The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[AndyTravis]

42 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

So....anyone want to sell me a BB414 or 1024?

 

All this discussion today has me wanting one! 😅

My 414 needs a tickle with a luthier.

 

i had 1024 and the 414 won.

 

depends what you’re after

[briansbrew]

6 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

My 414 needs a tickle with a luthier.

 

i had 1024 and the 414 won.

 

depends what you’re after

or you could always try a BB2000, always a winner 😎

[tom.android]

I’ve never owned anything pre-90s vintage. As I slowly inch my way towards being 40 I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a bass from my birth year. What’s the best bass Yamaha made in 1985?

[LukeFRC]

6 hours ago, tom.android said:

I’ve never owned anything pre-90s vintage. As I slowly inch my way towards being 40 I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a bass from my birth year. What’s the best bass Yamaha made in 1985?

Imagine laying in your Moses basket reading this https://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/yamaha/1985/en_index.html

 

BB3000 was their most expensive 

Edited November 12, 2022 by LukeFRC

[tom.android]

3 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Imagine laying in your Moses basket reading this https://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/yamaha/1985/en_index.html

 

BB3000 was their most expensive 

I think it’s got to be the 1200, though.

[Muzz]

11 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

i had 1024 and the 414 won.

 

depends what you’re after

This for me, exactly - I've also had a 3000A, an 1100S, a 300 and a 400 (over about 30 years).

 

I'm a simple donkey, tho, and like a P-Bass sound (it'll do more than that, obv), as slim a neck as I can get, and not too much weight. Which made the 414 a winner for me...plus, they're daft cheap for the quality, so it's not too painful for a Buy and Try scenario...

Edited November 12, 2022 by Muzz

[javi_bassist]

I've been thinking about changing pickups of my BB735 lately. And the preamp. If I change the preamp, I'd get a Markbass preamp. But I'm not sure about the pickups. I put some Delano in my BB605 and I love the result. I thought about Delano again, but I'd like to get someting more vintage. Nordstrand maybe or Seymour Duncan. Any recommendation?

[Al Krow]

5 hours ago, javi_bassist said:

I've been thinking about changing pickups of my BB735 lately. And the preamp. If I change the preamp, I'd get a Markbass preamp. But I'm not sure about the pickups. I put some Delano in my BB605 and I love the result. I thought about Delano again, but I'd like to get someting more vintage. Nordstrand maybe or Seymour Duncan. Any recommendation?

Interesting, I'm thinking of replacing the preamp on my BB2005. 

[javi_bassist]

I want to share my experience with you guys about some noise coming from my BB735. I have been recently going to a gig that I plug directly into my amp. And the bass is a little bit noisy. I have never noticed it because I play with my HX Stomp 99% of the time and it has a noise gate. I think the electrical circuit of the venue makes it worse. The thing is that, today at home, I try it and it was also noisy. It's the 60 cycle hum. So, I've been thinking: if I change the bridge pickup for a noiseless pickup, it should make the noise dissapear, right? Do you guys habe experienced something like this?

[hookys6stringbass]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:23, neepheid said:

 

How rough are we talking?  Would you not be better taking a 414 or a 424, if relative disposability is the goal?

Well in the end I bought a Sunburst 424... and wow , really pleased with it...

[BassApprentice]

Stopped by a local shop and had a noodle on a BBG4A, really very good.

 

Is £350 fair for these? Might have to move some bits on

[Al Krow]

Just picked up the cheaper, but still very lovely, of my two gigging basses which I thought I'd give a spin at tomorrow night's gig, after a few weeks not playing it. Funny how quickly you get used to an instrument you've been regularly playing and forget the quirks of any you've not...that also happen to any of you? In particular, what planet did Yamaha think it was a good idea to wire up the tone controls on this model: bass, treble, mids rather than treble, mids, bass like everyone else? I've put some stickers on to remind me 😁

[Doctor J]

BMT is the law. TMB is terrible, backwards stuff.

[BigJHW]

So tonight (i just got home at 3am urghhh i'm too old for this i swear!!) took the 1025 out for it's 1st gig

1st impressions - DAMN it shipped with some lite donkey strings - so i'm changing them tomorrow.. BUT !! 

 

played like a dream - as the venue filled up i rolled a little high mid back in on the amp and as i'm wireless went for a wander to the back end of the pub (singer was very confused as to where i was going) and BOY what a sound. This thing is an absolute beast of a bass

i did make 1 mistake and didn't get the high adjusted on my strap right so now my neck and upper back are killing me after 2 hours playing but i can honestly say i loved every minute of it
stunned by how P'bassey the P pickup actually is too

i'm really not a fan of the J pickup singled out it's just too thin by itself but in that ctr position it adds just enough top/high mids to make every note cut through that mix like a dream

yup... this is the new gigging bass for ever now i think

defo part of the BB club now

[Al Krow]

13 hours ago, BigJHW said:

So tonight (i just got home at 3am urghhh i'm too old for this i swear!!) took the 1025 out for it's 1st gig

1st impressions - DAMN it shipped with some lite donkey strings - so i'm changing them tomorrow.. BUT !! 

