Yamaha TRBX604FM Bass Guitar - Matte Amber Reviews

As a long time guitar player, I've always enjoyed the sound of the electric bass guitar. Now that I have more time to explore different musical avenues, I decided to buy one, and after researching and playing several models, I settled on the Yamaha. TRBX604FM. It turned out to be a great choice - Excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail, very comfortable to play, great looks, but best of all is the sound! The active equalizer enables an amazingly wide range of tones, including an incredibly accurate reproduction of an upright acoustic, perfect for jazz. This is an excellent value.

Thank you Sweetwater for an incredible bass. Thank you for your 55-point inspection. When I got the bass, the first brand new bass I have owned btw, I thought I was going to be in for some work when it got here. I was dead wrong. Even when I put new slightly higher gauge strings on it, the intonation was right on. String height, no fret buzz. Speaking of frets...smooth and not one sharp edge. I couldn't be happier right now with this bass. I was used to my Ibanez with the Big S 4 nordstrands, which are bright.

I played this TRBX604 and the tone...the one was warm, vintage, and still punch through. I can't wait to play it at church. From payment to my door, two days...just two days. Thank you for the free shipping and it was packed nice and tight. Great job all the way around. Thank you for this bass. Thank you for taking the time to perfect it and pack it and get it to me so quickly. This is my first purchase with Sweetwater.

I just received my Bass on this past Monday. Last night I had band practice and played it for the first time. Sound and playability are awesome. I have a nice American P-Bass that I normally use but I think it will be sitting it's case quite a bit now. Highly recommend this guitar.

Outstanding build quality. Fabulous fit & finish. Plays beautifully!! My favorite feature on this instrument is the ability to go from active to passive with the flip of a switch. Great tones from the alder body. I could go on but you get the idea. Very happy with this purchase.

First off my experience with sweetwater has been excellent. Upon getting this bass i did have some small issues. The neck is so thin i had to play with truss rod a few times. Seems like i would set it and jam, then next day do it all over again. This happened a few times. Very sensitive to temperature change as far as truss rod and staying in tune. The good about this bass is it sounds fantastic. Get any sound you want with these pickups. Briidge pickup with active on and bass cranked and highs turned down sounds just like musicman stingray. Awesome tone. Took some time to get used to the small fret marker inlays. Cant see them at playing angle because behind strings. This is a beautiful looking and sounding bass. Very pleased and sweetwater was excellent.

I have found the entire range of Yamaha Bass guitars be very good value for the money and this bass in no exception.
It is beautifully made, and the enhancements to the TRBX range make is a very desirable instrument. Not only
does it look amazing, but the new voiceing for the active pickups is very versitile. Having the active passive mode
is almost like having two different instruments. While this bass it's own unique sound the pick ups give a nice range
between thump and nasal, the active pickup mode gives you a nice tight modern sound. The new woods give the
bass a nice even tone across the neck, everything feels solid and is nicely finished. If you are starting out, or have
been playing for a while this bass is well worth considering, Clean, quiet and beefy.

First, I have to say that this is the best bass I have ever played. I have owned several high dollar and very high dollar basses in my playing history and this one rules over them all. The playability and tone are without peer! Mine is an amber one, 8 lbs even. The neck on this bass is not to be believed, very smooth and fast and the preamp/amp combo sounds like a friends Alembic. Very cool! It is true, this is two basses in one; when played passive with the back pickup selected you get Jaco's "Bass of Doom" tone. Want John Entwistle's latter-day tone, go to active mode. One thing, if your technique is less than excellent this bass will expose you, so get you chops together. I like the fact that there is not alot of sticky finish on this bass, it breathes and I can feel it vibrate when I play it. This bass is an absolute bargain. I hope they come out with a fretless.

You just have to watch the videos with James Lomenza, to hear how great these things sound. But the build quailty for the money is wonderful. Yamaha is a huge company, they have their own factories. These aren't made FOR them, they're made BY them. That's why they're such a bargain.
I liked my 604 so much, I bought a TRBX 305 as well. A wonderful bass, for very little money.

As a guitar player, I have always found using a standard bass guitar frustrating. They feel too long, hang awkwardly on the body, etc, etc.. I have tried other short-scale basses and was not impressed with the quality of the workmanship that I found. This Yamaha however is a brilliant little beast. Having the option to choose between passive and active pickup configurations was icing on the cake, but this guitar delivers a solid sonic punch in passive mode. I am always impressed with Yamaha's quality and price point. Now, if we could just convince them to reenter the super strat arena with this quality mindset they have...

