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NBD - Yamaha TRBX504


hamfist
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OK, I've had 24 hours to get a first impression of this bass, and I know you're all eager beavers to know about it !
First of all, it's the usual excellent Yamaha build quality, fit and finish. All highly impressive and in a different league to MIM Fenders, which are very comparable price-wise.

It's a lightish bass too. Haven't weighed it but I'd guess at under 8lbs.

Neck is beautiful. slim & quick. Reminds me of my old G&L SB2. Nut width feels about 38mm. Really like it.

OK, tones .... well these are nice pickups indeed. Alnico 5 humbuckers. 2 pole-pieces per string.
Both pickups are tight and punchy. Attack on fretted and open strings is excellent (a typical Yamaha trait IME). THe neck pup is, as you'd expect, precision-ish. Rather less hollow though, and slightly less bass response. Great for fingerstyle and loves a pick ! Not better than a P, just different. In fact this bass contrasts beautifully with the PJ setup on my other main bass.
Both pickups mixed 50:50 is punchy, and is my preferred fingerstyle setting. The mids drop out slightly, although this is to be expected with this setting. I don't slap so can't comment on that with this bass. Bridge pickup is tight and punchy. Not as burpy as a J bridge pickup. Quite similar to the bridge Bartolini Mk1 on my old Lakland 44-01 but very significantly less muddy. Again, I like it !
The passives tones on this bass are great. However, once you kick in the pre-amp, there is a much more modern vibe about it, with a slight boost in output and with punch and attack galore. The bass and treble controls seem well chosen and implemented, adjusting just the right frequencies for me to adjust depth and/or brightness to taste. However, and here we come to my only real criticism of the bass, the mids control is not adjusting a frequency that is useful to me. It's too low for what I'm wanting out of a mids control. I wait to be proved wrong in a band setting but in isolation, I'd want a control centred somewhere in the 500-800Hz range. The frequency on this Yamaha I'm sure is significantly lower. Anyway, that's what my ears tell me. I'd be interested to hear what the quoted spec on this is from Yamaha.
Also, I've just realised that without pics, this bass don't exist, so .... back in a minute.

There we go .......

[url=http://www.ephotobay.com/share/trbx504-body.html][/url]
[url=http://www.ephotobay.com/share/trbx504-full.html][/url]

It's supposedly the trans-black finish. Although there is definitely a very, very dark brown thing going on. Not unattractive at all.
In fact, I think overall this bass may well become my number one.

Edited by hamfist
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there's no mention of a shiftable mid q point on th eyamaha website [url="http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/el-basses/trbx/trbx504/"]http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/el-basses/trbx/trbx504/[/url] there is however a rather nice picture of a translucent brown one which this one looks a lot like :blush: and a trans black one which is nowt like this one :huh:

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[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1375879477' post='2166808']
there is however a rather nice picture of a translucent brown one which this one looks a lot like :blush: and a trans black one which is nowt like this one :huh:
[/quote]

I agree mine does look rather more like the trans brown one. Anyway, it came in an un-opened box from Yamaha, labelled as trans black, so I can't blame the dealer. I'm happy with this colour, so its' not a big deal for me.

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  • 5 weeks later...

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1378757841' post='2204413']
I played one of these today and loved it. Lovely neck, very easy to play and sounds awesome. Good price too. I think this will definitely replace my Tanglewaters (which are great, but big and heavy).
[/quote]

They really are something a bit special for this price range IMO.

Just wait until the word spreads !

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[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1378826952' post='2205182']
RIGHT!

I couldn't wait, I've just pulled the trigger on one of these. Hopefully be with me sooooooon!!! :)
[/quote]

Haha, I really should sell some of my basses first but you don't know how tempted I am to ask my local PMT to order one in for me in black. Must resist... as I need new glasses too and someone mentioned that they're a little more important than a new bass, or summat like that.

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1378836900' post='2205396']
Haha, I really should sell some of my basses first but you don't know how tempted I am to ask my local PMT to order one in for me in black. Must resist... as I need new glasses too and someone mentioned that they're a little more important than a new bass, or summat like that.
[/quote]


I've got to tax the car the end of the month :unsure:

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£379 at Soundslive: [url="http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Yamaha_TRBX504_ActivePassive_Bass_Guitar_Translucent_Black/YAM-TRBX504-TBL?CAWELAID=1929277117&catargetid=1821941091&cadevice=c&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CKjv8ZT3vrkCFbLMtAodw08AYA"]http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Yamaha_TRBX504_ActivePassive_Bass_Guitar_Translucent_Black/YAM-TRBX504-TBL?CAWELAID=1929277117&catargetid=1821941091&cadevice=c&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CKjv8ZT3vrkCFbLMtAodw08AYA[/url]

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I've been recommending it all over these forums... I told you so!

They're fantastic basses and would make brilliant backup basses. In my head, I'm comparing them to the Ibanez SR500/505 and they absolutely blow the Ibanez out the water in so many ways, the most noticeable being that lovely B string.

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It arrived this morning!

Out of the box, first impressions - I checked it over thoroughly, the quality of finish is very good. Everything is tight and well finished. The neck relief is spot on, I might just take the action down a fraction, however, it's very playable out of the box.

It's light and very comfortable, it's sits just about perfectly. I've played a Rockbass Corvette before and that sat in a way where the neck felt incredibly long and faaarrrrrr away. This Yamaha is quite the opposite.

The neck is slim, quite similar to that of an Ibanez SR.

I've been noodling around with it now for nearly 3 hours. How does one describe the tones and sounds you get out of this bass? :) There's so many... It's got a great passive tone, very p bass in the neck pup position. A nice tight bridge pup tone. The active tones, again, just great.

For the price tag this should give the mid range and some more expensive basses some hefty competition.

It's a great bass :D

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