Yamaha Attitude Limited

This bass was made in 2006. Made in japan. 21 frets, the last five are scalloped. Passive EBO style neck and p-style middle pickups are Dimarzio Willpower. Volume for each pickup and one tone control, for the neck pickup only. Tone has has push/pull switch for deeper sound. Middle pickup volume has stereo/mono push/pull. Hipshot D-tuner. Alder body and THICK maple neck! The neck joint alows for easy access to the high frets. Brass bridge and Schaller (I think)tuners.

I'm using it in a blues rock power trio. We do everything from Allman Bros to Grand Funk and in between. This bass has a huge sound that's perfect for filling up the band. Very rich and full. The p bass pickup is actually pretty bright and the EBo just adds tons of fat bottom end. Thought Id miss not having a bridge pickup, but the sound has plenty of note definition without. Slap sound is really good, although the technique takes some practice due to the EBO pickup. It can be done, though. I must say the tone is really inspirational for me!!

Bought used on Ebay so I can't comment on the factory setup. The neck is pretty thick, but I've got her tweeked pretty low with no fret buzz at all. Neck dive is a little bit of an issue with mine, but a good strap has taken care of that. I usually use basses with thinner necks, but this one hasn't been too much of a problem to get around on. I'm finding it really fun to play. I'm sure the thickness has a lot to do with that big tone.

As mentioned in other reviews, this thing is solid as a rock. I've already gigged from North America to South Florida and haven't had to adjust the neck once since initial set up! I Can't say that about ANY of my other axes! I always take a backup, but I really don't think I'd need to. Just a habit after all these years.

Haven't had to deal with them

I've been playing bass since 1989. I own an Alembic series 1, Fender precision Elite II, Two custom Jon HIlls, Gretsch Hollowbody, A Peter Horn upright, 2 Stingray 5's, a 77 Rick, Carvin fretless and have owned a ton of others in my career. I gig 6 to 7 nights a week.
This bass is right up there with all of them. Until now my Alembic was my "go to" bass. Since I've gotten the Attitude, I haven't really been playing anything else. I still love mhy Alembic, but nothing really sounds like this bass. Just find myself grabbin' it all the time!

2008 build Att ltd2 in the original Sea foam green finish. Mad in Japan. All features are mentioned before, and damn they are cool..
I'm not really sure 'bout the tone knob on my bass. Doesn't seem to give that much of tonal difference but I haven't tried this bass on my own Amps yet. (hence the 9 instead of a 10..)
Came in a nice fancy looking case and that scarred **** out of me on opening.. Who puts a bright green bass in a bright blue case!?

The bass is used for progressive symphonic rock and I must say, it does a great job. Extreme deep lows and nice harmonic all the way up. Absolutely every tone you get out of this sounds clear and strong what makes it great for tapping and slapping. (Hammer on is no problem, the pull off with the right hand is a different story.)
The mentioned neck dive isn't that much of an issue if you use a good strap.
Haven't figured out the best settings for the pickups yet but I haven't tried it on my Ampeg and Ashdown heads and cabinets.
..but OH MY GOD! What a power and depth does this baby bring out in the open.

Factory setup is quit good for my style of playing. I may be lowering the action a bit in future but for now it's good.
Finish is nicely done and no flaws spotted. Control knobs seem to turn a bit to easy but that's probably fixable. Still have to figure out what's going on with the tone knob..

Haven't played for long but I did give it a good go. Neck bends don't seem to bother it at all. And the thing just feels like concreet. Heavy but unbreakable.
I will bring my Ibanez DWB with me for the more easy going slap and the more bright tones but for all heavy pumping it's all Yamaha that rocks my world.

Haven't had any need for them yet. Only negative point towards Yamaha is the trouble you have to go through to try one of these basses. I bought mine on the internet without ever seeing it in reallife and waited for 2 months to get it delivered.
I'll try the custumor support soon because i'd like to get some white pickup covers instead of the standard blacks.

