Yamaha BB1025 vs 735a

Hi guys,

Is there anyone who has played both of these who could give me some thoughts? You may have encountered my prior thread where I am looking for 5-string PJ recommendations. I am considering both of these Yamahas, among others. There are a handful of 1025’s used for the same price as the 735 new. I’ve lusted after a 1025 for a while after seeing the bassist from Rival Sons play one, because idol worship is a thing. But I’m not sure which is the “better” bass, if there is such a thing. Based on the videos I’ve seen, I’m leaning towards the 1025. I like a more vintage tone, and the blade pickups seem to have some serious punch. But there’s pretty limited information on the actual specs of the 1025. There are things that intrigue me about the 735, like the sandwich wood for the body, the six bolt neck joint, etc. but the 1025 seems like such a mythical beast.

Any thoughts/comparisons would be helpful.

Thank you.

 

Well, I don't know what I was looking at the other day, but I could NOT find that, lol. Thanks. But I had seen some conflicting specs. The Yamaha site says the body of the 1025x is Alder. But the review on Bassplayer says that the body is that Alder-Maple-Alder sandwich. I'm guessing I would go with the actual Yamaha specs. That was one of the differences between the 1025 and the 735 that I was wondering how meaningful it was to the tone. If having the sandwich body would be an improvement over the more expensive bass with the Alder body, because it seems like the sandwich body would have more attack with the maple cure. But I could just be making that up. I suppose "improvement" is all relative.

 

I think I went on the Yamaha site and found the bass, but then didn't see the "specs" tab higher up. If you asked my wife, she'd tell you it was probably because I was looking with my "man eyes."

 

Perfect. Thanks.

 

Thank you. I did actually just discover that video this morning. It sounds pretty good. I have heard other clips of the 425, and it sounds pretty great as well. But I was less impressed by the clips I heard of its current iteration, the 435.

“Warm” and “vintage” are definitely words I like to hear. I do have a really good precision bass and a good jazz bass. I wanted something that would give me the best of both worlds. At the same time, if I buy a cheaper P/J bass, I will likely not be inspired to play it compared to the other two I already have. So I decided to look for something in a P/J format, but with something a little different/special to it. I think the 1025 and the 735 both offer that for different reasons. The 735 seems a bit more modern sounding, yet flexible. While the 1025 does the vintage thing very well, but with some extra attack and oomph. I doubt I could go wrong either way, but at this point I’m leaning towards the 1025. Thank you for the feedback.

 

I've got a BB1025x on the way! I'll be sure to follow up with some thoughts. Thanks.

 

I did, but it showed up Friday afternoon and we left last weekend for vacation. So I haven’t had time to play it enough to give a solid opinion. Also, when I got it (shipped from Guitar Center) the strings were totally slacked and the neck was flat as a board. So when I tuned it up, the strings rattled on the fretboard. It’s going to take some tweaking of the neck and bridge to get it playable to my liking.

I will say, even with the rattles, I can already tell this is going to sound fantastic when I get the right strings and a proper setup on it. It’s vintage and yet super punchy. And it’s lighter than my 5-string jazz I’ve been playing for a while. So that will be nice.

 

I finally had a little time to set it up last night. Slapped on some DR Fat Beams, adjusted the bridge and pickups, and put it through the paces. I had a little trouble adjusting the neck. It's still flat as a ruler. I tried 10-12 different allen wrenches, but nothing would work. I'm going to need to look into that further. But it's passable as is. Only a little fret buzz up around the 7th fret.

But even with a less-than-perfect neck adjustment, this bass absolutely slays! It's got the vintage tone (especially with the tone rolled down), and a huge amount of punch and bite. It’s always hard to describe tone in writing. We all hear and like different things. It’s so subjective. But the P-pickup, I would say, has the vintage warmth but with more cut and power. Like, each note has real authority. Less “cushioney” than a standard P, for lack of a better description. The tone wide open gives you a hot, modern sound. Rolling it back about 25% has all the warmth you could ever need. And when you flip in the jazz pickup, it gives it some serious bite and punch. Yet it’s still warm with the tone rolled back or very present and punchy with the tone wide open. It’s like having 2-4 different basses just in those two settings alone. I love how the tone knob works. I would consider replacing the pickup switch with a blend knob, but I'm not entirely convinced that it's necessary. The jazz pickup strikes me as less “barky” and “burpy” than a typical jazz pickup, less Jaco-esque. It’s got more authority and meat behind it. Not better or worse, just different. And the thing has sustain for days. To elaborate on a concept from “This is Spinal Tap,” you could pluck a note, walk around the block, come back and make a sandwich, watch an episode of “Judge Judy,” and you’d come back and the thing would still be ringing. It’s that good. The spline body is brilliant. It feels like the whole thing resonates as one. So far I’m very, very impressed.

The only thing that’s a little weird to me is the metal nut. I get that the idea is that it’s supposed to make an open string sound the same as a fretted note, and it does that to a tee. But it’s different and will take some getting used to. I’ve never played a bass in my 30+years with a nut like that. It makes it feel and sound very different than what I’m used to. I can’t say yet whether I like it or not, but I can appreciate the concept. And I won’t change it anyway. It will just take some getting used to.

All-in-all, it was a great choice. It’s definitely different enough from my 5-string P and J that it will get some use. It is its own beast altogether.