Dumb Yamaha question: difference between "BB" and "Broad Bass"

[JJP_1984_LB50]

I see instruments with either of these designations on the headstock. Help me understand.

 

[toastw]

My understanding is they are one in the same. Like Coke versus Coca-Cola or Chevy versus Ceverolet.

 

[CallMeAl]

Pretty sure they started out with Broad Bass, and along the way abbreviated it to BB!

 

[ardgedee]

BB was always part of the model designation, I guess at some point Yamaha realized that "Broad Bass" doesn't sound as cool to native English speakers as it does to Japanese speakers.

 

[toastw]

I've never really thought about it before. Why call it "broad?" Is that supposed to mean, "versatile?"

 

[J Wilson]

Back in the day in the 80's, the basses officially imported by Yamaha in America were marked 'Yamaha BB1200' or 400, 300, 2000, etc.

For the Japanese home market and the rest of the world they were marked 'BroadBass 1200' and 'Yamaha'.

'Spaghetti' logo ? ? ?

Yamaha in those days in America was always back-ordered on hot sellers (BB2000's, 5000's. later the first-gen DX7's), so there were a fair amount of them gray-marketed into the West Coast from Japan, and you occasionally run across one labeled 'BroadBass' here in America. They were big medicine in SoCal in the early 80's.

Yamaha was very old-school labor-wise and they wouldn't hire extra production people for hot sellers knowing they'd have to let them go once the push was satisfied, so home-market Japanese items would show up elsewhere. The funniest one was that no one realized that DX's had DIFFERENT preset sounds for Japan than what they'd load for America, and with programming a DX being a real undertaking, you were pretty much stuck with the presets. Some Japanese market ones got flown into America and resold, only for the buyers to NOT hear all those FM Rhodes kinds of patches and other DX trademarks, but all these funny little Casiotone sounds which were the hot stuff for Japan ! And of course, Yamaha in America wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole. Oooops ! !

 

[Brian Patterson]

The moniker continues - my 2024 BB234 carries the name on. Always wondered what the 'broad' terminology meant too.

 

[JJP_1984_LB50]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Feeling better edumacated…

 

[SJan3]

I see instruments with either of these designations on the headstock. Help me understand.

BB is abbreviation for Broad Bass.

 

[Dincrest]

And then there's this wrinkle.

When I think of "BroadBass" BB, I think of that traditional BB shape: BB Series - Pro Series - Yamaha USA

But in the 90s and all, the BB moniker was used on basses that had this shape, like the Nathan East BB: BBNE2 - Overview - Yamaha USA

 

[bearhart74]

Broad Bass minus road ass = BB

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

Talk about mudflaps

 

[burgerdj]

The moniker continues - my 2024 BB234 carries the name on. Always wondered what the 'broad' terminology meant too.

On a dude my size, the bass is huge. I assume “broad” pertained to the width of the body

 

[eeyorebass]

I always thought broad was meant to imply a breadth of tone, like a big, fat tone..

 

[DanAdams]

At times it has felt like Yamaha stamped BB on lots of basses, so the title became meaningless.
Just like how Ibanez stamped just about everything in wide variety models as a "Roadstar" for a few years in the 80s

 

[BobDeRosa]

I always thought broad was meant to imply a breadth of tone, like a big, fat tone..

Correct. I remember reading this in some credible source.

 

[covermego]

On a dude my size, the bass is huge. I assume “broad” pertained to the width of the body

That's exactly what I thought....... and I actually owned a BB800 years ago. Excellent bass, but kinda heavy and that body was BROOOAAADDD !!!

 

[CletusMarley]

I'm really happy I stumbled into this model. It's becoming my favorite bass neck.