I am a novice player, with 4 basses now (Fender, Ibanez, Schecter), but kept reading many articles about this bass. It was on my list for a while and it arrived 2 days ago. I bought the black gloss, which has a tiger maple look under the gloss-and I view this as beautiful. The bass is heavier than my others and has some neck drop, but the controls are all spot on sensitive and adjustable to what sound/tone I am looking for. The piece arrived with round wound strings and I prefer tape wound and am switching them out. Even so, the action is smooth; the bass tone is throaty with the round wounds. The active/passive switch still has me a bit puzzled, but I am liking the passive sound a bit more at the early stage, as the tone is more passive-not as bold. I adjusted the action just a little bit closer to the fretboard and got a clean and throaty sound. The pickups are spaced far enough apart that the controls do adjust between them nicely; that is, in center toward the neck more or more toward the action end. They are indeed sensitive, more so than either of my fenders. The controls can be set in the middle/neutral or to cut or boost each , from bass to middle to treble. There is a pickup balance control as well and that is nice for the obvious. The master volume control has a lot of range built in, so I needed to spend a lot of time on my amp (Behringer BXL 3000) to reduce an echo effect. The bass is just strikingly beautiful. The back of the neck is a lighter maple and the body, the gloss black I chose, is stunning with the tiger maple faint striping (very faint but still distinct). I am thrilled with this bass and heartily recommend it. At the local guitar stores, comparable basses I have tried go for many hundred more, and didn't have the look or the sound this one does. Buy it.
Okay seriously, for the price, this bass is excellent! It looks and feels excellent. It sounds great too. I was surprised when there was no pickup switch but then realized the control knobs adjust the mix. I can't imagine a better bass anywhere in this range. I play guitar but needed/wanted a bass. I'm perfectly pleased with this bass guitar and recommend it to anyone.
I mostly play traditional passive Fender P’s and J’s these days, having fallen out of love with Musicman and the longhair neck-through designs. So this is an unlikely bass for me to buy as its active with a pair of Musicman-style fat pole buckers. But I was intrigued by the YouTube coverage of this model, wanted something different, and when Amazon Warehouse had one marked down nearly half I had to give it a whirl. Sometimes the scratch and dent are beyond repair but in this case it was just a tiny ding on the headstock I will probably do worse within a year. And the bass? Wow! Once set up this is like a 5 string P tone, nothing like a Warwick or other active overhyped junk. But it’s really flexible in that, unlike a J, you can blend the pickups freely without hum (there is some white noise on all settings but not so awful). And the EQ setup is great: I’m always amused at people complaining there’s no mid knob. Well with bass and treble knobs you control the mids with the volume pot. Better yet, the 5 way switch is best thought of as another EQ control. All the other knobs remain functional, and I prefer to think of it as a choice of mid notch or treble rolloff, with the extreme settings for each best on the bridge pickup. I wouldn’t think “Pick” and “Finger” etc like they label it. Just view it as another EQ mode you can tune with the other knobs. The 500/600 upgrades to this model I haven’t tried but they offer Alnico 5 pups and a passive mode. First of all, I don’t hear the smashing plates grating that ceramic pups often suffer from here on the 305. In fact a bit brighter sound may be called for on this P-style tone. And second of all, the passive mode on active-designed basses has typically disappointed me. I think it’s mostly there to reassure people wanting the option. I don’t miss upgrading but you might try them. For newbies to active basses, you have to unplug the cable at the bass jack to turn the battery off. Which is hard to remember to do when the bass is this fun to work! I should have bought this first but then I might have only ended up with one bass.
Yamaha makes fine instruments. I have purchased many Yamaha acoustic guitars, basses, trumpets and saxophones and I have never been disappointed with the quality and performance. This new bass is setup well and plays very good with the active or passive signals. The fit an finish is better than my MIM and MIA Fender Jazz basses.
I mainly play a fretless bass but I like to play a fretted bass at times. My old fretted bass is worn out and spending 2k on an instrument that isn't my main go to bass is not something I'm going to do. This Yamaha is a great bass. The finish is perfect. Even in the hole to adjust the truss rod. I got the translucent black and It's a very black matte look. The frets are not super polished but are not sharp or sloppy. They play really nice, stand tall, and are capable of a wide variety of tones with different playing stlyes. The 5 piece neck is really playable. I'm really digging it. Mine is perfectly adjusted right out of the box. Tuning pegs have a really cool gunmetal finish and are adjustable if the ever get sloppy. Bridge is the same gunmetal finish and isn't high mass but it's not flimsy like the stock fender and it is the standard 5 screw type if I ever decided to change it. I don't think I'll do it anytime soon. The sustain resonates so well. Maybe better than my pricey fretless. I'm really into the mahogany body. Mine came with the intonation setup perfectly. It shipped detuned as it should've. All I did was stretch the string and tune it. Man do these electronics shine. I've got to spend some more time really learning the controls but I was able to dial in a few tones I wanted to try immediately. My first impression of the strings is that they really suck. Maybe that's true but they do play well and they're not dead but I bought a set of my favorite strings that I'll get on when I get sick of these. Overall I got a lot more bass than I expected for the money. A beginner could really grow into this and more advanced players should be quite satisfied.
