Samick AV1 Avion

Pretty much a great Les Paul-style guitar. Humbucking Pickups with cover plates. Wish it had a pick guard, that would be sweet. It gets a nine for having only one tone pot though.

Just put a new set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies (10 gauge) on it today. This guitar sound amazing. I was very surprised when I plugged in. I play mostly heavy, thrashy metal riffs, but I also play a lot of blues and older rock. What I really like about this guitar is it responds to mid ranges rather well (which is great for guys with Marshall amps) and it holds the lows too. A crazy thing though is when you talk to your drummer, bassist, whatever, your voice is picked up by the guitar. So go ahead, turn up the reverb, throw on some distortion and phase and scream at it to get some wild sounds for that 60's psychedelic rock you like to jam out every now and then.

The guitar feels great and the action is quick. I can shred very well on this one. Another note; it's actually lighter than most Les Paul designs.

I bought this guitar for gigs, ya know, a "throw-around". It will last a very long while.

I have been playing guitar for five years. Guitars I have owned: Ion Strat, ESP LTD F-50, ESP LTD EC-50, Ibanez RVX220DX, 20th Anniversary Edt. Squire Strat, Jackson King V, and now this one. It is my favorite second to the King V for obvious reasons. This guitar sounds great for Blues, Jazz, Rock, and Metal. It is my opinion that it is under-priced. It is just excellent. I am going to get a Gibson Pick-guard, for it and mabey some EMG active humbuckers.

This guitar was made in Indonesia to be primarily an affordable guitar. The features are very cheap but have worked fine. It comes with a three way switch, a tone control, and main volume control that controls two humbuckers. I personally could use more controls to get a wider range of sounds from the guitar. The guitar I own is a dark red top with a bolt on neck. This bolt on neck has caused me a lot of problems (see quality section). One thing I liked about the guitar is that once I tweaked it, it managed to stay in tune very well. It stayed in tune well even with a problematic neck.

For certain types of music, this guitar does very well. It does not play very well on heavy distortion or bright clean sounds. Although, this guitar for its price can create some amazing sounds with mild distortion and a middle range clean sound. I play a variety of music including rock 'n roll (Classical, modern, metal), blues, jazz, christian music, and even classical. This guitar does well for rock but not to well for blues. It does not produce any strong lead notes and has a lot of feedback problems. The feedback problems are mainly due to the cheap pickups. These pickups are very hot and pick up any sounds (it is almost like a microphone). With some basic adjustments, this guitar was able to produce some decent sound but only for a beginner.

I am not sure when I get this guitar how much it had been abused at the music shop. I bought it approximately 4 years ago at a music shop. When I took it home to play, my grandfather noticed that guitar had major problems staying in tune because the bolt on neck was loose. We tried screwing the screws tighter but it still did not help. I returned the guitar to find the neck had broken. I was provide a new "fixed" guitar and was able to get it working. After playing for a year, I was learning this guitar was not high quality. I took to a local music shop for some repairs and adjustments. First, I had to repair the input jack because it had trouble outputting the signal to my amp. Secondly, my guitar's action extremely high and needed adjustment. Last, my guitar's pickups were "hot" and were causing a lot of feedback. The pickups were dropped and the bridge was dropped and it made a huge difference. Still, it would nice if these qualities were preset in the factory.

Reliability and durability is where the guitar fails. For a cheap guitar, the guitar has lasted as long as I needed it to. Since I have been playing the guitar for about 4 years, I need a much more professional guitar. This guitar will not last much longer. Once again, the neck is beginning to crack and the sound has been reducing. I have taken good care of my guitar but because the wood and hardware was made cheaply, this guitar is bound to break. I have never played in any bands or gigs but this guitar is not built for durability. The finish has not worn off or faded but is not very appealing to me.

I never had to get it repaired through Samick. When I had the guitar repaired the first time, I did not have to deal with customer support but they did handle the product well.

