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 Post subject: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: March 30th, 2014, 11:17 am 
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Joined: April 6th, 2010, 12:24 pm
Posts: 1077
Location: Portland, Oregon
Hi all,

so here's what I snagged when I returned the Peavey Foundation: a 1988 Yamaha BB1600. It was missing a knob, covered in grime, and smelt like it had been living in a bar for 15 years or so. The frets were green, and the strings felt like they were covered in syrup. After a lot of TLC and some tweaking, she looks a lot better. I've replaced the knobs with a new Gotoh set (old ones on in this pic), and fixed the foam under the p pup set, as it was squished to oblivion. A new set of roto 66's, and she sings. This is really the first bass that I've had that "A-ha" moment with- I just seem to connect with it. Neck feels great- the only oddity is that the pots are regular audio-taper and are wired "righty", so that turning them counter-clockwise turns everything down, not up. I do prefer this to the usual "on-off" issues you get when regular pots are wired lefty, but I do have to think before touching anything. The cavity is tight, so I don't know if CTS reverse audio tapers will fit. Anyway, it sounds great so that's cool.


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BB1600 small.jpg
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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: March 30th, 2014, 4:09 pm 
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Joined: March 9th, 2008, 7:46 am
Posts: 3851
Location: West Orange, NJ
Nice! :) Those 80's MIJ Yamahas are killer instruments, and becoming very hard to find. Even the latest lefty BB414/BB614 models that they issued a few years ago have disappeared off the face of the earth. They were pretty easy to find for a while and then Poof! They've vanished.

Enjoy!


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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: March 30th, 2014, 5:53 pm 
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Joined: March 14th, 2008, 2:28 pm
Posts: 965
Very Nice, Congrats!
Love those 80's Yamahas. I have a BB400 that I love, it is completely stock cause it never needed improving.

I always lusted over the higher BB models but lefties were always rare birds. I never knew until years later that that neck thru models where available lefthanded, or I would have saved up my money and bought one. Over the years I have seen lefties pop up from time to time but I have never been able to buy one. :(

Maybe one day the stars will line up just right.

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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: April 1st, 2014, 8:33 am 
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Joined: July 24th, 2009, 11:25 pm
Posts: 318
Location: Osaka, Japan
Looks very classy! Is it heavy, coz I remember my old 80s Yamaha BB ?000, with only the P pup weighed a ton! Sounded nice tho.

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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: April 1st, 2014, 8:58 am 
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Joined: June 18th, 2009, 2:36 pm
Posts: 847
Location: Londinium
Amazeballs! Those Yamahas sound great with a bit of distortion btw


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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: April 1st, 2014, 7:53 pm 
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Joined: April 6th, 2010, 12:24 pm
Posts: 1077
Location: Portland, Oregon
Cheers! Thanks a lot for the kind words folks. Sorry for the slow response- working in upstate New York for a few days, so not keeping up with the fun emails :D

I have not put her on the scale yet, but she weighs less than my VM Jazz for sure. The bass does sound good through my Ampeg Preamp/power amp combo, so I bet distortion would be awesome. Will give it a blast when I can.

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 Post subject: Re: '88 Yamaha BB1600
PostPosted: April 3rd, 2014, 1:32 pm 
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Joined: September 5th, 2010, 12:47 pm
Posts: 207
Location: Bonnie Scotland
I really enjoyed playing my black BB300 until it got pinched many years ago now :-)

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