Yamaha BB405

2000-ish 5 string made in Taiwan I believe.
34" scale, 2 octaves [24 frets] on an ultra-thin bolt-on maple neck w/rosewood fingerboard.
Black solid alder body [Nathan East designed BB style] with a 2 single coil passive jazz config using stock yamaha pickups and volume/volume/tone controls.
Rock solid machines and intoneable bridge.

Let's be fair here - the stock pickups are dog-doo as they are on most sub-$500 guitars. They include 2 weak single-coils that humbuck when both are run wide open. While they don't sound "bad" they severely limit the guitars tonal palette unless you're willing to deal with single-coil hum - which I'm not. Most of the time I record DI and have gone to great pains to eliminate all noise in the signal chain, so the stock pups simply didn't work for me, But I knew this when I bought the guitar and fully expected to replace them.

I tossed the factory pups and installed a set of Q-Tuner neodymium humbuckers. These are simply the best pickups built - period - and put this guitar into a class all it's own. I can dial in anything from deep and dark, to growly to bright to acoustic. To go further would be to review the Q-Tuners and not the BB-405. Suffice it to say they are a perfect match.

I give it an 8 cause the factory pups are just about right for the "low end" market Yamaha intended this bass for.

Good news first - I bought the BB for the body and neck. Yamaha uses the same "math" for their low-end and high-end guitars so from the POV of the wood-working and hardware, it's a fabulous value. It uses the same body style as the Nathan East signature BB and the high-end TRB series - which I really like. It has a nice aggressive look to it and balances extremely well. The neck is superbly done, very thin and extremely playable although getting at the B and E strings around the 23rd fret can be a challange given the heel of the bolt-on. You'd have to spend $3000 to get into the TRB series with a neck-through design before you overcome this problem.

I don't expect a low-end guitar to be setup at the factory and found this to be the case here. Biggest gripes include the stock strings that were "twisted" when installed making it impossible to tune without doing an R&R on the whole set. I installed some D'addario Chromes and have not thought about it since.

The edges of the frets were a bit "sharp" but wore down after playing for a while. Otherwise cosmetically the guitar was just fine. Really solid hardware, well installed and built to go the distance.

The truss adjustment is easy to get at and work with. I was able to set the action "too low" without any buzzing or other fret noise. The hieght adjustable, intoneable bridge is well constructed and works flawlessly. No need to mess with the nut - cut properly at the factory. Machines are solid, well geared and allow for precision tuning.

This bass, as with everything from Yamaha I've had, is built to last. Even for their "least expensive" 5-string, the machines and brigde are well engineered and will likely outlive me. I set it up once when first purchased it and it has been solid ever since.

I've not had a reason to contact Yamaha on this product, but recently picked up a 70's era G100 210 amp and was pleasently surprised to be able to order a service manual directly from them. Prompt, friendly and a joy to deal with.

I've been playing off and on for 35 years and have a bunch of other guitars ranging from a Ric 650S to a Godin Multiac to a Danelectro 12/baritone double-neck. I'm primarily a film-maker and my interest in music is around film scores, although I like playing everything from classical to rock.

I was initially looking at a Fender Jazz, but prefer the look, feel, balance and price of the BB. I prefer passive electronics simply because all actives, by nature of their design and power/space constraints, use crappy little opamps and ciruitry. I prefer to leave the sound massaging to my FX which are designed for that purpose and do the job much better. My BBQ [that's BB-405 with Q-Tuners] provides excellent playability, solid workmanship with the best passive pickup system money can buy.

If it were lost or stolen I'd certainly be depressed. While my preference would be to replace it with a Yamaha TRB5Pii, my pocket-book would have me hunting down another BB-405 and ordering another set of Q-Tuners. It's an awesome combination and certainly the best sounding and playing bass one can put together for under $1000. I give it a 10 because of the body, neck and hardware, accepting that all stock pups on a low-end bass will need to be replaced for it to be used professionally.

2004 model Yamaha BB405, Made in Taiwan.
5 string
24 fret
34" scale
Alder Body
Maple Neck w/Rosewood fingerboard.
'Wine Red' finish
Passive, 2 single coil Jazz (j/j config) stock yamaha pickups.
volume/volume/tone
Sort of a slimmed down Precision-type body.
Nice solid bridge
Gotoh-style yamaha tuners

Nice overall package for the passive J-bass fan.

I play a wide range of styles, ranging from classic to modern rock and metal...to blues, funk, the occasional jazzy stuff, etc. For a passive bass, the BB405 does a good job of covering all my styles. I play through a 90's Crate BX-160 1x15 combo amp, with an Avatar 2x10 extension cab...to bring the head's output up to 220 watts.

The BB405 has a pretty versatile tone, comparable to a Fender Jazz bass. With both pickups on full, it has a nice, well-balanced tone with a subtle growl. Punchy, without being too bright. I usuallly use this setting, with a 'V' type EQ pattern (Boosted lows/highs, scooped mids.) and it works very well for most styles.

