Yamaha AES620

Its a korean guitar with a classic Les Paul look with a modern flat arch top look.I got the faded sunburst model. This Guitar is a beauty!

22 jumbo frets, Rosewood fingerboard with Nato neck. Mahagony body. String thtu body w/Individual tailpiece. Grover tuners. 1 alnico humbucker at Neck and Seymour Duncan JB humbucker at the bridge. 2 volumes control, 1 master tone and 3 way toggle switch

I play mostly Brit Rock and punk. This guitar has the sweetest tones I ever heard. Be it playing it in a clean channel or distorted channel. Its just pure sweet heaven. I couldnt believe my ears when I play it at the distorted channel and found that it produces a sweet, bright and clear tone! It suits the style I play very well as I play open chords w/distortion most of the time, and this guitar stiil can maintain clarity w/o sounding muudy. As for tones, this guitar can produce a variety of tones, from the smooth warm tone of the neck humbucker to the searing sounds of the bridge humbucker, or the ambient and full sound of both humbuckers, this good looker definitely has it all!

The setup was pretty perfect. The strings are factory strings, but they are suprisingly smooth. This guitar dose not need much adjustments. But the only flaw was the tuning of the G and B string was pretty unstable when I first bought it, but after much playing, the tuning becomes stable and doesn't give me much of a problem.

The ncek is pretty smooth which pretty much suits lead playing pretty well. The toggle switch is pretty solid and easy to flick. The finish of the guitar is pretty flawless!

Except for the initial tunning unstability of the G and B string. This guitar certainly can withstand live playing. I think I can pretty much depend on it without a back up.

Haven't dealt with them yet so no comments.

For a Under SGD $1,000 guitar, this is one good looker with great tones. I dont think u can buy any guitar of this quality at this price level. And this guitar has this "come play me" attraction that jus makes u want to spend every minute of ur life with it! The tone this good looker is comparable to those expensive branded guitars. Frankly speaking, at this price range, u couldn't ask for more!

2004 model made in Korea.
2 volume and one tone control (all passive)
2 humbuckers
nato with a rosewood fretboard and maple top.

This is a great sounding guitar and good value for the money.I play a variety of different styles of music and it seems to do the job very well.
I play through a MK11b Mesa Boogie amp sometimes two, usually through a old Korg A3 proccesor with a super crybaby and a MXR dist+ and so far I have been very happy with all the tones.Upper fret playing is a little bit limited but not impossible. I find the neck comfortable and personally find it hard to put down it, seems to want to be played.Compared to my Sg2000 Yamaha, it measures up quite well.

Set up from the factory was quite good, the only thing was it came with light strings, 9-36 this guage can hide a lot of fret flaws, and upon closer examination, some of the frets were uneven and needed to be leveled, especially as I was fitting 10-52 guage. however a lot of new guitars have this probem, but it is something you should allow in your budget as this can cost an extra $150cdn depending on the repair persons charges. The differnce with the biiger strings was great and the guitar sounded better than ever.

The input jack was faulty, but was replaced with no fuss. No trouble with pots, other than that, the fit and finish is great a very good standard.

This guitar has not been on many gigs so far but it will , and I'm sure that it will stand up to the rigors of giging, all the Yamaha gear I have has done well, (I own two other Yamaha guitars a snare drum and 3 power amps) Strap buttons are good , but i don't see the point of having two at the back. I always take two guitars to a gig sometimes three, more for the change of sound, rather than being afraid of something breakink.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing about 33 years now, and own a few guitars including a G@L strat, Fender Strat, Hammer Tele, Yamaha SG700S Yamaha SG2000 and the AES620. If it were lost or stolen i would buy another, I bought it because it fitted my hand good and it sounded good, there is nothing i really hate about it, its a good solid guitar and its different from the run of the mill Gibsons and Fenders .

This is just an update on my purchase of the AES620.

