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Yamaha

#81
I used to work at a music store that sold everything from drum sets to bassoons and I can tell you that Yamaha's QC and product quality is stellar across every instrument that they make.

Currently the FG-700S is the best budget acoustic guitar out there. And their Pacifica is the best budget electric guitar. They really make great instruments. The only reason I don't buy their basses is because I've never had the chance to try a high end one. I have a feeling if I ever played one I'd fall in love (and be out a few grand).
 
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#83
So, first thing's first to the OP: congratulations on your promotion to bass.

Now, a couple of things:

1) You equated Fender and Warwick. I do not. Warwicks, I find, are superior instruments to the average Fender. I'm talking German made vs USA equivalent. However, I'm no fan of Warwick aesthetics (can't call basses ugly here) and people think Fenders are what a bass guitar should look like cuz, well, you know.... I realize that this is because they are brands you've heard of, so it is not a critique but a data point.

2) Can't get there with the "meh" rating of the Yamaha guitars. I (still) have a FG-512 acoustic that has consistently performed on tour and studio gigs for over 25 years. Sure, it's not my Guild Jumbo, but I don't have to put a bag over the headstock when I bust it out at a gig. For a working musician, a workhorse instrument is miles beyond "meh."

3) Yamaha basses: the BB series is a pedigreed rock bass. The Nathan East model belongs in anyone's "high end" catalogue.

I would recommend that you try lots of different brands, as you'll find that the spectrum in the bass world is different from the guitar world. For example, Alembic is in the sine qua non category of basses, but guitar players seem to think a Fender or Gibson is better in the guitar category. Alembic makes killer guitars, but gets no love. Here, they get mucho lovey dovey. See what I'm saying?

Good luck!
 
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#84
I don't know much about Yamaha basses. I'm a Leo bass guy myself. My daughter seems to like her Yamaha piano okay.

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#85
I may be the minority, but I don't judge bass guitars by brand, only by the way they play for me, the sounds I can get out of them, the way they balance and the way they fit me (both the body and the neck). I can tell you that I am fond of Fender P basses and J basses and own several. Recently, I was after a more modern bass with active electronics; something a bit different that wouldn't break the bank. After playing many basses in the local music store during several different trips, I keep going back to the Yamaha TRBX because it felt good in all of the categories I mentioned, to me. I walked out with one and am very happy with just about everything about it. It's going to the gig on Sat along with my P bass.

My point here is that Yamaha makes some very nice basses IMO. So instead of judging based upon labels, costs, etc., try some of them out and figure out what suits your needs.
 
#87
Since Sheehan's Yamaha Attitude Limited is being discussed...I'll offer my opinion.

I've got a first-generation Attitude LTD from 1990. Fit and finish are up there with the best "boutique" builders of Fender-style instruments. The neck-body joint is the most stable of any bolt-on instrument I've ever come across. Fretwork is perfect. Lots of thoughtful details. For me, there's nothing more I would want in a PBass.

I've owned lots and lots of high-end, boutique basses over the years. Sold pretty much all of them. But I'm hanging onto the Yamaha.
 
#88
SanDiegoHarry said:
Yamaha is a funny company; They make pretty much everything and in every possible variation. They make GREAT pianos, they make meh pianos. Same with motocycles guitars and - basses.

It all comes down to how much you want to spend. Big shock - a $300 yamaha bass is "meh" and a $3000 yamaha bass is really nice.
Click to expand...

The epitome of the Asian business model. Capable of producing moon rockets to bottle rockets and everything in between. It just all depends on how much you want to spend.

I was involved in a deal to import some bench top lathes from Taiwan and the company we were talkng to sent us six different samples at six different price points all made from the same basic castings. The top sample was a fine piece of equipment out of the box and required very little in the way of prep before it was ready to go. The lowest of the samples would have made a decent, albeit awkward, boat anchor.
 
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#89
To me, it's another mystery. I hear so many people say Yamaha basses are solid, but they're just not that popular. I like them, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one to someone because they're a great value, but I probably wouldn't get one for myself.
 
#90
Yamaha!

I understand their corporate charter stipulates that even if losing money, they are going to make pianos.

What can you say about a corporation that makes all kinds of musical instruments and all kinds of fine mechanical products (motorcycles, outboard boat engines, whatever), but their logo is three tuning forks, crossed?

To my ears, they own the entry-level piano field.

You see all kinds of high-end keyboardists using their wide range of electric synthesizers and pianos.

Touching briefly on trombones, five of the finest jazz/studio trombonists in the world - Robin Eubanks, Steve Turre, Andy Martin, Phil Teele and Wycliffe Gordon - play Yamaha.