With the neck pickup soloed, the tone is more boomy sounding...sorta towards a P-bass tone, although it wont exactly capture the P-bass thump. With the Jazz pickup soloed, the tone gets a little more growly. The bass is dead silent with both pickups on full, only a very faint hum with either pickup soloed...but not even noticeable in a live setting.

For a bass of this price, I find the stock pickups to be very adequate with good output. Although the only thing I would want to change is that I wish the bridge pickup had a bit more output, so that it would have a bit more 'bite' to it when soloed.

Factory setup was pretty good to my suprise...I lowered the action just a tiny bit to suit my playing style and, but thats purely preference. Intonation was dead on, as was pickup adjustment.

Despite having a regular 34" scale as opposed to an extended 35", the B string is pretty tight and clear. Not flop city like some 5 string Fenders ive played.

I was suprised by how substantial the bridge was. Its a nice, solid, cast bridge like a Badass II or Gotoh...not a cheap, flimsy 'vintage' style bridge that I was expecting, like they put on the standard Fenders. Naturally, the BB405 has very good sustain due to the more substantial bridge.

I gave the bass a thorough going over when I got it, and I found no flaws in construction or hardware. Nice build quality, Yamaha is usually very good in this department. The finish is referred to as 'wine red', but is better described as a dark red burst finish. Matching headstock with looks cool. Very glossy finish, with slight wood grain showing through. Looks classy under stage lights. Very light and comfortable to wear for extended periods. Well balanced.

The only thing I dont like with the appearance is that the control knobs look kinda cheap and cheesy in my opinion. I plan on replacing them with some metal ones soon, no biggie.

Like I mentioned, the bass has high quality hardware and has been very reliable. I have gigged it and it will withstand any live playing with ease. I have used it without a backup, and felt confident doing so.

Never dealt with Yamaha customer service

I have been playing Bass and Guitar for about 6 years now. I own several other basses and a couple acoustic guitars. This is my first 5 string bass purchase, and my 3rd Yamaha instrument purchase, and I am very pleased with their product as usual. In my opinion, Yamaha gives you the best bang for your buck in the musical gear buisiness.

If it got stolen Id be super pissed...and probably be back on the computer looking for another yamaha that same day. I would highly recommend the BB405 to anyone shopping for a inexpensive, passive 5 string.

Guess it's made in Taiwan, 2002. 24 frets, 5 strings. 2 volume knobs, 1 tone knob, J/J passive pickups. Neck appears to be maple, rosewood fingerboard. Don't know what's the body made of, because of high-polish wine-red finish. Body style - like all BB series. Standard Precision bridge.
Is't a traditional passive bass, so I don't have any idea what else could it have? Maybe security locks... More options (active electronics, 3-band eq, etc.) come in more expensive models of the BB series.

It's sound is very universal - almost a Fender sound. The bridge pickup could give more growl. The sound is balanced, clear and full of lows. There's not much noise (no noise when both pickups are full volume). My amp is a Warwick CL. I could get very nice slap sounds out of it, as well as good tone for solo playing in high register - not common for cheap basses. I play progressive rock, funk and jazz (in different bands of course) and I'm satisfied with this instrument, however it sounds a bit too soft for aggressive funk playing. An active humbucker would do a better job.

Bad factory setting, horrible strings. After installing new set of Ernie Ball 45-130 and ajdusting the neck, as well as action and string length I could get pretty low action with no fret buzz at all. I also had to raise the pickups a bit, to get the signal strong enough (and emphasise the mids). However, I believe it has to be done to all the instrument after purchase, so why worry. Flaws? As rosewood fingerboards tend to shrink, the frets will have to be filed. They already feel to be a littlebit wider than the neck. But still - it's quite normal for some instruments. Except for that, the finish is really good.

Well, the knobs aren't fit too well. They might wear and start to fall off after some time (my neck-pickup-volume knob is already very loose). I guess I'll have to get them replaced with metal knobs. Also one of the knobs was not precisely installed - the whole potentiometer started to turn along with the knob - had to open the 'electronics box' in the back of the body and tighten the nut.
I'll also have to replace the strap buttons - the belt seems to fall off quite often - I just got used to Schaller Security Locks and now I can't do without them. However these are just small things and adjustments, so if you're familiar with the bulid of bass guitars, it won't cause you any problems. The more serious things - like the truss rod, the neck, the pickups, the finish - seem to be durable.
I did use it on a gig without backup, no problems whatsoever.

Getting all things done by myself consumes less time than calling the dealer :)

Been playing for 5 years now, during that time I've had a lot of basses, both good and bad. If I had it stolen, I'd rather get a second-hand Fender USA. Nevertheless it's a very good bass for the price, as the tone and the feel is realy good. I might want to replace the pickups with passive Seyomur Duncan J/J - I believe the original electronics make the bass sound worse than it could be.