For a beginner's guitar, this guitar will be a good starting point for anyone. If you are an amateur or professional, consider looking for a more higher end guitar. This guitar will not last you very long and will not provide the best sounds. I must say I would have trouble selling this guitar when I get a new one. Your first guitar is like getting your first guitar. It is something you would like to keep as a memory because it helped you get your other "car". For my times I have been playing at home practicing, the guitar's performance has been satisfactory but as I mentioned, the quality and action is very poor. I

My AV 1 is connected to a Hartke KM 200 .I got a natural sound for blues or Jazz.Hook to guitar effects , Zoom G1X , ump... the sound is incredibly amazing!I will recommend to anyone buying an AV1 Samick Guitar
for the money`s worth paying for.

Made in Indonesia, dark blue Les Paul style guitar with a flat top and two humbuckers, 2 tone and 2 volume knobs, Tune-O-matic, Grover tuners (very nice). Set neck (funny thing because according to the samick website the AV2 has a bolt on neck...oh well, good for me I guess:) Have no clue what materials it is made of, but being as ligh-weight that it is, it must be from cheaper materials...my back is not complaining. It's a pretty simple guitar but the feauters it does have are very reliable.

I play in 3 different bands at the moment: A jazz trio with a contra bass and alto sax, a hard rock band and another "incognitoish/Brand new Heaviesish" funk/acid jazz band. I find that this guitar, being as simple as it is, can find its own "voice" in all of these styles. For the jazz trio I use it through a small 25 watt peavey bass amp(micro Bass) with a boss loopstation and a super chorus pedal. After I switched to 10 gauge strings from 9's, I find that the guitar has come to life, it always stays in tune and the sound is really warm and round. I usually use the neck pickup for this type of music with the tone turned a bit down for that warm jazz sound. The pickups respond really well to pick dynamics even though I know that they are not the best pickups in the world, they do the job very well. For the rock band I use a friend's fender valve stack with 4 8x12"s and a boss GT-8 pedal and it kicks ass. I used to use a strat before with this band, but somehow the samick just has a nice rounder and warmer sound for this job, not to say that the Fender isn't good, but I recon a standard strat is not really ment for the type of music we play and the sound of the samick is a bit rounder. In the funk band I use the pup swith in the middle position a lot and in the neck setting when I solo. The only effect I use in this band is a crybaby wha pedal and sometimes a superchorus but that's about it.
The thing I like most about this guitar is its simplicity. It's so simple, that there is little that can go wrong with it haha. It holds the tuning very well, it's not an expensive guitar so I am not afraid to take it with me on any trip (I did buy a hard case for it though-it earned it I guess). I like the colour of it as well (dark blue like on the samick website www.smcmusic.com/website_gregbennett/av2.html) If it was stolen or broken I would definately buy another one, but I haven't been able to find one like this in any store, they only have it in different colours (the red one is nice too)

The action is really nice, no buzzing anywhere, pickups are not the best on the market, but they do a really amazing job for sure I bought the guitar 4 years ago for about 50 thousand forints here in Budapest (about 200 Euros) and it kind of grew close to my heart.
No flaws that I can think of, it does have a tiny crack in the neck binding, but nothing serious. The colour is very nice though and I like tha fact that the whole guitar is bound with a small white line that makes it look so stylish.

I use this guitar as my main axe, I trust it with my life haha. It keeps its tuning very well (grover tuners) I recommend using at least a 10 gauge string set on it. Today I had my guitar practical exam in our conservatory and I decided to take this guitar with because I had to play a lot of classical and jazz chord melody solo stuff for which I needed to be in tune all the time. I was playing a strat as my main guitar for many years but there were a lot of problems with it, mainly stayin in tune. Strap buttons are rock solid, I just noticed that the factory dudes even put tiny rings of felt between the guitar body and the strap buttons to prevent the wood from getting scratched by the turning of the buttons. It's these small things that show that they give attention to detail. I don't really use any floyd rose dive bombs or squealing harmonics (try the interceptor superstrat if you are looking for this, very cool guitars, the pups I didn't like too much though, but the neck is awsome), I am more into jazz and groove oriented music but I do solo quite a lot in the bands so I can recommend this guitar to players who want a simple, cheap guitar that is very reliable and good sounding.

haven't had the pleasure yet. Don't think I ever will.

