Al Krow

First impressions?

Did you do Tequila as good as this guy?

You're a gent Paul. But actually it kinda does tie into what a lot of folk have said about motivation: playing bass with either of my bands to an appreciative audience is right up there in terms of what I really love doing. Working on technique, learning new stuff and generally keeping myself in good bass "shape" can be very rewarding in itself too, though. For sure some days it's harder work than others particularly with no gigs in sight and some days (or weeks) it doesn't happen at all. But overall, it's still very much a passion for me and one that I came to relatively late in life compared to many on BC, so it's got a long way to go before it ever becomes mundane! Sounds like more hot air from you Chris 😁

Thanks Chris - that's kind of you to say. It's a Yamaha BB P35, which really was a fantastic bass. Sadly @M@23 who I bought it off, myself, and @HazBeen who I sold it to all loved it for its tone and playability, but all three of us found it a touch too heavy for playing comfortably for a 2 hour set. I wish I had discovered the excellent Minotaur 4.1" bass straps, which Mark at Talking Bass recommended to me, sooner, and have proved a bit of a game changer! I'm now much more regularly picking up a couple of my heavier basses and rediscovering just how really good they are!

PS @Paul S Ami, who is a lead vocalist in both my bands is also fluent in Spanish (annoying right? 😁).

@Paul S good luck! Latin music is often such fun and happy music and La Bamba is right up there! Starting to get to grips with my Stagg EUB has been one of my main lockdown projects (I think I've got 12 numbers under my belt so far) and playing the bass line on La Bamba always brings a smile to my face.

Excluding VAT.

Well, that's the "basic" package. There are more advanced modules. Obviously.

Brilliant! That Jamerson tome (along with many others!) has been sitting on my shelf untouched for several years. Your post has certainly encouraged me to dust that off. What would be mega useful, if I could trouble you, is for your thoughts on which of the numbers fall into the "easy" "med" and "difficult" categories based on how you've found them? I think that would be a good way for me to approach working through the pieces. Please feel free to PM to avoid de-railing the thread, if that would be better.

We run intensive "how to work out what the bloody hell is going on with Yammy BB numbering" courses on the Yamaha BB thread. It's free to all BC members.

Thanks for that. Actually I liked the tone of the SB-1 a LOT, but that's probably 'cos it's not a million miles from my 1025 (which we're all bored to death knowing what a fanboi of, I am). What I would say is that the preamp on the SB-1 does sound better / livelier than on the 735A, but I guess you would hope that to be the case given the price jump (for a USA made). Are the G&L Tributes essentially the same bass but Indonesia rather than USA made? The SB-2 would be the config I'd go for as it's classic PJ, however it seemed to get mixed reviews on TB (and tbf you very rarely get a bad Yammy review) and from what I've seen they're not available as a 5 string? Btw - I loved that quote!

@EBS_freak and @Barking Spiders I note that you good gents' locations are not a million miles apart. Do you bump into each other from time to time and what are the neighbours like? Just asking for a friend 😈

G&L = high ouptut seems to be the consensus. Interestingly I think the 424/5 pups are also pretty high output and there's a lot of love for them across these pages, with folk managing to tame via the simple expediency of lowering pup heights. Speaking of lowering, if I can briefly do that with the conversational tone for a moment - would you ever consider an Ibanez to be an "Ibby"? Just sayin' 😁

As we know a selector switch isn't as versatile as a knob as it's just 3 positions vs multiple blend options with a knob. However it does work well IMO and makes it very easy to switch (excuse the pun) mid song if you want a different tonal flavour and / or fully engage the grit of your bridge pup etc.

What were the key differences in sound? The G&L Tribute seem to be similarly configured to the Yamaha TRBX series from a pup perspective?

I personally prefer my purely passive BB 1025 which is otherwise very similar to the active / passive BB 735A, so the 1025 has stayed in my herd and the BB 735A didn't. The OP was keen on an active circuit in his criteria though.

Cheers Gents. Yeah heard a lot of good things about G&L basses, but they seem to have a much "louder" fan base in the US than over here, although folks who have them over here seem pretty happy with them too!

What's the actual make / model of the metallic ruby bass you've shown? I have to agree it's a very good looking finish!

Well I did identify a bass that ticks all the criteria you gave us in your OP Mick (the Yamaha BB735A), but was that was entirely ignored 😁 Tbf if I was getting a 5'er that wouldn't be my "one" (or even one of my "six") although it's still a LOT of bass for the money.

Made for interesting reading, thanks! They certainly back up the importance of the neck: "single most important wood decision you make about your custom built Alembic is the neck, for the neck is the foundation of the sound." The reference quote to "magic minimum number" you made was in relation to 3 piece maple necks with opposing grain on either side on their Signature Standard Bass. Exactly what Spector are doing with some of their Euro 5LX, including my own, and from an aesthetic perspective it's relatively subtle in appearance and fits so well with the neck through design. I guess I'm coming to increasingly appreciate just how carefully and well designed Spector basses are, the more I get to know about them!

Duplicate post!

Our discussion has got me thinking, if they don't provide any material benefit why do makers e.g. Yamaha go to the trouble of making a laminated neck? Came across this interesting snippet on the net... "It is interesting that many makers involved with premium instruments also chose to experiment and often adopt multi piece neck construction. When looking at the custom Jazz guitar or Bass guitar markets, 3 or 5 piece necks feature heavily. Some of the reasons given are as follows: All other ingredients being equal, a laminated neck offers more stability and stiffness, reduces the likelihood of dead notes, improves tone evenness and response, improves resistance to warpage and twists etc….but it’s also more expensive because when used as a way to enhance an otherwise good design built with quality elements, you are adding extra work. And skilled labour at that. A 5 piece neck has 8 surfaces that need to be sized, cut planed and glued before the resulting block can even be prepared for becoming a neck. Compare that with using a 1 piece neck that just needs to be squared once before being ready to start its journey to becoming a neck. It’s not surprising that even premium priced large volume production manufacturers would rather spend a bit extra on wood selection rather than get involved in the extra work, labour and cost required in producing good laminated necks." I think a number of us are of the view that necks do play a significant part in conveying tone and sustain and is more important in doing so than the body. I've taken on board the stability and stiffness comments about laminated necks which I think most of us are agreed on, but the view that lamination improves tone evenness and response and reduces the likelihood of dead spots are additional benefits that I wouldn't have thought about prior to reading the above. Be interested to get @Kiwi's views on these two aspects and from any others with experience / expertise on this topic.

That's good to hear Chris, but as you'll appreciate not a guarantee. I guess the analogy is that I've never had a single piece of kit blow out on a gig, but plenty have. And several folk on this thread have come across neck issues on their travels; my own experience which has put me on guard was a twisted neck, also Fender as it happens.

Just had the very pleasant realisation that all of my 8 electric basses ranging from Yamaha, Ibanez, Shecter, Spector and KS have laminate necks. Must have been a subconscious tick in the box for me all along! Some of the laminate neck woods are very closely matched so it's not immediately obvious from a quick look that they are actually laminated (e.g. the so-well-designed Spector Euro LX or Ibanez GVB 36) and others are hidden by the paintwork (e.g. NE2) while the rest make the choice of contrasting woods a very attractive design feature.

P Bass through Tech 21 BDDI from our very own @dodge_bass. Loved it - great bass tone!