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If You're Considering a Yamaha BB ...

#82
So I bought a BB414 for 250 euros + shipping 12,5e (used). Including a wide nylon strap and two cables, one short and the other one 6 meters.

Pups are louder than my old Yamaha RBX270 and it feels more solid and it's heavier (not too heavy). The neck is comfortable in my hands and it feels nice playing either standing up or sitting. I play through my brothers crappy Behringer combo, but I can get quite good tones from it. My favorite set-up is: the pickup switch in the middle and the tone knob rolled all the way to 0. I think It's a great bass.
 
#85
I just picked up a BB614 from Guy N. Cognito for a great price. These are great basses. Mine has an alder body & a maple neck with rosewood board. The bass is active though I am not loving the preamp. I will most likely swap it out very soon. Other than that, this is a great bass and a very nice surprise.

I had played one of the passive basses about 5 months ago and thought that it was a great bass for the money. Well, I'm really glad I own one now. It's a fun little 4 string to have around.
 
#86
I'm pretty sure when Bassplayer reviewed them they liked the passive version a little better. I know my passive BB415 is a joy to play, look at (wine redburst) and hear. As I stated before...GREAT bass for the $$. One of the best buys around right now for a 5 string PJ bass.
 
#88
I'm a little late on this thread but has anyone modified or changed the pickups/added preamp?? in the bb415. I know you normally would not put alot of money into a bass at this level...but this thing plays so nice I would love to just get a little better sound out of it.:help:
Shane
 
#89
smsuperstrat said:
I'm a little late on this thread but has anyone modified or changed the pickups/added preamp?? in the bb415. I know you normally would not put alot of money into a bass at this level...but this thing plays so nice I would love to just get a little better sound out of it.:help:
Shane
Click to expand...

My understanding is that some have swapped the pre out for a Bartolini or Aguilar. I talked to a guy this weekend that runs the internal pre on his BB flat and uses a Sadowski outboard preamp box (although I'm sure you could get the on-board version and wire it in). All have seemed pretty happy with the upgrade.

Also, in my research I've found that many people have upgraded the bridge and tuners to badass IIs, hipshot, etc.

I remember seeing that someone upgraded to bartolini pickups too, but no post install report on tone...

Personally I'm in a tossup between putting a massive dent on the visa and getting an 08 American Precision 5 string or for a third of the price getting a BB 5 passive.
 
#90
I tried one of the 2 band Bartolini's in my BB-X and took it out 2months later. I'm sure its a great unit but on my bass it just added a touch of clarity and the bass control just added boominess.

I've now realized that this bass sounds best passive, IMO. some outboard eq is all it needs.
 
#93
I agree with Sean. The standard BB bridge is fine. IMHO it's much the same situation as the MIA Fender bridges. Sure you could replace them, but it's not mandatory.

My BB415 has a Hipshot A-style bridge on it and I like it pretty well. Another TB member or two have put the BadAss V on theirs and it looked really nice. Both of these bridges are available in gold. ;) But if you did that you'd probably want to change out the tuners and P/U trim rings to match.
 
#95
You're right Lexx. That B-string extension is more or less a yamaha exclusive feature. To my knowledge there aren't any other bridges that have that. I'd love to know if any aftermarket manufacturers did make a bridge with that feature though.

To me, the string tension on the B with the stock bridge vs the hipshot is negligible. I honestly couldn't tell much of a difference.
 
#96
Rickter said:
You're right Lexx. That B-string extension is more or less a yamaha exclusive feature. To my knowledge there aren't any other bridges that have that. I'd love to know if any aftermarket manufacturers did make a bridge with that feature though.

To me, the string tension on the B with the stock bridge vs the hipshot is negligible. I honestly couldn't tell much of a difference.
Click to expand...

That should definitely be the case, because contrary to popular misconception, the extended bridge section does NOTHING to the scale length or tension - it is simply to allow greater INTONATION adjustment/sadddle adjustment ability. There is no way independent of fanned frets to have two scale lengths on the same bridge, no way that makes sense at least :)

J
 

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