Yamaha TRB1004-honest,no B.S. review..?

Not to be a smart ass here, but...

Who cares what the reviews say? Check it out for yourself and see if it is what you like. Just be aware that this guy might not share your idea of what good strings and a good setup are. Bad setup and strings can make even a great bass sound like crap. All that taken into consideration, check the web and see what the TRB1004s are selling for. If the bass isn't what you expected, maybe you can negotiate the price a bit.

 

Very nice basses, well done. On par with the other fine basses coming out of Korea these days (Lakland Skyline, Fender Jazz 24s, high end Corts).

I doubt you'll have much trouble with the adjustement to 35". The strings will sound "tighter" and more piano like to you probably. That was my experience.

Sounds real clean.

Nice electronics, not great. The pickups are great, I think the EQ comes up a bit shy. One of these maybe with a high end 3 band EQ would put it up there easily with basses listing for much more.

 

I played one at a friend's store recently. (I should mention that I already have a TRB-6 II Japanese model.) Compared to my Japanese one, the build seemed nice enough, but if felt and sounded like an instrument relying on the preamp, as opposed to the quality of the wood. Just seemed a little thin sounding and lacked soul for me.

My advice? Find a good quality used TRB-4 II or earlier & make sure it's one of the Japanese ones.

 

I own a TRB1005 -- 35" scale. Bought it at GC for like $799 a few years ago.

Killer axe. I've used it on over 200 blues, r&b, & jazz gigs and it's delivered everytime.

When I bought it the neck was whacked and the fret edges were sharp and uncomfortable to play on. Thank goodness I have a great luthier who fixed it up nice.

I use Rotosound flats and it mellows the very bright tone that comes off the electronics. In fact, I boost the lows and cut the highs on the active EQ and it really cuts through on any gig.

Very comfortable to play as well. I'm used to 42" scale on upright so 35 is nuttin'!

 

I demo'ed one at a GC in KC a year or so ago. Defininitely a solid bass for the new price. My first impression was that it was a bit on the heavy side. Felt like i would expect a dinky jazz bass to feel; similar to a Jazz but just a touch smaller. I thought the tones were rather nice, nothing spectacular, but solid and useable with a modern, hi-fi preamp voicing (albeit lacking the refined sheen of higher end preamps). I will agree with the above comment that the sound may rely a bit on the pre-amp. But in my experience, that seems to be pretty run of the mill with the active imports.

I personally can't do 35" scale or largebodied, heavyweight basses, but it is definitely one of the nicer imports that i've played.