An absolute God among basses. Incredible power and tone. Rock solid.
And anyone who sees you play it knows you're holding something special. ;)

Hip shot D-Tuner, Scalloped fretboard from frets 17-21, dual outputs to split the pickups. This is a Custom Bass! Unique fretmarker inlays.

You can get the deep sound of a Gibosn SG, or the bright sound of a P-bass... and lots in betwen.

Great factory set up. Didn't need to change a thing. Tune it up, and you're ready to gig out of the box.

When not playing bass with it, I use it as a sledgehammer. This thing is a beast. You can just toss it in the back of your truck... although you might break your truck!

Not CS needed yet.

Most signature models are the base model of what the artist plays on stage, but the artist always has theirs customed out. This one is the ACTUAL bass Billy Sheehan plays on stage with ALL of the features that he uses. You don't have to like Billy's tone to like this bass. This is a solid, great sounding, great quality bass. The best I've played on!

As far as features, it's got a unique neck joint, Billy-spec pickups, a factory-installed Hipshot D-tuner, switchable single- or dual-output jacks, really cool inlaid translucent fret markers, and scalloped frets up at the high end. However, it doesn't have a tone control for the P-pickup, so I couldn't give it a 10.

I really wanted to like this bass. I'm a Billy Sheehan fan, and I thought having "his" bass would be cool. But I couldn't get a sound a really liked out of it. I like the sound of my Hwy. 1 P-bass better. As other reviewers have said, if you want a brash, loud, rock bass, this is pretty good. If you want some mellower P-bass tones, look elsewhere. Mixing the P and woofer pickups can mellow it out, but then it doesn't sound so much like a P anymore. Also, mine had a fairly vicious dead spot at the "usual" C on the G string location.

This bass was beautiful, and beautifully assembled. The "fingerprint" fret markers are made of a translucent red material and also function as side dots on the neck. I took the pickguard off once, and it was so tightly fitted that I was afraid that I might break it just by removing it. Body contours were squared-off except for where your forearm might lay when playing, which was nicely rounded. Build quality was just excellent.

It's been said that the only things which would survive a nuclear holocaust are cockroaches and P-basses. This bass would survive a cataclysm that would wreck a P. I've never played such a solid instrument.

No idea, haven't talked to them.

Been playing 25+ years. I've had numerous basses, both cheap and expensive, from Essexes and Squiers (some good ones there, for sure), to a Modulus Q6, pre-Gibson Tobias, and various Fenders. I traded my Attitude Ltd. for a Warwick Corvette Proline, which I like a lot better. Don't get me wrong - the Yamaha is a fabulous bass, just not for me.

yamaha attitude limited model ,blue with sparkle finish ,gloss finish on the neck , hipshot d-tuner ,dimarzio woofer and p-bass pickup ,scalloped upper 5 frets ,dual outputs ,extended neck joint .
mine is a limited model but it is stamped on the neck as a made in taiwan ,strange everywhere else says japan i wonder if they made a small amount of these basses in taiwan .

As far as sound this is THE ROCK BASS!!!! When i bought this bass back in 1998 the strings were worn and action sucked but the tone was still incredible!!! The sound i would describe as a fat P-bass tone with the grind and brightness of a jazz. Suprising amount of different sounds a fat upright warm to spanking bright grinding sound . The neck is huge ,i dont have very huge so its a bit of a workout but much of the tone comes from the neck too.

The finish was great very durable ,ive beat it up throughout the last couple of years ,and its a workhorse .the finish on the neck is semi gloss but is smooth and doesnt drag . the action is great eventhough i need to get the neck fixed there is a lip on the bottom near the body that frets out the strings .As far as the bass itself Billy was right about it being tough and rugged , It is built like a tank .

This bass could withstand a nuclear attack and play a gig that night !! I have played this bass on all of my gigs never had any problems ,always stays in tune ,no prob with the electronics , the neck as with all needs adjustment once and a while .This bass is my only and would not worry about a backup .

