| Author | Message | ||
| tbrannon
Advanced Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 314 Registered: 11-2004 |
Not an Alembic, but these are wonderful basses. BB 3000 | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1270 Registered: 6-2002 |
When I bought the Epic in 1994 I was playing a second-hand orangeburst (nice colour!) 1980s BB1000 "S". A neck-through with just the single skunk stripe, it had a reverse P and a J, a three way toggle for the pickups, and tuners that were flimsy but stable. Replaced the J with a DiMarzio humbucking J with a series/parallel switch, replaced the tuners and added a de-tuner for the E string. I kept the BB for a bit after the Epic had arrived, but whenever I picked up the BB - well, it was a lot heavier on the shoulder, it was much harder to play, and it didn't sound nearly as nice. So I sold it. The shop told me the previous owner of the BB was a Belgian pro bassist, and I once even spotted it pictured on the cover of an album - can't remember if it was the Luc van Acker Band or TC Matic - but there was a distinctive mark on the body: a bare spot of wood halfway between the lower horn and the P pickup. If you know those two bands, you know the songs usually had memorable bass lines, which may well have been recorded with that BB. (Message edited by adriaan on February 16, 2007) | ||
| the_mule
Senior Member Username: the_mule Post Number: 599 Registered: 1-2004 |
I'm a BB-fanatic myself, I own three of them: - 1982 BB1000S http://img283.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yamahabb1000s1bgn1.jpg - 1988 BB3000A http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yamahabb3000a1a7pw.jpg - 1988 BB5000A http://img128.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yamahabb5000a1a0ln.jpg Simply fantastic basses, modern classics in every way! Wilfred | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1273 Registered: 6-2002 |
Hey Wilfred, that picture of the BB1000S sure brings back memories. It served me well for a couple of years. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1130 Registered: 9-2002 |
After ALEMBIC, the BB Yamahas are my utterly favorite 'off-the-rack' basses. I owned two BB1200's in that amber to cherry sunburst (like Adriaan's 1000S), a peanut brittle-colored BB400 (the ONLY one I wish I had back), a BB2000, a BB1600, and a BB3000. Somehow I could never score a BB5000 in its day. So . . . . over the last several years I bought all three versions! Three years ago, I found a very clean BB5000A2 in a pawn shop not 5 miles from my home. That vintage white (I jokingly call it 'TV White'), no case, $600. The A2 was the last of three models of 5000: Slightly different body, WIDE fingerboard like all current Yammie 5's and 6's, and the P/J setup used in the first TRB's. Built by Yamaha in Taiwan. Features a monstrous Gotoh bridge that is adjustable in EVERY direction and lockable once it's set. Amazing engineering and if I ever had to do a full setup and change my settings on it again, I'd take several valiums first! It's a nice axe, but a little cold sounding. I found the original, passive 5000 at a bass store in Austin, mint with the original brown case and the little wrench for adjusting the tuning key tension. Mint. This was the axe you saw Nathan East wearing out in all those early MTV videos. Actually belonged to a friend from the EDEN forum. Amazing shape, cutaway all the way up to the 22nd fret, oval inlays like all of them (wonder where they got THAT idea?) and the first P-pickup for a five: Three strings wide on the low side, two strings wide on the high. Same vintage white with gold parts. Japanese production, as was the A-model. This was one of the very first production five strings, vintage mid-80's. $800 delivered. Easy to play, and the most neutral, useable tone I ever heard in something NOT from Santa Rosa. Engineers all over Nashville STILL talk about how well these things recorded. I found the VERY rare BB5000A (just like the one Adriaan pictured) in Knoxville on EBay. This was an update of the original with active pickups in the same size shells, brass pickup rings. Yamaha was prompted by lots of people carving the originals to put in EMG's. $600, I went and picked it up in person. This one and the first featured the same neck: Basically a four string neck subdivided to make a five. It's the Achilles Heel for some folks, they think the neck is too narrow, but it's fine for me. Spacing about like a Ric or Jazz. Different tone from the 5000 or the A2, but still very good and quiet, EMG-like. The BB's (Broad Bass) were part of an 80's explosion that saw Yamaha release the BB basses, the SG guitars (think neckthru Les Paul, even a brass sustain block under the bridge, a speed demon), the SA guitars (don't EVER try an SA2200 if you're in the market for a 335, consider yourself warned), and in Japan the AE guitars (L5-ish). This was an explosion of fabulous instruments that are treasured by their owners, but given short-shrift by most as 'Jap guitars'. Idiots. The good news is that used they are REALLY reasonably priced for what you get. PLEASE keep paying $20k for clapped out 60's Fenders and keep my vintage rice-burners cheap! I happily collected all three for 2 grand, total, for extremely well-built, great-sounding and playing neckthru five-strings. All three are built the same: Rock maple neckthru with two mahogany lams, 24 fret macassar ebony fingerboard (the black with the chocolate stripes running thru it), bone nut, and Yamaha oval-ish inlays in MOP. Truss rod adjustment at the body end of the neck. Alder body wings. Average to light weight. Elbow-over, tummy cut, deep cutaway. Gold parts, brass pickup rings on the first two, adjustable-tension elephant ear keys, 4+1 headstock. 