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Yamaha Peter Hook Signature Bass
- Thread starter TNCreature
- Start date
I met Hooky once and couldn't speak!
He was pretty much the reason why I play bass.
He was pretty much the reason why I play bass.
He played a few live shows with a hacked-up Gibson EB-2 before he got Chris Eccleshall to build him the Hot basses. But he's always said that the studio recordings were all Yamaha or Shergold. The Eccleshalls used Yamaha electronics (or copies thereof, in the case of the preamp), it's possible the EB-2 had pickups cannibalized from a 1200 but no preamp.
The story he tells Yamaha here:
Peter Hook - Yamaha - UK and Ireland
is a bit garbled - he definitely had a 1200 before going to NY (as seen in the LWTUA video), there was no show in Philadelphia in 1980 (or 1981, for that matter), and I'm a little skeptical that he bought the 1200S before recording Movement (April-May 1981). Though if that IS true then Temptation was definitely on the 1200S. At the Taras Shevchenko concert in Nov 1981 he's playing a sunburst 1200 but it doesn't appear to have the pickguard - it's possible that one later had a bridge pickup installed, was used on Confusion, and ended up at Barney's ex-wife's house until it was returned to Hooky later.
The story he tells Yamaha here:
Peter Hook - Yamaha - UK and Ireland
is a bit garbled - he definitely had a 1200 before going to NY (as seen in the LWTUA video), there was no show in Philadelphia in 1980 (or 1981, for that matter), and I'm a little skeptical that he bought the 1200S before recording Movement (April-May 1981). Though if that IS true then Temptation was definitely on the 1200S. At the Taras Shevchenko concert in Nov 1981 he's playing a sunburst 1200 but it doesn't appear to have the pickguard - it's possible that one later had a bridge pickup installed, was used on Confusion, and ended up at Barney's ex-wife's house until it was returned to Hooky later.
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I am old enough and was lucky enough to interview U2 for my high school paper when they were in Atlanta opening for J Geils Band in '82. My stupid boy question was "what song in any genre do you wish you had written?" and Bono said "Love... by Joy Division". That's a pretty great endorsement if you ask me. I get it.
Makes sense, Bono is/was a huge Joy Division fan. He idolized Ian Curtis.
As far as I know, you are correct. I'm pretty sure it's a Made in Indonesia model.
That right there is just super cool.
To be sure. A song written around the bassline, too.
BobDeRosa
Commercial User
- May 16, 2012
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- Owner, Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps
I would agree but they're getting (well they've never been too easy to find) pretty hard to find, they don't come up for sale very often so you kinda have to wait around on it for a while. Price is going up on them too.
It wasn't too long ago that $2000 (The MSRP of the new bass) would get you a BB1200S AND a BB2000.
I recorded/mixed tracks with New Order in San Francisco on the 25th anniversary of Ian's suicide in 2005 (siren's + remakes of Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, Love Vigilantes and BLT). Had a great time with Bernie geeking out in the studio -- he was really into details (e.g., fine tuning the range (decay) control on the drawmer ds201 for those string sample arps in BLT
). A couple other funny moments I will never forget:
My studio was on a crappy alley downtown. Stephen kept going out and smoking amongst the crack zombies so I suggested that maybe he'd enjoy the sunny roof deck better? His response, "Why would I ever do that?"
When I told Hooky that he was the only reason I played bass... and subsequently the only reason my studio existed, his response? "Don't blame me!"
(I thought it was pretty funny.)
In fairness, the new one's street price is $1200, and based on recent sales, that's about how much a BB1200S will run you when one comes up for sale, give or take $100.It wasn't too long ago that $2000 (The MSRP of the new bass) would get you a BB1200S AND a BB2000.
I just bought a '79 BB1200 about a month and a half ago and that ran me $850 after tax and shipping. I've seen sales on various forums from several years ago where they went for less than half that. The old Yamahas guitars and basses of the 70s and 80s alike are definitely gaining in price.
I snagged a BB1200 (Non active) for less than $600 and a super cherry '84 BB3000 for $400, but those were "Right place at the right time deals"
$1200 street for the new bass is not bad, but I wish it was MIJ for that price.
I agree, but I guess Yamaha doesn't want to kill any of the sales towards the BBP34 and 35 series by doing that.
Bono pops up in the New Order Story doc singing Love Will Tear Us Apart, and according to Tony Wilson said that Ian was the best front man in the world (with Bono at #2).
I'd put a large bet on Movement being recorded on a 1200. You can hear the difference between that sound and the one on Temptation. It goes from almost P-bass like sound to the sparkly top-end that the active electronics of the 1200S delivers.
