Yamaha BB1500

Mine is wine coloured with a rosewood fingerboard. I think this model came (it is no longer in production) only in 2 variations: wine red like mine and natural. But I recall having seen a black one once.

Hmm, what features do you want on a bass? It has a bolt on neck, gold hardware and active electronics that are highly versatile. You've got overall volume, a blend button for mixing both j-style pickups and bass and treble controls. There also is a 3-way mid control. Position 1 is off and both other positions can be tweaked inside the control cavity on the back. The battery is in a separate, easy accessible compartment.

Features enough for my liking, although I miss the ability to switch to passive mode.

It sounds much more modern than a Fender Jazz bass. But that's the trade off for having an active bass. I think it sounds way better than a Fender Jazz DeLuxe and is more versatile: you can get a lot of sounds out of this bass because of the tweakable midrange. The bass responds very well to the bass and treble controls too: turn up the bass while playing and I bet you will be booming your way into oblivion. This bass is a bass with a big B.

Here's a thing that I think could be improved: the action. I cannot set the action as low as I want it to be: the strings start rattling against the fingerboard. Adjusting the neck won't help much. That's the only gripe actually, but nevertheless a major one because it directly affects my playing style. I am used to extreme low action which is quite impossible with this bass. Fit, finish, balance, etc are fine.

Just trust me when I say this does not break. Too bad your battery can still run out of juice :o)

No clue.

You can pick up these basses for fair prices...if you can find them at all, that is. I believe these basses are so good, they will become a collectors item. I thought of selling mine because of the action, but whenever I play this bass all of those thoughts are flushed. The sound is great, so you probably won't be buying mine :o)

Lovely active Jazz bass with plenty of features.Nice kind of red-wine finish.SHARP! 34" scale w/21 frets. Has a modern AND classic appeal. I must note that the onboard preamp differs somewhat than the NE-1 found on other YAMAHA basses.The pickups on this instrument are very effective and the electronics provide many useful tones.
Good factory set-up.Bridge appears quite solid and strings sustain well.Stays in tune despite my drop tunings and heavy picking. I don't
think YAMAHA still produces these.sad.

Sounds FANTASTIC! Exactly what I expect from an active Jazz bass.
Can do the bright and crisp tone like a FENDER JAZZ as well as a deep "tubby" sound. I don't slap,crackle-pop on bass and never will.
I play with a pick and finger pluck mostly and this bass sounds tremendous.It has deep presence with killer attack and enough brightness to cut through.Reminds me of a STINGRAY mixed with a
NATHAN EAST bass with Jazz pickups.

Everything looks good.Finish is even and pretty and the hardware is all in perfecr order.

Feels solid.I have only had it now for a short while but I can safely assure that this instrument is roadworthy and ready for much use and abuse.Really seems like it will hold up.

I have yet to deal with YAMAHA directly but the folks at MUSICIANS FRIEND are wonderful.

First of all I would like to thank those that reviewed this bass earlier as that is how I came to acquire this great instrument.I had never played one at a retail store before but when I saw that MUSICIANS FRIEND was clearing them out at a mere $499 I acted swiftly.I AM TOTALLY SATISFIED!!! I have been playing bass on and off since the 80's but only became serious in the late 90's.I currently have two American FENDERS,a Precision and a Jazz.I play through an AMPEG B-100(15" 100 Watt solid state combo) and an ASHDOWN
MAG 400(400 watt solid state head) pushing two SUNN 4x10 cabs.I always keep flatwounds on my FENDERS for a classic SABBATH/ZEP kind of sound but I have been wanting to get a more modern bass for roundwound picking style.Something active.Enter the YAMAHA BB 1500.
I have never purchased a bass sight unseen but the previous reviews were outstanding so I gave it a try and I am very pleased.I have given this bass "10s" across the board because I am certain I will never find a better bass for under 500 bucks ever again PERIOD!
I believe the MSRP on the BB1500 is well over a thousand but I got mine for half that---YEE HAW--- Superior bargain and value.

2 stacked single coil pickups - fat and quiet ! Alder body gold hardware. fantastic preamp system with 2 user definable mid presets, very handy. active electronics are vry active. angled jack plug can be a pain in the ass if you don't have a guitar stand, but otherwise is useful.

Great sound - with the EQ presets set, all the variation i need is the centre-detented pan control, bridge for funky fingers, neck for some serious roundness.

this thing responds well to truss rod ajustments, and without too many dramas, can be transformed from heavy rock beast action to super fast, zero effort required fly action. Natural finish looks sexy, and body shape is really cool, unasuming and vintage looking.

