a yamaha tone beast...

BB2000 owner. I have always felt that tone was MY tone.

/but sometimes MY tone isn't the best for my gig.

 

I owned a first generation (passive) BB5000 when these were new and it was a stellar instrument.

 

Although I have a Fender style J and PJ, I don't have a particular draw to ever having Vintage model. But when I saw a BB2000 recently, something kicked in. Then I watched some video demos, and all was confirmed. I'm not after a third electric bass, but if I was...

 

I played one once and it was very nice – quite different from my BB415. I'm guessing the neck-thru and sandwich-body construction has something to do with it.

It will probably haunt you until you do. I suppose the upside would be that if for some reason it turns out to not be your cup of tea, like a lot of vintage stuff, you could flip it without losing a single penny, or perhaps even at a profit.

 

Yes a BB5000. Great tone. It doesn't sound differently from any P though. The player and production make the tone.

 

Yamaha BB basses have quite a illustrious history. Here is one of the grandaddies of the design, the man who inspired Nathan East to get one. Some fun history and what is probably the accidental BB5000 prototype.

 

I owned all three versions of the BB5000 (5000, 5000A, 5000AMk2) and they were of that era of 80's/MIJ BB's.

They were landmark instruments in that they were among the very first production 5-strings, and like the 2000 and 3000 were PJ instruments when guys were still routing PBasses to roll their own. The split 3+2 pickup was ingenious and not picked up by anyone else for 20 years at least.

Alder wings, with maple/mahogany neckthru, Macassar ebony fingerboards (which Yamaha did not tint to all black, you can see the delicious chocolate stripes running thru the grain). Typically very stable setup wise. Brilliant pickups (that blade !!), and simple V/T/3-way switch. Mine were average weight.

The only rub for some is the narrow neck on the first two. Yamaha essentially took a BB3000, and subdivided the same neck width for five instead of four strings, a slightly bigger head with an extra key, a five string plate bridge and bespoke pickups. So the string spacing at the nut is pretty tight: If you're used to a Ric or Jazz, you'll probably feel at home, but for some it's tough down at the nut.

The 'A' model is the same bass with active pickups in the same brass surrounds with V/Fader/Bass/Treble (although you see a rare few in a 'transition' body that vaguely resemble RBX's). The AMk2 is a completely different beast, built in Yamaha's then-new Taiwan facility (since closed, and consolidated to China) and is very TRB like. Much bigger body, Yamaha's 'diving board width' fingerboard (like a TRB) and TRB PJ pickups with the same V/F/B/T layout. Different axe, bigger, different tone, but still nice, though I far preferred the first two.

A minor legend, and what's not to like ?


Original BB5000.

 

LaFaro, these are the only types of 'vintage' I'm occasionally attracted to, something that's just not made anymore.

Re: BB2000. Terrific axes, BUT . . . . . it's got a big fat neck, like the BB1200 it derived from. If you've ever played a 70's Precision Bass with that fat, 'half-C' profile, you get the idea.


BB2000. You saw these in all the best places on the West Coast in the late 70's/80's.

A 'name-not-revealed-to-protect-the-guilty' big time player was recruited by Yamaha as a potential endorser . . . . he turned out to be such an aggravation that Yamaha walked away, but they did take his recommendations as to what was WRONG with the 2000, so they slimmed the neck and body, a little fine-tuning on the body contours, and voila ! the BB3000 was born, without the famous endorser. The 5000 has that better neck profile as well.


BB3000. Those brass surrounds just MAKE that look.

 

Such a shame they didn’t keep the reverse P on the 3000

 

The back story is that the BB basses, the SG guitars, and the SA's (the BEST 335 you've never played) had their design roots in SoCal from a group that included John Carruthers.

Dr. Laboriel, what a player and gentleman. My favorite when I think of him, from Donald Fagen's NIGHTFLY , here's 'Ruby, Baby' with the good Dr. in the engine room, listen to his conversation behind the verses:



. . . . . I think his son plays on the road with some English guy . . . . .

 

Yamaha's loss, Peavey's gain. He had a red one he sold to a BIT student after having Mike Tobias shave the neck to be closer to a violin.

 

Who?? Who?? C'mon let's have the name. Hehe

 

I had the 'Nightfly' on cassette back in the eighties. I wore it out listening to the songs and transcribing the basslines. From memory, AJ was on 'Ruby...' and 'IGY'. I think Abe might have been on 'New Frontier'? Marcus Miller was on a couple of the tunes as well.

 

I stand corrected, PJM. I shouldn't stay up late and post . . . . . .

 

Well . . . . . we could TELL you, but then, of course, we'd have to KILL you. You don't, as they say, have a 'need to know'.