I love this bass. I own a music venue and play the acoustic guitar. My guitar is a Martin and it was a lot more expensive than this guitar but I have no desire to buy a more expensive bass. It has great tone and I love the build quality. Do not hesitate to purchase this instrument. It rocks.
I have been playing this bass for several months now, and although I am relatively amateur at the instrument, I have been very impressed with the quality of the sound and the craftsmanship. The body of the bass is nothing fancy, but that is expected given the very reasonable price. The electronics seem top notch (which makes sense given Yamaha's reputation). Overall, I would highly recommend this no-nonsense bass for anyone looking to start out playing bass without spending your retirement savings on it.
I'm new to bass but not to stringed fretted instruments and this bass is an amazing value. The quality of construction is excellent and the range of tones it can produce makes it incredibly versatile. I got the black body which looks great with the dark rosewood fretboard. The only thing to be aware of is that the first one I received came in a very damaged box - it was like Nearly Headless Nick and had been taped back together. I returned it and the replacement came in excellent shape. The return was hassle free so I wouldn't hesitate to order an instrument from Amazon again.
this bass sound amazing for the price and the switch select allow you to switch from solo to finger, to flat, to pick, to slap bass, so you can be cover on any style of music you want to play giving you the right equalization at all time, the only thing i which will be included on this bass is a passive mode so if the battery die you can continue playing until you replace the dead 9v battery, out of the box mine need some adjustment so the string don't buzz, if you don't feel comfortable doing it your self you can take it to guitar center and they will set for you, also i recommend new strings with the bass, the ones that come with it are fine but with some D’Addario Tapewound Bass strings sound deeper.
I had an acoustic electric bass that I thought would be good to play in a big setting like a church. The sound was horrible on that one, so I decided to look around for a replacement. I came across this Yamaha at a good price point. The EQ/sound features sounded interesting and they do actually make a difference in the sound. I like the quality of the bass. It is not a heavy bass. I love the Mist Green color as everyone thinkss it is some kind of Grey. I think this was a good choice in a bass I practice with and use a few times a month at the church.
Tammy Ranae Meyer
It was worth waiting for.
I am a novice player, with 4 basses now (Fender, Ibanez, Schecter), but kept reading many articles about this bass. It was on my list for a while and it arrived 2 days ago. I bought the black gloss, which has a tiger maple look under the gloss-and I view this as beautiful. The bass is heavier than my others and has some neck drop, but the controls are all spot on sensitive and adjustable to what sound/tone I am looking for. The piece arrived with round wound strings and I prefer tape wound and am switching them out. Even so, the action is smooth; the bass tone is throaty with the round wounds. The active/passive switch still has me a bit puzzled, but I am liking the passive sound a bit more at the early stage, as the tone is more passive-not as bold. I adjusted the action just a little bit closer to the fretboard and got a clean and throaty sound. The pickups are spaced far enough apart that the controls do adjust between them nicely; that is, in center toward the neck more or more toward the action end. They are indeed sensitive, more so than either of my fenders. The controls can be set in the middle/neutral or to cut or boost each , from bass to middle to treble. There is a pickup balance control as well and that is nice for the obvious. The master volume control has a lot of range built in, so I needed to spend a lot of time on my amp (Behringer BXL 3000) to reduce an echo effect. The bass is just strikingly beautiful. The back of the neck is a lighter maple and the body, the gloss black I chose, is stunning with the tiger maple faint striping (very faint but still distinct). I am thrilled with this bass and heartily recommend it. At the local guitar stores, comparable basses I have tried go for many hundred more, and didn't have the look or the sound this one does. Buy it.
Sharon Tribe
Super bass guitar
Okay seriously, for the price, this bass is excellent! It looks and feels excellent. It sounds great too. I was surprised when there was no pickup switch but then realized the control knobs adjust the mix. I can't imagine a better bass anywhere in this range. I play guitar but needed/wanted a bass. I'm perfectly pleased with this bass guitar and recommend it to anyone.
Maria Lopez
Wow! Could be a primary for any professional!
