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New Yamaha BB series
- Thread starter hypercarrots
- Start date
How much are you digging the new BB735A? Center bass? Worth the $800?...the black sheep of the Krow Yammy family arrived today and took its place alongside its very capable older BB bros
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Something very crazy...I am thinking of building BB styled pu surrounds for the 700 series.. 
A LOT and yes! (Particularly as I managed to pick it up used, with just 5 months 'on the clock' for $630
)
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Yes they were absolutely lovely. And if they released the BB735A, with it's 3 band EQ, as a neck through in white (or black) they could take $1,000 from me without a second thought.
Yamaha are you listening?
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I just ordered a BB735a in black.. I'm pretty excited as all the positive comments and videos I've watched.. this may turn into my go to bass, then I'll reserve my Fender American Jazz V and Ibanez 655e for backup.
Also ordered me another Fender Rumble 210 black grill cloth to complete my Fender Stage 800 combo.
I'll post a review when it comes in next week.
Also ordered me another Fender Rumble 210 black grill cloth to complete my Fender Stage 800 combo.
I'll post a review when it comes in next week.
Some top quality gear in a classic all black finish. Gonna sound good and look good!
I still can't work out whether I prefer my Yammy BB735A as a passive or active bass! But it's great to have both options on tap in a classic P/J BB 5er !
How are folk typically playing their 734/5As - actively or passively or both?!
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Found a deal on a mint used black 734A for $580 at Sam Ash, so I bit. Super excited.
Some top quality gear in a classic all black finish. Gonna sound good and look good!
I still can't work out whether I prefer my Yammy BB735A as a passive or active bass! But it's great to have both options on tap in a classic P/J BB 5er !
How are folk typically playing their 734/5As - actively or passively or both?!
I'm happy to hear that the Yamaha BB735a has a modern tone in active mode and classic tones in passive mode, because here lately although I am mainly a rock bassist most of my playing, I do like to play modern country some and I really enjoy playing to new jazz backing tracks just to get my juices flowing a little when I'm bored.. very relaxing for me. So the BB735a sounds like it's really versatile and I'm super excited as well. I sold my PRS Kestrel to get this new Yamaha. So we will see.. but I too like passive tones..
My new Yamaha BB735A and 2nd Rumble 210 cab is on the truck for delivery today! Excited!!!!
Review of the BB735 to come with detailed pics and commentary in the next few days, I want to take it to rehearsal Sunday, before reviewing for you guys.
Review of the BB735 to come with detailed pics and commentary in the next few days, I want to take it to rehearsal Sunday, before reviewing for you guys.
Got it all together. I already swapped the stock D'Addario round wounds for my favorite D'Addario Chromes ECB81-5, which fit perfectly strung through the body. I worried about that.
Did not come with a battery, fine by me as I usually toss the factory batteries anyway.
9.2lbs. as measured on the bathroom digital scale.
Flawless finish, the back of the neck is very smooth and a flatter C shape but not Ibby flat.. neck seems stained and not painted.. really smooth to the touch. No sharp frets, frets are level and nicely polished. The fretboard is flawless too, no weird spots or anything. No fret buzz anywhere and the action is really low and fast..
The hardware is a smoked chrome, tuners were tight and all bolts and screws we're snug.
I am floored by the fit and finish.
Playability:
All I was able to do is play along to some music on my PA, and noodle around with it.
Passive tone is great, nails a P bass tone only difference to my ears is this Bass as compared to my Fender Jazz V deluxe is the tone is cleaner, clearer and punchier in passive, even when the Fender is in active..
This BB in active mode is pretty much the same as it's passive tone but just a slight bump in presence and the 3 band EQ doesn't muddy it at all..
This Bass has been a huge surprise to me in just the 2 hours that I've played it. It nails old school passive tones, can get hi-fi modern tone too very easily. The fit and finish is crazy good. No noise at all, my Fender Jazz V deluxe with *noiseless pickups is buzzing like a muffled beehive.. this BB tho.. quiet as a mouse.
Oh and the included gig bag.. it's nice.. heavy duty and thickly padded, with a black mink coat lined interior pretty much. A high quality gig bag, unlike the thin junk that came with my Fender Jazz V deluxe.
I'll report back after I play a rehearsal and a gig.. with more pics.
Did not come with a battery, fine by me as I usually toss the factory batteries anyway.
9.2lbs. as measured on the bathroom digital scale.
Flawless finish, the back of the neck is very smooth and a flatter C shape but not Ibby flat.. neck seems stained and not painted.. really smooth to the touch. No sharp frets, frets are level and nicely polished. The fretboard is flawless too, no weird spots or anything. No fret buzz anywhere and the action is really low and fast..
The hardware is a smoked chrome, tuners were tight and all bolts and screws we're snug.
I am floored by the fit and finish.
Playability:
All I was able to do is play along to some music on my PA, and noodle around with it.
Passive tone is great, nails a P bass tone only difference to my ears is this Bass as compared to my Fender Jazz V deluxe is the tone is cleaner, clearer and punchier in passive, even when the Fender is in active..
