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yamaha rbx5
- Thread starter A_Warning
- Start date
You mean the Yamaha RBX375?
5 string, dual humbuckers, generally seen in black or red color?
If that's the bass, I absolutely love it. Wonderfil sound playablitly. Killer low action. Clean B string.
You buying new or used?
You might find a used Yamaha RBX675A or such on eBay .. they seem exactly like the older version of the newer RBX375 .. i know nothing about them though.
5 string, dual humbuckers, generally seen in black or red color?
If that's the bass, I absolutely love it. Wonderfil sound playablitly. Killer low action. Clean B string.
You buying new or used?
You might find a used Yamaha RBX675A or such on eBay .. they seem exactly like the older version of the newer RBX375 .. i know nothing about them though.
I had an RBX5 many, many years ago. It was a very nice bass--my first 5 string.
$280 doesn't sound like too bad of a price, but I honestly can't remember what I paid for it.
Not much help, but at leat I can confirm they exist.
$280 doesn't sound like too bad of a price, but I honestly can't remember what I paid for it.
Not much help, but at leat I can confirm they exist.
The RBX-5 was the second bass I ever owned. I believe they were released some time in the early 1990s. The RBX-5 typically had a swamp ash body in a variety of transparent finishes, a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Mine had a P+J pickup configuration.
All in all it played very, very nicely - (i.e. like most Yamahas the neck was fantastic).
String spacing is quite tight at the bridge, 16mm or so (it has a P-bass nut width), so if you intend to play slap, make sure you've got an accurate technique! The stock pickups weren't too great by Yamaha's standards so i swapped them out for EMGs. Also the stock bridge was a fairly flimsy bent plate affair, so I replaced it with a Wilkinson.
I paid £350 for mine (brand new in circa 1991), although this was at a discount. I believe the full retail price for the original RBX-5 was around £550.
All in all it played very, very nicely - (i.e. like most Yamahas the neck was fantastic).
String spacing is quite tight at the bridge, 16mm or so (it has a P-bass nut width), so if you intend to play slap, make sure you've got an accurate technique! The stock pickups weren't too great by Yamaha's standards so i swapped them out for EMGs. Also the stock bridge was a fairly flimsy bent plate affair, so I replaced it with a Wilkinson.
I paid £350 for mine (brand new in circa 1991), although this was at a discount. I believe the full retail price for the original RBX-5 was around £550.
I got one of the first RBX5's back in '91. Super nice bass. Too bad they marketed all their entry basses with the same RBX name. Everything on it was pretty nice except for the standard Fender style bridge. The string spacing is too close for accurate slap play, but amazingly fast for finger style. I can just blaze across the strings on this baby. Recently however I modded it to a 4 string. I found out that the 4 string RBX260 has the same neck except for the tuners. So I got a neck off ebay for $12 and threw a Schaller brass bridge on there and Basslines ProActive PJ pickups and I was done. Now it is an amazing bass for slap. The bass does have some pretty strange P pickups on it though. You can't just swap the pickups with any P pickups. There are 5 magnet poles inside the pickup in this pattern; upper -[ * *_____* *_____*]
lower-[*_____* *_____* *] . All strings have 2 magnet poles, the strange thing is the center string uses the one magnet pole from each of the P pickups and the outer strings run along the very edge of the pickups, hence the location of the poles at the far edges. No other pickup has that design so it is a bear to replace them. Seymour Duncan and EMGs don't have wide enough magnet bars inside to reach the strings evenly since they are spaced for 2 strings across the middle of each pickup, string volume balance is a bit of a problem. Don't go looking inside the P pickups on these basses, I ended up destroying one trying to look inside, so the info above came at a cost. They glued the plastic cover to the coil windings so they will unravel if you pull them off. That is one of the reasons I changed mine to a 4 string.
lower-[*_____* *_____* *] . All strings have 2 magnet poles, the strange thing is the center string uses the one magnet pole from each of the P pickups and the outer strings run along the very edge of the pickups, hence the location of the poles at the far edges. No other pickup has that design so it is a bear to replace them. Seymour Duncan and EMGs don't have wide enough magnet bars inside to reach the strings evenly since they are spaced for 2 strings across the middle of each pickup, string volume balance is a bit of a problem. Don't go looking inside the P pickups on these basses, I ended up destroying one trying to look inside, so the info above came at a cost. They glued the plastic cover to the coil windings so they will unravel if you pull them off. That is one of the reasons I changed mine to a 4 string.
Somebody please could post pics of that RBX5? I´ve never seen one, and i like the RBX line a lot ^^
Here is an RBX-5 on the craigs list (could likely be the bass in question)...sweet lookin' bass, and if it plays as good or better than my inexpensive RBX-170, it's worth $275 for SURE!
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I had an RBX-5 that was dated to 1987 from the serial, according to Yamaha's website. The list price back in the day was US $1100!
Fairly standard passive P-J set-up, with one of the narrowest string spacings I've ever seen. I dug it, but it was the first real bass I ever owned.
Fairly standard passive P-J set-up, with one of the narrowest string spacings I've ever seen. I dug it, but it was the first real bass I ever owned.
Nope, that is the new style one. The original one from the late 80's to early 90's had the PJ pickup setup with a standard 4 string width neck. That was one of the features I liked alot, you can really play fast across the strings fingerstyle or with a pick. It was not the best slap bass for me though. I practiced and practiced on mine and could not get a clean tone because the strings were too close. Once I got a 4 string jazz I took off. But I still love the RBX5 for the really close string spacing, I can really do some cool arpeggio picking on that thing.
hey guys,i'm new arround here and i have some doubts...
here's my bass -> [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
and i wnna know if u guys know about this bass pickups and woods...
he was made in 1991 acording to ymaha's web site...
and when i bought him,in my country he cost $500...
tks every1!
here's my bass -> [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
and i wnna know if u guys know about this bass pickups and woods...
he was made in 1991 acording to ymaha's web site...
and when i bought him,in my country he cost $500...
tks every1!
now that's nice...I don't know about the pickups...but they're not active EMG's at any rate
interestingly, Yamaha hasn't really strayed from the body design (can be found on the RBX370 and RBX375, for instance)
I just wish they'd had stuck to that headstock...the "gumby" headstock is just so unattractive...functional, but U-G-L-Y...
BTW...I just love my RBX170...gumby and all
interestingly, Yamaha hasn't really strayed from the body design (can be found on the RBX370 and RBX375, for instance)
I just wish they'd had stuck to that headstock...the "gumby" headstock is just so unattractive...functional, but U-G-L-Y...
BTW...I just love my RBX170...gumby and all
like I said, I don't know...could be...
but it's a great bass at any rate...why Yamaha left that nice headstock design is beyond me....ladies and gentlebassists....enter...."GUMBY"
whatever you do, DON'T paint these green...
i like both hedstocks...
ani1 here have a yamaha catalogue of 90's?or know somewhere i can find?
i realy like to take a look on this bass in the catalogue...
ani1 here have a yamaha catalogue of 90's?or know somewhere i can find?
i realy like to take a look on this bass in the catalogue...