Yamaha is Ok on customer support ,although the custom shop did supply me with a new truss rod nut when my old one was stripped. Hipshot was great they sent me a new arm for the d-tuner at no cost also

This bass is great im suprised more rockers dont play it (prob because they are relly hard to find to demo )my only cons about this bass is that i like a rear jazz pickup jaco sound everyonce and a while and the neck is huge and very top heavy .But i can always buy a jazz to get a differnet sound or another bass in general .If this bass were stolen ,I would search the ends of earth for another one .
Plus billy rocks and is one hellava nice guy too!!!
( Yeah i scored a deal on this bass too used for $300.00!!!)

I'm not sure of the manufactured year, but this bass has the same features as the Attitude Limited I's reviewed here.

I will agree with everyone else, that this is THE perfect bass for hard rock, or metal. There are harmonics absolutely out the ass. The sound equally kicks live, or in the studio. A good bit of overdriven effects/settings are used to get that almost guitar-like scream for a "punch-you-in-the-face" quality. This sound is added to the already monstrous overall presence and growl that the Attiude naturally has. I can't say where the amp/effect sounds come from (brandwise), because it's a player's secret (I think). Read more, if this seems goofy/interesting.

The action on this bass is pretty low. It's pretty player-specific, in this case. Oh, and there's NO neckdive with this one, at all. It's actually got more weight leaning towards the body. I can't agree, at all, why a reviewer said this bass is neck-heavy. You'll find out why I know there's no imbalance with this instrument.

This bass is as solid as they come, and it withstands live playing over and over, time and time again. Everything here will definitely last, and I've never seen a trussrod adjustment done. The time I've worked with this bass-it never needed a backup.

Yamaha endorses this certain artist, so he gets treated pretty well.

Well, as you can probably guess, I'm talking about Mr. Sheehan's actual Attitude bass. This is the one that everyone's seen in the magazines with him, as well as the one he's played all over the world, with Steve Vai, and a bazillion other groups/artists. The bass, more specifically, is the seafoam green one, with the little cat sticker on the pickguard, plus having the blue LED's in the neck and body. I've never seen a more solid bass, as I was a tech for Billy, as well as Stu Hamm, and Jeff Berlin, during the BX3 tour (Bass x 3). During that time, Billy beat the hell out his bass, like he always does (extreme neck bending and everything else), and it didn't seem to weaken one bit. Handling it every night, I realized Billy's bass is one super-solid touring/studio workhorse-one of the best I've seen to date. You can write Billy, at billy@billysheehan.com, if you're curious as to what else he uses. I just don't want to tell his "secrets", if they are secrets-he'll might tell you, if they're not. Cheers!

I own the Yamaha Attitude LTD 1 made in 1992, I was interested in how many of these instruments were actually produced, I emailed Yamaha and they told me that 400 were produced in total, 200 in blue and 200 in red. I own a blue model,it has all the customisations that Billy Sheehan made to his original Fender Precision, including Dimarzio Model one P p'up and a dimarzio woofer. The bass also has stereo outputs, scalloped upper frets for easier string bending and a Hipshot Down Tuner to flick the tuning of The E string to a low D. Controls include tone for each p'up, a high cut switch for the woofer, and the model P p'up is also a push/push switch to select between stereo, (each p'up goes to a seperate output), or mono (both p'ups are combined to a single output). This feature is great for running two amps or using your amp and running the other output into the P.A, if you have a spare channel available. Billy uses this feature to run one amp clean and one amp distortion, hence, no low end is compromised in the overall sound.

This bass is packed with features, I was suprised when i found out this bass wasn't active, it's all passive, but packs a huge Rockin' punch. Amazing.

As for intricate features that make the Attitude LTD 1 differ from the LTD 2 is the neck joint. The Attitude LTD 1 uses a piece of aircraft grade alluminium in the joint which is attached to the base of the neck and then to the body for added strength, the LTD 2 only used wood in the joint making it a tiny bit lighter. I have also found out that the LTD 2 was a mass produced instrument so i'm unsure why they still called it 'LTD'. NO disrespect to the LTD2, this is an amazing bass as well and most people will not be able to tell any difference between the two.

This bass is pure Rock, I'd say about 70% of Billy's tone is just in this bass, listen to any MR.BIG tracks and u'll get an idea of the tone this thing produces. Nice Fat low end Growly tone.

