Yamaha Attitude LTD II

Similar to the other Billy Sheehan Attitude basses. Has a P-pickup and a humbucker at the neck position. Two volume knobs and a tone knob for the neck pickup with a push-pull high frequency cut. The p-bass volume knob is push-pull. Pushed, it sends each pickup to a different output jack (there are 2 of them) and pullled either jcak has a mix of both pickups, like a npormal bass. I gove it a 9 beacuse I would like tone control for both pickups, but this is easily fixed...see below.

First off, I am a P-NUT. I have been playing bass for over 25 years. I mostly go to jam sessions these days and I always come back to P-Basses and this is the best, especially for something built out of such a young piece of wood. There is no substitute for an old piece of wood that has been played for 30+ years. My main P-Basses these days a are a 59???, 73??? and a newish 5-String American standard with a few extra winds on the pickup courtesy of Lindy Fralin. I play them through an Aguilar 680 preamp, Aguilar 728 power amp, BBE sonic maximize and Eden 410 XST cabs. I have not just played but owned, Sadowsky, Lakland and Mike Lull P-basses, but I sold all of them after a year, because the depth of sound just doesn???t stand up to my 59??? and 73??? and I always ended up getting frustrated with them, even though they were fine instruments. They don???t have enough of that P-Bass grunt with buttery mids. So why is the LTD II main bass these days, one reason and one reason only the tone is huuuuge. I have two major comments on the bass. Don???t buy this bass because you want to pretend you are Billy Sheehan, but it because of its tone and make it your own, your own rig, style etc and you won???t be disappointed. Second, I have read a lot of legitimate complaints about neck dive, difficulty slapping, thicker neck and lack of tone control on the bridge pickup. All of this is easily fixable, and believe me I can do it you can too.

To my first point, don???t pretend you are Billy Sheehan. I have lots of amps, but even in my guitar room I rarely play with two and I certainly don???t gig or go to jam sessions with two. If you have a stereo preamp then you do have some more options with the dual outputs. I really like the neck pickup, but I like it sparingly and roll it off a bit. To set it up I put the neck pickup on full and roll up the neck pick up just to the point where you hear it slightly change the tone, but barely. Maple fretboards are tough for me, I like the liveliness but they just sound harsh, by rolling on the neck pick pickup it takes out that harshness, warms it up and keeps the liveliness and I absolutely loooove the tone. You don???t need to amps for amazing tone with this guitar.

If it hasn't come out in the above paragraphs, the amount of tone you get from this base is unreal and it cuts through the mix like a cannon. If you want tone this is it! The key to this instrument is findoing your own voice and not trying to pretend you are Billy Sheehan.

Great neck, rock silid and wonderful action.
Nice smooth Hipshot tuners.
Mine is lava red and it is a beautiful color. It is similar to a Fender candy apple red but with a bit more sparkle.
I am very impressed with Yamaha and their workmanship.

Some people have issues with the layout of this bass, but they are easily fixed and definitely come under the category "If I can do it you can too"

Neck dive, yes there is. So take the bottom strap pin, move it 3-4 inches away from the G-string up the side, add a straplock and patch the tiny hole. Yes there will be a small blemish in your guitar. The only basses you keep are the good ones because you play them. All good basses become old basses and all old basses get dinged up. Not buying this bass because you are worried about neck dive is crazy.
Hard to slap with???yes it is. Remember the first time you tried to slap? You weren???t too good at it because it was a new technique. You can slap on this bass it just takes practice. However this is easily fixed to. I took my Dremel tool and routed out the wood under the neck pickup and put it flush the pickguard. For me this is no problem because I use only a bit of the neck pickup in my mix and even with the pickup that low you still get the full dynamic range that it can provide. Personally I don???t think you need to lower it all the way down, but I experimented with it a bit and it is most comfortable when it is all the way down and still gave me the tone I want. The second issue with slapping is the neck volume knob is a bit close to where your hand will be. To me it isn???t terrible, but is annoying, so I traced out a new pock guard and moved the top two knobs down. Slapping is a breeze now. When I was in my garage cutting through my bass I was feeling a little nostalgic thinking of Billy Sheehan routing out his bass adding the pickup for the first time. After all this bass is based off a super modified instrument, so why not add my own twist to it.
My last issue was the tone knob. There is one and it only works for the neck pickup, no the P-pickup. This is rough because that amazing pickup absolutely needs some good passive rolloff. It is hard to control it all at the amp and if you are plugging into a house system where they DI you instead of micing you, the sound guy will just totally hose your tone. Personally I don???t know why or understand why one needs tone control at the neck pickup especially because I use the neck pickup sparingly. It???s treble is easily controlled at the amp. So I moved the tone control to the P-pickup and it is waaaay better now. This also falls into the if I can do it so can you category. There is a white wire attached to the middle pin on the neck volume pot, move it to the middle pin on the p-bass volume pot.
Last, it is not a small neck. I???ve been playing P-basses for a long time so I am use to non-skinny neck. IMO it is not much more chunky than a standard P-bass neck. I think the neck feels solid and If you own a five string it is definitely smaller. I have small hands and I got use to it.
So yes there are some issues with the bass but they are all super easy to fix and once you do it is worth it because it sings like no other P-bass in existence has the tone this bass does.

This is a keeper. I have some wonderful vintage and modern instruments. I never thought I would say this, biut this IS my main bass. Just remember that you are not Billy Sheehan so find your own voice with this instrument and If there is something you don't like about the layout of the instreument, change it, because Billy would :) It's worth it i nthe end.