Yamaha BB1000MA

Brand new Taiwanese Yamaha QC, 21-frets 4-strings, solid mint-green body with volume/tone/3-way toggle of P/J style passive pickups. Body is cut further in so you can reach to the high-E on the G-string. Excellent feeling maple neck finished in satin. Along with OEM box came included with instrument an owners manual, a sheet of stickers, Allen wrenches, and a cable.. I had a tweed gigbag already to slip it into, so I wasn't expecting a case. The bass came slightly raised than I like to have it, so in less than an hour I had it intonated and lowered and it was ready to go.

As mentioned by the others, this bass is a suitable instrument for all styles of music. But I truly like how the BB1000MA has a tone that cuts through and that the use of single or both pickups produces three distinct tonal qualities, each of which fulfill my needs. I put on a set of RotoSound nickel-wound mediums and was pleased with the results. I plug it into an Acoustic Image Focus 2R head with two AccuGroove cabs and the results are stunning, at any volume level. I am extremely impressed with the 1000MAs clarity of tone in all strings on all frets. I knew that Yamaha's high standards would not let me down, and this bass is no exception.

Once I lowered the action slightly and began getting used to the feel of the neck I was able to just let go and start thinking musically, rather than mechanically. The pickups also needed some slight adjustment, which was very easy to accomplish. I thought at first when I pulled out the bass from its box that the neck was too concave and needed to adjust the truss rod. But, once I tightened the strings and did my basic setup the neck and fretboard seemed to adjust itself and I haven't yet touched the truss. GREAT finish on the body and fretboard with hot red fret indicators and small visual dots on the top edge. The volume and tone speed knobs look like they came from Klattu's spaceship as they are shiny stainless with two O-rings that assist in making fast adjustments. They are perfectly set up and the 3-way toggle switch is positioned to switch at a diagonal angle in the angle of the movement of your right arm. Very ergonomic and simple design; the way I like it.

The BB1000MA is built to take abuse. Its solid-body construction feels like it could take a beating and still play in tune. I would feel confident taking this instrument to a gig without needing a backup axe.

Yamaha builds their instruments so that you don't need to contact them for support. I've never felt the need to contact them at any time.

I own three basses that serve me for the various engagements I play. A NS Design BassCello for jazz gigs, a Jack Casady goldtop for gigs that need a warmer tone in a fretted electric bass, and the Yamaha BB1000MA for rock and scenes that demand more powerful tone production. I love the tone I get from the bolt-on neck, its simplicity of design, that the PUps are passive and not active, and a cool sleek look that commands the attention of both audience and musicians alike. I find the compliment of features just enough for me to handle without getting too involved with an instrument that is more complex in design. It's too bad that Yamaha no longer produces this model; for it is a fantastic compliment of artistic design and professional accoutrements for the performing musician. It is amazing that Yamaha can produce such a high quality instrument for less than $400 street value. I'll take two please. . .

in short: alder body, 3/4" scale bolt-on, maple neck, 21 frets, rosewood fingerboard, alnico-blade-pickups, nickel/chromed hardware (nice knobs with rubber ring), passive, black or mist green metallic finish. A mid-massive L-type bridge and easy working Fender-style tuners.
Minimalistic controls: 1xVol, 1xTone, 1 Toggle switch (P,J and P/J)

Well produced, no complains here.

Neck is quite thick but comfortable. Not for fiddly-diddly-fast-as-you-can but very well for bass players ;-).

An "8" not because of "lots of features" - there were only few of them - but because of all-features-you-need.

I play all styles of groove-oriented Rock (the heavier side) and this bass ist _absolutely_ perfect for me. You can't do anything wrong - just plug in and this dude rocks!
Very pleasant lows. Acceptable highs. Use of only the split coil pickup results in a dirty fat precision sound - fatter than the original (my humble opinion). P/J combination: more lows and highs, tighter, more modern sound. J only: hm, a little bit thin if compared with another Yamaha bass of mine - an old BB1600, which is able to produce more JazzBass-like sounds.

Popping & slapping works quite well - but again mentioned: not for the Victor-Wooten-huddely-fuddely-party but for _real_ bass playing (sorry about this).

There's another point where the BB1000MA is great, great sounding:
when using an H-E-A-D tuning!!!

I own two BB1000MA: one with D-G-C-F and the other with a H-E-A-D tuning from a fivestring set (I don't like fivestring basses any more). I don't have to deal with any sound settings on stage - both basses kick a**.

The BB1000MA is a rocker, looks like a rocker and is very well designed and produced. I love this slight metallic look. I simply had to change the strings ( I prefer Rotos ). Nowadays these basses are mostly robot-made (who cares) and the finish is perfect.

You should replace the strap locks with Quick Locks - but that's all. This bass is quite robust and doesn't detune under stage lights.

A real working horse.

I play for about 20 years, somewhere between amateur and semi-pro and I used some other basses before and aside.

