Model Year: 2006
Price: $499.99 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center

Okay, this is my first review.Hopefully I will learn a thing or two from some of you out there. -To my knowledge the body and neck are maple -2 active pickups -3 band EQ - My Bass is decked out in the Black controls and bridge -The tuners are not locking, but they are outstanding!

I have the action set very low for the different style I go through in one show. The bolt on neck has not given me any trouble as of yet. I get a little buzz but I know that comes with the territory of low action. This is the lightest and easiest to control bass I have ever played. The only thing I would change is the ditancebetween the pickups and the strings.

I use the bass with a behringer 450 watt amp and 2-10 cabinets It sounds wonderful. The sound is incredibly full and warm. I haven't played on many basses that sound or feel this. The Peavy Cirrus is the closest. The bass is a tad bit noisy and extremely powerful. I have had some trouble with the BP80 digitech pedal. I don't know if this is right or not, but it seems to overcompress it for some reason. If anyone knows anything I could be doing wrong please contact me. Thanks in advance!

I am very hard on my equipment. The clear coat on the boday has with stood a bit of punishment and keeps on ticking. I had the intonation set when I purchased the bass and I have not had much of a problem as of yet. I added strap locks to the bass and they are doing great! (GOD knows that the bass would be in a million pieces by now without strap locks...lol)

Model Year: 1998
Price: $325.00 GBP
Where Obtained: Ebay

The TRB-4ii is made in Japan (unlike most other Yamaha's that are Taiwanese). It has an ash body which is bigger and generally more substantial than other Yamaha models (and heavier). The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard, bolt on with substantail 6-bolt arrangement. Hardware is the usual stuff found on most higher end Yamaha basses and there's nothing wrong with that, all good quality. Gold finish, which is a matter of personal taste. Mine is finished in a translucent blue, again, of very high quality. The pickups are big soapbar style things in a j-bass configuration, they are marked Yamaha. I have read that they are of the phantom coil variety (ie, they cancel the hum but only one coil picks up the sound so you still get the traditional j-bass sound). As well as the volume and blend knobs it has bass, mid, and treble controls (on smaller knobs) with cut and boost on each acheived by a reasonably advanced active circuit with voltage regulation (single 9V battery).

Very very good. It was possible to obtain a very low action and the intonation is excellent accross the range (often not the case on 2-octave instruments). The neck is really very similar to a fender precision with wide string spacing and may not suit people with small hands. All in all quite a big beefy instrument especially compared to Yamaha's other offerings. I like it a lot! The only slight oddity is the weird angle that the jack emerges from the edge of the body. Even after several months I still find it a bit hit and miss getting the lead in.

I play all sorts of styles and the TRB suits them all. The active electronics are highly versatile without being at all fussy. It is very, very quiet unless you really crank up the treble and even then it is ok. Truly a bass for all seasons. It just works!!

Gives the impression of being totally bullet-proof. All parts are substantial, well made and well finished. It is quite clearly a 'pro' instrument and meant for heavy use.