Yamaha BB Series BB424X – Performance Powerhouse

Body And Neck:
Electronics:
Hardware:
Sound:
Value:

• Check Price

Yamaha's foothold on the electric guitar market is barely noticeable. However, they have a pretty solid presence when it comes to electric bass guitars. For years, this brand has been delivering great models for professionals, beginners and anyone in between. Their Yamaha BB Series BB424X is one of the best bass guitars in the lower mid range of the market , although it's clear that this model punches much higher than that. If you're a working bass player, stick around. You might find this Yamaha to be the answer you were looking for.

Body And Neck
Yamaha's BB series is probably their most popular one. It's no secret that they've taken some inspiration from Fender's line of bass guitars, and that is perfectly fine. The body features that standard BB shape, and is made of alder. Once you look at the neck, things get interesting pretty quick. Instead of going for a standard maple design, Yamaha actually made a 5 piece maple/nato neck. How crazy is that? You usually see multi-ply necks couple of price categories above this BB, but rarely in the one its occupying right now. The fretboard is standard rosewood, with custom inlays.

Hardware
When it comes to hardware, Yamaha stuck with a simple yet effective solution. They've taken their vintage style bridge and paired it with a great set of die-cast tuning machines. This way, they've reduced the price without affecting performance, gave us a simple setup to work with and ensured that enough sustain is available at all times. In terms of tuning retention and intonation, hardware on Yamaha BB Series BB424X does a great job.

Electronics
Seeing a P/J pickup configuration is nothing new. There's are dozens of bass guitars out there which use it. However, Yamaha did things a bit different. You have your split coil pickup in the middle position, and a single coil Jazz pickups at the bridge. The latter is a vintage design, which has its pros and cons. Overall, the setup is great and there isn't much coil buzz coming from either of the pickups. Controls come in form of a master volume and master tone knob.

Sound
When it comes to sound, you could say that Yamaha BB Series BB424X gets you that vintage color with a lot of clarity in the upper end of the frequency range. With that said, you can really muddy up the waters should you need to. When setup that way, Yamaha BB Series BB424X infuses the tone with a girth that isn't overflowing, but is rather easy to control.

Conclusion
Overall, Yamaha BB Series BB424X is probably among the best vintage style bass guitars you can grab at the moment. Whether you're looking for something to play rock or blues with, this Yamaha definitely won't disappoint. We tried to find some flaws in its design, but simply couldn't come up with anything that would turn us away from this model. It's a rock solid bass, top to bottom.

For more info about the Sterling by Yamaha BB Series BB424X, click here[/].
For more Bass Guitars , click here.