I bought this metallic blue bass a year ago in a starter package as my first bass when I switched from guitar. One reason was I knew Yamaha is a quality company and I would at the most have only a few minor build or setup issues.

Yamaha has hit a home run with this bass. I have no complaints. I have since bought a more expensive Gretsch Junior Jet short-scale bass on the recommendation of my instructor (being easier to practice with) but I like the Yamaha better and play it more. There is some noise, but that may be due to the inexpensive amp as the noise is the same when the Gretsch is plugged in and that bass has been shielded.

The Yamaha has better tone control than the Gretsch and the P-J configuration is much more versatile than the Gretsch's single humbucker. Build quality is even and the contoured body of the Yamaha is much more comfortable than the slab body of the Gretsch. The extended upper horn puts the strap at a nice balance point. This RBX170 has everything you need and nothing you don't.

Even the maple neck and headstock have a nice grain pattern!

This is a really nice bass guitar. It has a huge array of tones that can be acheived and it's a good looking bass.

There is a big groove going lengthwise on the body underneath the paint. I'm guessing it's some sort of seam. I wish it wasn't there, but it's not so obvious that it would make me send it back.

The action is a bit high, but not so high that it's unplayable. It stays in tune beautifully. and has very good sound quality for such an inexpensive instrument.

Plastic knobs are a bit of a bummer, but again....for the price I'm not going to complain too loudly.

All in all it's a great bass. It has a few flaws, but for the money I don't think it can be beat.

I got this bass in red as my very first bass about 4 years ago because of it's low price. Since it was my first bass, I didnt' realize how great it was because I had nothing to compare it to. But now I have a Rogue LX405 to compare it to. The first thing I found out about the RBX170 is how much better it sounds. The sound is very clear and clean compared to my Rogue which sounds great for metal and other music where fuzz sounds good but it doesn't nearly as clean as this bass. Another thing I noticed about this bass is how durable it is. After about 4 years of bumping this on corners and rubbing my belt buckele against it when I play, you can hardly notice the few dents it has, even when you're looking for them. My Rogue on the other hand, has dents and scratches I don't remember getting. The only drawback is the features. This bass doesn't have as many features as some of the other basses I've seen but it definately makes up for it with everthing else. I would definately recommend this bass for a first or even a second bass.

I only had it for several days, I did not plan to buy this bass, just needed strings and my daughter pointed this bass, and I looked and liked what I saw and price threw me off. Once I tested it, I was very impressed, easy to play on, sounds great, looked great, my daughter smiled when I played it. so I bought it, loved it. My other bass just sat. I am gonna play this alot! I had owned a peavey bass, nice but not as good as this one! I don't think you will be disappointed.

I still can't believe a bass that plays and sounds this good, and that is this versatile, costs so little.

I got it because my MUCH more expensive Ibanez with active pickups started having a lot of problems and needed some work done to it, and I had an upcoming gig on bass.

I will probably just sell the Ibanez to someone who wants to fix it now... this Yamaha sounds great, looks great, and plays great.

Some of the negative comments here obviously aren't even about this bass... it doesn't require a battery, they aren't available in wood tone... etc. So make sure you try one for yourself.