Yamaha BB415

[Sean]

[b]Manufacturer:[/b] Yamaha
[b]Model:[/b] BB415 (B-Stock)
[b]Colour:[/b] Orange Metallic



After selling Sid the Fender Precision back to Clarky I was in the market for an inexpensive P-type back up bass and for taking to work for playing at lunchtime and for general knocking about duties. I'd recently been impressed by the stupendous new Yamaha Super BB and also pleasantly surprised at a BB615 I tried the same day; Yamaha basses have never really been on my radar other than with a few aborted attempts at buying an old BB2000 on ebay. Bearing this in mind and with a maximum budget of £250 I went to ebay to see if I could find something that suited, a five-string would be a bonus. A search of Yamaha bass guitars brought up the usual suspects and amongst these were a few ex-demo, B-stock models. I ended up ordering a BB415 in Orange Metallic. It arrived the next day in the original box and was very well packed.

A quick run through of the specs tells us that this is a passive instrument with alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, P and J pickups, a slightly odd looking vintage-type bridge, five strings, large open geared vintage style tuners. String spacing is 18mm and it's a 34" scale. The instrument is made in Taiwan.



[b]First impressions[/b]

Wow! What a colour. It's much less garish than I thought it would be; I chose the Orange Metallic more for novelty value than anything else but it in the flesh it's really very nice and the matching headstock makes it look very snazzy indeed; the cataloge/website pictures seem very retouched and enhanced. Hopefully my photographs give a much better idea of the real colour.

It's relatively light, I'd guess around about 8lb, which for a large bodied alder bass is really good especially with my temperamental back.



[b]Quality[/b]

Fit and finish on this bass is staggering for its price band and what struck me was that in many respects it reminds me of a MusicMan; the neck joint is well designed and seems to be a tight fit, the fingerboard/neck joint is flawless and the fretwork is way beyond what I'd expect in a low to middle market bass. The quality of the paint finish just cannot be faulted and it has that lovely glitter metallic sparkle that is similar to a Lakland metallic.

The tuners are OK and serviceable but will probably be getting an upgrade to Hipshots if this bass is still with me in six months time. The bridge has a bit of an extension on it for the low B string and though I'm not entirely sure, I'd guess that this serves two functions; to give a bit of extra length (a few millimeters) to assist with string tension and also to reduce the break angle of the thicker string meaning it's less likely to break. The pick ups are the classic BB type.



[b]Feel[/b]

The body is quite large, I suppose but then again I'm used to playing Spectors and Lakland DJs, which are smaller than normal. Anyway, there's no issue with the body, it's very well sculpted and very comfortable both on the strap and sitting down.

The neck on this bass is a satin finish and is very smooth and reminiscent of a Lakland. It's a fairly slim neck for a five string and very comfortable with easy access to all 21 frets. The bass had been set up very well indeed and I'm guessing this was because it's an ex-demo instrument from a music show and was originally on a Yamaha exhibition stand and I would think someone makes sure that they play pretty well before Joe Public gets his potentially money-spending mitts on the them. I was a little bit apprensive about a cheaper 34" scale 5-string but there was nothing to worry about, the B string is very nice, no floppiness and easily as good as the Stingray 5 I used to have and is a bit better than the Ibanez DWB35 I used to have.



[b]Sounds[/b]

I plugged this bass into my Mesa Boogie M6 Carbine with the EQ flat and the gain at 12 O'clock. The cab is a Bergantino AE210. The first thing that hits you when you start to play is that the sound this instrument puts out is absolutely immense, the pickups are really hot, very full and rich and have a throatyness that I just love. Using the P pickup solo gives everything you might expect from a P bass but with a lot more oomph and weight. The tone knob is very useful and proportional, it's gives a great variation and lets you access some very useable middy rock tones and some really nice deep dub and soul thump.

Flicking the three-way switch back to the J pickup at the bridge was a real revelation. As a long-time fan of the P/J configuration (my Spector NS5 has a P/J set) I've always been of the mindset that the J is there to complement the P and to get some good variations depending on how much it's dialled in with mid-way being my favourite generally. This bridge pickup is a going concern all of its own and is a funk monster and let me tell you, it's as loud and honking as the P, there must be a lot of magnets and windings under that cover!

Bringing the switch to the mid position gives you the classic throaty passive P/J punch and gurgle typically associated with the BB. It just makes you want to grab a pick and play all your favourite Duff McKagan riffs.




I'm going to be gigging this bass over the weekend so I'll expand this review once the instrument has been through a real world situation...

Edited March 24, 2013 by Sean

[Guest MoJo]

As anyone who saw it on the Basses for sale forum recently, I had been thinking of selling my BB415, purely because I wasn't using it but common sense got the better of me and I knew that I wouldn't find another 5-stringer of this quality at such a low price again.

