Yamaha Peter Hook Signature Bass

[Sanshiro]

He’s used other basses live but he says he has used his BB1200S on every song he’s recorded, apart from Blue Monday which featured his Shergold.



Yamaha BBPH Peter Hook Bass with WORLD EXCLUSIVE Peter Hook Interview

That's actually not true, Closer and Movement were definitely the BB1200 and maybe Power, Corruption, and Lies was too. The BB1200S wasn't released until '82 (when in the year I don't know), which Closer and Movement predate and PCL is on a very thin line of having that bass make it onto the album as it was recorded in late '82. He used the Shergold a lot more than one might think too. It features quite heavily on Closer and Movement, past that at least a couple tracks on each album.

 

[hellboy]

That live performance that you're talking about, I think they just did Thieves Like Us that performance (Depeche Mode did People are People, it was a televised thing), so Barney wouldn't have needed the BB1200 for Confusion.

Hmm. That's weird - then there wouldn't be any reason to have the 1200 there, Hooky wasn't playing it. It's possible they performed more than one song but only one was broadcast. Or maybe the stage crew just unloaded their full kit every time - they did play Confusion in Germany on the 12th.

 

[hellboy]

you're telling me things i already know and have previously stated

You didn't know I was talking about the bass Hooky was holding at the start of the Thieves Like Us video.

 

[Sanshiro]

Hmm. That's weird - then there wouldn't be any reason to have the 1200 there, Hooky wasn't playing it. It's possible they performed more than one song but only one was broadcast. Or maybe the stage crew just unloaded their full kit every time - they did play Confusion in Germany on the 12th.

Could have just been there for backup reasons too. Hooky used to break strings (somehow) occasionally.

 

[hellboy]

Could have just been there for backup reasons too. Hooky used to break strings (somehow) occasionally.

Yeah, that's possible. Using super heavy gauges on the high strings, I'm surprised it didn't happen more often.

OTOH by that point Barney had been playing Confusion for two years, and I've never seen them with more than one 1200. While we'll probably never know for sure unless someone digs up a rare studio photo from that time period, I think it's more likely that he got the 1200S right before recording PC&L (Oct-Nov 1982) than that he didn't get it until 1985 (after Low-Life? I think not). As I said, I think Age of Consent sounds like it was recorded with the active bass. And given that he was already putting Yamaha electronics in semi-hollow basses in 1983, I think his love affair with the Yamaha preamp was well underway - he didn't have the same reaction to the passive version.

Hooky claims in this 2017 interview that his BB1200S is from 1981, but as we all know he's an unreliable narrator:
Peter Hook’s Sweet Revenge

Still, he's more likely to have confused 1982 with 1981 than 1985 with 1981.

 

[hypercarrots]

some people can't tell the difference between the 30" scale shergold marathon 6 with a humbucker and the 33 7/8" scale yamaha bb1200s or bb1200 with a split coil precision pickup.

so being able to tell the difference between a bb1200s and a bb1200 after all the effects, processing and production would be difficult to do i imagine.

 

[Sanshiro]

Yeah, that's possible. Using super heavy gauges on the high strings, I'm surprised it didn't happen more often.

OTOH by that point Barney had been playing Confusion for two years, and I've never seen them with more than one 1200. While we'll probably never know for sure unless someone digs up a rare studio photo from that time period, I think it's more likely that he got the 1200S right before recording PC&L (Oct-Nov 1982) than that he didn't get it until 1985 (after Low-Life? I think not). As I said, I think Age of Consent sounds like it was recorded with the active bass. And given that he was already putting Yamaha electronics in semi-hollow basses in 1983, I think his love affair with the Yamaha preamp was well underway - he didn't have the same reaction to the passive version.

Hooky claims in this 2017 interview that his BB1200S is from 1981, but as we all know he's an unreliable narrator:
Peter Hook’s Sweet Revenge

Still, he's more likely to have confused 1982 with 1981 than 1985 with 1981.

hypercarrots and I haven't found the BB1200S to make any appearances before mid-84, July is the earliest live performance, but I'm sure he had it for a little while before that, maybe a few months, maybe a year. Low-Life came out in May of 1985, but was likely recorded in mid-late 1984 (I can't find any dates for the recording, it might be in Hooky's book, not sure). The BB1200S is definitely on Low-Life. I don't think anyone is debating that.

Is it possible that the BB1200S was on PC&L? Yeah definitely, but it didn't make a single live appearance until nearly 2 years later. Is it possible he only kept them as studio instruments for that time period? Yes it is, but I feel like it would have shown up at some point in those 2 years, like in a picture somewhere, not even a live performance.

 

[atrain77]

Hey guys! First post here. Mostly a reader on the forum, but i thought id share my thoughts on the new BBPH. We just got two in at our shop in Canada and they are really great basses. I've owned a BBP34, BB434, and a BB735. The five wasn't for me, the MIJ was a bit heavier than I wanted, but amazing build quality, and the BB434 was excellent. I always wanted a little more bottom without the bass getting boomy and i prefer a simple P bass style. This BBPH nails it for me. Super clean build, great balanced sound, every note rings out like a bell, and the weight is nice. The two we got are both around 8lbs9oz. The eq is simple and I love the 3 band design for just a P-bass pickup. Active mode with treble and mids at 12 and the bass boosted a little is just amazing. I don't know if the eq points are different than the BB735 i had, but this just works great for me. I haven't bought one yet, but i sure would like to.

