Al Krow

Blimey! I haven't seen this much interest in a new Yammy bass for several years! In fact, not since they launched their last new line-up of Yammy BB basses back in 2017...

It's not just a red Yammy P though is it? It's an active red Yammy reverse P with a knob missing. And Peter Hook likes it as much as his seven BB 1200S's.

Pics please gents! A new bass to your door for under £100?! How on earth do they manage that?!

Was the difference pretty much what krispn mentioned and what we would be expecting ie a tighter low B and E and warmer / mellower top strings? And I guess @marleaux62can also mow confirm as he has both the 1024X and PH models, which are even closer in design to each other than the 734A and 1200S, and I think the PH may have a passive mode to enable it to be compared directly with the passive 1024X.

But what a great sounding bass! I think it's a classic Yamaha BB 5000

Fantastic - congratulations! Was one of the earlier pics you posted of you with the man himself?

Haha - I'm not that curious and your confirmation from a "reliable" source is more than good enough for me. Take it as a compliment! I'm currently much more interested in getting a herd together that I'm really happy with. And for the first time in a long while I very much am: 3 Yammys, 3 Ibbys and 3 'S specials' (and a EUB for good measure) - plenty to keep me going 😊

Thanks - so it does exactly what you might expect / want from it and, as you say, in a way you can't quite get with EQ or preamp changes. I think a reverse P plus J combo could be just excellent. It's what the "MA" versions of the BB range had and is currently available on Spectors (4 strings as standard) and Sandbergs (both 4 and 5 strings) - but a "standard" Berg 5er is still pretty boutique pricing from a Yammy perspective and certainly I couldn't justify the 3x price difference between a 735A and a Berg in terms of the everything else that the basses delivered. There is one other more affordable bass that does a reverse P as a 5 string (and with 3 band EQ and 24 frets) and that is the Ibanez SR 655E. I almost picked one of these up used (went in 20 seconds flat to someone else, when I didn't!) But the consensus of opinion was that it wouldn't be noticeably different and possibly a bit of a downgrade from my Ibby SR 1825, which kinda made good sense given that the SR1825 is in Ibbys premium range whereas the 655 isn't.

@Chopthebass what's your ETA for your BB NE2? I've recently invested in a wider 11cm / 4.3" strap by Minotaur, which was recommended to me by Mark from Talking Bass, together with a 4.5" from Levy which was double the price but I couldn't get on with so I've swapped for a second Minotaur strap. Makes just enough of a difference to my two heaviest basses, BB NE2 and a Spector Euro LX5, in terms of spreading the shoulder load to make them that much more comfortable to play. As a result my NE2 has been getting played more in the past couple of weeks than it's done since I've owned it! I'm loving it - such a great bass! 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.

What's your current full collection of BBs comprise in addition to your three 1200S? Do you have a 734A? If so, be interested if you can hear difference between a reverse P on the PH and a normal P config on the 734A when your PH arrives. Obviously there are going to be other factors impacting the tone from the different pre-amp and age of strings on both basses, so it may not be possible to precisely pin down the impact of the reversal of the P pup config.

Congrats from a fellow Ibby fan! Just seen your pic on the Ibby thread with the deposed rig sitting mournfully alongside the new king on the block 😁

Fishman Fission Or to give it its full name "Fishman Fission Bass Power Chord". Could also get pretty close with a decent multifx running pitch shifters in parallel paths.

I've COMPLETELY failed on gear abstinence - I bought approx. 20 bits of kit during the year!! But not all bad though... I did manage to move on even more bass gear (lots of pedals in particular) and I kinda feel a fair bit happier with the overall shape of what I've now got e.g. upgraded a BF SC for a BB2 and swapped out a Sire P7 PJ bass for a Yamaha BB735A PJ bass. And to my surprise, I also pretty much managed to break even which was a nice bonus. Normally my gear purchases are funded by gigs, but obviously that wasn't going to get me very far this year! Some little things can make a big difference e.g. a Minotaur 4.3" strap has made me pick up and love playing a couple of my heavier basses in a way that I've not really done before, or a Zoom B1-4 multifx as an incredible value-for-money swiss army knife of a pedal. Now what can I bung Santa's way to get me for Christmas? 😊

Agreed about electronic drum kits - makes all the difference in the world. You can literally tie your mother turn your drummer down. BTW that's EDK not EDM, but I do still prefer EAD @ead 😁 (soz couldn't resist).

Really liking the 11cm / 4.3" Minotaur! The Levy has been returned and swiftly refunded (well done Thomann - and the exact opposite of the experience a couple of us have had with Bax on returns) and a second Minotaur ordered to replace it. Can it give it a better 👍 than that!

