Show Us Your Basses (Part 1)

Very nice! I really love the new color.

And yes, yes, welcome to the Yamaha Speed Freak club. I am addicted to the fast necks on the TRBX line. Feels better than any other bass I have tried - though the Ibanez SR’s come really close.

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Love the SR on the left, is that a 1200?

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I thought that till I tried Schecter, not to try and convert you, but you should try one if you like fast comfy necks.

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Yeah they look awesome, will need to check one out someday.

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that is the sr2600 Premium. that bass has the 15 piece atlas neck. I had a trbx yamaha but sold it. ibanez has the best kneck imo.

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I’m a big fan of the SR necks i have tried, yeah. I really like the SR2400, will probably get one down the line if one ever turns up used. Still prefer the Yamaha neck to it but it’s probably mostly familiarity; they feel very similar.

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Here’s my brand new Yamaha TRBX 604FM in Matte Amber. It plays like a dream. While waiting to get this thing set up, I was goofing around with a couple of basses with $4k price tags and honestly, I can barely tell the difference. My first bass that I bought for Josh’s lessons was a Yamaha RBX170, which was amazing. The faster I got into the lessons (I practiced at least an hour daily, every day, for 8 weeks), I realized that I wanted something better - so I bought a TRBX304 and put Rotosound 88s on it. Well, when I saw the TRBX604, I knew I had to upgrade. I bought 4 bass guitars in 4 months, and finally arrived at my “forever” bass - this TRBX604 (pictured below with headstock in second picture). My others are below.



!

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Nice 604!

I am glad people are posting more angled shots of the natural and amber 604s, so that people can see that they are, in fact, gorgeous in person. All the shots you see online are head-on, which makes the quilt edge look like a funky extra contour, when in fact it’s just a cool color change.

@smethe You’re totally right that it will end up a forever bass. I love mine and have played many (many) more expensive basses in stores only found a couple that I can say I would “upgrade” to. The 604 (and 504) are just great all around basses at a very reasonable price.

The midrange Yamaha and Ibanez basses are just such a sweet spot for quality versus price. So good.

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See you got a Sansamp and ampeg there too! Bet the combo of all of them with the new bass has a nice sound!

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Well, this is my Schecter Stiletto Stealth. Plays and feels amazing, and I am talking in comparison to basses 2-3 times the price (tried a bunch out at guitar center and went home with this one). Pretty slick in the all Matte Black look.

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Thanks for the reply! Glad to hear there are some Yamaha enthusiasts out there!

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That tube emulation circuitry in the Sansamp sounds so warm, makes the Ampeg sound a lot nicer! I’ve got a Spectracomp compression pedal, too. Combined they sound great!

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I do the cheap versions of both (behringer) and love the combined tone as well!

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Love that matte black, looks great! What kind of strings do you have on it?

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Standard Ernie Ball round. The stealth I think ONLY comes in this color…but I like it a lot so not worried about it.

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That is a good looking bass, one of the models I want to try out

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Everything grabbed me. Looks cool as hell, p-pickups and MM for variety of sound, does sound really good, feels fast and comfortable, even the paint on the neck helps your movement be smooth (sweat doesn’t catch on the neck as much as a polished one). And all that for just under $500! The only thing I might do is upgrade pickups…but even as it is I think it sounds really good.

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Yeah, I definitly like those stilletto body shapes, and the necks on Schecters are awesome. I have never picked up one that didn’t feel like it wanted me to play it. I have played most of them at the Pawn shop I go to, they seem to always have one or two there.
I did have an 06 Elite-5, that felt good like that, but it was a 5 string, and I didn’t play it a whole bunch, and because I have not played much with 5 strings, YET, I can’e YET say that there is a 5 string that feels Just Right, like I can with some 4 strings. I always wanted to find the 4 string version of the 5 string I had, same era, same color (quilted honey burst, awesome orange color, and I love anything orange) The Elite-4.
Closest I found was the Dark Cherry one, and I tried to buy a couple, and had some strange experiences with one I tried to buy.

I ended up deciding to sell one of my 2 5’s, and I couldn’t decide because they both sounded good and felt great, and were both deals, and each was going to make me a healthy profit. So, I listed them both at the same time, with the same asking price, and left if to chance to see which one would be going.
It was either this 06 Schecter Elite-5, or my ESP-LTD B-155, another maker that has basses and necks that just feel RIGHT.

Well, the Schecter sold, leaving me with zero Schecters and 3 ESP-LTD’s.
I sold the Schecter for $350 and it was a $300 profit.
Since I sold one, and am still gong ti probably sell the other, I decided to leave it for sale at $400, and not gonna budge. if it doesn’t go, then it doesn’t go, and if it does, it does. (truth be told, this one felt a little better then the Schecter, and that is saying alot) But if I sell it, I will make $220 profit.

How you ask, well, I got it from a pawn shop, it was missing one knob, and was listed for $280 in the store, but $220 on Offer Up, so when I got there and tested it, I offered $180, and he took it, so, yeah, cool. I do like it, it is a killer blue color.