The story is a little bit funny: I went to my local dealer and wanted to buy another Fender Precision - I checked out some different basses, but there was no smile on my face. The guy in the store noticed my growing disappointment and went with a "stop it!" in the "el cheapo" corner and returned with this BB1000MA. "Try this", he said with a grin.

It just took 5 minutes to decide...

Now, as mentioned above, I use two BB1000MA as my main basses - and I would at once replace them if they were stolen.

Hey, all you Fender-Preci-lovers out there: the Yamaha BB1000MA sounds better than _all_ Precision basses I heard before!! OK, that's _my_ opinion...

There's only one situation where I use an Fender Precision: when tapping and slapping - then I use my old 51' Fender Reissue - a real slap monster :-)

The Yamaha BB1000MA is cheap now - so check it out!

Taiwanese-made, the specs are already here in other reviews
no case or bag included
Just a bass in a cardboard box with a cable, instructions, tuning peg tool, and cheesy Michael Anthony chili-pepper logo decals.

Just a tiny bit noisy in the pickups
Using with a big honkin Ampeg head & cab
It is pretty versatile and sounds nice.
The original Broad Bass (bb)3000 was used by a lot of famous 80's rock
bands; the bb1000ma is the modern "reissue".
This bass approximates the sound pretty well.
Possesses a good alternative to your standard p-bass sound.
The jazz-only setting is a bit too "nasal-sounding" for my taste.

Nice action... pretty fast and smooth.
Great color - satin grey/green
The factory setup was fine.
The intonation is great and no fret buzz or dead spots.

The toggle switch housing was broken into two pieces when I received the bass, which prevented me from using the p-bass only setting.
The switch is very cheaply made.
I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do the same at some point.
I replaced it and the bass sounds as good as new.

Never dealt with Yamaha.

I've played bass for many years.
Including korean/mexican/american p-basses, mexi-jazzes, stingrays.
I prefer Fenders.
Great sound for the price.

Yamaha BB1000MA.Made in 2002 by the Yamaha factory in China.
21 frets. Four string.Passive precision style pick up in the neck position and a jazz style pick up in the bridge position. One volume and one tone control with a three way selector switch. Alder body.
Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Classic Yamaha BB body style
with Yamaha bridge and tuners. The bass included a tross rod and tools to adjust the bridge. The neck has been modified to Michael Anthony's personal preference. It feels very comfortable. A great feature on this bass is Yamaha took Michael Anthony's advice and shaved the top curve of the bass so that you can reach the higher frets while you are playing.

I play in a classic rock covers band and this bass is perfect for me.
I'm playing this bass through a Peavey 115 bass combo amp.
The bass is not noisy. This bass has a unique tone. I love
to play music at a high volume and this bass sounds better in that situation compared to when I'm practicng my sight reading at home. The bass sounds good on stage as well as in the studio. I like this bass because it's different and seems to have it's own distinct personality.

The bass was set up perfectly when I took it out of the Yamaha box.
The action was comfortable. The pickups were adjusted great.
The finish is called Black Pearl and it blends well with the red position markers on the neck. The bass looks cool.

This bass is a work horse. The hardware is strong and the finish shows no signs of cracking or fading. The strap bottoms secure the strap without the need for strap locks.I don't need a back up for this bass because it is made so good.

Yamaha was very professional in giving me information on how I could purchase this bass.

I have been playing since I was 16 years old. What inspired me to pick up the bass was listening to my older brothers early Van Halen albums. This bass is a dream come true for me. Michael Anthony has always been and will always be my favorite bass player.
The Mighty Van Halen!

The BB1000MA is a wonderful, 4 string Fender-style bass made in Taiwan by Yamaha.
It's a cheaper version of the BB3000MA - the Michael Anthony signature model.
By the way, the Yamaha "BB" was a very successful series of instruments in the 80's - this is actually a reissue of the original BB3000.
The neck is maple with rosewood fretboard, 21 frets with red dots, bolt-on.
It has an alder, double cutaway body (it reminds me a bit of the design of some old Gibson Ripper or Grabber basses) with a P/J pickup configuration and passive electronics.
The controls are volume, tone and a 3 way switch.
The finish is a nice metallic grey/green, with matching head.
The tuners and the bridge (all quite much Fender-style) are of good quality.
Unfortunatly no accessories were included :(

In spite of its aggressive "hard rock" look, I found out that this Yamaha bass is good for any kind of style, a real all-rounder.
Its basic sound is clear and punchy, very defined and quite "fenderish" (especially when you use only the P-bass pickup) but somehow more modern.
Using both pickups you get an "all-purpose", full range, focused sound, good for very different styles of music.
The J-style pickup sounds punchy and defined as well - even Pastorius-like harmonics sound loud, clear and balanced.
It doesn't matter what kind of style I play - fingers, pick, slap, clean or distorted - I always get a very convincing sound out of this instrument, both on stage and in studio.
I also tested it with very different amps (Ampeg, SWR, Hartke), it always sounded great.
I even compared it to its expensive "brother" (the BB3000MA), but I think I prefer this cheaper bolt-on, passive version.

