The Yamaha BB mega-thread

[soulstar89]

19 minutes ago, Elfrasho said:

 

Dunno if this tells you much.. doesnt tell me much, but i tried.

 

 

Hey bud. It’s doesn’t for me but im sure will Have someone who it does. Really appreciate you sharing this. That slap tone sound led like it could cut through a  samurai sword. 

[Elfrasho]

3 minutes ago, soulstar89 said:

Hey bud. It’s doesn’t for me but im sure will Have someone who it does. Really appreciate you sharing this. That slap tone sound led like it could cut through a  samurai sword. 

 

No probs. Weirdly when i did this, the range between settings sounded very much smaller than playing live. I pretty much have mine set flat the whole time and if I max out any of the EQ knobs it either distorts, or the sound just disappears. Too much of a range unless you have a soundperson adjusting FOH. That's not unique to this bass though, i think pretty much any active bass has that issue.

 

Genuinely though, this thing plays and sounds great. For a brand new sub 1k bass, dont think you can do better.

[Burns-bass]

I recently picked up a BBN4. Quite an amazing thing really. Going to use it for some recording on Friday.

[Serginhobass]

Hi all, I have a BBP35 that I absolutely love. There was just one thing that kinda bothered me with the bass and it was the tone knob (pot). It is not bad at all but, for me it always felt like almost as an On/Off thing. From all the way off, If I turned it more than 15% it was just high frequency with little difference to my ears. I thought I had a bad one but, I’ve heard the same from other owners too.
 

After many emails exchange with the guys from StellarTone I decided to change it and I think I did one of the best mods you can make to these PJ style basses. 

The Vol, vol, tone was swapped for a Vol with push/pull for series parallel, a blend and a ToneStyler bass 10 tone pot. 
 

The bass completely changed and has a vast array of tonal possibilities, best thing it is all passive! 
 

I’ve recorded a quick video demo. If you are interested please let me know and I’ll share more detail. 
 

 

Edited Friday at 15:04 by Serginhobass

[Al Krow]

@Serginhobass - excellent demo, thanks! 

[jonno1981]

Hmmm. I’m curious. My bb414 has factory vol/tone/pickup switch. 
 

I changed the wiring on my jazz to a push/pull on the tone for series parallel and I love it. Could I follow a similar approach and change the wiring on the bb to match the layout you have? Do you need four conductor pickups to make this work? 

[Serginhobass]

@jonno1981 I’m sure you can follow the same approach, in your case instead of the blend you have a switch. 

To have it like mine you just need to change your volume pot for a push/pull pot. If you decide to install the ToneStyler it will be super straightforward too. 
 

Looking at the wiring for the 414 you will need to re-wire the bridge pickup to the new vol pot and then from the vol pot to the pick up selector. 
 

I’ll attached the diagram that Don from StellarTone helped me produce. 

 

Important to note that in this wiring configuration, when in series it always work as both pickups on, you cannot blend, and if you have the bridge pickup selected it will mute the bass. The pickup  Selector will have to either be on neck or both pickups to get the series sound.

 

I recommend you using the CTS 250k pot https://ebay.us/m/eK4hvR

 

You won’t need this but for anyone interested this is the blend pot I’ve used:

https://ebay.us/m/OQenuP

 

I purchased the ToneStyler from Bassdirect but if you buy directly from StellarTone they also sell the CTS pots.

 

Wiring diagrams. The top is the one I’ve used and the second one is for your bass. You just have to compare your switch to the blend pot and follow the other wires connections. 
 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Serginhobass

[jonno1981]

This is super useful thank you so much!! I have similar restriction on the jazz bass, the neck volume becomes master volume when you pull the tone pot up. You still have all the original sounds so it’s no biggie. I’ll consider this layout for my bass. Thank you! 

[Burns-bass]

This is a great deal

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1474371460311889/?ref=search
 

(1980s BB1100s & Hiscox case for £495)