The lacquer on my neck is starting to wear through, and it looks like a really cool flame coming through. I havent touched the pickups in 5 years, set up great.

This thing is a brick. mine has been dropped, fallen over, hit by rotating ceiling fan and damaged by jewellery and hasn't skipped a beat. The output barrel jack has given me a few dramas, but you would expect that with many years of constant use.
Totally dependable - without a backup no worries!

A Great working bass.

no dramas here - Yamaha in Australia are very helpful.

Overall - a fantasic working instrument, often overlooked because it dont look really cool - just looks like a vintage instrument. i'd even tip it over the old trb's (havent tried the new ones)

It has 21 frets,Active 3-Band quasi-parametric preamp (The eletronics cover plate has to be opened to change mid frequency thats why I only give a 9 not a 10), two active jazz style pu's, Alder body, maple/rosewood neck, mine has a great natural finish although red is also available,the body and neck shape is closer to a P-Bass than a Jazz but that is good IMO.

I use it with a 120Watt Behringer amp and no effects.
It suits just about any music style because it is very versatile, it can go from a very modern sound to an almost vintage tone(I use it for Punk rock, classic heavy metal, funk rock and blues).
Almost no noise at all except when the battery is empty.
I like everything about the sound.

The setup was ok. Much better than I expected. I had to intonate it correctly but thats just about it. I did not percieve any flaws

Very reliable except the frets which already have visible playing marks after 3 months of having the bass. (Ok I play fairly much also slap and always steel roundwounds but still this isn't too good so I only give an 8)
I would use it on a gig without backup (but i would take an extra battery with me)

Can't say anything about needing a truss rod adjustion yet

Havent dealt with them except informing them that their site gives wrong information (They said it would have 24 frets although it only has 21) after i informed them they "corrected" it to 22(!) which is of course also wrong

It's a great bass.

Yamaha started making these in the early 90s I think, about the same time the Nathan East and Pattitucci models came out. They were made in Taiwan, which I don't normally associate with great basses, but they did a terrific job with these. The top is a beautiful wine sunburst type colour, which is set off really nicely by the gold hardware. The neck is very nice, holds tuning really well, and the pickups are great. The active electronics are a little noisy if you want to cut or boost anything, which means that they sit pretty much in the middle, but they still do the job. It's only a 21 fret model which is a shame, but you can't have everything. The features it has aren't fancy, but they're pretty solid, and unless you're talking about flashing LEDs on the neck, there's not anything I wish this had that it doesn't - with the possible exception of a passive mode in case I ever run out of battery power and don't have a spare.

I tried this along with a Musicman Stingray that I was sold on, and was blown away by the amount of punch this thing had. I play it either through and old Trace Elliot Twin Valve 2x10 combo, or a Crate 1x15 (depending on whether I'm in the UK or the US). It's great for pretty much any style, I think. It can go from a really full punchy sound on the neck/blend position, to a really honky, good for finger-funk sound on the bridge pickup. Again, the electronics are too noisy, but the fact is that you can get pretty much a great sound on any style from finger to slap, though I couldn't really vouch for how it sounds with a pick. I like this bass alot for live stuff, and I have gotten great studio sounds from it, but it does take a good bit of work to get the sound I want to tape - that might be me not being a great engineer though.

The action was really nicely set up when I got it - maybe slightly higher than I'd choose, but still pretty low even at the top of the neck. The only gripe I'd have about the finish is that the hardware tarnishes very easily, and the neck gets dry faster than I'd have expected - Lemon oil helps, but it needs doing a lot! Other than that, no complaints at all - it's really well put together.

I have never had any problems with this - the thing should go on forever. It has a couple of nasty dings, but these were cause I was stupid and took it around without a case for a while when I was going through my lazy phase. Again, so long as I've remembered my spare battery, I wouldn't worry about having a backup

I've never had to deal with them. Yamaha have been helpful with other stuff when I've needed them though - it's a pain trying to get through to the right department at convenient times, but once you do, they do a pretty decent job.

I'd buy another of these in a flash, although I wouldn't pay the same money I paid for it at first. This is only because I could pick up a Nathan East or a TRB, or a nice Warwick for less on ebay, but it's still a grea bass. Been playing 8 years or so, and I've always been happy with this. Like I said, I think it sounds at least as good as a Stingray, and I like the very Fender-ish design (totally Jazz!), and at the time, compared to the cost of other models I liked, it was a bargain!