I too own the $279 Yamaha fretless, and I think it has good low end and I like the fact that has an alder body, just like my Fender American Presicion. I plan on replacing the pickups on the Yamaha with a SD quarter-pounder (I have the guitar version on my Strat).
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Any Yamaha owners? Or oppinions about them?
- Thread starter Rockinjc
- Start date
I have owned a TRB6, a BB5000 (passive, narrow neck), BB1200s fretless and a BB5000A (my current fretless). My observations are that the TRB6 was an excellent all round bass if you could handle the width of the neck. The preamp was cool, I could get everything from a jazz bass on steroids tone to a decent approximation of a Stingray or a Ric. The BB5000 was purchased off ebay for $400.00 and I loved the tone so much it became my main gigging bass for over two years. I modded it to have a pan pot instead of a pickup selector switch. My only issue with it was that the bridge pickup soloed was a bit noisy, being a single coil. It sounded good enough for me not to care most of the time. The 1200s was a passive model with a nice ebony fingerboard and it sounded and played very nice. I had a bit of a problem getting the intonation set on the bridge. I eventually sold it to get another bass. My current fretless is a BB5000A. I bought it stock off ebay for $500.00 and I had it defretted and had the pickups changed to Bartolini PJ. This bass sounded good stock but was a bit too rock and roll for my tastes. The tone was nothing like my old BB5000. The P pickup overwhelmed the bridge pickup and I felt that it sounded like an active 5 string P bass (that is certainly not a bad thing, just not what I was looking for). Now the tone is very much like my old BB5000 except no noise and the neck, even though it is quite a but wider is very comfortable to play on.
I know it's not a high end Yamaha, but I have a BB605. For only being $400, it's a nice bass, but it's been currently replaced by my Warwick Corvette.
I've got an RBX270F fretless.
well-made, comfortable to wear, lightweight.
a decent entry-level fretless (I was also considering a MIM Jazz fretless, but I prefer wider string spacing- the Yamaha is about 40mm at the nut)
I screened the control and pickup cavities with self-adhesive foil, and swapped the bridge for a Gotoh 201.
the output is a bit lacking in lows and level, so I'm looking to upgrade the p/ups.
well-made, comfortable to wear, lightweight.
a decent entry-level fretless (I was also considering a MIM Jazz fretless, but I prefer wider string spacing- the Yamaha is about 40mm at the nut)
I screened the control and pickup cavities with self-adhesive foil, and swapped the bridge for a Gotoh 201.
the output is a bit lacking in lows and level, so I'm looking to upgrade the p/ups.
I'm a Yamaha junkie. I have a BB1500A bass that is my main squeeze. I am trying add a p-bass style Yamaha to round off my basses-maybe the bb1000MA or attitude?? My first real bass was a BB404 which was a really great bass - nice weight nice neck, nice, nice, nice. One thing with the Yamahas I've noticed is that the passive pups tend to be noisey but that is easy to correct (upgrade pups). I highly endorse the Yamaha products especially in the low to mid area. Once you get to high end stuff there is a lot of other options out there (Lakland, Sadowsky to name a few) but I don't think anyone can touch Yamaha for consistant build quality, playability and value in the mid to low area.
The Yamaha BB2005 will give you for the most part the same tone as the Nathan East signiture, without the higher end looks, and price tag. It is a 5 piece neck through with active electronics and NE-1 tone circuit. It plays great, and sounds great. One of my favorite mid ranged basses. Great value.
RBX375 owner here, decent body and fingerboard, decent tuning (bridge through to the pegs) mechanism, but I'm not very impressed with the sound as I don't find much flexibility in the two humbuckers. I keep telling myself the only thing I need is a different preamp. Or maybe, it's just the rig I'm playing it through.
Ooooooo, those are TRBs? I could've sworn his used his Fodera Signature for everything?
As can be seen in several posts which are specific to the bass, I picked up an RBX5 A2 over the winter and I really dig the thing. I use it a s a backup to my G&L L-2500 and it covers the sounds I use quite well. Plus, it's incredibly well made. Yay Yamaha!
- Apr 1, 2000
- 17,408
- 9,865
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Roscoe Guitars, DR Strings, Aguilar Amplification
I could be wrong, but I don't think he had Fodera's back then.
edit: and I was wrong. Not the first time, probably not the last.
To see a thread that was posted on the day I landed on Canada to study is quite...
Well, I don't know how to put it in words D:
Back on the topic, I've had several Yamaha basses - lower end models and higher end models. IMO Yamaha basses excel in either price ranges in terms of sound and quality.
Well, I don't know how to put it in words D:
Back on the topic, I've had several Yamaha basses - lower end models and higher end models. IMO Yamaha basses excel in either price ranges in terms of sound and quality.
