NBD - Yamaha BB615 in Pewter (w/upgrades)!!!

stingray69

stingray69

Talkbass Legit
Aug 11, 2004
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St Louis Area
#1
I've always wanted to give one of these models a try but they are long discontinued and while they are not super uncommon, they don't really pop up every day. Every once in a blue moon, I'll do a search for one of these on Reverb, Guitar Center, E-Bay, etc. Usually nothing pops up but lo & behold, I found one.

I own several passive Yamaha BB's (a couple 425x, 2025x,) with these same pickups, but never experienced an active EQ Yamaha BB before. Needless to say I was excited to give this one a try!

I picked it up at the store and was wowed when they pulled it out of the shipping box - it looked great! Nearly mint except for a couple of dings on the outer edges of the body - a couple of them go down to bare wood. No biggie, I'll have to touch them up with some similar enamel touchup paint or something. Not concerned about a perfect match or hiding it, I just don't want to see them spread any further.

So I decided to plug it in at the store to quicly check out the electronics before I drove all the way back home with it. This is when I noticed something weird - I had volume and pickup blend, but the 3-band EQ was not working. I assumed maybe it was a dead battery or something & that I'd sort it out at home. Got it home, plugged it in check more into the EQ situation and noticed that the volume knob was sitting slightly taller than the other knobs. I gave it a push down and realized this it was a push/pull pot & the EQ started working. I'm no expert on this Yamaha model, but I was pretty sure the stock preamp wasn't suppose to do this. I played it a bit longer and man, this preamp sounds GREAT!!! I had to open it up and see what the deal was - maybe it was not the stock pre. Sure enough - I open the panel and see that the previous owner had installed a Delano Sonar 3 preamp.

I've never had a Delano preamp (or pickup) - I've only heard great things about them (mostly the pickups). I am however, very familiar with these Yamaha pickups and to hear them paired with the Delano Sonar 3 is amazing! They go VERY well together! These Yamaha passive pickups are loud, growly and beefy on their own - paired with the Sonar 3 this bass is a beast! Wow! The Delano preamp is precise, clean and tight & punchy in the lows. I think I found my new favorite preamp...but that's a thread for another day.

My other pleasant surprise is when I took out the Fret Rocker to see what the frets looked like (level-wise) - the previous owner definitely had this instrument fret leveled or Plek'd. I could find literally zero wiggle with the Fret Rocker except the slightest issue with the 8th fret (it sits a little high on the treble side of the neck). I'll spot level this fret, but the rest of the frets are perfect!

I'm absolutely beyond thrilled with this BB615 - especially to find it in a nearly mint, fret-levelled condition with a Delano 3-band active/passive preamp. Awesome!!! :bassist::hyper:


Bunch o'pics:

Yamaha-BB615-2.jpg

Yamaha-BB615-3.jpg

Yamaha-BB615-Outside-2.jpg
 
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#3
stingray69 said:
I've always wanted to give one of these models a try but they are long discontinued and while they are not super uncommon, they don't really pop up every day. Every once in a blue moon, I'll do a search for one of these on Reverb, Guitar Center, E-Bay, etc. Usually nothing pops up but lo & behold, I found one.

I own several passive Yamaha BB's (a couple 425x, 2025x,) with these same pickups, but never experienced an active EQ Yamaha BB before. Needless to say I was excited to give this one a try!

I picked it up at the store and was wowed when they pulled it out of the shipping box - it looked great! Nearly mint except for a couple of dings on the outer edges of the body - a couple of them go down to bare wood. No biggie, I'll have to touch them up with some similar enamel touchup paint or something. Not concerned about a perfect match or hiding it, I just don't want to see them spread any further.

So I decided to plug it in at the store to quicly check out the electronics before I drove all the way back home with it. This is when I noticed something weird - I had volume and pickup blend, but the 3-band EQ was not working. I assumed maybe it was a dead battery or something & that I'd sort it out at home. Got it home, plugged it in check more into the EQ situation and noticed that the volume knob was sitting slightly taller than the other knobs. I gave it a push down and realized this it was a push/pull pot & the EQ started working. I'm no expert on this Yamaha model, but I was pretty sure the stock preamp wasn't suppose to do this. I played it a bit longer and man, this preamp sounds GREAT!!! I had to open it up and see what the deal was - maybe it was not the stock pre. Sure enough - I open the panel and see that the previous owner had installed a Delano Sonar 3 preamp.