3+2 P/J pickups: Passive with that big blade J on the first, active with v-f-b-t controls on the A and A2. Believe me, P/J on a five is fabulous, MUCH better than a double-J set. And, while I'm not too fond of the Michael Anthony models (hot peppers for fingerboard markers just ain't me, you know?), the re-issue, bolt-neck BBs they are selling now are WONDERFUL. A re-issue done right, and easily the best under-$500 bass out there, either 4 or 5-string. Well done. (Incidentally, TRB's are a piss-poor follow-on to the BB's in my opinion: Indifferent styling, pickups/electronics that have gotten progressively thinner and noisier as the TRB's have evolved. That's why dealers are dumping TRB's and the Nathan East 2's at cost in lots of cases. I've begun to think TRB stands for totally-reeks-bass.) It was like popcorn . . . I couldn't stop! They AREN'T Alembics, but my-T-fine for 'off the rack', and not something you see every day. They always get compliments, and they're very sentimental favorites to me. For a review of these axes and more, go to the Yamaha Guitar DataBase at www.yamaha.co.jp/product/guitar/eg/database J o e y | ||
| tbrannon
Advanced Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 325 Registered: 11-2004 |
Joey, When I started the thread I had you in mind. Do you mind if I email you off the forum to ask you a few Eden questions? Then again, I could always hijack this thread and do it here..... I'm going to Perth in about 10 days and will be looking to play through a variety of Eden cabs. I know you love the 2x10 variety. Have you ever played through the 1x12 or 1x15 Eden cabs? If so, do you mind giving me a quick review? Toby | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1132 Registered: 9-2002 |
Well, it's your thread ! EDENs are to me marked by a tone that tells me they were designed by someone REALLY good at knowing what bass is supposed to sound like: Robust and present and clean, yet just the bit more 'bass-ampish' than component rig perfect. The 210XLT is the one with a row of vents on the bottom, a bit more mid-centered than the 210XST with vents top and bottom, more bottom-centered. In the EDEN forum, it's considered THE stand-alone 210. And lots of people prefer the XLT, so they make both. IF I were going to combine a 210 with second cab, I'd use the XLT and add the D115XLT (I did!). The D115 is easily the smoothest sounding 15 I've ever heard, a bit overlooked in these days of so many having "ten-itis". I run a METRO (essentially the 210XLT in a 600w combo format) with the D115. It adds a better 'harmony' to my ears as opposed to adding a 410 (more of the same) or the D118XLT (just a little too big for me). The real gem in the EDEN catalog if you don't need BIG rigs, though, is the D112XLT. Single 12 + EDEN horn, small, light, TERRIFIC tone. Run two of them with a WT550 amp, and you can play most reasonably sized club gigs no problem. My next acquisition this year is the DC112XLT combo and a 112 extension, and I can't wait. The D212XLT is essentially a 3/4 sized 215 sounding cab, lots of punch, more of a 'classic rock' tone; ironically, the 112s sound very modern, L.A.-ish, real modern sounding. I'm in a minority in that I prefer made from scratch bass amps. There are TERRIFIC rack components, amps, and speakers out there, but I am past my 'build-my-own-bass-PA' days. Guitar legend is built around Twins and Marshalls and AC30s and Jazz Chorus' and so forth. I like that idea. In bass, you'd probably include fliptops and SVT's, maybe the Acoustics. Hard to get all warm and sentimental about a rack . . . and in cases where it's done right (like David Nordschow did), they can build a much better amp than I could put together. The METRO was the first rig I ever had where I really could show up with just the amp, the bass, and a cord. I REALLY like that. There are LOTS of discussions about EDEN and their applications and advice at www.eden-electronics.com, and click on the 'Forum' tab. The only other online bass forum as civilized and as useful as ALEMBIC's. J o e y | ||
| tbrannon
Advanced Member Username: tbrannon Post Number: 326 Registered: 11-2004 |
Thanks so much Joey- I've been lurking around on the Eden forum, but I wanted to get your Alembic/Eden impressions. I'm pretty keen to try out the D115 and the D112XLT- I only need the one cab and I've become a pretty big fan of 12's lately. I'll play through them both over in Perth and let you know which I decide on. Toby | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 4829 Registered: 5-2002 |
Joey; it's easy to get "all warm and sentimental" about a rack when it's got "Alembic" written all over it. <g> | ||
| the_mule
Senior Member Username: the_mule Post Number: 603 Registered: 1-2004 |
Here's the translated (by Google) version of the link Joey posted: http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yamaha.co.jp%2Fproduct%2Fguitar%2Feg%2Fdatabase%2Fbb%2Fbb-1200.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 Wilfred | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Intermediate Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 110 Registered: 10-2006 |
Love the translation! I know I'd want any bass I bought to have a torso & pole with dress structure. Peter | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1301 Registered: 6-2002 |
Nice site, but there's no mention of the BB1000S. There is the SC-800 guitar that I have lying around - except it has a more normal Yamaha logo on the peghead (mine is an early 80s model). | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1133 Registered: 9-2002 |
I just love using Google's translator for Oriental websites, it's obviously not easily translated by machine . . . . it really provide fine happy family for purpling may pulling function ! J o e y |
