NBD - Yamaha Attitude III!

[58kites]

The neck is wider than all my others, knew that going in, but man is it playable.

The necks are magic on these. It doesn’t even make sense that they are so comfortable and easy to play.

Although I generally prefer basses with skinny necks, I find these Attitude basses extremely playable and comfortable.

Biggest neck on any of the basses here, most of them are 1.5" nut width and I thought that was I needed.
I bought this bass because it came up at GC for stupidly cheap so I took a shot knowing the neck was big.
Was very surprised how the neck felt and how my not so big hands loved it.
Obviously, they came up with something that plays fantastic for almost everybody and surprises them.

 

[P. Aaron]

Very nice. Makes me want one.

 

[P. Aaron]

Got to play one and loved it . Would love to own one , but it wouldn't be my no.1 bass and at $2,800.00 it's got to be no.1 .....BABY!

You’d need 28 $100.00 gigs to pay it off. Challenging but not impossible.

 

[58kites]

Guilty as charged, my main Tele is Daphne with white pearloid and maple neck.
But tort also looks great on that blue.

That’s a cool bass BTW.

I'd love a daphne blue bass with tort.

Yes, I agree this is a cool bass, the Attitude Custom has the same split P pickup and the same Dimarzio humbucker under the pickguard at the heel of the neck like the LTDs.
But it additionally has piezo pickups in the bridge saddles. It also has the same two output jacks as the LTD basses, so it's a LTD ...plus extra piezos.
And I got it for the price of a used Squier bass!
Wish the color was Fender Shoreline Gold, this looks sort of like it I think, but I don't care for the slightly "rose" tint they decided to add in there.
I do like the black neck inlays much better than the red or blue ones that they did on the red and blue LTDs.
I don't care for a number of color choices in the Billy basses...the metallic blue, the lava red, and the hot purple they had at one point.
The black is nice, the Daphne blue is great and the new sunburst one looks great.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Traded my Dingwall to a friend of mine for this beautiful Attitude III bass. The neck is wider than all my others, knew that going in, but man is it playable.
View attachment 4224621

That little guy is awesome!

 

[alotabass]

I've been playing these basses since the 90's. The reason they sound so good is because of that beefy neck which extends deep into the body right up to the P-Bass pickup. Something you cant see but if you remove the pickguard its a very interesting neck design I've never seen on any other bass. The end result of this massive neck is massive tone. I've never played one off the shelf that was setup to my taste however once you set it up properly the tone is a P-Bass on Roids. Check out this clip I put together. I forgot to mention the sound on this clip is 100% direct with no amp simulators. Both outputs of the bass are mixed and blended. The neck pickup is voiced for low end and the p-pickup is voiced for articulation.

 

[Rabidhamster]

Traded my Dingwall to a friend of mine for this beautiful Attitude III bass. The neck is wider than all my others, knew that going in, but man is it playable.
View attachment 4224621

Those are really cool basses and they hold their value incredibly well.

I've been playing these basses since the 90's. The reason they sound so good is because of that beefy neck which extends deep into the body right up to the P-Bass pickup. Something you cant see but if you remove the pickguard its a very interesting neck design I've never seen on any other bass. The end result of this massive neck is massive tone. I've never played one off the shelf that was setup to my taste however once you set it up properly the tone is a P-Bass on Roids. Check out this clip I put together.

Wow that’s cool I didn’t realize that about the neck!

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Another pic in the case. Not usually a fan of cases but this one is nice. View attachment 4224840

Very nice. I’m not familiar with Yamaha Basses, so I have a question. I see there are two output jacks. Are the jacks set up like the jacks on a Rickenbacker that has Rick-o-Sound or are they dedicated to one pick up or the other?

If so, going to bi-amp?

 

[imdkoz]

I was intrigued by the Yamaha Attitude's twin output cables.

I thought it must be something like Rickenbacker does, with its Rickosound single stereo cable.

Anyway, I eventually found a 21-minute video of Billy Sheehan explaining why the Attitude has two cables:

Very nice. I’m not familiar with Yamaha Basses, so I have a question. I see there are two output jacks. Are the jacks set up like the jacks on a Rickenbacker that has Rick-o-Sound or are they dedicated to one pick up or the other?

If so, going to bi-amp?

Les BeeBee posted a great video explaining the dual outputs. But for a quick summary - each have their own.

 

[groooooove]

i owned an attitude II, seafoam green just like the one billy played with steve vai in that 2001 live DVD i used to marvel at as a kid...

i've played a III, they're a step up. really, really fine basses. i sold mine because of the nut width, but man, they kill.

 

[Mikey F]

That's killer. Congrats!

 

[oldcatfish]

Traded my Dingwall to a friend of mine for this beautiful Attitude III bass. The neck is wider than all my others, knew that going in, but man is it playable.
View attachment 4224621

Congrats! Very nice. I have never actually seen one in person. Is it just the picture or does it have a scalloped neck on the higher frets?

 

[58kites]

Congrats! Very nice. I have never actually seen one in person. Is it just the picture or does it have a scalloped neck on the higher frets?

Yes.

 

[Bassclef46]

Very nice. I’m not familiar with Yamaha Basses, so I have a question. I see there are two output jacks. Are the jacks set up like the jacks on a Rickenbacker that has Rick-o-Sound or are they dedicated to one pick up or the other?

If so, going to bi-amp?

One output is for the neck pup and the other output is for the middle pup. You can play each pup to their own amp.

however you can also run them both together to one amp by plugging into only one output and pulling the middle pup volume knob up. Or just keep that knob pushed down and only use one pup.

I have two amps but I rarely use two amps. I usually play one pup or the other. Or just have them bother through the same amp. That neck pup gives you some serious vintage vibe tones so I love playing that one solo. It does tend to shake the neighborhood though.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

One output is for the neck pup and the other output is for the middle pup. You can play each pup to their own amp.

however you can also run them both together to one amp by plugging into only one output and pulling the middle pup volume knob up. Or just keep that knob pushed down and only use one pup.

I have two amps but I rarely use two amps. I usually play one pup or the other. Or just have them bother through the same amp. That neck pup gives you some serious vintage vibe tones so I love playing that one solo. It does tend to shake the neighborhood though.

When I had my Ric, I used in in a Rick-O-Sound with two rigs, an SVT powering an Ampeg V-4B 215 Reflex cab for the neck pickup, the bridge pick up routed to a Hiwatt Custom 100 powering a Hiwatt 4-12 cab. Needless to say, it was substantial, especially since we didn’t have FOH support. Ah, to young and dumb....