 

[Sanshiro]

Hey guys! First post here. Mostly a reader on the forum, but i thought id share my thoughts on the new BBPH. We just got two in at our shop in Canada and they are really great basses. I've owned a BBP34, BB434, and a BB735. The five wasn't for me, the MIJ was a bit heavier than I wanted, but amazing build quality, and the BB434 was excellent. I always wanted a little more bottom without the bass getting boomy and i prefer a simple P bass style. This BBPH nails it for me. Super clean build, great balanced sound, every note rings out like a bell, and the weight is nice. The two we got are both around 8lbs9oz. The eq is simple and I love the 3 band design for just a P-bass pickup. Active mode with treble and mids at 12 and the bass boosted a little is just amazing. I don't know if the eq points are different than the BB735 i had, but this just works great for me. I haven't bought one yet, but i sure would like to.

Awesome to hear, thanks for sharing your experiences with it. If you want to buy one, do it soon, I don't foresee the limited stock of them lasting long. Hook wanted the preamp tweaked, so it should be different than the 735A's preamp. It might be a full on recreation of the original 1200S preamp, but it might also just be a slightly modified 734A/35A preamp. He wanted some extra boost to the low end since he felt that was the one lacking feature of the original BB1200S preamp.

 

[atrain77]

Yes, they are in short supply. 20 in Canada and 378 I believe world wide. Maybe I'll open up the control cavity and take a picture of the EQ tomorrow. It sure seems like a lower eq point on the Bass dial. Really deep but subtle. Just perfect for me. The mids cut so nice at 12 too. I play a jazz bass with pickups in series mostly. I like the vintage jazz neck feel, but i love the Precision tone. Every time I play a BB I can hear myself the best in the IEM's.

 

[Sanshiro]

Yes, they are in short supply. 20 in Canada and 378 I believe world wide. Maybe I'll open up the control cavity and take a picture of the EQ tomorrow. It sure seems like a lower eq point on the Bass dial. Really deep but subtle. Just perfect for me. The mids cut so nice at 12 too. I play a jazz bass with pickups in series mostly. I like the vintage jazz neck feel, but i love the Precision tone. Every time I play a BB I can hear myself the best in the IEM's.

That'd be greatly appreciated by many of us on here if you could get us a picture or two of the preamp.

I'm really curious as to whether it's a new preamp entirely or just a modified 734/5A preamp.

 

[hypercarrots]

Hey guys! First post here. Mostly a reader on the forum, but i thought id share my thoughts on the new BBPH. We just got two in at our shop in Canada and they are really great basses. I've owned a BBP34, BB434, and a BB735. The five wasn't for me, the MIJ was a bit heavier than I wanted, but amazing build quality, and the BB434 was excellent. I always wanted a little more bottom without the bass getting boomy and i prefer a simple P bass style. This BBPH nails it for me. Super clean build, great balanced sound, every note rings out like a bell, and the weight is nice. The two we got are both around 8lbs9oz. The eq is simple and I love the 3 band design for just a P-bass pickup. Active mode with treble and mids at 12 and the bass boosted a little is just amazing. I don't know if the eq points are different than the BB735 i had, but this just works great for me. I haven't bought one yet, but i sure would like to.

hi are you from janzen brothers? what are the last 6 digits of the serial number from the one that isn’t listed?

 

[atrain77]

Yes, That's our shop. I can check the other serial number tomorrow as well. The one listed has a more even colour on the top. The other BBPH that is not listed has a slightly darker middle section and is a few ounces heavier.

 

[hypercarrots]

Yes, That's our shop. I can check the other serial number tomorrow as well. The one listed has a more even colour on the top. The other BBPH that is not listed has a slightly darker middle section and is a few ounces heavier.

cool thanks for the info! can you tell if the frets are stainless steel or not?

 

[atrain77]

I know the one review online says they are stainless, but they feel and sound like nickel to me. Yamaha doesn't list it in the specs and i don't really want to take a file to them to find out! I guess I could try a magnet tomorrow too. I've never found I needed stainless on a bass as they don't seem to wear quite the same as a guitar. I do a lot of re-frets and I've never needed to re-fret a bass unless someone hacked them up by trying to level them poorly. I, like many on this forum, probably don't hold on to basses long enough to need stainless

 

[gigetto]

Also with Nickel Frets I have a long life....

 

[atrain77]

Here is a few photos of the preamp and the second serial number. Checked the frets with a magnet and they are nickel.

 

[hypercarrots]

bb734a

734a doesnt have this

 

[Sanshiro]

bb734a
View attachment 4078224 View attachment 4078225

734a doesnt have this
View attachment 4078231

That cylinder looks like part of the body to me, I assume it's for supporting the PCB, maybe?

 

[atrain77]

Yes, there is a small dowel on each side where the blend knob would have been to support the board. The preamp physically looks the same besides that. I imagine the reverse P pickup may play into the difference in bass response I'm hearing as well. It has the same VSP7n pickup as the 734 and BBP34. It would be interesting to check with Yamaha to see if they changed anything on the preamp itself.