Streaks, perms, Lycra 80's warning! Yamaha B100-115-111...any good?

[iconic]

I'll admit upfront I'm a real Yamaha fan, this old amp will only be for use at work, possibly more a 'heart' purchase than 'head'.

....anyone had one, know anything about them, good, bad, average, I'm sure they were more a stateside Yamaha product so I'm hoping someone here can help?

....in my experience anything by Yamaha is always solid and quality in the guitar dept', I love the basses having owned 4 of them now, RBX's and BB's....lovely things.

I know nothing of the Yamaha amps though, but from what I know it's one of very the last B-100's I think ( the B100 head used to get a good rep?), with the twin parametric channels and footswitch (what ever they are/do)...anyway it's in very sweet condtion and can be mine for $150....

As a benchmark I'm using/had Harke B900, Fender Bassman 100 tube (?) Silver face on Peavey 2x10 cab, Peavey TNT115 BW and Ashdown EB180 combo's so these are what I know. I don't gig just noodle around with my Fender P on flats, Squier VM series TB, VM Jazz and VM Jazz fretless, Yamaha BB414, 3 EQ Trans Orange Stingray.

any comments welcome

looks like this one:

[SpecialBlender]

My drummer has one of these I use when we practice at his place. I've never pushed it as we generally work on arrangements & vocals at his place so instruments are at low levels with no drums.

That being said I've been able to dial up a decent sound quite quickly.

His isn't is as nice shape cosmetically as yours though.

[christw]

Purchases of the heart have a heavier weight in regret if you skip them. Just saying...

[mpdd]

worked really good with my friend's active carvin 4 string, he used it for his church band, and our punk band, it made his bass have a really clean and punchy and it could get just a little rock and roll furry if you pushed it hard

[joebar]

in my highschool jazz band many moons ago, i ran through an older version othis amp i think; it was when they were as big as a house. that was a great ole amp-we abused it and it sounded decent. i remember it was 100 watts but it would go loud.

[iconic]

Originally Posted by christw

Purchases of the heart have a heavier weight in regret if you skip them. Just saying...

I like that!

[iconic]

cheers guys....looking good thus far!

[1n3]

If you don't need to be real loud, and don't mind the weight, it's a great amp. The preamp in particular is very nice; two channels, full parametric tone controls, and a crossover.

Mine stays at home with rare exceptions.

[iconic]

Cheers for that...can anyone explain what the parametric part does?

Thanks

[1n3]

Originally Posted by iconic

Cheers for that...can anyone explain what the parametric part does?

Thanks

Most tone controls are band-pass filters. They cut or boost a small piece of the audio spectrum. Band-pass filters have three parameters that can be changed: gain, center frequency, and Q (bandwidth). Usually, the center frequency and Q are set by the amp designer; you can only change the gain (positive or negative).

Semi-parametric controls are the next most common, where you can change gain and center frequency, but not Q.

Full parametric controls (as you'd probably guess) allow the user to change all three parameters. They are the most powerful, and least common and understood. Your question is evidence of that.

Having had parametric controls like those in the B100, I am spoiled... I hate the inflexibility of fixed-frequency controls.

[iconic]

Many thank for the explanation

[Holliwood]

An old bass player of mine had a Yamaha combo with an 18" in it.

It was monstrous and monstrous sounding.
I know he had it for many years.

[biobass]

I have the B100 head and used it for years with very good results pairing it with many different cabs. I really liked the two parametric EQ, very flexible, especially for getting rid of annoying room resonances. Now a days, this head is pretty large, heavy and on the low end of power compared to a lot of what is available. Mine just stays up in the attic now. Nonetheless, it is a worthy workhorse and served me well.

Cheers,
Dennis

[tjh]

my experiences with these older Yammie amps is fairly limited, and I kind of think of them as sophisticated 'Peaveys" ... quite reliable, built like tanks, but more for those that like a little technology ...

Yamaha tends to be a little ahead of its time in some ways when it comes to bass heads from what I can tell ... the BBT-500H was one of the earlier downsized class D modeling amps, in fact I felt lost on the first one I had not being able to figure out, and use it all, so I sold it ... only a couple years later to get another, and use it as a simple mans plug and play, and getting what seemed like 3-4 amps in one, at the turn of a dial ...

[iconic]

Thanks guys for the help and info'