When I bought this instrument, the set-up was not bad.
Only the strings were a real disaster, so I first restringed it with a D'Addario set (0.45/100), the strings I use on most of my basses.
Then I optimized the action just a little bit and adjusted the pickups (they were too high)...the bass showed immediatly its great quality.
The neck was just perfect, I never had to adjust it till now.
The playbility of this bass is amazing - it plays like butter and feels great.
The finish is brilliant as well...I wish some much more expensive instruments out there would be as good as this Yamaha.

This bass is definitively a serious instrument, build to last.
I play it in studio and live, sometimes VERY hard...no problem, it offers good quality and plenty of headroom.
I don't think it will let me down...it's a reliable, road-worthy instrument.

I don't know - never had to deal with them.

I have been playing over 21 years now, I earn my living playing bass and I own a bunch of very good instruments.
When I bought this Yamaha I was actually looking for a (not too expensive) back-up for my main bass on the road (a Hamer Chaparral)...but when I started to work with it, it quickly became my "2nd main bass".
I simply love its feel and its sound.
If my Yamaha were stolen or lost, I would surely buy another one.
So, if you're looking for a great sounding (and looking) instrument and don't want to spend a fortune, you should check out this one.

Ah! A fat boy bass made under the supervision of a fat boy! Michael Anthony (you know he's slurpin' spaggehti, VIVA Napoli!!!) knew that a buget version could also sound killer and could also help the cunsumer have extra cash to fatten up and buy some REAL NY (BRONX) pizza! Madonna mia! This bass is better than all of my gold chains combined! It's sick metallica blackened look, P J (Mmmm PB and J) pick-ups, cool hardwear, real fender like construction...this is a P wanna be at a better price! You can do anything with this bass!

I hate Van Roth, but Sammy is Slammy! He rocks, and so will you with this new bass! Bright P bass soloed, Hi fi with both. If you like Jaco you'll love this bass... just take the frets off...but this neck on a Jazz and you'll sound like Jaco! This bass does it all and sounds like a jazz when it's J is soloed...hay I'm making a piont!

This bass is better than all the Rickenbackers in the world! No wonder Sucky Lee of Rush uses Fenders...ups...I thought it was a Fender I was talking about...hey...it is a wanna be and sounds killer...plays better. Michael Smallthany from Hasbeen Hellan made the bass have a shaved like neck...cuz he has tiny hands...this bass it tooooo easy to slap, pluck, finger, fist, tap, and eat off of when you realize all the money you save when you buy this bass!

I dropped it from a golf ball and the bass was STILL IN TUNE!!!! I giged with this for a few weeksand the band loves it...even better...the crowd loved the solo I did on my P bass....I did it again. It's a Yamaha BB1000MA. This bass is too cool.

If you love Geddy Lee, Chris Squier, Lemmy, Paul McCartney, That guy from Starcastle, Fat albert's Junkyard band, or that guy from Rush, then you'll love the support! These guys got me a new pack of clenbutorol in 2 days...wait...knobs...knobs!

PRO-PAIN rulz...too bad he don't do it with a Yamaha BB1000MA (Sorry,Gary). This New P-Bass I baught is the dilly yo! Wait... This isn't about a P-Bass? Ups! I think someone as fat as me should kick the bassist of New Found Glory out of the band and show them what a real fat guy can do...I know Close to the Edge and YYZ and I play it on a Music Man Stingray! That now is a real bass! This bass? Well I never even bought it! I love sam ash having stupid stock guys!

2002 Made in Taiwan, 21 fretted bolt-on bass model.
Yes, this is the Michael Anthony "cost-effective" 4-string
bass version; his official signature model is the BB3000MA.
Just 3 controls:(Vol, Tone and a 3/way swith selector).
This bass is Alder body with Blk finish(nice dark metalic gray).
The chrome hardware shines better with this finish.
Did I mention about the "phosphorescent" red boar inlays?
Maple neck with rosewood board and matching painted headstock.
This bass come without case, the old trick to keep the price down...

Simple control knobs, but Versatile and very useful sound pallet options. This Alnico V reverse P and J pickups style configuration
really lock up with the passive electronics, the result is one of the
best easy to get vintage but warm-hot tones in a passive bass.

I can still beleive it! One of my low-cost bass...
and I don't have any complain here.

The only 3 things that I did change: biggers and solid strab buttons and a round headstock string guide(Stingray/Fender style).

The papers said limited life warranty...

I'm not a Michael Anthony's fan, but an attractive price for a
Light weight bass with distinctive personality with killer looks, impressive sound and easy to love playability... So, Once you accustom to the red inlays and buy a gig-bag, you will be a happy pair together.