Yamaha TRB5F Fretless Electric Bass > Reviews > A warm sounding, satisfying tone.

Author's product rating:   

How well constructed is it?	average
Appearance	4
Quality of sound	superb
Playability	very playable
Value for money	good

Advantages:	Beautiful sound, but powerful all the same .  Fret marks help guide the fingers
Disadvantages:	Passive, and requires a battery .  Battery case too big but easily solved .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I had been playing a bog-standard 4 string squier p-bass for 3 years when I thought it was time for an upgrade. Listening to the likes of Jaco Pastorius I was inspired by the sound of the fretless bass. It was then I started my search for a fretless with my budget being under £600 (a replica Jaco bass being over £1000). I was advised by a session bass player to buy a bass with a large fret board as I had quite long fingers. He told me yamaha have high quality fretless basses at my budget. I searched on the internet for the ideal bass and I came across the Yamaha TRB1005F, made with quality maple woods and a great tone. I went to many bass shops in London to find something similar. They didn\'t have any yamaha basses but wide fret ones that sounded good. I decided then to purchase the yamaha over the internet. Although it take several months to be imported from Japan, the quality and the warmness of the tone made it worth it. I decided to buy this bass due to the reliability of yamaha. Also the bass contained fret marks and although I have been playing the violin since I was very small and the double bass for enough time to have decent intonation, I thought it would be a wise idea to purchase a bass with fret marks as to aid my playing. These fret marks were useful at the start but now I\'ve been playing it a lot I have got a feel for it and I no longer need to look at where my fingers need placing but they were a very good guide to start with.
When the bass arrived I needed to adjust the settings and positioning of the truss rod which would enable the feel of the bass to suit me. In the booklet it said you may need to adjust the intonation although I did not need to do this. The string action needed slight adjustment to suit my playing style. If you do need help with adjusting the truss rod (which is advisable as it is a very delicate part and if you break it that is the end of your bass!) just pop down to your local music store and they will do it for free!
It took only a month or two to get used to the 5strings as opposed to four and the 5th string did turn out very useful in the end, with its powerful tone.
This bass is great for soloing and performing and gigging in all styles especially jazz. It also sounds good on CD too. The slap sound isn\'t at all bad being a fretless.
The look of the wide neck and the translucent black also made this bass very appealing looks wise. You can also buy it in a natural finish
which isn't as nice in my view.
The only flaw with this bass is that it is passive, meaning it contains a battery needing to be replaced every now and again. When I 1st got the bass the battery ran out within the first couple of weeks, which was a scare. However, I did buy another one and it lasted for many months.
The last problem was the battery case itself. The battery case was too big for the battery which meant that the battery kept on coming off. I sorted this out by inserting sum wood into the case not damaging the bass itself which solved the problem.

The sound quality above all makes this bass a delight to play. It is surprisingly easy to play despite being a fretless bass and fits in with all musical styles (bar classical obviously).