Reviewed by:
pbzep0670, on june 29, 2004
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 300
Purchased from: Musician's Friend
Features: I don't know when or where it was made, but since it's a Yamaha, I assumed overseas. It has 24 frets with a 35" scale maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The controls include volume, tone, pickup selector, and boost switch. It has dual Yamaha humbuckers. The body is alder. The finish options are flat blue, flat silver, and black. I wanted black, but it seems to have been discontinued. I got blue. The bridge is die-cast. It has a separate one for each string, which is pretty nice. No string to string vibration. The hardware is black. The tuners are non-locking, but they work well. It came with a cable and two allen wrenches. One fits the truss rod and the other fits the bridge saddles. // 8
Sound: I play mostly rock, but I'm starting to drift into funk and jazz. This bass is great for rock. There's a truss rod cover at the bottom of the neck, which makes it more difficult to pop. It just takes getting used to, but you can do it. I'm considering just taking it off though. My old bass had a 3 band EQ, so this one doesn't seem to get as much tonal variation. The pickup selector helps alot though. I usually play with the neck humbucker with the tone almost all the way down. I usually just EQ with my amp though. I play through a Rogue RB-20B (sorry, it was $40) My amp sucks(since I'm not a beginner anymore). The only effects I use at the moment is a DigiTech BP80 floor processor.If you're playing without any effects though, the sounds you get out of this bass are suitable for pretty much only rock, metal, and punk. The sounds that you do get out of this bass are good though. // 6
Action, Fit & Finish: The action was pretty good. I only needed to do minor adjustments to the saddles. It was out of tune, but thats standard when you get it through ups. No flaws or anything, it was in great condition when I opened it up. // 8
Reliability & Durability: I haven't done any gigging, but I think I'd be able to rely on this bass. The hardware will last a while and the finish is going to stay. The strap buttons are extremely solid. They're pretty big too, so strap locks aren't necessary even though they always help. It's a tank so I'd rely on it. I'd have a backup fpr live playing, but I would have one no matter what bass I was using. I don't think you'll need one though. // 10
Impression: Like I said, I play mostly rock and punk, so this bass is great for that. I also said I'm drifting into funk. Every bassist should play some funk. You can slap on this bass, but don't buy it for that. Get a Stingray for slap. If it were stolen, I'd probably get another one as long as it was still on sale. The main reason I got it was that it was a decent 5-string under $500-$600. It was either this or an Epiphone Flying V. I went with this one. After playing this one, I'm going to get another 4-string next. That's just because I'm more comfortable with 4 strings, not because this bass isn't good. I wish it had some kind of active EQ, but thats not necessary. If you're on a budget and want a 5-string, look into this bass. // 8
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