Nunovsky

I've recently acquired a BB735A and I'm really loving the bass. Everything about it is spot on: the neck is amazing for my hands, I can play on it for hours and I don't get tired; I love the looks on this bass, specially the dark coffee sunburst that looks amazing and combines well with the black chromed hardware; the construction details are amazing, from the convertible bridge to the 6 screws neck joint, to the graphtech nut, everything is spot on; and the sound... man, this thing is punchy and articulate. Everything a bass should be. After playing with it at some gigs, I have to say that this is my perfect workhorse. It covers so many grounds... I read some reviews on this bass saying that the eq was the weakest part of this bass, but I'm really loving it so far. And what I really like about it is that it's more subtle than most eqs that I tryied, and in a good way IMHO. By that I say that the way that I like to set my eq is to make minor adjustments to the tone of the bass, concerning certain songs or to adjust to some of the band settings. And this eq does it in the right way. It doesn't boost drastically the frequencies in a way that's totally unusable, but it goes to where it needs to go, and the frequencies it adjusts are just right for these pickups. And the passive mode sounds so good as well. You can get all the classic tones with this bass in passive mode, and it doesn't loose that much volume compared to the active mode when all eq is flat. When I compare it with my BB1024X I agree to most reviews that I've read here. The BB1024X has a much more vintage sound, warmer, smoother and with more output compared with the passive mode on his younger brother. It sounds great with flats and I almost never change the switch from the front pickup. The BB735A has a brighter tone, more high mids to it, and I frequently have to cut a bit of highs, you can say that it has a more modern sound to it. But it sits so well in the mix. It sounds punchy and with more presence. And it covers so much tonal ground. The guy that I bought this from had set some Fodera rounds on it and they sound really good. Honestly, I could make a living with these two basses only. I have to say that Yamaha really did an amazing job with this bass. I don't know about the other models in the series, but this one is spot on. I believe that in construction quality and sound, this bass is way above its price range. I didn't get a single bad review while using it and everybody said that this was the best sounding bass that I brought to play.

It's essentially a clone of the Peavey Bass 400 from the same period, made in New York State. Plenty of volume, two differently voiced channels each with high and low inputs. Six band EQ, effects loop and slave out. Works perfectly and sounds great, nice and clean at reasonable volumes, classic vintage Peavey grind when cranked.

In my endless quest for the ultimate bass OD, I've found about this company through a thread in Talkbass.com. It's a small company based in Estonia, but there isn't a lot of info or demos available. Nevertheless, those who've got one speak well of it. Since I liked the concept of the high voltage functioning (32v) and it's at a great value, I decided to order one. When I got it in my hands, it felt quite sturdy and well built. It's about the same size of my TAFM but I would prefer that it had top jacks to be more board friendly. I tried it with my Tagima Jazz Bass modded with a J-retro preamp. And this thing sounds HUGE!!! It has two gain knobs that can be stacked as 2 gain stages. The gain 1 is the first stage and it's a higher gain structure that can get into distortion territory. The gain 2 is a lower gain and it adds upon the gain 1. You can use gain 1 with gain 2 fully cutted but you need to open a bit of gain 1 to use gain 2. Both sound awesome on their own but it's the way that both interact that make this pedal cover such a vast ground of drive territory, from low OD to full distortion. It has a fat and bright switch and let me tell you, this thing has so much low end in fat mode, but it is quite usable in high mode has well for more grindy distortion or a more cuttable drive. The eq is quite usable, but it's more subtle than other pedals. Nevertheless, it's all you need to make the drive suit your tonal needs. In both passive and active modes in my bass, this pedal sounded awesome. In passive, it sounded more open, less compressed, and I liked it with low OD using it as a preamp to fatten up the sound or giving more presence. In active mode, it sounded more compressed but in a good way, with more punch. I guess the higher headroom due to the higher voltage helps retain the gain structure with a hotter input signal. Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. I got a really awesome and versatile pedal at a great price. For now, it's a keeper for sure.