NAD: YAMAHA BBT500H

[Lowbrow]

I got some sound advice here at TB, circled for awhile, then snagged this great YAMAHA BBT500H for just $199 at used.guitarcenter.com.



I was intrigued with this amp's customizable tone stack and was all ready to get granular but the BBT's HEAVY tone preset was so close to what I wanted that it was a winner right out of the box! Does 500w at 2 ohms, 250w at 4 ohms, which suits my cabs array very well. Has a peachy sounding speaker sim circuit built right in, stores 5 custom tone presets, etc., etc. - all in all, an amazingly flexible and tuneful little powerhouse especially for the price.

I will NEVER buy anything again without checking GC's used site first. We at TB may carp about GC staff incompetence, but perhaps the pricing on GC used is one place where it works in our favor.

[streetknight]

Good score. I get a lot of used stuff from them, great return policy too. If you have it shipped they won't refund shipping, but not usually that bad. They shipped me a 210 cab from Seattle to Atlanta for $40

[Lowbrow]

Originally Posted by streetknight

Good score. I get a lot of used stuff from them, great return policy too. If you have it shipped they won't refund shipping, but not usually that bad. They shipped me a 210 cab from Seattle to Atlanta for $40

Yep - this was quick and easy, $14 shipping, w/30-day return policy.

[Lync]

So you had it shipped direct to your house? Did you call them or just do it online exclusively?

[Lowbrow]

Originally Posted by Lync

So you had it shipped direct to your house? Did you call them or just do it online exclusively?

I saw it online where they supply the store phone number - they want you to call to ensure that the item is still in stock before ordering. Then completed the order by phone, but not before I asked the fellow in the store to check that all was operational.

And yes, shipped it right to my house.

[tjh]

got one of them also .. quite a few on here had them when MF was blowing them out, but many have moved them along ... one of the very first class D modeling amps out there, I had one and sold it, and then I picked up another ... there are at least 3 or 4 very good usable presets ... good snag, I have seen them sell very quickly in the $240-250 range ...

I should add, compression is VERY nice on these little guys ... it did not have a mute, so I programmed one of my 5 user presets to mute for tuning ...

[Lync]

I have a Yamaha Magicstomp for bass and the presets sound really good (better than my Zoom B2). I would imagine that amp has the same processor for the preamp. If so, good stuff. I always kicked myself for not picking one up.

[JDJen]

Yamaha Bass Amps have always been under rated.

Nice amp there.

[jumbodbassman]

i have 2 of them and they are pretty good. Classic and heavy sounds are usually what i use. presets are nice feature also. 125 watts at 8 ohms is sort of silly but i like the 2 ohm feature....

ditto on the magicstomp. many of the same presets. JUST TOO MANY!!!!

[jumbodbassman]

Originally Posted by Lowbrow

I got some sound advice here at TB, circled for awhile, then snagged this great YAMAHA BBT500H for just $199 at used.guitarcenter.com.



I was intrigued with this amp's customizable tone stack and was all ready to get granular but the BBT's HEAVY tone preset was so close to what I wanted that it was a winner right out of the box! Does 500w at 2 ohms, 250w at 4 ohms, which suits my cabs array very well. Has a peachy sounding speaker sim circuit built right in, stores 5 custom tone presets, etc., etc. - all in all, an amazingly flexible and tuneful little powerhouse especially for the price.

I will NEVER buy anything again without checking GC's used site first. We at TB may carp about GC staff incompetence, but perhaps the pricing on GC used is one place where it works in our favor.

got mine new in box. came with rack ears and wire shields which is noice to get for free for a change....

[Standalone]

I had the 4 ohm 110 that Yamaha produced to go with these.

It was killer-- fairly deep, fairly loud, and fairly light. The impossible trifecta.

I wore it out gigging a Mesa M2000 through it for a year (shame on me, I do know better), but it was a great little cab. It really only developed a little wheeze after a hot summer outdoor gig where I had to put the cab over near one of those giant grills... just too hot for the voice coils.

[johnk_10]

i have one too. IMO, it's a great little head for the $. bought mine brand new when they were closing them out including a Yamaha head gig bag for $249 shipped. i often take it to gigs as my backup head.

here's a pic of mine with two hartke 2x10 transporter cabs that have been modded with eminence 2510's w/bypassable eminence tweeters in them:

[Standalone]

awesome stack!

[Lowbrow]

Yamaha is a bit of a sleeper. I've always had good experiences, first a '79 B100 head and matching 2x15 side-ported cab that carried me through scads of gigs for about 12 years, more recently I picked up a PB1 preamp and the BBT. All good stuff, though I recall the 1x15 combo they made out of the B100 in the 70s-80s was a bit lacking. But the one I used was in a rehearsal studio and pretty beat.

[Lowbrow]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

i have one too. IMO, it's a great little head for the $. bought mine brand new when they were closing them out including a Yamaha head gig bag for $249 shipped. i often take it to gigs as my backup head.

here's a pic of mine with two hartke 2x10 transporter cabs that have been modded with eminence 2510's w/bypassable eminence tweeters in them:

The thing I like best about tweeters is the ability to bypass them.

[Rick Auricchio]

I just picked up a BBT500H for $125 today. Very nice indeed!

I also have a TC RH450---it's almost like they copied the feature set from the Yamaha.

The BBT seems to have a tighter sound than the TC, which is nice. I'll see how it does on this weekend's gigs---one with the country-crossover band, the other with the rock band.