I too was plagued by bad pots on this guitar. I have to believe Yamaha got a bad bunch because there's too much attention to detail on this guitar to just throw in crappy pots. Anyways, brought it back to the store where I bought it and they put in some CTS pots, problem solved. This is one kick ass guitar, it screams through my Trace Eliott Bonneville. For the money, this guitar is a tremendous value. If you have the bad pots problem, bring it back and ask them to fix it under Yamaha's warranty. The store I bought it from just fixed them after they could see that they were crap.

2 humbucker configuration, two volume controls, 1 tone control. Some places list this as a Nato body, but according to Yamaha's web site, the body is mahogany with a Nato neck. Also, Musician's friend lists these as a combination of active and passive electronics, however, this is strictly passive, there is no active electronics in this guitar. Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck in the bridge position, Yamaha designed alnico in the neck position, grover tuners. Tunematic bridge and strings mount through the body. Nicely beveled for comfort, and two strap mount points allow you to tailor the balance point. There is no binding at all on this guitar. The boundary between the mahogany and maple top is nicely finished in a lighter color than the mahoghany, so it provides the illusion of a wooden binding ala PRS. Very nicely done.

I play this through a Trace Elliott Bonneville combo, and the Jeff Beck in the bridge smokes! I plan to use this primarily to cover heavier rock tunes in my band, and it fits that need perfectly. Also sounds great with slide playing, the flatter radius on the neck makes it ideal for slide. The neck pickup sounds pretty decent, but I think I will ultimately end up replacing it with a SD 59. Quite a versatile guitar for the money. I've owned two PRS Custom 24's, and a Gibson LP DC Standard, and this guitar sounds as good and plays as good as any of those guitars at 1/4 of the price.

This guitar played great right out of the store. I wish I could have said the same thing for the Gibson DC standard I had, what an incredibly bad setup that guitar had. I'm still amazed at the quality of this guitar for under $500. I've been playing for 40 years, and I've owned a lot of high end instruments, but this axe definitely gives you a lot of bang for the buck. I like chunkier necks, and this one fits my hand like a glove. It's a solid feeling guitar and the chunkier neck just begs for some aggressive playing it seems. I lowered the pickups a slight bit since they were affecting the string vibration a bit from being too close. The top on mine is really pretty - it's a Royal Blue with a nice flame, perfectly matched. As pretty as the blue PRS Custom 24 I used to have. I can't find any flaws in the workmanship, outstanding for a guitar in this price range. The only suspect items are two frets that appear to be high, and these will be addressed by a pro setup. I always have my guitars professionally setup and have a fret level done as well. I've had fret issues on just about every new guitar I've ever bought, so it's not a unique issue to Yamaha. But that's really the only issue, and it doesn't get in the way of my playing it. The action is great, although as someone else mentioned, the bridge doesn't go quite low enough to accomodate really low action if that's what you like. But I would guess this could easily be addressed with a good luthier.

Feels solid, and the hardware feels like it's well mounted. The fatter strap buttons feel solid and provide a reasonably sure mounting without straploks. I think it will stand up to playing without any problem. It will be sharing the task with my Howard Roberts Fusion.

I have other Yamaha products, and I've always found Yamaha support to be excellent. My rating is based on my prior experiences with them.

I've been playing steadily for 40 years. I've owned a lot of guitars, but this axe has changed my view of lower priced guitars. The value just can't be beat, this guitar blows away the Gibson LP DC Standard that I used to own, and it cost a 1/3 of the price. Yamaha has a winner with this axe, and the decision to use a Seymour Duncan in the bridge was a smart one. I originally went back to the store to try an Ibanez Artist that I was interested in, but when I compared them back to back, the Yamaha was the clear winner.

It's all stock with a red dyed top.