I've been playing seriously for about 8 years now and being the poor bastard that I am, I didn't really have the chance to own a lot of gear. I did play a lot of guitars though, sometimes I borrowed from friends, or hung out a lot in guitar shops and drooled over a lot of guitars. My opinnion is that I would never in a million years spend more than 800 Euros/1000 USD on a guitar because the parts nowadays are becoming more and more cheaper and I think that appart from these parts and the guitar's actual construction, one only pays for the brand name. I think one can get an amazing sound from a guitar such as this for a fraction of its price, the most I would do with this guitar in the future, is upgrade its pickups, but thats it. This is a very reliable and acurately constructed guitar, very good value for money.

finish- gloss
body- les paul
bridge style- tune-o-matic
tuners- grover which are excellent
neck/scale- medium sized neck, jumbo frets
accessories- none
year- 2003, china
frets- 22
top- solid
controls- 1 volume, 1 tone, 3-way
pick ups- 2 chrome humbucking pick ups
body/neck- maple body, maply neck, rosewood fret bored

I play mostly metal and this guitar suits it very well. I was using a marshall 15 wat dfx amp before and it sound great on that with a zoom gfx 3 pedal...then i used it on a randall RG73G3 with the same pedal and gave me so much more power and crunch and gave me a more metal sound. It does get alot of feed back if you go up to 1 on a good amp but 6 on a starter one. It has a rich and full sound to and and very bright and clean it's amazing how clean it sounds, you kinda get a hum to it though. Really you can get alot of sounds out of it like blues, jazz, classic to anything.

It lasted me for about 2 years and gave me problems at the end the 3-way toggle kept on coming lose, 2 wires broke in the toggle switch...1 more for all of them to break, and the pick ps started to get a lot of static to them and was really noise, but the guitar is still great for beginners.

The guitar was set up pretty well although i didn't know anything about guitars when i bought it but looking back it was set up nice and still looks the same way it did 2 years ago, and the action was a bit high i just ajusted it 2 days ago. The pick ups were adjusted fine no need to raise them or lower them. Everything was made fine. The only flaws i noticed is when the guitar started to get old and everything was coming loose such as, wires, toggle switch, input jack, pick ups, and tuners.

This guitar would suit live playing if it was brand new, but after a year of hard playing this guitar wouldn't be able to go play live you wouldn't only here feed back. Oh yes the hardware is as hard as rock seriously i bumped it so many times no dents but one time by strap came off and by head stock went straight into the cement ground it actually didn't break it just got chipped but still played the same after. The finish still looked the same as i did when i bought it to years ago. The strap buttoms are solid nothing came loose. I can depend on it for just a regualar jam, for live playing no, it would most likey be used for a back up but i would rather avoid that.

No i wouldn't even use it on a gig haha

Never dealt with them

I have been playing for 3 and half years and really this guitar did alot for me for the 2 years i had it, i now own a john petrucci music man guitar and boy does that guitar ever own ($2000.00). I wouldn't have asked anything since i didn't know anything about guitars haha. If it were stolen i would defently buy another one, why because i would use it as a test guitar before putting a new set of string on my new/ way better guitar or pick ups. I love how clean and heavy this guitar sounds it's amazing for the price, i really do hate the gloss neck since when i play fast moving power chords and my thumb rubs against the neck it sticks and i usually make mistakes in a song because of that, and it's heavy but all les paul guitars are, i really didn't choose it the person at the music store did and sure glad he made me get this one the grover tuners stay in tune like no other it's amazing how such a low priced guitar came with suck great tuners. i compared it to my friends guitars and really the way it stays in tune is amazing, all my friends guitars come out of tune about 10 times for the 5 hours we jam, and mine doesn't come out of tune at all no matter how fast i solo or bend, my friend had a knock off epiphone that really isn't that great it's just really light and his neck has an arc in it haha.

I really wish this guitar had a better contour to reach the higher frets, i wish it had 24 frets and a good tremelo bar mostly a floating bridge kind. Nope i pretty much covered my opinion about this guitar, i hope it helps aswell.