A lot of people complain that Slap is out of the question with this bass because of the woofer in the neck position, I have learnt to play around this, and have no problems slapping on this bass with a nice slap tone as well.

This bass was designed for Rock and I don't think there's a better bass for a fat growly rock tone. If you want major versatility, I'd go for something else.

This bass sets up incredibly, The neck is one fat puppy, one big power house of rock, As result of this, the neck is highly stable and i've never had to make any truss rod adjustments, the bass plays very well with a low action, the harmonics ring out on this bass more than any other bass i've ever heard.

The finish on this bass is unique, the neck has a pink under-spay, under the laquer, looks really nice when it catches the light, the finish on the bass body is nice and solid.

The whole bass is very solid, pretty much bullet proof, it's a heavy bass and thats because its built like a rock for ROCK \m/

As i said above, this gets full marks for reliability and durability, has nevr let me down once and ive never heard any bad remarks on this bass with regards to reliability/durability. This bass was built for Billy, and Billy plays the hell out of his basses (e.g Neck Vibrato).

This bass will withstand a million gigs no probs.

My only encounter with Yamaha was with the UK parts centre where I ordered some more pickguard screws as over time my screws had lost there shiny silver coat, most probably due to sweat etc, anyway.. got the screws no probs.

If this was stolen, I would be very angry as these are so rare due to the limited production, however I would settle for an LTD 2.

This bass is a great bass, I guess most people who own or want to own this bass are Billy fans and this bass is absolutely perfect for doing what Billy does or trying to do what billy does!

If you get the chance to own an LTD 1, i would definalty snap it up, you will not be dissapointed. You can get good prices on these basses for how well made they actually are and the components they consist of.

Mine is the Attitude Limited 1 - Dimarzio P-Bass Pickup and Humbucker, Hipshot D-tuner, Stereo Outputs, Scalloped Frets in the upper register - what more could you want?!

The neck is VERY wide and may take a while to get used to. I know it felt really odd for me when I first got it, especially because I was used to the the thin neck of a Jazz Bass previously. Now, though it feels extremely comroftable and natural. The bass is however very neck heavy.

This is a perfect bass for a bit of ROCK!!! I currently run it into an Ashdown EVO 900 head and a Trace Elliot 4x12 Cabinet and it is a BIG sound! The output is quite high for a passive bass and the sound is quite distintive. While I don't overdrive things as much as Billy Sheehan theres definitely some of his sound there from the word go. I tend to back off the humbucker a little to allow for a bit more treble to cut through. On the minus side, I would say that soundwise it is not very 'refined' - its thick, growly and in your face, so may not suit all styles of playing.

I got my bass used but it all seemed to be very well set up. The guy who owned it previously had had it from new and obviously looked after it. (It came in the original case, with all the reciepts, manual, allen keys and everything!) The finish on the maple neck is really nice and quite unusual in that there is a very slight hint of pink in the laquer which I have never seen on any other bass. Overall, very good.

I've not had the opportunity to gig with this particular bass yet but I have gigged with my Attitude Special a few times and one of the reasons I like that is because its such a rock solid instrument and I'm sure this one will be the same. I would definitely gig using this bass and no backup. I'm sure most people reading this will have seen the kind of things Billy Sheehan does to his Attitude Limiteds and if they hold up well to that kind of playing I'm sure I have nothing to worry about with mine!

not needed it

I've been playing bass for over 20 yrs and own or have owned lots of different basses in that time. This bass definitely has a character all of its own both in sound and looks and I would guess, is either a 'love it or hate it' kind of deal. Personally I really, really like it and would definitely buy another one. The only minus points would be A)-- the heaviness/balance of the neck b)-- the position of the humbucker volume control/switch means that sometimes you knock into it with your right hand c)-- the humbucker pickup means its tricky to slap, although i find there is room to get your right hand inbetween the two pickups if i get the urge for some slapping and a popping!

in summary - a very cool bass! and they seem to be getting harder and harder to find too....