The bridge pickup suits my style of playing perfectly. I had a hardtail American strat with a Duncan JB and it always gave me just what I was looking for. I can play anything from "soft" rock, to punk, to metal with this baby. The neck pickup is quite disappointing. Recently I've had many guitars with a single coil neck pickup, so that may play a part in my dislike for this particular humbucker. It just seemed to be muddy in comparison to the JB and it didn't cut through at all...no definition or character. I'll probably replace it with a humbucker sized P90 eventually.

Excellent factory setup! I recently purchased a Gibson ES-333 that had one of the worst factory setups I've ever played on. Do not buy that guitar! In comparison, this guitar plays like a dream. The quality on this axe rivals some of the newer, non-"handmade" PRS guitars I've seen...and for $1,500 or so less! The top is beautiful, even if it is a veneer, and the finish is fantastically smooth. The choice of hardware and the string through style is a dream come true. Finally, a decent tune-o-matic style guitar that's strung through the body! Another thing I love about the bridge is how the saddles are rounded so they are smoother on your palm. Absolutely wonderful! The only thing I dislike is the positions of the dual strap buttons on the bottom. I can't seem to find the "perfect" position using either of them.

This guitar appears that it will last a long time and withstand the rigors of daily playing. I'm sure it will be dependable, but I always bring a backup. I may even buy another one, or the newer AES920 model. As noted in many other posts, the pots SUCK! I need to replace them ASAP. Why did Yamaha skimp on such an inexpensive item?! Shame!

I've only had it for a week, but I think I may have finally found THE guitar for me! If it were stolen I would definitely consider purchasing a new one, or I'd look into one of the other AES models.

Don't get caught up in the numbers. I know a 9 isn't all that great for an award winning guitar.But "the devil is in the details," or,"it's a dual edged sword," or "I'm a jackass."
The yamaha original bridge is a beauty, and the volume/tone knobs are nice as well. All chrome and shiny-like... The only thing is, dem purty knobs keep on' a slippin' in my hand. Consarnit' all! Right, anyway, this is a dual humbucker, passive-electonic model, single cutaway, contoured heel electric guitar. Doesn't sound like much goin' on in aes-620 land... But like I said earlier, "I'm a dual edged jacksword..."
So the devil's in the details. We have not two but three (!!!) strap knobs here peeps. I haven't exactly said "thank our japanese counterparts and their heathan guitar god for this extra strappamabobber" just yet... But I just may. The idea is, the two back strap knobs are located several inches apart (ideeeeeal for quicky adjustments), meaning you can play yer "starin'-at-the-fret-board-must-not-fuck-this-up" songs, and yer "you really got me now" songs with equal comfort levels.
The mahogany body sounds like a mahogany body. No quack or smack unless yer fingers attack! Now that RHYMED! And you know it rhymed (marge)...as for the top, I don't care if its a "veneer"(it should be noted that I don't know if it is either.) All the Gibson $nobs can thank their record labels or the black market baby-trade for the money they have wasted... Oh, I said it. And I aint' a gonna' take it back! Gibsons sure are purty. And they sound better. And I'm jealo.. er, broke...
The neck is chunky as all hell (more on this later), the tuners are grovers (a plus), and all in all it is a very "balanced" feeling piece of work.

Now we finally reach the important stuff. This thing sounds wonderful. I "learned" on a Clapton stratocaster (my girlfriend's #mumble,mumble#), and this guitar sounds just as "good" (we should make it clear at this point that I am a "strat-guy"). I dig the ash/alder/bolt-on/maple-neck brightness! This instrument can do the spank of a strat, but only with 11's (you just have to be extra-careful with yer intonation... trust me.)It's never gonna' approach that kinda' brightness, but, for what it is, I'm happy with this guitar accoustically (can I spell?)
When I plugged it in I fell in love. Let me tell you... this instrument responds VERY well to subtle tone/volume changes. The seymour duncan jb pickup is wonderful with attack and let me tell you... this thing can hold a frickin' note. That means sustain folks. Out de' bum. One other thing... I like to do alot of wierd shiznits with my geeeetars. This pickup selector (or the volume knobs, can't tell) cuts out the bridge pick up when you do crazy-rapid volume changes. As in, if you're in the mid position with low-neck-pickup-high- bridge-pickup and you switch to accent off beats rapidly... THE BRIDGE LITTERALLY JUST QUITS! Damn... now see, that's a problem.

