If anyone is looking for an inexpensive BB fretless, I’ll be listing this very nice BBN3 soon.
JayT
JayT
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I have tried the BB234 and the 434 and the 234 is a nice bass, but the 434 was much better IMO.
Regarding the 734, I have to say that my 735 is my favourite bass, and I prefer it to my American Ultra jazz bass and my Dimension V. All are good basses, but the 735 is just amazing.
The 434 helped me realize how much I prefer passive basses.
I loved DR Legend flats on my BB415, to my ears it is one of the best low Bs I've ever used round or flatwound!
Note, I gave them the @JimmyM Eucerin treatment to deaden/even out the set.
I've used Chromes, TI Flats and a weird set of LaBella ground-wounds on the same bass, and liked the DRs best.
Note, I gave them the @JimmyM Eucerin treatment to deaden/even out the set.
I've used Chromes, TI Flats and a weird set of LaBella ground-wounds on the same bass, and liked the DRs best.
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- Sep 8, 2010
- 453
- 608
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- Endorsing Artist: Aguilar Sadowsky Hipshot David Gage Czech-Ease Mono Kala UBass
Hello everyone, I love my Yamahas but I need to sell some axes to make way for a high end bass coming next spring!
I have a mid 90s BB350 in excellent condition in blue sparkle and a sweet 1981 Yamaha JB500 import from Japan in tobacco sunburst ! Both are excellent players in fine shape.
I have a mid 90s BB350 in excellent condition in blue sparkle and a sweet 1981 Yamaha JB500 import from Japan in tobacco sunburst ! Both are excellent players in fine shape.
For sale YAMAHA BB350 All Original ! SEE VIDEO!
Up for sale is a super cool and really great sounding Yamaha BB350! Excellent condition. Mid 90s. Sick sounding bass!
Deep metallic blue kids look out! I believe this was made in 1995, almost 30 years old and still kicking a$$. The sound is incredible. This is a professional sounding and playing...
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- Category: For Sale: Bass Guitars
- bb 350 yamaha bass yamaha bb
$550.00
13 watching
For sale Yamaha JB500R MIJ 1981 w/Antiquity 1, VERY NICE, SEE VIDEO!!!
Vintage Yamaha JB500R Mint! 1.45” nut! Reverse Keys! Antiquity 1s!
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- Category: For Sale: Bass Guitars
- bass jb500r made in japan mij vintage yamaha
$700.00
7 watching
I haven't had much luck with active basses either. Besides my Stingray.
Folks, I'd appreciate your input.
My BB fans and buddies, give me your input. I'm not sure I have a problem. I'd appreciate your comments and experience.
I bought this BB1025x in August, used, and I'm thrilled with it. Of the basses I've owned, it the first one to deliver the clean, warm tone I really want in the band I play in at our church. As is.
And, so, why would I wonder about anything, you ask? So do I. But I observe something unusual.
The tone knob does virtually nothing over its entire sweep. A tiny bit of change at the very bottom. But I have to work very hard to hear anything. Mind you, the tone is right where I want it, as is. So, in a way, it simply saves me wondering about one more knob to adjust. It's as if I don't even have a tone pot, only a normally-functioning volume pot. (The opposite of a Joe Dart bass, but I digress). I've never owned a bass where the tone pot did nothing, anywhere, along its sweep.
Curious about this, I opened the control cavity and explored in depth. I'm an Electrical Engineer by training and have built hundreds of analog circuits... Soldering and using a multimeter are easy for me. I walked through the usual suspects and found a) the wiring is all correct, b) the solder joints are all sound c) each pot is labeled as a 250Kohm audio taper pot... disconnecting each of them, I confirmed that both were operating properly and well within range and d) I swapped out the cap on the tone pot.
I found that swapping the tone cap made small but noticeable changes in the tone. As found, it had a 47nF cap and that sounded fine. I went to a 63nF and then a 100nF cap and the tone got progressively darker and a bit muddier, as one would predict. I then went the other way with a 22nF cap and, to my ear, it improved the tone further, a touch cleaner than the 47nF. However, in each iteration of the cap size, the tone pot behaved the same way...virtually no noticable affect on tone over the full sweep. From a circuitry point of view, it was almost as if the resistance added by the pot had zero effect on the total LRC circuit. So, I left the 22nF cap in and closed it up. I played it in our worship band yesterday, even with a couple of "solo" bass passages, and got some wonderfully positive comments from other musicians who were there...clearly the bass sounds good.
So, I'm stumped... what am I missing? Is this typical in this line of BB1000s?? Mine was made in December 2018 in Indonesia.
Or, maybe I have no problem at all and I can just be grateful to have found such a fine instrument.
I'd truly welcome any observations any of you have. Thank you!
