Al Krow

Btw - thought this was a neat visual presentation of what was new in 3.0: New Effects in 3.0 Helix Floor, Helix Rack, Helix LT, Helix Native, HX Effects, HX Stomp Plus a really helpful description of what they each do: Helix 3.0 Release Notes - HELIX/HX - Line 6 Community

Thanks for sharing that. Apparently: "The Helix 3.01 update addresses potential severely corrupted audio output. Due to this, we recommend updating your Helix family device as soon as possible. This issue may also be experienced on Helix Native; an update for Native will be available in the very near future."

I think there were a few more "MA" models - @gobasserk has had them all from what I can tell! And then of course the BB NE2 - which isn't really a "proper" BB in my books! (see my post yesterday / Page 177 showing design similarities to my Spector Euro LX5). It is however a truly wonderful bass!

Looks identical to the one I've got, which is a little too "snug" for my 1025 i.e. could do with another 1cm + height. I wonder if they sorted out that issue out with the new batches.

This was shared on the "covers bands woe" thread earlier: 'BEST OF MY LOVE' (the EMOTIONS) cover by the HSCC - YouTube It's a classic older BB 5000 in action and sounding great. And this one - really brings out the tone on the 1024 / 2024: Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots [Bass Cover] - YouTube

I think the consensus is that the Fender P solo'd is perhaps the more loved solo P sound, but what the Yammys bring to the party tonally is an excellent J pup and the combination P+J is killer. Plus the ability to dial the tone right off means you can go from rock to Motown effortlessly. Then add in Yammy's build quality and value for money and I guess you can see how it's managed to get such a loyal following. See if you can get your hands on (or a loan of) a decent condition used 1024, 434 or 734A - any of these will give you a very good feel for what the modern BB series is about.

Absolutely. They have carved out their own personality and aren't your average Fender clone. But then neither is Spector nor a Ken Smith nor a Status nor a Rickenbacker, nor an Alembic nor a Wal... That's a good thing right?

That just gets a "really?"

Good post Luke. Picking up on a couple of your points: Really like that description! "the best instruments at their price point, whatever the price point" Btw I suspect Yammy wouldn't consider that to be a "problem." 😁

There's one in the FS right now. Are you sure you need both kidneys?

There were a couple of chaps moaning on fBook Bassplayers' market place that they'd been waiting for a couple of years for a used BB NE2 to turn up, although we've had a few on BC. And I suspect some of the high end out of production basses eg TRB 5Pii and BB5000A are even rarer.

Actually, joshing aside, gonna be interesting if these do come for sale used in 6 months or so time. My guess is they won't as the folks buying them seem to be a pretty discerning lot. And if they do come up I suspect they will get snapped up like hot cakes.

Good to know. I'll down tools on a Leeds quest then, and be content with the VTDI on my board!

Bear in mind the Yammy gig bags (certainly the one I got with my 1025), whilst very good quality, was a half inch shorter than comfortable for the bass. Hopefully not an issue for the PH gig bags.

I'll just leave this off the peg on here then...

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.