Yamaha AES620L

Play: Prog Rock, Classic Rock and Metal
Playing for: 9 Months
Not in a band
Favourite Bands: Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, MetallicA, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Chimaira, Tool, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead and ACDC

I bought this guitar off-the-shelf from our local music store. I paid 680 Australian Dollars though the price-tag WAS 1400. It's my first guitar. I walked in and I intended to buy an Epiphone Les Paul. I played both in the store and quite simply: The Yamaha blows the Epiphone out of the water.

It's the most comfortable guitar I've ever played. The contours kinda wrap around your body keeping it nice and close and comfortable. My pots "fart" a bit when fiddling with them, but I generally keep them at the same spot. I'm sure cleaning them would clear that up regardless.

The tone is maaaggnificant. I can play whatever the hell I want and get a good noise out of it. With the pickup switch flicked up, I get a nice deep sound, good for rythyms and when flicked down, I get a sharper sound which is awesome for leads. Clean with a bit of chorus does wonders for Floyd, and when Distorted: I can do some pretty heavy chunks too.

The neck is also pretty slippery, making slides nice and easy as well as changing chords\keys.

The only thing that I dont like about this is the lack of markings. I have no idea where the knobs are set and occaisonally: Some mongrel will come along and shift 'em around on me.

Absolutely top-notch. I've banged this guitar around a bit (I play in too small of a place) and I dont have a dent, nick or scratch in the body. Nothing moves (except the strings of course :P). It's a total rock-solid construction.

An absolutely beautiful guitar. There's not a single thing wrong with this beauty. There's almost no reason to buy another guitar.

But well...Gibson are still making Les Paul's right?

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased for $650 (Canadian including 15% tax) at a local music store. Had been looking for another guitar for about a year but didn't find anything that fit my budget. The way this guitar played was almost effortless. I would have been very sad if I didn't buy it.

Once I picked up the guitar I couldn't put it down. I've had guitars around most of my life but its been years since the last time I couldn't put down a guitar. Guitars at much higher prices did not feel or sound as good as this guitar. The appearance of the guitar is also quite nice and not overly flashy.

I dislike the placement of the pickup switch as I'm used to my old Fender strat and have a tendency to hit the switch by accident. Also the volume and tone knobs may look good without any markings on them, I can't just look at them and figure out which way I want to move them.

Well built. No glaring flaws.

If you are looking for a great value then this is the guitar. Good features, nice sound and appearance and at a price that is very reasonable. I would recommend this guitar to serious beginners as well as long time players who are stuck on a budget. Even those who could afford more ... I'd suggest trying out this guitar.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com