 

played like a dream - as the venue filled up i rolled a little high mid back in on the amp and as i'm wireless went for a wander to the back end of the pub (singer was very confused as to where i was going) and BOY what a sound. This thing is an absolute beast of a bass

i did make 1 mistake and didn't get the high adjusted on my strap right so now my neck and upper back are killing me after 2 hours playing but i can honestly say i loved every minute of it
stunned by how P'bassey the P pickup actually is too

i'm really not a fan of the J pickup singled out it's just too thin by itself but in that ctr position it adds just enough top/high mids to make every note cut through that mix like a dream

yup... this is the new gigging bass for ever now i think

defo part of the BB club now

 

Haha, welcome to the club! It's a bit Hotel California-esque once you've checked in, though!

 

When you say the J pup sounds "thin" is there a volume drop when you switch between the P and J pups? If so, I found that easily fixed by adjusting the pup heights, as you're prob already v familiar with. Totally agree about the P+J being a great combination working together. I actually went the whole hog for a few songs that needed a punchy deep low end from the low B string e.g. Uptown Funk - that's where I felt the solo J shone through in getting the bottom end to cut through and not get lost in the mix.

[pn_day]

I purchased a 1978 BB2000 last week. I'm still getting used to it (and to playing round wounds as I've been on tapes/flats on all my basses for years) - but it is rather nice. It sustains longer than any bass I've ever played, but also has more clarity than my (Indonesian, bolt-on) BB425. I've always fancied a neck-through Yamaha - and when I played this one it was hard to say no!

 

I know such a post needs photos, so here goes...

Phil

 

 

[Al Krow]

@pn_daythat's a beauty! 

[TheGreek]

Very nice...

[Maude]

There's a BB400S on ebay if anyone's after a cheap way to dip their toe into reverse P BBs. 

£325 or best offer, nothing to do with me but everyone should own a vintage BB if for the tuners alone. Are they not the best looking tuners ever?

 

[neepheid]

30 minutes ago, Maude said:

There's a BB400S on ebay if anyone's after a cheap way to dip their toe into reverse P BBs. 

£325 or best offer, nothing to do with me but everyone should own a vintage BB if for the tuners alone. Are they not the best looking tuners ever?

 

 

Aff it, otherwise I'd have been on it.

[Guest]

All the BB400S's I'm seeing as I Google it are fretless.

 

Edit. Ahahaha as soon as I post that I start seeing plenty of fretted ones, so scrub that.

 

But what's the S doing in the name? (For the BB-VIs it meant 32" scale length iirc, but presumably that's not the case here?)

Edited December 3, 2022 by Ricky Rioli

[Maude]

13 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

All the BB400S's I'm seeing as I Google it are fretless.

 

Edit. Ahahaha as soon as I post that I start seeing plenty of fretted ones, so scrub that.

 

But what's the S doing in the name? (For the BB-VIs it meant 32" scale length iirc, but presumably that's not the case here?)

I'll admit that I don't know what the letters always mean. In the 1100 & 1200 for example the S signifies active, doesn't it? 

But as far as I'm aware all the 400s (plural not model) are passive. 

[Maude]

@Ricky Rioli I know you're kind of after a reverse P. Could this be the one? Vintage with the engraved, curve top bridge and loveheart, or ballbag depending on your view, tuners.

I know it's sacrilege, but I think would look fantastic with a black pickguard, the one with the pointy bit by the bridge. 

[Guest]

18 hours ago, Maude said:

I know you're kind of after a reverse P. Could this be the one?

 

My knackered shoulder is very anti-BBs at the moment. I have a nice daydream of getting a 1024 and paying someone to totally reshape / chamber the body, knock a good pound and a half off it. Because I miss the neck.

 

I have a more sensible daydream of getting a TRBX204 — which, unlike the 304/504/604, is a PJ that has an unlaminated neck with BBx34 specs: 40mm nut, and a deep profile — ripping out the preamp, replacing the pickups with vintage-style SDs, and stringing with LaBellas.

 

And you've just prompted a third daydream: reversing the pickup on my SB-1.

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Ricky Rioli

[Maude]

An absolute beauty of a 1200S has just been posted for sale on the facebook vintage BB group. 

In France, €1200.

Again, nothing to do with me. I need to stop looking at Yamaha's. 😁

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/219406111488370/permalink/5928190130609911/