Japanese made 1993 Model - Features excellently covered by previous reviewer ;) my favorite being the Hip-Shot tm. drop 'D' switch and the scalloped frets behind the 12fret - magnificent innovations that I use frequently.
The stereo output is interesting, though, like my Rickenbacker, I never use that feature live.

When I first used the Attitude on stage, I was dissapointed. I couldn't work out where Billy got that 'growl' sound from - all it took was to back off the treble knob ever so slightly from it's maximum position and there it was! Pure extasy - a incredible tone that cut through the rest of the band like a hard rocking knife! It's hard to explain the sound you can get out of this bass, it's like a deep growl (listen to any of Billy Shehan's work and you'll hear it!)
I'm using the bass though a SUNN 1200s head with two Ampeg SVT410 Classic cabs and it gets a lot of people talking

My model has a metallic reddish pink finish. It appears to be 'rippled' from the woodgrain underneath - i don't know if it's supposed to be like that, but it doesn't bother me - Looks don't matter to me as much as the sound.

I did have to get some work done on the neck to get it straight - it was getting a bit of buzz on the A string but it's sorted. I LOVE the neck on this bass - I would do anything to transfer it onto my Stingray!

The only major flaw I found with the design is it's very hard to play funk (slap) due to the mammoth humbucker right in the way - I have learned to work around it, but I still miss some notes here and there because I can't pluck the strings easily

This bass is a solid chunk of rock! I don't even bother taking a backup - it's an indestuctable workhorse.

N/A haven't needed any customer support

Like another reviewer said, this is 'THE' rock bass, though I must mention it isn't a versatile one - if you're after lots of different sounds for different styles, this is not your bass - this is why I gave it a '9'
If you are into just playing metal and rock - this bass is Rock Babylon.
If it were ever lost/stolen would deffinately buy another one - I can't do without this baby

my playing style is very fast and hot...like mr Sheehan.i play in a famous power metal band.i use Marshall 72410 4x10 ampli with boss pedal effect.a compressor sustainer,an enancher,an overdrive and a bass chorus.the action of the strings is very fast.this bass is cool for my live performance and in studio it does his job very well

the factory action was a disaster for my personal style.the finish wasvery good...

all the finish was made with accuracy.

my bass is 3 years old and it's ok at this time

i have played very hard with tapping and sweep and this is the best bass i've ever played

First production year (1991) Japanese Made, Billy Sheehan Attitude Limited. It is a 21 fret 4 string. Features are: Stereo Out (Mixable or independent pickups), Heavier frets on the lower neck (a bit thinner at the top), Hipshot D-Tuner, Dimarzio Model One in the neck position and a Model J in the center position (both passive, but hot). Tuners are Yamaha. The neck is maple and its body is slelct alder. The finish is eurothane on top of a blue, lightly sparkled, body. Is is modeled after a Fender Precision.

This is THE rock bass. Not too well suited for slap, thus, the rating. I'm primarily a rock player, so it suites me, but I like to slap also, so I have to have another bass. I primarily run it through an Ampeg SVP pre-amp the into the board. I may use a Boss flanger or chorus, but not much else. This bass has a ton of bottom! The model one gived it a ton of warmth. Can get a nice growl, but not quite as good as a Jazz bass. The neck is super fast and solid and allows for a lot of tapping if that is your bag.

It was setup well out of the box, I lowered the pickup height a bit. THie bass was very clean from the factory. The bone nut was cut correctly. The action was set low in accordance with it being a Sheehan model. That was a boast from the factory folks.

This bass is built like a rock. Ive only had to make one truss rod adjustment in 7 years. The only complaint is that the basss is very neck heavy. If left on your shoulder unattended, the headstock will point to the floor. All of the hardware is super solid. I would surely gig without a backup, but carry the bass to slap with.

Yamaha is OK. I was looking to get it re-finished and they were no help. (I had damaged the finish myself during the painted bass 80's)

Been playing 15 years. Sold most of my other gear, but htis piece has remained. The Attitude has been updated recently. I'd say I love it and it can take a beating.