I mostly play traditional passive Fender P’s and J’s these days, having fallen out of love with Musicman and the longhair neck-through designs. So this is an unlikely bass for me to buy as its active with a pair of Musicman-style fat pole buckers. But I was intrigued by the YouTube coverage of this model, wanted something different, and when Amazon Warehouse had one marked down nearly half I had to give it a whirl. Sometimes the scratch and dent are beyond repair but in this case it was just a tiny ding on the headstock I will probably do worse within a year. And the bass? Wow! Once set up this is like a 5 string P tone, nothing like a Warwick or other active overhyped junk. But it’s really flexible in that, unlike a J, you can blend the pickups freely without hum (there is some white noise on all settings but not so awful). And the EQ setup is great: I’m always amused at people complaining there’s no mid knob. Well with bass and treble knobs you control the mids with the volume pot. Better yet, the 5 way switch is best thought of as another EQ control. All the other knobs remain functional, and I prefer to think of it as a choice of mid notch or treble rolloff, with the extreme settings for each best on the bridge pickup. I wouldn’t think “Pick” and “Finger” etc like they label it. Just view it as another EQ mode you can tune with the other knobs. The 500/600 upgrades to this model I haven’t tried but they offer Alnico 5 pups and a passive mode. First of all, I don’t hear the smashing plates grating that ceramic pups often suffer from here on the 305. In fact a bit brighter sound may be called for on this P-style tone. And second of all, the passive mode on active-designed basses has typically disappointed me. I think it’s mostly there to reassure people wanting the option. I don’t miss upgrading but you might try them. For newbies to active basses, you have to unplug the cable at the bass jack to turn the battery off. Which is hard to remember to do when the bass is this fun to work! I should have bought this first but then I might have only ended up with one bass.
Alex Loredo
Yamaha makes very fine instruments.
Yamaha makes fine instruments. I have purchased many Yamaha acoustic guitars, basses, trumpets and saxophones and I have never been disappointed with the quality and performance. This new bass is setup well and plays very good with the active or passive signals. The fit an finish is better than my MIM and MIA Fender Jazz basses.
Martie June
I can't understand the hate
I mainly play a fretless bass but I like to play a fretted bass at times. My old fretted bass is worn out and spending 2k on an instrument that isn't my main go to bass is not something I'm going to do. This Yamaha is a great bass. The finish is perfect. Even in the hole to adjust the truss rod. I got the translucent black and It's a very black matte look. The frets are not super polished but are not sharp or sloppy. They play really nice, stand tall, and are capable of a wide variety of tones with different playing stlyes. The 5 piece neck is really playable. I'm really digging it. Mine is perfectly adjusted right out of the box. Tuning pegs have a really cool gunmetal finish and are adjustable if the ever get sloppy. Bridge is the same gunmetal finish and isn't high mass but it's not flimsy like the stock fender and it is the standard 5 screw type if I ever decided to change it. I don't think I'll do it anytime soon. The sustain resonates so well. Maybe better than my pricey fretless. I'm really into the mahogany body. Mine came with the intonation setup perfectly. It shipped detuned as it should've. All I did was stretch the string and tune it. Man do these electronics shine. I've got to spend some more time really learning the controls but I was able to dial in a few tones I wanted to try immediately. My first impression of the strings is that they really suck. Maybe that's true but they do play well and they're not dead but I bought a set of my favorite strings that I'll get on when I get sick of these. Overall I got a lot more bass than I expected for the money. A beginner could really grow into this and more advanced players should be quite satisfied.
Pankaj Kumar
Quality instrument with great tone.
I love this bass. I own a music venue and play the acoustic guitar. My guitar is a Martin and it was a lot more expensive than this guitar but I have no desire to buy a more expensive bass. It has great tone and I love the build quality. Do not hesitate to purchase this instrument. It rocks.
Diana Rose Moffitt
I would highly recommend this no-nonsense bass for anyone looking to start out ...
I have been playing this bass for several months now, and although I am relatively amateur at the instrument, I have been very impressed with the quality of the sound and the craftsmanship. The body of the bass is nothing fancy, but that is expected given the very reasonable price. The electronics seem top notch (which makes sense given Yamaha's reputation). Overall, I would highly recommend this no-nonsense bass for anyone looking to start out playing bass without spending your retirement savings on it.
Catherine Alshalabi
Great sounding and great range of tones
I'm new to bass but not to stringed fretted instruments and this bass is an amazing value. The quality of construction is excellent and the range of tones it can produce makes it incredibly versatile. I got the black body which looks great with the dark rosewood fretboard. The only thing to be aware of is that the first one I received came in a very damaged box - it was like Nearly Headless Nick and had been taped back together. I returned it and the replacement came in excellent shape. The return was hassle free so I wouldn't hesitate to order an instrument from Amazon again.
Sminer Codef
sound
this bass sound amazing for the price and the switch select allow you to switch from solo to finger, to flat, to pick, to slap bass, so you can be cover on any style of music you want to play giving you the right equalization at all time, the only thing i which will be included on this bass is a passive mode so if the battery die you can continue playing until you replace the dead 9v battery, out of the box mine need some adjustment so the string don't buzz, if you don't feel comfortable doing it your self you can take it to guitar center and they will set for you, also i recommend new strings with the bass, the ones that come with it are fine but with some D’Addario Tapewound Bass strings sound deeper.
Stella Manion
Pretty nice for the price
I had an acoustic electric bass that I thought would be good to play in a big setting like a church. The sound was horrible on that one, so I decided to look around for a replacement. I came across this Yamaha at a good price point. The EQ/sound features sounded interesting and they do actually make a difference in the sound. I like the quality of the bass. It is not a heavy bass. I love the Mist Green color as everyone thinkss it is some kind of Grey. I think this was a good choice in a bass I practice with and use a few times a month at the church.