I've never had a Delano preamp (or pickup) - I've only heard great things about them (mostly the pickups). I am however, very familiar with these Yamaha pickups and to hear them paired with the Delano Sonar 3 is amazing! They go VERY well together! These Yamaha passive pickups are loud, growly and beefy on their own - paired with the Sonar 3 this bass is a beast! Wow! The Delano preamp is precise, clean and tight & punchy in the lows. I think I found my new favorite preamp...but that's a thread for another day.

My other pleasant surprise is when I took out the Fret Rocker to see what the frets looked like (level-wise) - the previous owner definitely had this instrument fret leveled or Plek'd. I could find literally zero wiggle with the Fret Rocker except the slightest issue with the 8th fret (it sits a little high on the treble side of the neck). I'll spot level this fret, but the rest of the frets are perfect!

I'm absolutely beyond thrilled with this BB615 - especially to find it in a nearly mint, fret-levelled condition with a Delano 3-band active/passive preamp. Awesome!!! :bassist::hyper:


Bunch o'pics:

View attachment 4345059
View attachment 4345060
View attachment 4345061
Click to expand...

At this rate, your are going to establish a Yamaha BB museum in your home town.:)
 
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#5
That looks amazing. Almost like a copper color. I have not seen a bridge like that before with the b set back like that. Cool bass. More neck and headstock pic needed.

just saw the color is pewter. Looks sweet
 
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#6
Bassclef46 said:
That looks amazing. Almost like a copper color. I have not seen a bridge like that before with the b set back like that. Cool bass. More neck and headstock pic needed.

just saw the color is pewter. Looks sweet
Click to expand...

The color is beautiful in person - hard to capture the fine metalflake particles with a cell camera, but it's really sharp looking! And yes, I notice that depending on the kind of light, it will sometimes have an almost rose-gold type of look!

As far as the bridge, Yamaha used them in the generation prior to the current version. They used them on the BB424/425 series. The extra length doesn't lengthen the string so much as it allows for a good break angle over the saddle and also allows for the intonation of the B string saddle to be more than capable of being adjusted back far enough to allow for proper intonation.
 
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#7
The previous owner took very good care of this bass. The rosewood is very well maintained and everything is nearly mint - minus a couple of dings on the upper and lower bouts.

I found a Yamaha serial number database and according to my serial number the bass was manufactured on June 30th, 2005.

I would say nearly mint condition for being 16 years old.

Yamaha-BB615-Outside-3.jpg
 
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#10
Bassclef46 said:
I have not seen a bridge like that before with the b set back like that.
Click to expand...

stingray69 said:
The extra length doesn't lengthen the string so much as it allows for a good break angle over the saddle and also allows for the intonation of the B string saddle to be more than capable of being adjusted back far enough to allow for proper intonation.
Click to expand...
That’s especially nice, especially for those of us goofy enough to go lower than B :laugh: Congratulations :thumbsup:
 
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#17
Tubehed said:
Yeah, I am very impressed with the quality of this bass. Superb fit and finish. Beautiful fret work. High quality pickups. Looks, plays and sounds like a much more expensive bass.
Click to expand...

While I guess I'll never get to hear the stock preamp, I'm not complaining about the Delano Sonar 3 at all. :)

It pairs extremely well with the stock pickups and doesn't bury their tone at all. It only enhances what's already there. It's a powerful pre with a lot of boosting (and cutting) power. Well chosen EQ and bandpass points for sure. Also digging the push/pull active/passive option! :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
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#19
Tubehed said:
Also, the pewter color is cool in how it changes colors depending on how the light hits it. Sometimes it looks silver and other times it looks copper.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty cool the first time I saw it. Lower light situations tend to bring out the copper hues. Beautiful finish, not sure if Yamaha still makes this particular finish on any of their other models, but they should! :thumbsup:
 
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