+1 on all of the above

[Sean]

Well, I'm back from tonight's gig. It was in a huge upstairs hall at Nantyffllon Library near Maesteg in South Wales. I took my NS5 with me and wasn't going to use the Yam until we were well into the first set but I thought, what the heck and strapped it for the first song; Let Me Entertain You. I played this fingerstyle, EQ frowning on the Boogie, tweeters rolled off on the Bergs, switch in mid position on the Yam with the pots rolled full up and by gawd, it's immense in its punch but this bass does lack a bit of sustain. That lack of sustain is my only real bugbear; it's not a huge let down, though and the sustain that the instrument has compares to other bolt-on alder and basswood bodied instruments. I usually play this song on my NS5 so maybe it's not a fair comparison between a £4k solid maple, neck-thru and a budget-ish alder bolt-on. Still, I can't believe this cost me only two and a half hundred quid, it's so much more bass than that

We did a few songs where I just grabbed a pick and thumped away; Holding Out For a Hero (P + J), Walking on Sunshine (J) and Losing My Religion (P) - the BB415 is a damn fine instrument when played with the fingers but when you attack it with a medium/heavy pick it barks and growls like big bad drooling nasty dog. Our drummer kept pulling faces and nodding approvingly toward my amp; he had no idea it was the change of bass that had made such a difference. It's a very versatile bass, there are loads of sounds in there, roll off the tone and throw the switch to the P setting and it gives wonderful vintage thick rich thump and I utilised this tone on Heatwave, Take Me to the River, Midnight Hour and some others, very nice.

The BB415 is very comfortable and pretty light for gigging and another very pleasing aesthetic is the way that the first fret or nut seems quite close to you; I think is due to the fact that the bridge is mounted quite far back on the body. The low B stands up really well to gigging and it's not until now that I gave the B any thought at all, it just does its job very well, no concerns at all. I love the simplicity of the controls too and how responsive the tone knob is.

Edited February 28, 2010 by Sean

[Sean]

I've now added an aftermarket bridge to this bass and it's really taken it up a notch. The bridge was from WD Music and is a Gotoh 203-alike, it's nicely made, very dense and chrome finished. I needed to drill four new holes to mount it as it didn't line up exactly with the stock Yamaha bridge holes except for two of them and that gave me a good guide.

The new bridge moves the anchor point of the strings back about an eighth of an inch and this has had a big impact on the low B which is really taught now and sustains very well. The sustain of the whole instrument is much better and it rings nicely. Sustain isn't for everyone, I know and it's not necessarily a good or desirable thing but for me it's important.

Bass: £249 delivered
Bridge: £32 delivered

There are BB414/614/415/615 basses on ebay all the time and with a couple of simple mods they can be made into amazing value for money instruments; if you're looking for a beginner's bass, a knockaround or a cheap backup, I would recommend one all the way.

[iconic]

Great review, thanks.

I have a BB414 in the same pearl Orange, I still find the build quality v price astounding on this bass. Agree 100% with your comments regarding the pups, they are very hot mine is currently on flatwounds so you can imagine how the walls shake in my house!

[fatback]

Thought you were selling it, there for a minute. Got all excited

[AttitudeCastle]

If i'm right, (i hope i'm not!)

That they are no longer making these! the 414/5s

Which would be a shame as i would love a metallic orange one like that

as they are being completely replaced by the 424/5s

as alot of places no longer stock the 414/415 and say they are no longer avalible?

[Jarhead]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='927817' date='Aug 17 2010, 06:15 PM']If i'm right, (i hope i'm not!)

That they are no longer making these! the 414/5s

Which would be a shame as i would love a metallic orange one like that

as they are being completely replaced by the 424/5s

as alot of places no longer stock the 414/415 and say they are no longer avalible?[/quote]
Yep, I tried to buy one the other day, had to be put on order. The next monday I got a call saying that it had been discontinued and replaced by the 424's et al.

Zach

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Jarhead' post='928519' date='Aug 18 2010, 12:01 PM']Yep, I tried to buy one the other day, had to be put on order. The next monday I got a call saying that it had been discontinued and replaced by the 424's et al.

Zach[/quote]

Dang!

The 424s are almost £100 more, ah well,

hopefully a 414 in MO will be on here son enough,

are they still making the 414x?

[Sean]

Check out [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170523609412&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]this 414x[/url] - crazy price for what is just a standard 414 with an extra bit of plastic!

Someone had a bargain [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260650303612&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]here[/url] on this 415, though the seller was creaming it at £30 on the shipping, especially as a business. BassDirect charge a tenner!

[Sean]

[quote name='fatback' post='922881' date='Aug 12 2010, 03:53 PM']Thought you were selling it, there for a minute. Got all excited [/quote]

I bought the BB415 to fill a gap and didn't expect to keep it long but it's outstanding especially with the Gotoh-alike (or Sadowsky-alike) bridge. I've managed to get a few dents and scratches on it now too so it's sort of firewood value for resale and consequently it's become worth more to me as a backup/beater than what I could get for it and I would certainly struggle to find a bass to match it at what I could sell it for.

[fatback]

[quote name='Sean' post='934058' date='Aug 23 2010, 07:22 PM']Someone had a bargain [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260650303612&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]here[/url] on this 415, though the seller was creaming it at £30 on the shipping, especially as a business. BassDirect charge a tenner![/quote]

Yeah, I was watching that 415, but £30+ for shipping put me off. Especially as I'd have to pay for defretting as well.

Edited August 24, 2010 by fatback

[janmaat]

+1 for the bridge. I fitted a schaller on my 4string yamaha rbx and WHOOOOM it is a phantastic bass now.

[Sean]

Here's the bridge fitted.



Improvements in sustain and tension.