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Yamaha appreciating thread

T

Thurisarz

Aug 20, 2004
824
2
Sweden
#1
I went to one of the local stores today to check if they had something new to try out, they had. The new Yamaha BB 4-string basses, one black and one sunburst red-ish, i tried the red-ish, all i can is OMG!!! I totally regret that i bought that Warwick rockbass :crying:

And the strings that were on the bass was just perfect, they felt like nickel roundwounds 40-100, does anybody know what yamaha strings there basses with? I hate the string noise that roundwounds give me, there wasn't a single noise!!!

I now understand why bassists like Tony Kanal and Michael Anthony uses them

Please share your Yamaha story's/buy's with me, and i like pictures ;)

P.S Sorry for sharing my GAS with you :D
 
#2
Yamaha basses are nice. I wish I had started out on an entry level Yamaha over an Ibanez. My housemate has an older BB-series 5-string and it's a great bass. I love the neck on it. It's wider and more comfortable than the neck on my Ibanez TRB105 5-string. And the active electronics on his bass are great- I'm able to dial in a wider variety of tones than on my Fairlane (and it has a similar setup: dual soapbars, 2-band EQ, alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard.)

I also like that Yamahas with active electronics have a separate easy-access battery compartment to make battery changes a snap. After all, not everybody is meticulous enough to keep track of how long a battery's been sitting in the cavity, so an easy-access compartment allows rapid changes in case one dies on a gig...just be sure to keep extra 9volts in your case or gig bag.

And all their 6-strings come with dual truss rods, which I like. I don't understand why so many companies don't use dual truss rods in 6-string necks, given how wide they are.

And, yeah, quite a few guys use Yamaha basses. Billy Sheehan, John Myung, John Patitucci, Nathan East, Abe Laboriel, Philip Bynoe, Chris Minh Doky...
 
#4
100_0178.jpg
 
#5
I think Yamahas are one of the best values you can get in a bass at any price level. I've played a few TRB5s & TRB6s, and they all felt and sounded great.

I have a BBN5 II, which would be the equivalent of a MIM Fender, and loved it from when I first played it. It was my first 5 string. This June it'll be 4 years old. Not the most versatile sounding bass, but roll off all or most of the treble, solo the bridge pup and boost the mids on your amp, and it sounds convincingly close to John Paul Jones' tone on The Lemon Song.

Very Fender-like in feel. Balances very nicely. You can't beat it for $400.

Go Yamaha.

Mike
 
#6
There's something I've been wondering about for a while :

The BB2005 lists at $1,999, and sells around $1,300 on street price.
Do you all think it's really worth the money, since it's the same price as an SR5 or a Fender AM Deluxe 5 or even a Sadowsky Metro ?

No intention to flame Yamaha, just trying to understand the reason why spend that much on a bass that has so many top-notorious competitors.

Thanks,
Jay
 
#9
Jean Lançon said:
There's something I've been wondering about for a while :

The BB2005 lists at $1,999, and sells around $1,300 on street price.
Do you all think it's really worth the money, since it's the same price as an SR5 or a Fender AM Deluxe 5 or even a Sadowsky Metro ?

No intention to flame Yamaha, just trying to understand the reason why spend that much on a bass that has so many top-notorious competitors.

Thanks,
Jay
Click to expand...

Metros are about $2200 direct/street ... so they are not in the same price range.

I played an Attitude Standard (which is just a nice normal PJ bass) for years and years, and always got compliments on my tone. I had been playing every <$600 (street) I could find at the time, just trying to find one that sounded better than my old peavey foundation, and that one really spoke to me. The only bass I played during that search that I liked better was a Hamer USA Chapperal PJ, but it was more than twice the price.

In that lower price range it is really hard to beat Yamaha and Peavey. I've also checked out a TRB-6 and a pattituchi sig, and both were very very nice, I can see them being just the perfect bass for some people, and I'd be happy to have one in my quiver.
 
#10
Yamaha makes a great product. I used to own a BBN5II as well, my first 5-string. It was black, passive humbucker pickups (not the single coil version), alder body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard (sorry no pictures). The only thing I did to that bass was drop in an aftermarket preamp, a Basslines 3-band to be exact. I got some great tone from that bass, thick and chunky. Got a lot of mileage live and in the studio. I ended up selling because....well....uhh..well I don't know why. I guess the only nit pick was that compared to other 5-string necks it wasn't the most comfortable in my hands but still very nice. But for the money a great bass, can only image how their mid- to top of the line performs.
 
#14
My first *real* bass was a Yamaha BB300. Single Yamaha P p/u, passive electronics. Played that bass for a DAMN long time. Wish I still had it, just for memory-sake.

Many basses later I got an RBX765A. I still play that bass quite a bit today. It's just a good, quality intsrument that isn't ridiculously priced.

I'd love a Myung 6. Actually thinking about it.

Really, I can't say anything negative about Yamaha at all. :hyper:
 
#17
I had originally gotten this bass to be a fun "project" bass. I wanted to just do some work on it and try out some mods on a bass other than my main player (also my first bass). I saw what is now my Yamaha BB404 on eBay for a great price, so I figured I'd go for it. Let's just say that I was beyond stunned when I saw it in person. Not to mention, after a setup to my taste, I love how easily it plays. I did end up changing the pickups to an EMG J-set, though the stock tone was pretty good as it is, I just wanted to do some work on it. So, without further ado, here's a picture of my baby (before I swapped pickups and changed the knobs to chrome). It still stuns me when I take it out of the case.
Link Removed
 

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