Initial Impressions: Very good build quality (First Vietnam bass), easily going toe to toe with the Squiers, and so far IMO, exceeding the VM series and perhaps CV as well. I've wanted a P/J for a while and I was considering both this and the VM's. I've played many VM's but jumped on this after a good deal popped up and ordered without playing one. I've also wanted a "beater" a bass I can leave out and not worry about damaging" another reason for getting a new bass.
The neck is very nice, super smooth and comfortable. I prefer a satin finish over the CV's gloss and this made it very appealing to me for a bass in the same category. Very nice wood grain on the swamp ash body, and this bass is light, unlike the VM's I've tried which are generally much heavier. Tuned her up and played fine out of the box, and a thorough once over revealed no dead spots anywhere on the board, and no sharp fret ends (see pic). The board radius is flatter than normal at 14" but felt just fine to play and fret notes. Nice touch with V/V/T instead of a pickup blend and no noise from any of the pots.
Where this bass really shines are the pickups, which are smoking hot for a passive bass. With my EQ set flat there was PLENTY of thump from the P and a very nice growl from it as well. It destroy's the AM Standard P pup on my Highwway One and sounded way better than the VM's to me. The J still had a nice tone, but was a little less barky than I would like, but I dialed in some nice tones blending the 2. I like to play on the bridge pup a lot, so I might change it out for a Bart, but the 2 pickups are very useable as is. As I type this, I'm still thinking about how nice the P pickup sounded.
All in all, very nice quality me thinks, and if you are a Squier fan, you should take a look at these, for the lower weight and nicer wood, sweet neck and nicer pups (IMO). I can see myself playing this quite a bit, especially with a J pup change.
Now for the obligatory pics:
Look at that grain!
[URL=http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/tastybasslines/media/yamaha%20bass/IMG_20131017_071822_051_zpsa2bac57e.jpg.html]
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The neck is very nice, super smooth and comfortable. I prefer a satin finish over the CV's gloss and this made it very appealing to me for a bass in the same category. Very nice wood grain on the swamp ash body, and this bass is light, unlike the VM's I've tried which are generally much heavier. Tuned her up and played fine out of the box, and a thorough once over revealed no dead spots anywhere on the board, and no sharp fret ends (see pic). The board radius is flatter than normal at 14" but felt just fine to play and fret notes. Nice touch with V/V/T instead of a pickup blend and no noise from any of the pots.
Where this bass really shines are the pickups, which are smoking hot for a passive bass. With my EQ set flat there was PLENTY of thump from the P and a very nice growl from it as well. It destroy's the AM Standard P pup on my Highwway One and sounded way better than the VM's to me. The J still had a nice tone, but was a little less barky than I would like, but I dialed in some nice tones blending the 2. I like to play on the bridge pup a lot, so I might change it out for a Bart, but the 2 pickups are very useable as is. As I type this, I'm still thinking about how nice the P pickup sounded.
All in all, very nice quality me thinks, and if you are a Squier fan, you should take a look at these, for the lower weight and nicer wood, sweet neck and nicer pups (IMO). I can see myself playing this quite a bit, especially with a J pup change.
Now for the obligatory pics:
Look at that grain!
[URL=http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/tastybasslines/media/yamaha%20bass/IMG_20131017_071822_051_zpsa2bac57e.jpg.html]
