Yamaha BB Series BBP35 Vintage Sunburst 5-String Bass with Case

General

Yamaha's BBP35 is a top-quality 5-string electric bass guitar with a warm sound and plenty of possibilities. It comes with a low B string as standard but you can always choose to fit a high C string instead, giving you extra notes at the upper end if you prefer. The pickups have a PJ configuration with a single-coil at the bridge giving you classic bass while the split single-coil in the mid position offers more of a growl. If you're looking for a top-quality 5-string bass guitar that's versatile enough to play any style of music, the BBP35 Broadbass from Yamaha's 700 series ticks all the right boxes.

BBP35: controls, sounds and neck connection

The two YGD Custom V7 pickups have Alnico V magnetic cores and extra polarity to prevent any problems with annoying hum. Each pickup has its own volume control and a shared a tone knob that makes it easy to experiment until you find just the sound you're looking for. You'll quickly discover that this bass is capable of a lot more than just classic vintage sounds. It's the culmination of over forty years of development and as such, it has things you don't normally see on other bass models. The neck, for instance, is bolted on to the body using six screws, which is ultra-stable and results in optimal resonance and sustain.

Wood types and adjustablility

The neck on the Yamaha BBP35 is slimmer than before, but because it's made of five pieces of maple and mahogany, it's extremely robust too. The body is also made of two different types of wood. It has a maple core surrounded by two pieces of alder that produce a full, consistent tone with prominent mids and light highs. The Vintage Plus bridge and open-gear machine heads are lightweight and add to this bass guitar's high level of playing comfort. It's possible to string this bass through the bridge or the body. Stringing it through the body means that the strings run at an angle of 45° which increases the tension and gives you a touch more sustain too. Finally, the adjustable saddles make it easy to set this bass up to perfection.