This BB in active mode is pretty much the same as it's passive tone but just a slight bump in presence and the 3 band EQ doesn't muddy it at all..
This Bass has been a huge surprise to me in just the 2 hours that I've played it. It nails old school passive tones, can get hi-fi modern tone too very easily. The fit and finish is crazy good. No noise at all, my Fender Jazz V deluxe with *noiseless pickups is buzzing like a muffled beehive.. this BB tho.. quiet as a mouse.
Oh and the included gig bag.. it's nice.. heavy duty and thickly padded, with a black mink coat lined interior pretty much. A high quality gig bag, unlike the thin junk that came with my Fender Jazz V deluxe.
I'll report back after I play a rehearsal and a gig.. with more pics.
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Just when I thought my GAS was finally in remission, this post made it come back with vengeance!
There ain't no cure...
There ain't no cure...
There ain't no cure...for GAS.
There ain't no cure...
There ain't no cure...for GAS.
I played this new bass for 2 more hours last night. Wish my Fender Jazz V deluxe was set-up this nice out of the box. I checked the intonation and the D string was only one bar out on my tuner. I can't believe that. Check out how low the set-up is.. no buzzing, no clacking (even with the Chromes), no fret outs, just unbelievable playability.
The bass came accompanied with a lot of paperwork in Japanese. Only the manual is multi-lingual.
Anyway, I took off the back control cover and it's nice n tidy. Shielding paint is pretty thick. Back of cover has a thick aluminum backing.
The battery box cover is my biggest concern. It's not hinged. And on a dark stage if you have to change your battery and drop the cover, good luck.. it fits securely though.
Everything on this Bass and of this Bass is really spot on and of high quality. The clarity in tone is really nice. The B string saddle is flipped around to the sharp edged side, is this why the B is solid and not flubby? B sounds great.
I wanted he dark coffee burst and this color grew on me since the DCB wasn't available and on back order. Now that I have it in hand, very happy with the color.
Here's some more pics, be back shortly with a rehearsal / gig review.
The bass came accompanied with a lot of paperwork in Japanese. Only the manual is multi-lingual.
Anyway, I took off the back control cover and it's nice n tidy. Shielding paint is pretty thick. Back of cover has a thick aluminum backing.
The battery box cover is my biggest concern. It's not hinged. And on a dark stage if you have to change your battery and drop the cover, good luck.. it fits securely though.
Everything on this Bass and of this Bass is really spot on and of high quality. The clarity in tone is really nice. The B string saddle is flipped around to the sharp edged side, is this why the B is solid and not flubby? B sounds great.
Here's some more pics, be back shortly with a rehearsal / gig review.
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I tried a 434 and it played really nice! Heard good things about the 734 also. Is the 734 higher quality, or is the higher price just because of the active electronics? Would mostly use the bass in passive but wondering if 734 will have better quality pickups parts than the 434. If no difference I might just get the 434. Thanks
I do have to admit, I would been happy with a BB435 as I love the active electronics on my BB735A but so far finding myself loving the passive switch turned off to passive over the active. I guess I love passive tones more the last few years, especially now that I am a finger player pretty much exclusively now. Years ago when I wouldn't dare play with my fingers, I'd use a bass' EQ to compensate for my crappy pick playing. But the last couple of basses I've purchased have been either passive or passive switch able.
I can't any Yamaha basses near me other than the TRBX174.. sounds ok but I like the heft and solid feeling of the BB bases.
Back in the day I had a BB5N and enjoyed the clarity of the tone, have missed it ever since and actually I blamed it on selling the bass amp I was using at the time Peavey Mark IV mated to an Acoustic bass cabinet with 4x15" woofers.. now I realize maybe it was the bass itself because the tone in this BB735A can be piano clean or wooly depending on the tone control positions.
As for me, clean is where it's at..
Sorry I can't answer about the 434 but the pickups on the 434 say YGD on them just like the 735.. I dunno, but I would encourage to try it out, make sure to buy it somewhere that has the 45 day return policy. I have bought most of my basses through Sweetwater or Zzounds and they do returns, no questions asked within the first 45 days.
I can't any Yamaha basses near me other than the TRBX174.. sounds ok but I like the heft and solid feeling of the BB bases.
Back in the day I had a BB5N and enjoyed the clarity of the tone, have missed it ever since and actually I blamed it on selling the bass amp I was using at the time Peavey Mark IV mated to an Acoustic bass cabinet with 4x15" woofers.. now I realize maybe it was the bass itself because the tone in this BB735A can be piano clean or wooly depending on the tone control positions.
As for me, clean is where it's at..
Sorry I can't answer about the 434 but the pickups on the 434 say YGD on them just like the 735.. I dunno, but I would encourage to try it out, make sure to buy it somewhere that has the 45 day return policy. I have bought most of my basses through Sweetwater or Zzounds and they do returns, no questions asked within the first 45 days.
The BB735A has V7 Alnico pups + the active / passive tone controls. Plus the addition of the "B" string of course.
The BB434 has V5 Alnico pups w passive only.
Other than that pretty much the same bass.
I don't know what the difference is. Maybe someone here at TB can let us know?
