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Best £200 bass ever!


TRBboy
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Amazing! Wanted a cheap bass to customise a little, and just finished it tonight.

I'm absolutely blown away with the results! I've played basses costing 5 times more which haven't hit the spot in the same way!

Yamaha RBX270 black off Gumtree £ 70
Wilkinson bridge w/brass saddles £ 15 (I think)
Dimarzio model p/j (cream) £100
Cream speed knobs. £ 5
CTS wiring kit. £ 15
TOTAL. £205!

It sounds friggin awesome! I've owned a fair few basses, and this is amazing for the money i've spent. Would highly recommend this recipe for anyone looking for an inexpensive bass that plays and sounds great, or as a decent backup.

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[quote name='TRBboy' post='1115912' date='Feb 4 2011, 09:22 PM']Amazing! Wanted a cheap bass to customise a little, and just finished it tonight.

I'm absolutely blown away with the results! I've played basses costing 5 times more which haven't hit the spot in the same way!

Yamaha RBX270 black off Gumtree £ 70
Wilkinson bridge w/brass saddles £ 15 (I think)
Dimarzio model p/j (cream) £100
Cream speed knobs. £ 5
CTS wiring kit. £ 15
TOTAL. £205!

It sounds friggin awesome! I've owned a fair few basses, and this is amazing for the money i've spent. Would highly recommend this recipe for anyone looking for an inexpensive bass that plays and sounds great, or as a decent backup.[/quote]

I'm with you on that one.

I bought an RBX270 Fretless, about 5 years ago - love it.
Lent it to loads of players - all said the same and mine is stock!

Thump away!!

Cheers. :)

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Yeah, you've gotta hand it to yamaha - even their cheap basses are well built and play fantastically. I've owned quite a lot of basses and worked in guitar stores for 7 - 8 years, and I think they take a lot of beating for the money.

I would probably choose an RBX270 over an MIM Fender any day!

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Not sure if this counts, but I nearly had the best £200 bass ever.

It was in a pawn shop, but I didn't buy it there and then cos I didn't know what it was then. It turned out to be a late 80s USA G&L Asat Bass ultra rare Leo Fender signature model.

I stepped out of the shop to call some dealers to find out exactly what it was and what it was worth. The pawn broker was only asking £185 - the dealers said where is the shop?! So by the time I got back from only 25 yards down the road someone had bought it! Doh!

This story still hurts even now and it was over 5 years ago.

Edited by Bassnut62
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I've done a similar thing to my RBX270FL. Only difference is I went for a Wilkinson type bridge, SD vintage style PJ pups, rewired to VVT (was VBT), new jack socket and some new flat wound D'Addario strings. Overall cost was £260 as my bass was £90 (evilbay) and the Sd's were a bit more expensive.

Really please with the result, the VVT is particularly pleasant :)

Pic for your delectation:

[attachment=71579:Bass_RBX_270F.JPG]

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

In my opinion you really can't get better than the Dimarzio's. I was so impressed with the model p/j in my RBX, I've since upgraded the pups on my jazz bass to Dimarzio Ultra Jazz. I've tried quite a few different pickups over the years, and I much prefer these to anything else I've owned or tried. They really are great VFM.

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They are truly awesome for the money. I picked mine up towards the end of last year in VGC off Gumtree for £70! I've had various Yamaha's, and for me this RBX hits the spot better than my BB414 did. IMHO the pickups were the real weak point on the BB; I fitted an Aguilar preamp but there was still something missing from the core tone, but there's no way of replacing the pickups without chopping it about. This RBX270 on the other hand, with the Dimarzio's and decent pots, etc. = SWWEEEEET!!! :)

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  • 1 month later...

I've not got the best £200 bass ever, but it's possibly the best £80 bass ever (okay, £98 if we're including strings).

Yamaha RBX360 (which I think is the older equivalent of the 270 - all the specs seem the same apart from having a master volume and blend rather than two individual volumes) - £50 from eBay
Full professional set-up (including repairs to cracks in headstock) by Andy Viccars - £30

My plan, funnily enough, was to see if I liked it and then to upgrade it with cream Dimarzio P/Js (sound familiar?!). However, on plugging it in to a proper PA system, the anticipated buzz and thin sound never materialised. Just pure thunder, instantly controllable and shapeable. It produces internal-injury-inducing levels without ever sounding anything like a cheap instrument.

I can't quite believe I've got guita pedals that cost more than it. The only upgrade I plan on now is straplocks (although, having said that, it's not the heaviest instrument ever).

Yamaha deliver fantastic instruments at low prices, and somehow they don't hold any value second hand. Which is good for those of us in the know. Shhhhh...

:)

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[quote name='SoVeryTired' post='1305315' date='Jul 15 2011, 11:02 PM']I've not got the best £200 bass ever, but it's possibly the best £80 bass ever (okay, £98 if we're including strings).

Yamaha RBX360 (which I think is the older equivalent of the 270 - all the specs seem the same apart from having a master volume and blend rather than two individual volumes) - £50 from eBay
Full professional set-up (including repairs to cracks in headstock) by Andy Viccars - £30

My plan, funnily enough, was to see if I liked it and then to upgrade it with cream Dimarzio P/Js (sound familiar?!). However, on plugging it in to a proper PA system, the anticipated buzz and thin sound never materialised. Just pure thunder, instantly controllable and shapeable. It produces internal-injury-inducing levels without ever sounding anything like a cheap instrument.

I can't quite believe I've got guita pedals that cost more than it. The only upgrade I plan on now is straplocks (although, having said that, it's not the heaviest instrument ever).

Yamaha deliver fantastic instruments at low prices, and somehow they don't hold any value second hand. Which is good for those of us in the know. Shhhhh...

:)[/quote]

Sounds great dude, what a steal! I really think they're WAY better than most other low priced instruments, and even some considerably more expensive ones!

Mine gets played more than any of my others, mainly because I leave it on a stand in the living room as my practice bass because I don't care if my 20 month old son gets his sticky fingers all over it!

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[quote name='TRBboy' post='1305328' date='Jul 15 2011, 11:12 PM']Sounds great dude, what a steal! I really think they're WAY better than most other low priced instruments, and even some considerably more expensive ones!

Mine gets played more than any of my others, mainly because I leave it on a stand in the living room as my practice bass because I don't care if my 20 month old son gets his sticky fingers all over it![/quote]

Yep, the low 'value' means these basses will get a lot more playing time than the ones that you're to scared to take out of the case!

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