Well it's obviously this, isn't it? 😁 EDM Entity Data Model EDM Electronic Document Management EDM Electric(al) Discharge Machining EDM Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) EDM Edmonds (Amtrak station code; Edmonds, WA) EDM Enterprise Data Management EDM Early Day Motion (UK parliament) EDM Engineering Development Model EDM Electronic Dance Music EDM Engineering Document Management (software) EDM Electric Dipole Moment EDM Enfants du Monde (French: Children of the World) EDM Electro Discharge Machining EDM Engineering Data Management EDM Enterprise Document Management (electronic files) EDM Eurasia Daily Monitor (Jamestown Foundation) EDM Electronic Direct Marketing EDM Entrepreneurs du Monde (French: Entrepreneurs of the World) EDM École des Managers (French: School of Managers) EDM Electronic Direct Mail EDM Event Data Management EDM Electrical Discharge Machining EDM Eclipse Data Module EDM Event Driven Marketing EDM Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy (WHO) EDM Électricité de Mayotte (French electrical company) EDM Electronic Distance Measurement EDM Master of Education EDM Electronic Data Management EDM École Départementale de Musique (French: Departmental School of Music) EDM Educational Data Mining EDM Espace Demarq Ménager (French appliance retailer) EDM Expert Decision Making EDM EMC Data Manager EDM Everyone Deserves Music (album) EDM Experience Design Management (Tufts Gordon Institute; Boston, MA) EDM Every Drop Matters (UNDP Coca-Cola partnership) EDM Electronic Data Manager EDM Énergie du Mali (French; electric company; Mali) EDM External Device Monitoring EDM Electronic Distance Meter EDM Enterprise Data Model EDM Européenne de Marbre (French: European Marble) EDM Electronic Discharge Machining EDM Environmental Decision Making EDM Emboutissage du Mail (French stamping company) EDM EDM Drilling Machines EDM Euro Diffusion Médicale (French: Euro Medical Distribution) EDM Emerging Domestic Market EDM European Domestic Market EDM Extensor Digiti Minimi EDM Electron Discharge Machining EDM Electron Devices Meeting EDM Enterprise Decision Manager (software) EDM Emergency Disaster Management EDM Expertisecentrum Digitale Media (Dutch: Expertise Center for Digital Media; Belgium) EDM Étoile des Mauges (French sports club) EDM Engineering Design Model EDM Extended Data Message EDM Electron Devices and Materials (IEEE workshop) EDM Enterprise Desktop Manager EDM Électricité Dépannage Maintenance (French: Electrical Maintenance Repair) EDM Equity Derivative Market EDM Electro-optical Distance Measurement EDM École Doctorale Médicament (French: Medical Doctoral School) EDM Epiphyseal Dysplasia, Multiple EDM Error Detection Mechanism EDM Employee Development Manager EDM Electro-magnetic Distance Measurement EDM Enhanced Data Mode EDM Equipment Deadlined for Maintenance EDM Engineering Demonstration Model EDM Ego Defense Mechanism (psychology) EDM European Defence Meeting EDM Early Detection Mode EDM Emergency Destruction of Munitions EDM Express Development Methodology EDM External Digital Modulation (Agilent) EDM ECTU Documents Manager EDM Event Detection Module

Actually my 'ead has got the better of my heart on that one, so the field of battle is clear for you to storm to victory! Although as much as I love the idea of the bass that we both have our eye on, I struggle to believe it will outshine some of the Spector beauties already in your herd!

More seriously though, playing with sound limiters is just the WORST! We're seriously thinking of refusing to play at any functions in future where there's one in place. Just by the audience joining in on a chorus can set the damn thing off and power cut to your rig!

Even with Al written on the side, this has absolutely no chance of staying below 85dB (except when grounded 'cos someone's snaffled the engine)

Just had a listen. I'm mean they're ok, but a bit Evanescence Lite. I'm with @cetera on this one.

Kind of you to say re the GVB! I've restrung it E to E for a "classical bass" project and purely for personal pleasure! It has a narrower 14mm strings spacing which is maintained throughout the length of the fretboard, which makes it easier to stretch across the neck whilst leaving enough space to hold down notes on individual strings which some of the more standard (and even more narrowly spaced) Bass VIs don't so easily allow. However the GVBs had gone out of production shortly before I had worked out that it was exactly what I was after; but I was lucky to secure one of the very last ones available in Europe (from a store in Germany) which was being sold with an end of line discount, which doubly made me smile given that, for once, I'd have been more than happy to shell out the full-fat price given how hard they had become to come by!

Spector, Status, Ken Smith, Ibanez BTB, Warwick...the list goes on!

Yes, the only current model neck-through (NT) is the BB NE2. And I think it's quite a stretch to include that in the "BB" range given it lacks the ubiquitous P or reverse P pup present in the rest of the range and has a sculpted body, as well as the Nathan East preamp. For me the key benefits of a NT (as well as looking sooo good!) are added sustain which can also result in improved clarity and articulation - and the latter is very much a feature of my Ken Smith. But in many ways that is the opposite of what you might be after when seeking that "classic P sound": a bolt on can definitely have its place!

Cool. My heart would love to get a BB1200S but my head is telling me to stick to the game plan of keeping to 5ers! Will be really interested in getting your feedback on how the new PH stacks up against the 1200S - Peter H seems to be very effusive about the new lady in red

Good stuff - is it a Japanese or Korean made model?