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501 West International Speedway Blvd

Daytona Beach FL 32114

Pre Owned Yamaha BB434 4 String Electric Bass

No case or bag

Weight 9lbs 3.9oz

One small scratch on the side of the body, see photos

The Yamaha BB434 is a 4-string passive electric bass from Yamaha’s BB series, designed around a traditional P/J-style pickup combination but with some modern construction touches. Yamaha positions the BB400 line as a workhorse instrument with a classic sound and strong build quality.

What it’s like

• Body: Solid alder, with a slightly smaller/contoured BB body. Alder gives it a balanced sound with solid lows, clear mids, and enough top-end definition.
• Neck: 5-piece maple/mahogany laminated neck with Yamaha's 6-bolt miter joint. The neck is designed to be stable while providing a fairly quick, immediate response.
• Scale: 34", the standard long scale for a 4-string bass.
• Fingerboard: Rosewood, 10" radius, 21 medium frets. The nut is 40 mm wide, giving it a fairly familiar 4-string feel
• Pickups: Yamaha's YGD Custom V5 passive pickups—an Alnico V split-coil in the neck position and an Alnico V single-coil at the bridge.
• Controls: Individual volume controls for each pickup plus a master tone. There is no active EQ, so the bass is straightforward and passive
• Bridge: Yamaha Vintage Plus Light bridge with convertible stringing, allowing different stringing arrangements.
• Tuners: Lightweight open-gear machines, intended to help balance the instrument.

The sound

The pickup arrangement makes the BB434 particularly versatile. With the neck pickup, you can get the familiar thick, punchy, fundamental-heavy sound associated with a Precision-style bass. Bringing in the bridge pickup adds more midrange definition, growl, and articulation.

With both pickups blended, it's capable of a very useful modern P/J-type sound: punchy enough for rock and pop but articulate enough for funk, R&B, country, worship, and studio work.

One of the interesting things about the BB434 is that it isn't trying to be an ultra-modern, highly processed bass. Yamaha emphasizes a strong fundamental, attack, sustain, and natural passive tone, giving you a lot of room to shape the sound with your amp and playing technique. YYamaha

Construction

The 6-bolt miter neck joint is one of the more distinctive features. Rather than simply bolting the neck onto the body in the conventional way, Yamaha's miter arrangement brings the neck and body together more tightly. Yamaha says this improves vibration transmission and contributes to the BB's resonance and response. YYamaha

The 5-piece maple/mahogany neck is another nice feature. The maple contributes attack and definition while the mahogany adds warmth; the laminated construction is also intended to resist twisting and warping.