I have had a variety of basses over the years including fenders and rics, ibbys... This is an amazing bass that gets me so many compliments you would not believe it. Other bass players, sound people ect... They want to know what it is ("Is that an Alembic) Can't say enough good things about it it gets any and every tone. Lightweight and looks amazing nothing about it feels cheap. The neck is perfect..fatter than an ibanez but way thinner than a p bass. I never write reviews but I know how hard it is for people to buy stuff online so hopefully this helps someone. Love it, at this price its incredible and also not so rediculously expensive I worry about taking it to clubs. Came set up from sweetwater ready to go. One of my best musical purchases ever

I've had this bass about three weeks now, and it's definitely growing on me. It took me some time and effort to get the action set just right, but it was worth it. For this baby to be what it was meant to be (fast and easy), the action needs to be really low, especially on the G string. If you're into slapping and popping, it just doesn't fly on this bass if it's set even a little bit too high. But even if you're not into that, this bass becomes too stiff and formal for my taste with a high, tight action. Tone-wise, this thing is super versatile in both active and passive mode, but especially in active. Just orienting between the pickups creates a lot of variety. The tone is naturally bright and crisp, but it's got some good bottom end, though I wouldn't mind a little more in that respect. I also wouldn't mind a little more sustain, but I can't say it's really lacking in that department, just not outstanding. It is an outstanding bass when it comes to speed, precision, and almost effortless playability. It's hard to put down. The neck is very thin for a bass, and this one might not be for you if you're into pounding it, digging in deep, or you just like that chunky, sturdy feel of a thick neck. You can get a very modern, almost keyboard-like sound out of this bass, and adding in a little chorus/reverb will make this baby sing. But it can get nasty. Just put it in active mode, dial out all the mids and highs, set the bass knob about halfway, and play angry. I have been getting a little background fuzz in passive mode, but I'm not sure if that's the bass or my amp. In active, it's dead quiet unless you're making noise on purpose. Overall, I'd say this is a keeper. But if Yamaha's thinking about putting out a TRBX704, they might consider an upgraded, higher mass bridge or maybe individual saddles and a string-through design. And they might try to get a little more low-end boost in the active preamp. Just some suggestions.

this is a beautiful instrument, however the switch is fragile, in the span of a year Ive replaced it three times, and recently one of my tuning pegs has broken. Im not sure if Im extra rough with my instrument of the hardware it comes with is set to fail. beware when purchasing. The switch is a quick and easy fix at home if youre capable of soldering, first time I had mine fixed I went to the music store, it was $55 and it broke the next week. Now shopping for new tuning pegs, not sure if there is a more durable replacement option or if i should get the same style.

I bought this new from Sweetwater. I have to preface this by saying I have had several Yamaha TRB series basses over the years. Why they discontinued that model is beyond me because it was a perfect platform. I was hoping this model was as flawless. It is not. First off this bass is not made in Japan. It is made in Indonesia. Quite a difference in quality right there. The finish is fairly dull and lack luster to me however it seems to be fairly maintenance free as far as keeping it clean. When I received mine right out of the box the strings clacked everywhere up and down the fretboard and would not stay in tune. The pickups had a terrible over ring and I almost returned his bass. I felt the strings that came on this were shot so I took the strings off and decided to put on my go to Fedora bass strings. Once I had the strings off I discovered the reason for all the sting clacking. On my bass there were 5 frets that stuck up unbelievably high either all the way across the entire fret or on the low "E" side or the "G" side. A really poor fret jobI had to do a complete fret level. Not what I've come to expect from Yamaha. The truss rod was way out also so I had to do a complete set up. The intonation was terrible. I think I moved every saddle towards the nut at least an eighth of an inch. The tuners were all loose and all that had to be tightened down. O.K. so it's ready to go and the way it should have been when it came to me in the fist place.
The neck is comfortable and fast. The actives I find a bit touchy and I like the active bypass switch although I do not care for the passive sound of this bass. The pickups came almost touching the strings which was the reason for the over ring. Once put in their proper place they produce a pleasant enough sound although for as massive as these pickups appear I would not call the sound they produce massive. The TRB soapbar pickups were much superior. I did buy the Yamaha case for this bass also which I found overpriced and much bigger than it has to be. Overall you get what you pay for I suppose but if you make an instrument it should at least arrive to the end user in playable adjustment free condition which is how I used to receive things from Yamaha. The quest to produce things cheaper is going to cost them their reputation because there are cheaper basses out there that do it much better.