That's what I was afraid you'd say............ Need to see if I can sell some stuff before these are gone.... I want either the Tobacco Sunburst or the Vintage White... 
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Yamaha bb425 5 string on sale for $299
- Thread starter Almy
- Start date
Well, the coupon didn't work but I got a free deluxe gig bag - so a Vintage White BB425 is headed my way!
Yamaha does not do coupons for some reason.
What I have had luck with sometimes is if they think you are really disappointed about no coupon, they will throw in free items to make up the difference.
I got two free sets of DR Black Beauties from MF this way when I bought my BB425.
Wish I would have known that! guess it pays to talk to a human, not just order online 
About the slap tone...it's a warm tone, not super clicky like actives. More Larry Grahamish, than modern.
I love it
About the slap tone...it's a warm tone, not super clicky like actives. More Larry Grahamish, than modern.
I love it
Just realized that it comes strung with DAddario 36" scale round wound strings. It might seem obvious to some of the more experienced here. I just put on my DAddario half round 36" strings and did not even trim a mm off the end of any string, even the "B" while stringing through the body. Tried to photo the tuners w/ the new windings, not the best.
Just got in a white BB425. This is a pretty large scale blowout as MF still has all 4 colors in stock, many days into the 299.00 price drop.
Yamaha probably doesn't do coupons because they keep introducing and discontinuing nice basses at blowout prices. Hope they keep up the good work on that.
I love my older BB414, made in Taiwan. In general, it's a better built bass than this new Indonesia built BB425. Still, the BB425 is worth 299.00 in my book. I wouldn't pay more than that for it, though.
On my BB425, the neck woods are well chosen. Yamaha almost always does a great job with sourcing the neck wood. (It's the body wood that they have trouble with now and then).
Everything works well in general and the bass sounds very good out of the box with a quick initial setup.
The overall fit and finish of the 425 are not as well done as on my Taiwanese 414.
(In general, IME, G&L Tributes have gotten better with the shift to Indonesia, but the quality with other brands has decreased).
As said in an earlier post, the neck finish on the 425 is either very thin or non-existant. I haven't tested it yet.
The tuners on both series are good quality, but can be a bit problematic. Judicious spot lubrication often works wonders. Including lubing the bearing surfaces between the tuner shafts and headstock ferrules. Removing the tuners and doing the lubing is a half hour well spent.
The electronics on the 425 are much quieter than on the 414. My 414 had a very loud hum and a thin sound. The hum came from the bridge PU and the cap was just cheap and had a .022 value. I rewired for vol, vol, tone - ditched the PU selector switch - and put in fresh pots and cap. Then grounded and shielded like mad. Totally awesome now.
I don't think I'll have to do that with the 425. I may even leave the controls as is; I normally hate selector switches.
Some people have said that the pickups have been upgraded from the 414/415 series to the 424/425 series, but I don't have any solid info on that. Not sure if that's actually true or not, but the stock electronics on the 425 are definitely friendlier right out of the box.
My main interest in the 425 besides great value at 299.00 was because I wanted a 34" scale fiver to string up E to C. I'm looking forward to doing that because the 425 has a sweet top end. I'll probably make a new nut when I do.
But for now, the B string sounds decent on the 425, I have to say. Tight enough and sounds good - nice clarity.
Normally, stringing through the body is not recommended with flats. I'm looking forward to seeing if the new less stressful angled string through design on the 425 messes up the set of LaBella flats I put on it. I may only do the string through on the E.
Yamaha probably doesn't do coupons because they keep introducing and discontinuing nice basses at blowout prices. Hope they keep up the good work on that.
I love my older BB414, made in Taiwan. In general, it's a better built bass than this new Indonesia built BB425. Still, the BB425 is worth 299.00 in my book. I wouldn't pay more than that for it, though.
On my BB425, the neck woods are well chosen. Yamaha almost always does a great job with sourcing the neck wood. (It's the body wood that they have trouble with now and then).
Everything works well in general and the bass sounds very good out of the box with a quick initial setup.
The overall fit and finish of the 425 are not as well done as on my Taiwanese 414.
(In general, IME, G&L Tributes have gotten better with the shift to Indonesia, but the quality with other brands has decreased).
As said in an earlier post, the neck finish on the 425 is either very thin or non-existant. I haven't tested it yet.
The tuners on both series are good quality, but can be a bit problematic. Judicious spot lubrication often works wonders. Including lubing the bearing surfaces between the tuner shafts and headstock ferrules. Removing the tuners and doing the lubing is a half hour well spent.
The electronics on the 425 are much quieter than on the 414. My 414 had a very loud hum and a thin sound. The hum came from the bridge PU and the cap was just cheap and had a .022 value. I rewired for vol, vol, tone - ditched the PU selector switch - and put in fresh pots and cap. Then grounded and shielded like mad. Totally awesome now.
I don't think I'll have to do that with the 425. I may even leave the controls as is; I normally hate selector switches.
Some people have said that the pickups have been upgraded from the 414/415 series to the 424/425 series, but I don't have any solid info on that. Not sure if that's actually true or not, but the stock electronics on the 425 are definitely friendlier right out of the box.
My main interest in the 425 besides great value at 299.00 was because I wanted a 34" scale fiver to string up E to C. I'm looking forward to doing that because the 425 has a sweet top end. I'll probably make a new nut when I do.
