Yamaha Attitude Standard

Made in Taiwan, maybe 2 years ago. I bought it used, but it was like a new one (just a few little scars)... I gave about $150 for this axe and I'm very satisfied.
It's a 4 string bass, very similar to Fender Precision DeLuxe. It was painted white in the factory. It looks rather vintage, like a guitar from the '70s or an early '80s...
It has 21 frets and 2 pickups. The scale is standard 34". 3 way switch for the pickups and a tone control, off course. An electronic is passive. Guys at Yamaha are writing on their pages that's an alder body of this guitar, but I think that's a hard maple. I had a Yamaha BX 260 made from an alder and that's Attitude Standard is too heavy to be an alder. The bass is almost indestructable.
This is not a good choice for the smaller players or girls - because it weights a lot. But the wood is an excellent quality. I bought it with a special heavy duty case, which also weights a lot, but it's very important thing for me. When I'm going to play somewhere I need a good protection for my 4 stringed beauty... I just love this bass.

I was very surprised, when I played a first note on this bass. I spent some time with an equalizer in my Carlsbro 300W amp and realised that I shouldn't use the middle knob.
That means: only bass and treble knobs can be used here, because with a strong middle equalization this bass sounds just awful and muddy, like a plastic thing or a children's toy.
Connected to an amp with the bass knob turned to 3/4 and a treble to 1/4 this bass really kicks butt... The sound is great, very rich and powerful. A strong warm punch from low, very clear and bright high plus a good sustain - that's Yamaha's trademark... But avoid those middles, when you're using an equalizer.
I was playing in a country - pop rock band with this bass, and later I tried to play a heavy metal (some Iron Maiden's and Manowar's songs), too. It's also a good guitar for funk and blues. I think also that's a quite good axe for jazz, but haven't been tested it in this way.
Now I'm playing a cold wave music (something similar to Joy Division or The Sisters Of Mercy) and this bass suits me perfectly.
It has a great firmware pickups - used live it just blown an audience's heads. In the studio it was a good choice to use this bass... I was playing through the SansAmp GT2 and the sound was the same quality like with a full sized amp. That means: this bass is a rock'n'roll killer. It sounds more agressive than an original Fender for example, but it had worse middles than a Gibson or Rickenbacker. I don't think that's a good bass for the ballads or very soft music. If you want to play for example an accoustic music, the better choice is to buy a fretless Fender and play through an Ashdown amp...
But if you're a metalhead or a hard rock musician - I think it's a guitar just for you.

This bass was set up by an luthier, but I changed those settings. You can put the strings very close to the frets, but there's a little fret buzz. Especially when I was playing powerfull, with many accents. In the other basses this fret buzz is very annoying, but that guitar has more unique and agressive sound, greetings to that. It's similar to a light overdrive, in fact and I love this. Just listen to Joy Division's "Paradiso 1980" live bootleg (or the famous "Love Will Tear Us Apart" song) and you'll be able to hear, what does it means. Peter Hook used a Yamaha bass there, too.
My guitar was perfectly finished - no othe flaws. That's Yamaha's quality.

Perfectly finished, it never lost the tune during the gigs or in the studio. Even when I wasn't at home for a few days - the tuning was still brilliant. I think that I won't adjust a neck/truss rod often. It's a solid bass, too good to modify it.
I used it live without any backup guitar, because there's no reason to have a few guitars live, when I've got a good one.

I bought it used, but I'll have a help from the local Yamaha's distributor, if there's any problem (very nice and polite people). It never failed, so I think that nothing bad will happen to this bass in the future. I used a Yamaha RBX 260 bass (later modified to a fretless one) and it was a good guitar, too. But Attitude Standard is a far better instrument. It's also a better wood used there, not that very soft alder I really hated in RBX 260.

I've been playing from about 1994 and this bass is the best guitar I had in the whole of my life.
If it was new at the moment of buying - my wish is to polish the frets at a good luthier's workshop. At the beginning this little fret buzz made me quite nervous, but now it's just okay.
I love it's sound, but it's a merciless instrument. That means: no tolerance for even the smallest mistakes from this guitar. A musician must be rather concentrated to play it well, but I think that's a good way to improve your skill level.
Sometimes it's a bit too heavy, when I'm playing a few hours without any rest, but that's a good guitar. If it was stolen or heavily damaged, it's like a death of a family's member for me, because I really love this instrument.
Comparing to the other basses - simply talking, it's a "more agressive Fender" and it has a bit different sound properties.
It's almost useless in a very soft music or ballads, as I said, but a perfect for a rock or traditional heavy metal. "A must have" for the rockers, who wants to look similar to Iron Maiden's Steve Harris. With this instrument you can sound like a juggernaut. It's also a great bass to play some solos, with it's bright and punchy highs with a long sustain.
A fantastic value for that price. You can't buy nothing better than this for $150. I think it's worth more, but I bought it used. It has a very comfortable neck, a far better than a Squier or some Gibsons and Rickenbackers for example.
If you want to have a heavy duty instrument that sounds with a strong punch, don't buy a Fender. Yamaha is a better choice for a hard rock musician.