Let's talk bass. John Patitucci? Nathan East? Abraham Laboriel? Sheehan? Michael Anthony? Doesn't Leland Sklar sport a customized Yamaha amongst his arsenal? Whoever is playing their newish passive P/J?

Let's talk range of product and quality control. I'm far more inclined to tell youngsters to go Yamaha instead of Fender…and have steered more accomplished players to great old Yamaha basses as well.

I still have one Sadowsky and one good Fender in the house, but may soon be selling each of those and am otherwise about to become a Lakland (and Carl Pedigo) and Yamaha household. An old TRB6P with Aguilar pre and bart. pickups - two BB2000, one fretted and one fretless, and even though I hardly play 4-string I will never sell those basses…and a Taiwanese BB5000A that weighs a ton but just might be the voice of a deity…each of these axes is a monster.

If I was a 35" kind of guy, I'd have a late-model TRB5PII and be done...

A simple Yamaha BB300 or BB400 from the 1980's will eat it's Fender counterparts for breakfast.

Viva Yamaha!
 
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#93
fingerguy said:
I didn't say that..here I will copy and paste:
"...in the guitar world Yamaha and Squiers are known as budget and eh guitars. "
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In the late 70s and early 80s, the Yamaha sbg/sg2000 and others in that line were regarded by many as top quality guitars (yes guitars not basses). Carlos Santana, Colin Hay and many other pros were using them. It is even featured in " the guitar handbook" as the centerfold example. They quote "the Yamaha SG2000 is regarded as the finest guitar manufactured outside of the us" . It is a total sleeper, I was lucky to score mine at a pawnshop for a killer price. It dated out as 1984.

It is not just good basses. However they don't make em like they used to... (The reissues were not like the real deal, even being priced around $1500)

My sbg2000 and the term "cold dead fingers" comes to mind.
 
#94
I had a Yamaha BB450 in the latter half of the 80's . It had a P/J pickup config and was a very nice antidote to the Rickenbacker I had been using, a 4001 which I had ruined by dropping a pair of Seymour Duncan humbuckers (and not even the proper replacements, either) in it.

It was my main bass for at least a year or so.

It was a midrange instrument as far as price but a real workhorse that I never had problems with.
 
#95
Bass'd on a true story said:
I used to work at a music store that sold everything from drum sets to bassoons and I can tell you that Yamaha's QC and product quality is stellar across every instrument that they make.

Currently the FG-700S is the best budget acoustic guitar out there. And their Pacifica is the best budget electric guitar. They really make great instruments. The only reason I don't buy their basses is because I've never had the chance to try a high end one. I have a feeling if I ever played one I'd fall in love (and be out a few grand).
Click to expand...

You know, I thought the same thing. I waited until a high-end Yammy came into the store, played it an... meh. It just didn't feel worth the $$ they wanted; The $400 Yammy sure did - felt great, sounded great - nicer than the common Fender of the time (this was the late '80s / early '90s when I was selling / teaching) but the top end ones just didn't move me.
 
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#97
Dont forget tony kanal and john myung, also Yamaha players (before myung followed petruçci to Ernie ball).

I had a 1985 bb5000 for a while. At the time I wanted a more modern active bass and ended up going Warwick, but I do regret selling that Yamaha sometimes.

My acoustic guitar I have had since about 1991/92 is a Yamaha too.

If I had to choose between a gio ibanez or an entry level Yamaha rbx, I would pick the Yamaha. Same applies to squier affinity, lower end squier and ibanez seem to be not as good a value as entry level Yamaha.

I miss that bb5000!
 
#98
Having only ever really owned 1 or 2 basses at a time the thing i've found with there basses though is there has always been something around a similar value and price point that sounds a bit nicer or has a slightly different feature set, for example i'm looking for a cheaper secondary 5 string thats a bit lighter and has less output then my ESP - LTD with EMG humbuckers, and the Yamaha TRBX's sort of fit the bill and i've considered one and there reasonably nice to play but when I put it alongside the ibanez SR series both are equally nice and are around a similar price but the ibanez has coil tap/splitable pickups and personally I much prefer the tonal variations given by coil split then the yamaha's "Power EQ", to me having played one the "Power EQ" seems like a bit of a gimic and its not hard to get very similar tones by playing with the 3 band eq, where as the coil split on the ibanez give a different tone that i'd probably use atleast 50% of the time.

So in my experience there has always been something thats just that little bit differently speced that works better for me, maybe that says the way there designing or specing the basses isn't quite as good as some of there compeditors or maybe its just me.
 
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#99
I love my Yamaha. its not a high end one, but the headstock matches the body. the fit and finish is beautiful. the nut did break during a string change, but thats easily remedied. pickups sounded good as they were but i put some EMG Geezers in it anyhow.
 

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