But for now, the B string sounds decent on the 425, I have to say. Tight enough and sounds good - nice clarity.
Normally, stringing through the body is not recommended with flats. I'm looking forward to seeing if the new less stressful angled string through design on the 425 messes up the set of LaBella flats I put on it. I may only do the string through on the E.
I just removed the entire stock wiring harness, which is easier than sorting through the scheme just to remove the switch, because there's actually a fair amount going on with the stock wiring even thought it's a simple passive setup.
So I just had to desolder the pickup leads and the bridge ground wire from the stock harness and lift out the pots, switch and output jack as a unit.
Then I wired in new vol, vol, and tone pots with a new cap and output jack. And resoldered the bridge ground. Just like a J bass.
The one trick is that the hole for the selector switch is larger than the typical pot shaft, so I made and installed a bushing so that the tone pot would sit snugly in the hole where the switch had been.
The other trick is finding a tone knob to match the two stock knobs. I found something that came close. It looks fine. You can always just go to three chrome knobs.
If you ever want to return the bass to stock, you can just desolder and lift out the replacement harness and put the stock harness back in. The parts are cheap enough to justify doing that, and good quality replacement electronic parts are a nice upgrade.
So I just had to desolder the pickup leads and the bridge ground wire from the stock harness and lift out the pots, switch and output jack as a unit.
Then I wired in new vol, vol, and tone pots with a new cap and output jack. And resoldered the bridge ground. Just like a J bass.
The one trick is that the hole for the selector switch is larger than the typical pot shaft, so I made and installed a bushing so that the tone pot would sit snugly in the hole where the switch had been.
The other trick is finding a tone knob to match the two stock knobs. I found something that came close. It looks fine. You can always just go to three chrome knobs.
If you ever want to return the bass to stock, you can just desolder and lift out the replacement harness and put the stock harness back in. The parts are cheap enough to justify doing that, and good quality replacement electronic parts are a nice upgrade.
NicJimBass
Flossin'? I thought your name was Munson!
totally with you here, and i've been jonesing for a SUB 5 (digging the 4 i recently got, love the TB classifieds)
I grabbed a small scrap of 1/8" Lexan and drilled a hole in it to fit the diameter of the pot shaft.
Then I made a quickie mandrel by chucking up a dowel scrap in a hand held drill and held the spinning dowel up to a belt sander in order to shape a gradual taper on the end of the dowel.
I stopped the drill, slid the drilled out Lexan scrap snugly onto the mandrel, powered the drill back up and held the spinning Lexan against the belt sander to grind down the outer diameter of the Lexan until it just fit the switch hole in the bass. There wasn't a whole lot of Lexan left on the mandrel when I was done. It's a small bushing.
Helps to have a reversible drill so you can run the rotation of the Lexan counter to the direction the belt sander is traveling in no matter which hand you're holding the drill with.
You may have to go to larger OD washers on the pot shaft to make sure they span the diameter of the switch hole and actually make contact with the wood surrounding the hole when you tighten the nut.
I just threw down for a Vintage White (They are out of the Tobacco Burst @MF) , got some Dunlap Strap Locks thrown into the deal..... very nice. 
They really do have the Music Man StingRay shape to the body. It's just that both the upper and lower horn have more of a point.
Attachments
I just got mine today. BB425 in vintage white.
Stock strings were a bit floppy - but I plugged in right in, tuned it up and slapped away.
Neck is straight, the pickups are hot, the tone is great. For $299, I'm not going to complain. This is one great bang for the buck!
Stock strings were a bit floppy - but I plugged in right in, tuned it up and slapped away.
Neck is straight, the pickups are hot, the tone is great. For $299, I'm not going to complain. This is one great bang for the buck!
NicJimBass
Flossin'? I thought your name was Munson!
How is the tone from the P pickup on everyone else's 425? It seems mine is putting out a ton of low end, almost too much! I've had to change my approach to EQing my amp (GK 700RB-II), turning my bass knob to about 10-11 o'clock, when normally it's on about 1-2 o'clock. Anyone else experiencing this?
Also, in your opinion, how close does the P pickup get to the traditional P tone? I had a Squier Jaguar with Duncan Designed PJ pickups, and I LOVED the P tone from that thing... very reminicent of what P-basses are all about... the BB seems to have a different character to it. Thinking of swapping it for a Nordstrand NP5 to get closer to a vintage tone. Thoughts?
Also, in your opinion, how close does the P pickup get to the traditional P tone? I had a Squier Jaguar with Duncan Designed PJ pickups, and I LOVED the P tone from that thing... very reminicent of what P-basses are all about... the BB seems to have a different character to it. Thinking of swapping it for a Nordstrand NP5 to get closer to a vintage tone. Thoughts?
1st report from the field:
BB425 rocks. Stop.
P pup is very p-ish and pounds wonderfully, stop.
Bridge is true single coil, nicely noisy, perfect for Dave Mathews Band stuff, stop.
As far as playing it, can't stop, stop.
Glad I went with tobacco burst, nice wood, stop.
Grab one while you can, stop.
BB425 rocks. Stop.
P pup is very p-ish and pounds wonderfully, stop.
Bridge is true single coil, nicely noisy, perfect for Dave Mathews Band stuff, stop.
As far as playing it, can't stop, stop.
Glad I went with tobacco burst, nice wood, stop.
Grab one while you can, stop.
