once you plugged it in without measuring the voltage of the battery? 

[Al Krow]

20 minutes ago, krispn said:

wouldn’t it have been obvious once you plugged it in without measuring the voltage of the battery? 

Jeez...it took literally 15 seconds to confirm and, I didn't have anything more pressing to do with those 15 seconds. Besides, it was a useful check to make sure it was the battery and not some other fault.

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Al Krow

[krispn]

7 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Jeez...it took literally 15 seconds to confirm and, I didn't have anything more pressing to do with those 15 seconds. Go troll somewhere else.

😂

Not trolling just thought it would be obvious without the gadgets. Clearly batteries are a sensitive issue! 

Edited December 8, 2021 by krispn

[AndyTravis]

I’m cheating on my bb1600 😔

[andy67]

Just now, AndyTravis said:

I’m cheating on my bb1600 😔

Loving the Spector? 

[Maude]

Ooh you slaaaag! 

 

 

 

 

What with? 😁

[Al Krow]

4 minutes ago, andy67 said:

Loving the Spector? 

Wouldn't surprise me. It seems to be a regular secret mistress of a few of us Yammy lovers! (Oh and I'd best start doing some marketing 101 courses, apparently, so I can get hired by them...but I'd have thought the fact that a fellow BC'er has literally over 30 Spectors would be 'nuff said about how good they are?)

[AndyTravis]

@lee650 has my Spector, he will love it better than I could…

 

Nope… it’s this

[Maude]

I know it's not BB, and I've posted it in the Yammy appreciation thread, but how much should I pay for a good condition Attitude 2, in original case with all the candy? 

If I were to buy one 🤔. 

[Maude]

Just now, AndyTravis said:

@lee650 has my Spector, he will love it better than I could…

 

Nope… it’s this

Lovely 🙂👍

[AndyTravis]

3 minutes ago, Maude said:

I know it's not BB, and I've posted it in the Yammy appreciation thread, but how much should I pay for a good condition Attitude 2, in original case with all the candy? 

If I were to buy one 🤔. 

£1200 plus?

[Al Krow]

3 minutes ago, Maude said:

I know it's not BB, and I've posted it in the Yammy appreciation thread, but how much should I pay for a good condition Attitude 2, in original case with all the candy? 

If I were to buy one 🤔. 

Oooh, you really are getting some fancy Yamaha basses aren't you? First a PH and now an Attitude! What's given you this sudden high-end bug?

[andy67]

3 minutes ago, Maude said:

I know it's not BB, and I've posted it in the Yammy appreciation thread, but how much should I pay for a good condition Attitude 2, in original case with all the candy? 

If I were to buy one 🤔. 

£1500 - £2k very odd market for those given a mk3 is about £3k and the 30th anniversary is £5k+

[andy67]

11 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Wouldn't surprise me. It seems to be a regular secret mistress of a few of us Yammy lovers! (Oh and I'd best start doing some marketing 101 courses, apparently, so I can get hired by them...but I'd have thought the fact that a fellow BC'er has literally over 30 Spectors would be 'nuff said about how good they are?)

I really want a Spector but I’m so fussy about the one I want and I’m skint! Would love to have bought the blue rebop on here. 

[Al Krow]

Just now, andy67 said:

I really want a Spector but I’m so fussy about the one I want and I’m skint! Would love to have bought the blue rebop on here. 

I was half tempted by a Rebop recently, too, but got talked out of it by those "in the know" - apparently they suffer from a bit of neck dive, which won't bother some but I know would really annoy me so I steered clear. Totally loving my Euro 5LX, though. And I know young master Lee has rediscovered the joys of Spector too and Monsieur Le Greek has had the odd Spector fetish in his day! I posted a while back on this thread about the BB NE2 taking quite a few design cues from Spectors, which for me it has much more in common with than with my BB 1025.

 

Have you got your eye on a particular model?

[Maude]

So I should be snatching it out of their hands at £875 and only five miles away. 🙂