Model AV-1/VS
Made in Indonesia
Gregg Bennet series

Grover tuners
2 Humbucker pick-ups

Sound Quality is excellent
I play it through a small 25watt fender amp with gain and reverb.
sounds great clean, with reverb, and needs little gain to get a decent crunch. I put on a new set of DR strings, and after initial tuning and re-tuning it has stayed in perfect tune. must be the grover tuners.

The guitar was set-up at the shop where it was purchased, and has absolutely no problems. The action is low without any fret buzz. the finish on mine is the tobacco sunburst and is absolutely beautiful, one of the nicest looking guitars I've seen. as far as fit goes, it is very comfortable standing or sitting.

I've only had this axe for a few weeks, so reliability and durability will be determined with time. however, the quality seems good and I dont forsee any major problems. I will say that one nice surprise is that the guitar stays in tune, even with heavy playing.

no experience here

I've been playing for less than a year. this Samick is my first electric gutar. I shopped around quite a bit before this purchase. I saw nothing that comes close to it in this price range, in quality or value. This guitar's in this price range are mostly "starter" guitars and barely above junk. This Samick is far superior to anything in this range. I couldn't be happier with this guitar. I would definately buy another.

This guitar was made in Indonesia
It has two pickups-- treble and rhythm which can be combined in all three ways possible...
There is one tone and one volume-- not much of a problem since i leave them both on 10 all the time.
Really Nice Grover tuners-- a big plus.
It has 22 frets, with a pretty normal neck-- bit thick like a les paul neck.
Pickups-- iffy. They are humbuckers and they do buck the hum, but they aren't top of the line by any stretch of the imagination. They are probably the weakest point of this guitar.
It has a Les Paul style body which is beautiful with the glossy dark red I got it in.

This guitar works reasonably well for my style of music...which is basically the blues with overdrive/distortion. I use a Roland 15 watt amp and a Boss ME-50 effects pedal with it.
The treble setting on this guitar sounds great. Every now and then I get a little hum if I try to add too much tone-- could be the cables though, not really sure. Compared to other guitars I've played though, it's extremely quiet. I would define the sound as rich/full on the rhythm and rhythm/treble settings while on the treble it has more of a biting edge to it (which is delicious!).
I hardly ever play it completely clean, but I have been able to get a rich jazzy feel from it in the few cases i have tried.
In conclusion-- the sound is not exceptional, but it's reliable and quiet.
I actually like the sound better than my friend's Mexican Strat. Mine isn't as grating on the nerves after long hours of playing-- it distorts pleasantly...

The action is rather high on mine. For me this is not a bad thing. This works well for slide guitar playing (which i do a lot of). One problem i have in this area is the fattest string. It rattles when i play hard...I think this has to do with my choice of strings.
As far as I can tell no flaws have shown up in the workmanship in the year that I've had it.

This guitar is sturdy. the material it's made of is rock solid. It's also quite heavy-- like a Les Paul. I love the finish on this guitar. In a year of heavy playing I see no wearing of the finish, and the strap buttons are solid.
I would not use it on a gig without a back-up, however. I would be afraid of busting a string at the last minute or something of the sort.

Never dealt with 'em

I have had this guitar for a year now and have been playing guitar for about 5 years. If this guitar were stolen or lost I would definitely buy another. It's a great deal, and I see no flaws in it whatsoever.
I love its reliability, its sound, its beauty, and its design
I wish it had better pickups, but hey, you can't have everything.
I compared it to a lot of other guitars-- mainly strat copies and other low priced guitars. This was one of the best looking and best sounding I found.

Alot of the other reviews go into detail about the specs so I'll just touch on the thing I've noticed about them.
For starters, this guitar stays in tune which is always a huge plus. Grover tuners rock, to say the least. I also own a Washburn that has Grover tuners as well. Whether or not a guitar has Grover tuners will be a big factor in deciding on future purchases. I can't stress enough how important it is for a guitar to be able to hold a tune and considering I only paid $250 for that is awesome.
It has a three-way pick-up selector, one volume and one tone. It would be great if it had 2 vol/2 tone knobs. I regret not buying the next model up with the vol/tone for each pick-up, instead of one for both but I am happy with this guitar so I won't be trading it in anytime soon, if ever.

