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

#21
stingray69 said:
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 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:
Click to expand...

The stock preamp is pretty good, IME. It is quiet and I like the tones I get out of it. The only real downside for me is that the taper of the bass and treble pots is not very good and most of the eq shaping takes place at the end of the boost or cut rotations. That makes it harder to dial it in. The midrange pot is more linear, for some reason. I have no doubt that the Delano is a better preamp and I would like to have a passive/active option, for sure.
 
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#22
Tubehed said:
The stock preamp is pretty good, IME. It is quiet and I like the tones I get out of it. The only real downside for me is that the taper of the bass and treble pots is not very good and most of the eq shaping takes place at the end of the boost or cut rotations. That makes it harder to dial it in. The midrange pot is more linear, for some reason. I have no doubt that the Delano is a better preamp and I would like to have a passive/active option, for sure.
Click to expand...

I can definitely vouch for the Delano Sonar 3 now that I've heard it with the Yamaha BB pickups. It's got a lot of power, but so do the stock pickups themselves. I don't dare fully boost with this combo. But the Delano is a smooth, linear boost/cut through the entire taper of each pot. Very responsive.

The Sonar 3 installed in mine did not come with the optional hybrid active/passive Tone control. So when I pull up on the Vol knob to go full passive, it's with no tone control in passive mode. Not a big deal to me since passive mode is warmer by nature. For 12 dollars, I could buy the hybrid 50k/250k Treble control pot and wire it in. But for now, no worries.

If I want to roll off treble, it will need to stay in active mode. Which, given how good the preamp sounds, will probably be most of the time.
 
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#24
MynameisMe said:
What a beauty!
Delano makes some great products. I have a set of their pickups in one of my basses.
Click to expand...

Agreed +1

I really, honestly can't recall ever seeing a negative review of any of their pickups - they undoubtedly make great stuff. They were the first manufacturer that I can remember that utilized those oversized pole pieces to really bring out some great attack in the tone. Now that I've had a taste of their preamps, I may have to give some of their pickups a spin when the right project comes up! :thumbsup:
 
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#25
stingray69 said:
Agreed +1

I really, honestly can't recall ever seeing a negative review of any of their pickups - they undoubtedly make great stuff. They were the first manufacturer that I can remember that utilized those oversized pole pieces to really bring out some great attack in the tone. Now that I've had a taste of their preamps, I may have to give some of their pickups a spin when the right project comes up! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Not inexpensive but super quality!
 
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#28
I've had 2 of these, a pewter one just like yours and a sunburst 615 (also after owning a 425X). On both I had the same problem with the stock Q-mix preamp (endemic). Poor design choice, that preamp can't handle the output of the pickups, runs out of headroom, distorts as soon as you start boosting the EQ. I briefly tried feeding 18V to one of them and, even though it dealt with the headroom issue I still didn't like how the bass control worked (too high). So I ended up swapping them for Artec SE3 (even tho' cheap, still a BIG upgrade from the stock preamp, no headroom problem and much more musical EQ points). Great bass you got there sir. I got rid of mine because I'm mostly a Stingray5 guy who just likes to have a "Fender killer" at hand, and I ended up getting a Schecter CV-5, which I prefer for.such task.
 
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#32
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...
That thing looks killer! The b string on the bridge looks kinda funny, but it also looks very thought out and purposeful. I bet she plays like a beast!
 
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#34
Inky13 said:
Sweet bass! Where did that 3-D star artifact come from? I don’t think it’s really there, but looks too perfect. It’s kinda messing with my head, man.
Click to expand...

Sorry, not trying to mess with anyone's head. :laugh:

That's just a reflection of a metal, decorative star that I have outside - in close proximity to where the picture was taken.

I didn't notice the reflection until after I posted the pic - I kinda like it actually. Wouldn't mind if it were in the actual paint. :)
 
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#35
JeezyMcNuggles said:
That thing looks killer! The b string on the bridge looks kinda funny, but it also looks very though out and purposeful. I bet she plays like a beast!
Click to expand...

It looks a little different than most bridges, but it has a practical purpose - B string sounds great & is intonated in tune.

Plays very nicely - the fret level is definitely appreciated!!
 
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#36
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...
200 (1).gif
 
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#40
2F/2F said:
Looks good.

I like the bridge. I wonder if that was proprietary or not, and where I can get one.
Click to expand...

I think Yamaha was the first bridge I've ever seen that extended just the B-string saddle travel - at least that I can recall.

They pop up from time to time on Ebay - there are a couple on there at the moment.

OEM Yamaha WS494800 5-String Bass Chrome Guitar Bridge Assembly for BB425 | eBay

I'm pretty sure Yamaha makes them available for purchase through their parts department, but E-Bay might be an easy experience trying to round one up.
 
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