Yamaha BB434 views

[EJWW]

Hi BCers,

Can't explain why but I've become a little bit obsessed with the current BB range, the 434 in particular. 

I'm considering adding one to the family but have a few questions before I pull the trigger:

1) do the volume pots affect the volume output throughout the entire turn as opposed to the last little bit? 

2) Are they heavy? I'm not willing to go over 4kg.

3) Do they balance, is there any neck dive?

Thanks in advance for any advice 😀

[jrixn1]

They are great; I had one, I loved it, but ended up selling it (because it wasn't a 5-string) - but kind of regret it a bit now.

1. Not sure, as I never adjust volume knob from full.

2. I think you'll be ok. Mine was around 4kg, which I believe to be typical, but wood density varies between each individual sample... buy online and you can send it back if you are unfortunate to get a particularly heavy one.

3. Mine balanced well.

The thing about these current Yamaha BB is that the tuners are not great - I had two of them (434 and 735A) where a tuner went loose and started to rattle; perhaps a coincidence, but across the 30 or so basses I've owned over the years, this issue has previously only happened to me on one other bass ever - but then twice on these Yamahas.  Googling it seems that I am not the only one - so be prepared either to dab some fine superglue into the tuner ear, or upgrade to better quality ones. Relating back to your question about balance - you could take the opportunity to upgrade to hipshot ultralites (or similar).  But like I said, I didn't find there to be a balance issue in the first place.

[Tubster]

Volume pot affects whole turn

Mine is 3.8kgs

No neck dive - however, E string tuner needed the superglue treatment. Now it's just fine

Seriously recommend for: playability, versatility and sound.