And the schecters, I got in a package deeal for $400
Schecter Elite-5 - Sold for $350
Cable, Hard Shell Case & Leather Strap. Lets call it $25 value (and that is low)
Hartke 250W bass head - Sold for $100
Hartke 8 x 10 full stack. - Sold for $250
so $700 minus the $400 I put out
$300 profit. Really $325 for the Strap, string and cable, and really at least $50 for the Hard Shell case, so I made out around
$375 to $400 proffit if all said and done.

But back to what I was saying about playing Schecters in pawn shops, and they always feel right. they are not the thinnest, they are about as narrow at the nut, but they feel right, I think the contour is a little different then the Ibanez, making it fit juts a little better in our palm. Same with my EXP / LTD’s, they are not as thin as Ibanez or Yamaha, and might even be just a hair wider at the nut, but the contour really fits my palm well.

And neither are really anything like my Stingrays, only the nut width of 1.5", but everything about it seems different, the radius, the profile and the cnotour, but it is the nut width and contour that makes it feel so good in my hand. it is a little fuller then both the Schecter and LTD, but I love how it fits, almost best in my hands. I think of what I have played that feel best.

SBMM Ray 4 or Ray24, or EBMM Sterling or EBMM SLO SPECIAL
And the sterling by mm, they may not be exact the same as the EBMM Sterling, and still not exactly the same as the EBMM SLO Special, but they are all close enough to make my hands happy

Next, LTD and Schecters take runner up. I think if I had to pick one I would go LTD, I just have had more of them and have more experience with them, but I would have a hard time scoring the Schecter considerably lower, if any olwer at all, cuz, I love the ones I have played. thing is, there are alot more Schecter Models, with alot more Schecter necks, that I have never tried, and while there are planey LTD I have not tried, I have covered the span of their offerings a little better, if you follow what I am saying
But, I love them close enough to equally that neither would have to live in my closet.

Coming in at 3re and rounding up this little post from nowhere, would be Ibanez and even Yamaha. Again, i have owned a few Ibanez from the GSR 200 to the SR300 and SR400, and even have a GSRM20 Mikro. I loved learning (starting ) on the GSR 200, which is s little thicker, and even a tiny bit wider I beleive. It is a full mm thicker at the neck and body I beleive, but the nut width and string spacing I think is the same. so when I got the SR, it was thinner and faster, and being fresh to playing, thinking I needed bigger fingers and longer reach and a neck that almost is not there for me to be able to play anything good at all, I thought the SR was the closest thing to that.
I can’t say I like Yamaha as good as Ibanez, cuz I really have not been able to play many of them, and really am limited to the RBX 170. it is narrow and it is thin, and I beleive it is really close to the TRBX neck, but I think the TRBX is a little narrow, and about 1 mm thinner then the RBX, like the SR is to the GSXR, but I would have to look that up to verify.
And I think the SR neck to the TRBX is slightly thinner, with a different contour, it is almost flat across, while the RBX (IIRC) was a little more round (which normally I prefer), but it was the only one I really got to play, and I would have to say that while it still is 3rd place on my list, that is is the lower thrid, and Ibanez is the Upper 3rd (like lower mids and upper mids)
Both Ibanez has RTB and Burner or something like that series, some from the 80’s, 90’s that I have not been able to play, and I thing they are a little more traditional in the sense when thinking P bass or J bass necks, and some lines have wider thicker necks and some more narrow thick necks, etc…
Plus theYamaha has the BB line (from now and the early 2000’s, if not dating back into the 90’s, and I think they have other lines from past as well, and same, I have not had a chance to play any, and can’t include them in this rating.

That is what is nice about the LTd, and a little lesser, the Schecter, and the SBMM and EBMM, I have spread a few lines of each, and still can say the necks grabbed me, and with SBMM and EBMM, they make kneck like this, or this, or this, and this bass gets this, until it goes BFR and gets Thas, lol. and the Ray4 and Ray24 are not gonna change from what their neck is.
So it is not suprising itis my favorite

1 - Sterling, SLO and RAY4 or Ray24 necks equally are first IMHO
2 and 2.5- LTD - Schecter
3 and 3.5. - Ibanez SR and Yamaha RBX and TRBX

I don’t expect everybody to find the SBMM or EBMM necks to be top choice, and there are otehr necks by them, for the Ray Classic, Ray Special and Ray34, tat have a much wider neck at the nut, and I am not a big fan of them,
however, I have found that with the string spacing at 20mm, I play cleaner notes when I roll between strings faster. Who would have ever thunk it, not I said the fly one the wall, or
fly in the
fly in the
Fly in the
Ointment

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Just dusted my baby after some years. I got my MIM Fender Jazz in 2008/2009. I didn’t think about getting a professional set up back then, but recently did thanks to this course. It plays wonderfully now and sounds great with the Fender Rumble 25 amp!

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Very nice, @beaurapp . . . great that you got it set up, too!

Can’t go wrong with a Jazz . . . but then, I’m a bit biased :wink:

Cheers
Joe

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