King Loudness « Another killer shredder »
Published on 12/11/11 at 19:45The Yamaha RGX1212s is another guitar built by Yamaha to answer to the shred market of the late eighties. This particular one was top of the line and featured neck through construction. The overall design, fit/finish and tone is almost exactly on par with the Jackson Soloist Pro or Charvel Model 6 guitars. It features an alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard with 24 frets, sealed tuners, Yamaha RM (Rockin' Magic) Pro locking tremolo system (kinda a hybrid between a Kahler Spyder and a Floyd Rose). There were two variations of this bridge, but in both you don't have to cut off the string ball ends, which saves quite a bit of time. It features an H-S-S pickup configuration with Yamaha passive pickups as stock. The control layout is a master volume and two tone controls. There is also a push/pull coil tap for the humbucker, and the switching is a 5 way.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is quite ergonomic to me. Considering that it's neckthrough... the playability is a breeze. The guitar isn't the lightest one in the world like most RGXs I've tried or owned, but it does have a nice solid feel to it that says quality. The design is almost identical to a Jackson Soloist, and those are a really high quality shred instrument as many people are aware. The upper fret access is pretty fantastic too. It's also worth noting how easy it is to set these up for a really low action that's really conducive to fast playing.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. It has a pretty typical passive setup electronically and the H-S-S pickup layout is quite versatile. The tones are pretty standard eighties fare, nice and thick sounding with a smooth midrange and a nice ripping top end great for rock and metal styles.
SOUNDS
The tones out of this instrument are pretty awesome considering the price. It's pretty awesome sounding overall. Definitely has a cool vibe to it that is comparable to Jackson and Charvel tone wise. The clean sounds range from being very wiry and spanky (think a Strat on steroids) to thicker and bolder when the humbucker is in use. It does lack a bit of the punch that I would look for in a single coil, but for the eighties style clean tones it works fairly well. Switching over to the drive sounds yields a fantastic range of tones that work for a variety of styles from classic to modern. The single coils offer some great tones from Hendrix to Yngwie and the humbucker kicks things up a notch for harder rock and metal settings.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Yamaha RGX1212s is a great buy for anyone looking for a well made shred guitar of any sort. The construction is top notch (these were about $1,500 new back in their day) and the feel is pure shred. The stock parts are remarkably high quality and it definitely runs toe to toe with a higher end neckthrough Jackson or similar. They can be had as low as $400 or so used which is an extreme bargain in my books. Definitely worth a look if you get the chance.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is quite ergonomic to me. Considering that it's neckthrough... the playability is a breeze. The guitar isn't the lightest one in the world like most RGXs I've tried or owned, but it does have a nice solid feel to it that says quality. The design is almost identical to a Jackson Soloist, and those are a really high quality shred instrument as many people are aware. The upper fret access is pretty fantastic too. It's also worth noting how easy it is to set these up for a really low action that's really conducive to fast playing.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. It has a pretty typical passive setup electronically and the H-S-S pickup layout is quite versatile. The tones are pretty standard eighties fare, nice and thick sounding with a smooth midrange and a nice ripping top end great for rock and metal styles.
SOUNDS
The tones out of this instrument are pretty awesome considering the price. It's pretty awesome sounding overall. Definitely has a cool vibe to it that is comparable to Jackson and Charvel tone wise. The clean sounds range from being very wiry and spanky (think a Strat on steroids) to thicker and bolder when the humbucker is in use. It does lack a bit of the punch that I would look for in a single coil, but for the eighties style clean tones it works fairly well. Switching over to the drive sounds yields a fantastic range of tones that work for a variety of styles from classic to modern. The single coils offer some great tones from Hendrix to Yngwie and the humbucker kicks things up a notch for harder rock and metal settings.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Yamaha RGX1212s is a great buy for anyone looking for a well made shred guitar of any sort. The construction is top notch (these were about $1,500 new back in their day) and the feel is pure shred. The stock parts are remarkably high quality and it definitely runs toe to toe with a higher end neckthrough Jackson or similar. They can be had as low as $400 or so used which is an extreme bargain in my books. Definitely worth a look if you get the chance.