My BB fans and buddies, give me your input. I'm not sure I have a problem. I'd appreciate your comments and experience.
I bought this BB1025x in August, used, and I'm thrilled with it. Of the basses I've owned, it the first one to deliver the clean, warm tone I really want in the band I play in at our church. As is.
And, so, why would I wonder about anything, you ask? So do I. But I observe something unusual.
The tone knob does virtually nothing over its entire sweep. A tiny bit of change at the very bottom. But I have to work very hard to hear anything. Mind you, the tone is right where I want it, as is. So, in a way, it simply saves me wondering about one more knob to adjust. It's as if I don't even have a tone pot, only a normally-functioning volume pot. (The opposite of a Joe Dart bass, but I digress). I've never owned a bass where the tone pot did nothing, anywhere, along its sweep.
Curious about this, I opened the control cavity and explored in depth. I'm an Electrical Engineer by training and have built hundreds of analog circuits... Soldering and using a multimeter are easy for me. I walked through the usual suspects and found a) the wiring is all correct, b) the solder joints are all sound c) each pot is labeled as a 250Kohm audio taper pot... disconnecting each of them, I confirmed that both were operating properly and well within range and d) I swapped out the cap on the tone pot.
I found that swapping the tone cap made small but noticeable changes in the tone. As found, it had a 47nF cap and that sounded fine. I went to a 63nF and then a 100nF cap and the tone got progressively darker and a bit muddier, as one would predict. I then went the other way with a 22nF cap and, to my ear, it improved the tone further, a touch cleaner than the 47nF. However, in each iteration of the cap size, the tone pot behaved the same way...virtually no noticable affect on tone over the full sweep. From a circuitry point of view, it was almost as if the resistance added by the pot had zero effect on the total LRC circuit. So, I left the 22nF cap in and closed it up. I played it in our worship band yesterday, even with a couple of "solo" bass passages, and got some wonderfully positive comments from other musicians who were there...clearly the bass sounds good.
So, I'm stumped... what am I missing? Is this typical in this line of BB1000s?? Mine was made in December 2018 in Indonesia.
Or, maybe I have no problem at all and I can just be grateful to have found such a fine instrument.
I'd truly welcome any observations any of you have. Thank you!
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What's the rest of the circuit actually look like? pickups->selector switch->master vol? Where does the tone connect--before or after the master volume? Jack output comes from the wiper of the master volume pot? Assuming all those assumptions are correct, my theory is that the tone is tied to the output signal and might sound better tied to the pickups before the master volume. Other than that, I got nuthin'.
I'm assuming you're just mixing units up, but you'd want to be using a nano-farad (nF) cap for the tone cap, not pico-farad. For example, 0.047uF is equivalent to 47nF, which is equivalent to 47,000pF. 47pF would be extremely low capacitance, and likely wouldn't be noticeable at all in a standard tone circuit.
I doubt you're actually using a pico-farad cap, but I just wanted to make sure! If you've checked everything out as you've said I'm not sure what could be wrong.
Duh... just flunked my EE 101 circuits class... yes, my units are off. I wanted to avoid the leading zeros of a 0.022uF which is 22nF and 22000pF. Ooof
Yes, nF, not pF... thanks for catching.
And I could still go back and edit in my post.
Thanks!
Excellent question, thanks.
Yes, your assumption is exactly hom this bass is connected.
I thought I had seen basses wired either way. Even so, though, I can't make sense of why the tone pot has no influence on the tone.
Mulling... thanks.
Interesting.
Theoretically, yes, I could swap the existing 3-way selector switch for another pot and go VVT like a conventional J Bass.
Yet, Yamaha has done such a great job blending their J and P pickups, I'm hesitant to mess with how good that is...I play the pickups blended all the time.
Electronically, I'm not sure how this would speak to the core problem of the non-performance of the tone pot.
Thanks!
Just wanted to follow up on @Bassaga and the "what flats" post, and as well as my recommendation for Chromes. Apparently, this guy's last BB strings were also Chromes, and had them on before he donated it to charity auction and it became the most expensive bass ever sold to date. Check out the dark but shiny string, and the double-ended blue silk wrap...
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Hello
It's not the same, but I replaced the pickups in my BB735 with Delanos. And the improvement was huge. It is my number one for five strings. I love the pickups in my BBP34 but I was not 100% satisfied with the fifth in my 735
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Oh wow! Great mods on that 735A! I had one once but it was on the heavier side. Really amazing basses to mod!
I must admit that mine only weights 4 kg, which is impressive. My two other 5-strings weight aroung 4.5 kg
I love my 735 and I'm a big stingray fan. Do the massive pole pieces give anything hinting toward a Ray tone?
I'd say no. The B string has improved and the overall sound is different. It has more lows and low mids, being more round IMO. It is less mid focus
