Al Krow

I doubt very much that Yamaha, or any other manufacturer, would willingly ever make such a confession to filching design ideas. So, yup, it's just where I've landed based on observation. Here's a cut and paste of my earlier post for ease of reference: It occurs to me that the NE2 took quite a few design cues from Spector, which has been around a whole lot longer in its classic design form. Both are: neck throughs (vs bolt on for the BBs) sculpted backs, which makes them so comfortable to wear (vs the more normal flat BB bodies) JJs (vs P or PJs on the BBs) 24 frets (vs 21 on the modern BBs) both have 3+2 tuner layout on the headstocks (vs the 4-1 prevalent on the rest of the BB range) neither have body through stringing (present on the higher-end modern BBs) both are purely active with no passive option (vs active & passive on the 735A and purely passive on the rest of the BB range) Key differences are other than obviously different body shapes the NE2 has a 3 band + Nathan East mid cut EQ vs a 2 band EQ on the Spector. But it seems clear that the NE2 is actually much closer to the Spector than it is to the rest of the BB range.

Agreed - 5 string Spectors are awesome! In fact a lot of design cues on the Yamaha BB NE2 have been taken from the Spector 5 string basses (and reflected in their Euro 5LX model which I have): I posted a detailed comparison of feature sets a while back and they have a lot in common! I guess, like Warwick, even Yamaha have discovered a trick or two from Ned Steinberger worth incorporating into their flagship models!

The reverse P + J does tick a lot of boxes as a pickup config. The Yamaha MA versions seem to be pretty rare (in fact @gobasserk probably has all of them! 😁). Spector, Warwick and Sandberg are some alternatives with the reverse P + J set up. The Spector Euro 4LX would get my vote if you're after a 4 string but they're not cheap, even used, and there's plenty of love for the other brands on BC too.

These guys are definitely upping their game on several fronts! In terms of some of the multifx seen on that amp, you might be interested in this new offering from them which came out just a short while back: MG-30 - NUX (nuxefx.com) Unusually amongst the sub £300 multifx's, this does parallel routing.

Looks like NUX have beaten them to it, although not in anything gig-able...yet. NUX Mighty Bass 50BT - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

I think that's 90% right, but sound engineers may want you to turn up with a Fender P etc. simply 'cos it's what they're familiar with.

Aha ok - so which brand / model were your fav £500 Indonesian basses?

Yamaha?

Controversial, but love it! So you're essentially saying that there comes a point when it really is all in the fingers once a bass gets to a certain decent standard? Couldn't agree more with that. For me it would be a Spector Euro5 LX (and tbf to @tegs07 that probably qualifies as a Jag XF rather than a Dacia); that's as good as a bass needs to get for me. Next step is for me to get as good as I need to for it, which is a way off yet! Zero temptation / desire to get anything more upmarket - in fact I'd probably be stressing too much about risking putting a ding in the thing to actually enjoy playing it. Go on, spill the beans, which was that "revelation bass" for you then?

Not if @Machines (of Skynet command) bought it, surely? 😁

Or equally buy a low mileage used Dacia...

Bear in mind that Primark are not online, so the stores reopening was the first chance for fans of their clothing ranges to get their product in months. Combine that with the need for social distancing and that probably explains the queues. Fast fashion, waste, consumer culture, exploitation of workers here and abroad and damage to the environment. Now that's a whole 'nother can of worms...

The patches on the B3N are usually identical to the ones on the B1-4, so I will have a look out for it. [Update] found it! It's right at the end of the drive effects. Will check that out shortly - thanks for the heads up!

Congrats on the new bass and welcome to the Yamaha club! A great deal of truth and wisdom in that statement for us all 😊

Ok cheers, that's a helpful steer. In which case I won't try too hard to sell the RD-8, so if it doesn't shift for close to what I listed it for I'll maybe get a bit more out if down the line. PS @sammybee if there are any YT tutorials on the Akai MPC that you particularly rate, I'd be all ears!

Cheers! Would you recommend me holding on to the RD-8 or no real point now that I have the Akai heading my way?

Sire do a very decent PJ as well: the P7 Mk2. A used one would be almost within your budget - worth stretching a little if you need to - I think you should be able to pick a very good quality used one up for around £350. It's a LOT of bass for the money and a fantastic first bass IMO.

If they're north of 10lbs, I'm going to struggle...

I think a trip to Wunjos on Denmark St could be called for! Can't really justifying dropping £1k+ on a bass that might be a bridge (or more precisely fretboard) too far. And I'll try to remember to take my pocket scales with me 😊 One of the fantastic things about the SR Premiums is how light they are - literally make light work of 2 x 1 hour sets (remember those?) Might, anyway, be time to trade in my SR 1825 - I've loved the 'bite' from the Nords on the SR Premiums as has been mentioned by lots of others on this thread, but recently finding I like even more the punch of the EMG 40s on my Spector EuroLX5. So for the very first time, I've recently been feeling that the Nords may be a little too top end bright. No idea how the Aggie's on the BTB will compare.

Anyone know what the LW stands for on the BTB1905LW model? Are the BTB series a fair bit heavier than their SR siblings? I do love the neck through design, 3 band EQ and 24 frets - and having got used to a 35" on a Spector I'm also kinda now tempted by the BTB. However the Spector 5er has pretty narrow string spacing (17.0mm) which is a lot closer to the SR 5ers (16.5mm) and certainly helps in terms of hand stretch. I suspect the combination of 19mm spacing plus 35" scale on the BTB could be a stretch too far!

Hah - good point! I'd completely missed that the OP was leaning towards a jazz bass. But I guess putting a PJ in the mix to think about, is no bad thing - you've got a lot of bases covered (excuse the pun) with that config!

A cheaper bass is generally unlikely to be better than a high-end bass - but it'll often be plenty good enough! I'm still not entirely sure what the OP's concern is? He's spent a long time over many years getting some lovely basses and has previously said he can hear and appreciate the difference in tone. That's fantastic and a great position to be in. My advice would be to simply enjoy playing them and not angst about something that's not a problem.

Sounds good - could you record a clip for us? What are the individual effects in the Voodoo Bass patch effect chain?

Which model is it? A 425? 415?

The only issue for me with the Rat is that it's better at sucking out low end than a vampire rodent! Definitely need to get some decent clean blend mixed in and a bit of bass EQ boost to restore that low end punch you're loving from your 424!