My first review.
I hope everybody can understand my writings because honestly, there's a lot of pple can't understand my writings.

Yamaha BB415



Yamaha, a name that would ignite bunch of things in our head. Aside from their fine line of bikes, their basses have been in the hand of many famed bassist such as Nathan East, Micheal Anthony, John Patitucci & John Myung to name a few. What is so special about Yamaha line of bass? Well, believe it or not, this particular Yamaha BB series have been around for decades as quoted from Yamaha Music UK webbie,

"For more than 20 years, the Yamaha BB Series basses have been the workhorse for great bass players like Nathan East, Tony Kanal, and Michael Anthony. Now Yamaha has reinvented the bass that started it all. The BB series basses boast all the classic characteristics of the original BB's, from the distinctive big body design and bolt-on neck to vintage-style hardware and soapbar and split-coil pickups."

Specifications...

Body : Alder
Neck : Maple
Fretboard : Rosewood
Bridge : Vintage style
Pickup : Original BB pickups J-style(Bridge) & P-style(neck)
Electronics : Passive - 1 Volume & 1 Tone

Blast from the past...

Tested using Yamaha F-20B 20-watt bass amp, the first thing I realised about this baby that it's so easy to dial old school tone! Given the age of BB series, it's not really shocking. Try muting the notes, you'll get instant Larry Graham tones. Choose the right pickup setting, you'll get Jaco instantly. Although I would admit the tone are more towards P-Bass tone (those modern tone lovers might not like this bass), it's loud and solid thanks to it's powerful passive pickups & electronics. Suprisingly the electronics are kinda quiet too.

As for the build, it doesn't dissapoint my high expectation. Awesome finish although it's simply a thumbprint magnet. This particular unit have been setup nicely by the shop's staff so it's really a breeze to play. Kudos to Yamaha for superb workmanship!

Conclusion...

With RM 1,990 price tag, you got to give this bass some hat off. Just that the tone are not for everybody and to add that there's no blend dial which lowers the versatility of this bass. Such a pity since the powerful pickup with J/P combination could done more magic with a blend dial. Some might find the 21 fret would limit them further too. I would recommand this bass to anybody that want that killer P-Bass tone together with a little bit more option than the standard Fender.

Pro :
Solid, powerful & loud tone
Tip top workmanship
Friendly price

Cons :
No blend dial made it less versatile,
Tone are too P-Bass-ish at times (modern tone lovers, stay out! LOL)
21 frets might be limited to some.

Thanks to my good buddy, Alda Tan & the staff of Yamaha Music One Utama for letting me play around with this hot babe.

Yamaha Music Malaysia - http://www.yamahamusic.com.my/
Yamaha Music US - http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Home/YamahaHome

This post has been edited by chapree: Dec 14 2005, 07:58 PM

OLP MM3





First Impression : W00t, Sting Ray 5 incarnation! From bridge to the headstok and there's even Ernie Ball/Musicman logo behind the headstock. Lighter than a Sting Ray itself. Love the black one that comes with matching black hardware.

First Play : Hmm, same characteristic like the big brother, Sting Ray 5. A palette of tone can be achieved with the EQ control.

Warning : Don't expect the tone to be as same as a Sting Ray though.

Price : RM 1350

Da Place : JS Music, Jalan Imbi (same row with CK Music), KL. http://www.jsmusic.com.my

Da Web : http://www.olpguitars.com

Not everybody in this world are fortunate enough to raise enough dough to buy their music instruments. I always felt that budget series are essentials to ensure the survival of budding musicians that just started one's journey. With plenty of budget series models nowadays, choosing one that worth your money is hard task. For the one that fancy Sting Ray basses, I have some models that might take your wallet away.

Enter the world of Officially Licensed Product or more known as OLP. OLP basses were developed under the careful eye of Ernie Ball/Musicman to ensure the end product met their high standard & quality. Apart from MusicMan licensed product, OLP also manufacture officially licensed product from Coffin Case, Traben Bass & Guitar, McSwain Guitars & Orange County Choppers (guitars & basses with their brand name, not those monsterous choppers!).

I tested two unit actually, one came with flamed maple top on top of a transparent red finishing and another one were a normal shiney thumbprint magnet black finish. Both came with white pearloid pickguards. As it's a direct decendents of Musicman Sting Ray 5, all the other pretty much resembles the big brother. Body are made from Basswood and the 34" scale bass's neck were made from maple flavoured with rosewood fingerboard. The finish on the headstock matches the body finish too! From cosmetic view, MM3 sure got my eye's glowing "w00t!".



The bass were equipped with MM-style exposed poles pickup and passive electronic with 2 volume control (1 for each array of poles) and 1 tone control. Both basses were tested with Roland Bass Cube 100 amp. I started out with the flamed maple top unit but I realised that the particular unit have some irregular electronic setup. MM3 features 2 volume control but then this unit behave like it have 1 volume control unit which if you turn it all the way down, it will mute the bass. It have a thin tone which below my expectation of a MM-style bass. Maybe there's some error inside this unit, so I change to the black one.

So there, the sweet sound of Sting Ray growl. It's loud and punchy with lotsa mid range power. The B string growls were quite controlable. Slap 'em up I actually expecting the tone to be more treblish but then, you can always tweak the knobs around. It might appear that MM-styled bass have limited tone options but some knobs fiddling totally dumped that thought. Focus on the tone control and you shall be rewarded with plenty of modern sounding tone. Damn obvious this baby were meant for modern rockers out there. Classic tone lovers, you might have to K.I.V first.

To sum it up, if you just started your journey into magical world of low end or a modern rock scholar and have a very tight budget, you definately have to give serious thought on OLP MM3. Backed up by Ernie Ball/Musicman with great quality, sweet tone and awesome price, it's a good first step.

I would like to thank Jee, Retail Manager of JS Music Jln Imbi for superb hospitality. 3 hours are definately not enough to test these babies throughly so if you interested, just head to the shop and test it yourself.

This post has been edited by chapree: Dec 14 2005, 07:57 PM