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New Yamaha BB series

#602
I'm contemplating returning the used 434 I bought recently and buying a 734A instead. This is mostly because I'm thinking the upgraded pickups + active electronics would be a tonal palette expansion worth the extra money. (And, OK, I'm superficial enough to really GAS after those radiused bar inlays.) OTOH, I could instead replace the pickups and in so doing, tailor the tone to my own preferences.

But there's one difference between them I'm curious about. The 434's body is solid alder while the 734A, like the P34, is an alder/maple/alder sandwich. What's the tonal difference there? Yamaha's site says the sandwich body "accentuates midrange to cut through the mix of a band", but "midrange" can mean a lot of things.
 
#603
I think you'll find the tonal palette expansion from going active combined with a different set up pups will swamp any difference you might notice from the woods. And we've not even touched on the impact of your choice of strings.

IMO the only way to properly compare the impact of wood on tone would be to have two identical basses, with the only difference being they had different woods but also having identical make strings that had been played in by just the same amount.
 
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#604
BB 735A vs BB 1025 (first impressions review)

I've had the 735A for just a few days now, but managed to give it a bit of a spin including at band rehearsal on Thursday night and I'll also gig it tonight.

Thought I'd share first impressions on this vs my BB 1025, which I'm very fond of. The 735A has newer strings and this would account for the 735A sounding a little brighter overall.

Solo P setting - treble dialled off (passive)
  • This is a classic 1025 "subby" / vintage tone and a much loved sound from this bass. It's not really something I've found any other basses I've played so far have done as well (other than, I guess other members of the BB passive family of basses, be interested if others agree?).
  • The 735A in passive (but not so much in active) mode comes pretty close - it sounded a little brighter, less muddy, but that could be just down to the newer strings.
  • With the treble back up for both basses, the 735A continued to feel a little brighter.
735A Passive vs Active
  • With the 3 band EQ at neutral there was almost no difference between active and passive for 735A, which is a good sign.
  • In terms of the EQ, bass cut worked to tighten the sound. Bass boost was less effective in increasing the low end thump (in the way that the Ibby SR EQ and, in especially, the BB NE2 delivers in spades). Mid cut to give a scooped tone or mid boost to cut through the mix both work well and the treble provides a decent range from very (too!) bright to nicely dialled down. As noted above for the most 'subby' tone I needed to switch to passive mode. The combination of passive and active modes delivers a significantly wider tonal palette than available with my BB 1025.
Overall impressions so far:

This bass is growing on me very quickly. I love the fact that I can get pretty close to the vintage sound of the BB 1025 in passive mode and then, at the flick of a switch, get a much more modern punchy (or indeed scooped if I ever want it!) tone. I found myself making use of the both passive and active modes a fair bit at band rehearsal. This is not the case with my Ibby SRs where I have the bass just in active mode; the passive mode is just a nice emergency back-up should the battery ever fade mid set.

The overall tone was a little sweeter than the BB 1025, but I'm not sure how much of that is simply down to the older strings on the 1025.

I can see that the ease of ability to access such a broad tonal palette on one bass is going to totally appeal to the convenience junky in me, and that the BB 735A is going to become a 'goto' bass for me. It's been an itch that I first had back in March 2017 when I wandered into the London Yammy store and first started to seriously consider getting a Yammy bass. I'm very glad that I've finally got round to scratching that particular itch
smile.png
 
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#605
Another question -- does anybody know if the 700 basses use the same tuners as the 400 series? The tuners were one of my disappointments with the 434. They seem to hold pitch OK, but they don't feel solid, and one of them rattles annoyingly.
 
#607
odarellmc said:
Tighten the tuner..
Click to expand...

The rattling issue seems to stem from excess play or "wobble" in the way the tuning peg fits in the housing that holds it against the gear. I see a screw to tighten the gear itself, and a set of screws to attach the housing to the headstock, but these all seem tight enough and none of them seems related to the issue.

Moot at this point, since I've returned the 434 to GC -- it was getting near the end of the return period and I decided that if I was unhappy with both the tuners and the pickups, the necessary upgrades would bring the cost close to a 734A, so I might as well try one of those instead.
 
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#613
I always prefered the bolt on sound over neck throughs. Had a very very beautiful BB3000 but it always lost compared to my BB1000MA regarding punch and quick response. For my tone, only a bolt on bass.
 
#614
QuickNasty said:
It's a single coil, but any potential hum is worth the badass blended tones it provides. The 734a sounds and plays so freaking good.
Click to expand...

In P+J mode the pups are effectively acting as a 'double coil' and provide an element of noise cancelling.

It's really only in pure bridge J mode that the single coil hum of the J pup is noticeable. And tbf that setting is by far and away the one I will least use - in my case pretty much either solo P, or P+J.
 
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#616
Al Krow said:
In P+J mode the pups are effectively act as a 'double coil' and provide an element of noise cancelling.

It's really only in pure bridge J mode that the single coil hum of the J pup is noticeable. And tbf that setting is by far and away the one I will least use - in my case pretty much either solo P, or P+J.
Click to expand...

I prefer to set the blend knob a second hands turn counter-clockwise towards the bridge pickup (just barely outside of the center detent) for finger style playing. Then sometimes bumping the bass boost up by the same amount. It's the only p/j I've played that sounds just stellar when I dig into the strings close to the bridge. It's able to maintain most of that P low end and add the J growl that cuts through the mix but sits in the pocket just right.

For pick style though, i usually go for straight P/J or set the blend clock-wise towards the neck pickup a bit. Sometimes cutting the treble knob a touch.

The Yamaha 734a blends the pickups very well with a variety of tones and styles on tap. I've noticed a smidgen of 60 hum but it's worth the cost with the glorious sounds this bass can churn out.
 

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