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The Yamaha BB mega-thread


Al Krow

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19 minutes ago, Cairobill said:

Yes, a broad palette but no compromise in the sounds. Very top tier bass.  
 

The neck is also important I think. Just chunky enough but still very fast. 
 

I’m tempted to conclude that the BB2000 construction plays a big part in the quality of the tone. You can hear the sound of the thing unamplified and feel it in your fingers. Solid!


 

I have a 78 Yamaha pulser 400 which is a lawsuit copy of a late fender p bass with 40mm nut (mine is 39) and a deep chunky neck. Funny thing is it doesn’t feel like a baseball bat. It just feels right. Playing fast isn’t not an issue at all. The fender 60’s neck profile doesn’t agree with my tendons in my forearm after I broke my wrist. 
 

Definitely understand you on construction. Japans craftsmanship has always be so refined. Your mass has a neck through with ebony fretboard so it plays a big part. 
 

You seemed to have found a keeper. Delete all your saved searches on basses you are after and enjoy the beauty lol. 
 

oh how would you describe the jazz pickup? 

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39 minutes ago, soulstar89 said:

Definitely understand you on construction. Japans craftsmanship has always be so refined. Your mass has a neck through with ebony fretboard so it plays a big part. 

 

You seemed to have found a keeper. Delete all your saved searches on basses you are after and enjoy the beauty lol. 
 

oh how would you describe the jazz pickup? 


They are so well made. Very hard to build at that level nowadays without attaching a 5K price tag I think. 
 

bridge pickup is full sounding compared to a Fender. Sounds great

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I have owned a wide array of supposedly top quality basses over the years and Japanese-made Yamaha's are up there with the absolute best. The construction quality is as good as it gets and the designs are really clever. And it's always been that way.  More than 40 years ago Yamaha solved the issue of the inherent imbalance between the P and J pickups. Not many other bass builders have managed the same trick even now.

 

The BB2000 is an intrinsically lively sounding bass, but in a good way, I hasten to add. If I were to analyse it I would say that compared to a traditional Fender-style PJ bass the BB basses have a much wider frequency range, I.e the bass goes deeper and the treble much higher. There's a Fender lurking in there somewhere but it's just one element of the unique BB tone. 

Edited by Misdee
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On 24/03/2024 at 18:19, soulstar89 said:


 

Just found this. It’s literally a 15 min drive from me. Not looking for this bass and remembered you was after one. 
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266735988104?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=C-GOUviuTUW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=Rn8UiLvPR9K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I went for it! I left an offer but knew I'd be heart broken if someone else got it first because its literally perfect - so I ended up buying it for asking price 15 mins later hahah

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2 minutes ago, Angus1 said:

I went for it! I left an offer but knew I'd be heart broken if someone else got it first because its literally perfect - so I ended up buying it for asking price 15 mins later hahah

I was just looking at that 3 mins ago and then it went LOL

Edited by briansbrew
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12 minutes ago, Angus1 said:

I went for it! I left an offer but knew I'd be heart broken if someone else got it first because its literally perfect - so I ended up buying it for asking price 15 mins later hahah

 

Nice one, enjoy!  I see someone's replaced the normally black plastic pickup rings with chrome ones.  A nice wee change from the norm, I dig it.

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55 minutes ago, Angus1 said:

I went for it! I left an offer but knew I'd be heart broken if someone else got it first because its literally perfect - so I ended up buying it for asking price 15 mins later hahah


nice one mate. I’m glad I sent you the link. You are in londo so that’s a plus. He has an acoustic pre amp. Man I love the sound of those but it’s over kill for home use. 
 

I messaged the seller asking if he had any other basses and he gave me some great advice about buying from Japan. Seemed very genuine. 
 

Also as japan is in recession the yen is very low atm. When I checked yesterday it’s 190yen to the pound. A tokai I saw sold for 60000 yen. That is just over £300. 

Edited by soulstar89
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1 hour ago, Misdee said:

I have owned a wide array of supposedly top quality basses over the years and Japanese-made Yamaha's are up there with the absolute best. The construction quality is as good as it gets and the designs are really clever. And it's always been that way.  More than 40 years ago Yamaha solved the issue of the inherent imbalance between the P and J pickups. Not many other bass builders have managed the same trick even now.

 

The BB2000 is an intrinsically lively sounding bass, but in a good way, I hasten to add. If I were to analyse it I would say that compared to a traditional Fender-style PJ bass the BB basses have a much wider frequency range, I.e the bass goes deeper and the treble much higher. There's a Fender lurking in there somewhere but it's just one element of the unique BB tone. 


nicely put. 

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I'm loving my 414 so much it's actually perking some GAS, but I'm yet to be convinced that a more expensive BB would have a neck that I'd like; from my digging (fairly extensive, but not completely comprehensive) it appears the 414 has the slimmest neck of all of them (that weigh less than 8 1/2 - 9lbs)...I can't remember for the life of me what the neck on my BB3000A was like: I didn't have a problem with it at the time, but I've got fussier as I've got older (and I'm playing way more gigs)...

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18 hours ago, Muzz said:

I'm loving my 414 so much it's actually perking some GAS, but I'm yet to be convinced that a more expensive BB would have a neck that I'd like; from my digging (fairly extensive, but not completely comprehensive) it appears the 414 has the slimmest neck of all of them (that weigh less than 8 1/2 - 9lbs)...I can't remember for the life of me what the neck on my BB3000A was like: I didn't have a problem with it at the time, but I've got fussier as I've got older (and I'm playing way more gigs)...


I sold my MIJ 3000A a while back... neck is 'skinny' but I'm not sure how much that is due to narrowness or shallowness. It definitely felt insubstantial compared to the BB2000. It was also harder to get around on and more fatiguing, at least for me. I find the BB2000 profile more comfortable and more playable.

Edited by Cairobill
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