Hello all. I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on a Fender Player P-bass. I’ve always liked (but not loved) Fender. I do see a lot of love for Yamaha basses here and I get it. My big issue is noise. Most of my playing is down in my basement where the single coil hum drives me mad. I have an Ibanez bass with humbucker and all my guitars are humbucker or noiseless single coil. In the price range of a MIM P-bass, any Yamaha options? Thanks in advance to this awesome community. Scott
PS - Finished with Module 11 B2B
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The current TRBX line are humbuckers with excellent pickups, highly recommend. I would suggest the 504.
Most of the BB’s are P/J but some are P only. If you found noise an issue with them ypu could always dial fully to the P pickup. The BB’s also have outstanding pickups. I would recommend the BB734A as one of the best basses you can buy at any price below $2000-ish; if it is too expensive, the 434 is a solid option too.
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Thanks so much for the information. That is helpful. I’ll go play both the TRBX504 and the BB734A. I appreciate it!
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Happy to help!
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So would this be kinda accurate → TRBX = P-Bass and BB = Jazz Bass?
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no if anything the opposite
But really they are both different
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The TRBX 304/504/604 have humbuckers and the BB 234/434/734 are P/J roughly speaking. The humbuckers on the TRBX aren’t going to sound like Musicman’s. They’ve got a more modern sound, @Morkai uses a 604 pretty regularly. I have yet to play a 734, but the 434 have solid pickups in them. They punch above their pricetag imo, but if you can swing it I’d go 734. They’ve got much nicer pickups and have the active preamp… and punch way, way above their pricetag.
@howard Do they make P basses currently? I thought it was the trbx’s (ignoring the 174’s for now) with humbuckers and the BB’s all had P/J? Some of the older BB line, that you can find on reverb for reasonable prices are P basses. I got an old 300, which is neat with the reverse P set up on them for… $400 bucks in perfect shape.
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All their BB line currently is PJ. Curiously enough, it’s becoming increasingly harder to find the BB234 in store in Canada and it’s back ordered with Yamaha Canada. Don’t know if that means they’re not making enough of them to meet demand or Yamaha is planning to phase it out for a new series.
More on topic, the J pickup on mine hums quite a lot past 50% too so I’m seriously considering swapping it out, cause other than that, I love the instrument!
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Thanks. A pickup swap out could work too. Sounds like I “need” both a TRBX and a BB
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Awesome stuff. I rarely get any hum playing in the store, but home is a different story. I will check them out.
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That’s the nature of single coil pickups, they’re going to hum unless you use two at similar levels or get noiseless pups.
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Yeah you’re right, that’s why I’m saying I might end up getting a humbucking J.
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