The stock pick-ups sound alright with low gain for bluesy type stuff but if you want this guitar to sound good for high gain styles like metal/hardcore/punk for you will have to invest some money to swap out the pick-ups. The stock pick-ups have intense feedback with medium-high gain at low volumes. I thought the stock neck pick-up sounded good when clean so I only swapped out the stock bridge pick-up for a di'marzio tone zone, only to find that the tone zone sounded better clean than the stock neck pick-up so it will be swapped a.s.a.p.
I play through a Vintage Fender Princeton.

There were no problems with the guitar when I bought it, no flaws that is. The store I bought it from did their own in store set-ups so I don't know what the factory pre-sets were like.

This guitar's finish looks like it will stand a lot of abuse. I've been playing it non-stop for two years and it still looks like it did the day I bought it. (Well, the one pick-up is different). The strap buttons are solid, I haven't had any slips in the two years I've owned it. Provided you take care of it, this guitar will last a long time.

I've never had to deal with the company, which is a good sign I guess.

I've been playing for 5 years, owned the AV1 for 2 years and it immediately replaced my Washburn as my No.1 guitar.
I know I complained a lot about the sound quality, you may be wondering why I bought such a lemon in the first place. 1) the price was right and 2) this guitar was like butter in my hands, I've never played one that felt more comfortable. Every one of my buddies that has played it says it's the best play they've ever had, and they're not just saying that, I've passed out my wife like that guitar and she didn't get any glowing reviews... turns out I've been missing out on a lot... I just didn't know any better... She just lies there like... I'll shut up now.

2004 Samick Av-1
Indonesian copy of Les Paul
- 22 frets
- Grover tuners
- 1 tone, 1 volume
- 3 way selector
- 2 humbuckers

I play almost every genre, especially blues, rock and punk.
The guitar suites very good all of these with a simlky perfect sound without buzzs or strange noises.
Very warm and deep sound (for a guitar of this price range) with gainfull distorded sounds too.
Maybe the 6th string is kinda the "poor brother" of the thers five, in sound and gain.

The factory setup was amost perfect, the factory strings were cool too (but i've replaced them only 2 days after).
The strings keep on tuning very well and the Grover tuner do the rest;-)
A dislike: when i replaced the strings, the 5th did some buzz on the 6th fret, but i needn't to set the torsion bar , it fixed after a couple of hour.........

I don't use this guitar to play live ( i don't polay live at all).
The finishes r great and i don't expect they'll loose their quality in a short time.
The strap buttons are ok, seems we can trust them.
I didn't use anything on a gig without bckup, but seems this guitar could be a "gig survivor"
Maybe the selector seems too breakable and thin.

No need
2 years warranty

As a less than 2 years player i can say this guitar was the best choice i've could done.
I had other cheap guitars that i sold because i hated all the crappy noises from them.
If it were stolen i'll buy another one for sure, or maybe an advanced model of the same series.
I love the quality of finitures, never seen like these on a this price range guitar, i also love the deep and the warm of sounds.
And it comes with Grover tuners, no other cheapy guitars have them, and i love Grover eheheheheh.
I'd like it had 2 controls for each humbucker and a better selector.
I think this could be a perfect choice for a beginner, pro need another kind of stuff, aff course.

6 string 22 fret Les Paul style electric
2 Humbuckers
Made in INDONESIA

It was a good guitar, by that i mean good and not great, when i was looking and the Greg Bennet line, i thought that the Interceptor had a better sound to it and it was more flexible to different styles of music... But maybe the Avion just needs lighter strings?

This was the fun part, Flawless, not one problem found, the pickups are perfect, Intonation, everything is great

Well, to be honest, i wouldnt like to bump this guitar, it doesnt seem that good

N/A

Well worth the money, and its good for begginers.