After all these years - Yamaha RBX 550M

[7string]

I had one of these basses years ago and had to sell it when I didn’t have any money. It wasn’t just this bass that had to go but all my music gear. It wasn’t a good day. The nut on the bass had broken as well and I had to make an emergency repair to make sure the store would buy it from me. Luckily they didn’t spot the piece of chewed-up paper under the G string…..

I always kept an eye out for a 550M and came across this one on eBay a couple of weeks ago. I bought it for the bargain price of £62!






So after many years, I again have a Yamaha RBX500M. This was the model that Yamaha gave to Billy Sheehan when he first went to Yamaha and he’s pictured with a double-necked version on the cover of his “On Bass” video (not sure if it’s available on DVD yet!). Unfortunately, Billy didn’t like the bass at all and instead played a modified BB series before designing the Attitude bass with Rich Lasner. However, I really liked my RBX and it was my main bass before I had to sell everything.

The RBX550M is a pretty basic bass. Alder body, maple neck and fingerboard with a 3D headstock which is a mixture of black and maple. Electronics-wise it’s PJ pickup configuration with a master tone, master volume and a blend pot. The neck attaches with 4 asymmetrical bolts. The 2 separate bolt plates are flush to the body which is nice touch.





The whole bass is pretty light with a slim neck and it’s so easy to play. It sounds great too with a really solid, punchy sound which doesn’t loose it’s roundness even up high.

All in all, I’m so pleased to have found one of these basses again. When I told my Father-in Law about it I said it’s a nice end to the story. He disagreed saying it’s a new start. I think he might be right!!

Edited November 9, 2010 by 7string

[Spoombung]

Great looking bass. Never heard of those before.

[kingofthestuntmen]

£62..! RESULT...!!

Hope this turns into a setup thread, be interesting to see you go to work on this one.

[Doctor J]

Nice bass. Very 80's... I mean that in a good way

[fatback]

Cool I bet it's built beautifully. Love those 80s yammies.

[King Tut]

Picked up an RBX800 a while ago from Crack Converters for £129. Bit bashed cosmetically but awesome bass. My mate had one just like yours - it was lovely. Love maple fretboards!

[bartelby]

I really like those basses when they came out, especially the blue with maple!

[7string]

Thanks for the kind words @D

[quote name='King Tut' post='1018290' date='Nov 10 2010, 12:26 AM']Picked up an RBX800 a while ago from Crack Converters for £129. Bit bashed cosmetically but awesome bass. My mate had one just like yours - it was lovely. Love maple fretboards![/quote]

That's a bargain you picked up there. Great spot!!



[quote name='kingofthestuntmen' post='1018078' date='Nov 9 2010, 08:28 PM']£62..! RESULT...!!

Hope this turns into a setup thread, be interesting to see you go to work on this one.[/quote]

Could do!

I've already removed, cleaned, lubed the truss rod nut and adjusted the neck. I took the action down a bit as well and just enjoyed playing it for the last couple of days.

I plan to give it a good clean including the electrics and think about whether to replace the plastic nut with a bone one. Might even get it in the neck jig and give it a fret dress as well.

[Bassmurf]

Coooooooooooooooool!

I had this one as my first "proper" bass in exactly the same colour, always regretted selling it especially as I found out via a mutual friend that the guy I had sold it to had bought another bass and decided to leave the Yammy in his shed for a few years....

Definitely a bargain you got there!

[7string]

Yeah, it's one of the 2 basses I regret selling (the other being a Fender 51 P RI).

It's amazing how good this bass sounds especially as I don't have anything approaching a decent rig.

[thisnameistaken]

My first bass was a £50 "Satellite" jazz copy, it was awful. My second bass was a Yamaha RBX-550M in black and it was lovely.

I think I paid £120 for mine, new, in 1991. I sold it a couple of years later (to fund a totally lush Godin Acoustibass fretless) to another bassist I knew at 6th form and he still has it - I asked him about it on Facebook a few months back.

Nice bass man, you got a massive bargain there.

[waynepunkdude]

Congrates mate, at least this one has the right amount of strings