HEEERE'S the problem. The factory setup expected me to be all "whoa, a guiTAR," as in it had some spoiled 9's and an action that would make a nu-metal dude puke cause of string buzz (and that's sayin' alot.) The thing is... I still haven't been able to keep it from buzzing.
I know it's not the truss rod, the bridge-action, or my string gauge... It just... does. It's not a crazy neck warp buzz. Just subtle enough to piss me off when I play all pissed off.
The "chunky" neck has gotten me over more playing plateaus than any guitar I've ever played though. I literally thank this guitar for my style... So... That's an equal tradeoff.. Ya' know?

You will not break this. Well maybe the electrics... but that's yer own damn experimentalist fault! No I kid... And I give it a 7.

Look... I named my aes 620 (though it may be from a need to call it ANYTHING other than "my yamaha," or "my insert serial number here".) What I mean is that it taught me to play, and that it got me over many plateaus.
As a uniquely personal experience, it is a 20. As an established guitarist's guitar, it's a 9 (though that last score also reflects the monetary value.)
Cool... if that made sense...

Thought it was gonna be difficult to use when I started looking at the 620. I was confused 'bout the active/passiveness...I'm saying I just wasn't straight on the details. However I have now discovered that it's not that tough to use. This guitar does all I need it to and looks and sounds great on the way. (I know this is an aside and not that important, but the case is one of the nicest looking cases I've ever seen! I don't know if it comes in any other colours, but mine is a real nice brown leather with brass accents)

I play straight rock and a little bit of pop. Maybe some bluesy sounds, but I'm not a pro.
I am using it with: in order, a Vox Passive Volume, Korg Dt-10 Tuner, MXR Phase 90, Line 6-DM4 (Distortion Stompbox), Vox Wah, into a Special Edition, Tweed Fender Blues Jr. Heck, I don't even know much about how my effects should be ordered, but I know what I like, and what I like is my guitar and this set-up. Sounds thick and vintage and I have the highest opinion of this guitar

The action is great. I changed the strings right away. Didn't have much time to use the factory strings (only in the store). I think it plays really well...and for the price?!
The quality of this quitar is fantastic. I am an almost Obsessive/Compulsive, anal retentive, former wood-worker and I know quality when I see it. I had looked at many other guitars and for the price I paid, I was blown away by the quality of the craftsmanship, attention to detail and a great finish.

The first thing I noticed when I picked up this guitar, was the volume and tone pots. They were so smooth, it was hard to resist the urge to keep turning them...then I plugged it in. When I plugged it in, I realized that these pots looked and felt great, but weren't. That is still my only disappointment. The pots cut out when they aren't on all the way and make this awful staticky noise when turned. That's why I have a volume pedal! I may replace the pots some day, but when they're on, no one's the wiser!
It's an 8 because of the pots...annoying that everything else is top-notch except for the pots...grrr...

Haven't had to deal with them except to order a case. They need special cases as they are noticeably wider than a Les Paul which was the case I thought it would fit it. I went around the store and couldn't find a case anywhere that it fit comfortably into. Long story short, Yamaha sent it right away and I think it had arrived in 3 0r 4 days. Good people, Yamaha.

Had it for almost a year. I would certainly buy this guitar again if it got stolen. Love the thick, beefy neck. Love the finish, hardware and craftsmanship. Same kind of quality in a guitar $1000 - $1500 more. It's a real steal for the quality you get.

this has been covered by the other reviews. i will address the confusion over the electronics. this is a passive system (non active). there is confusion, and it come from yamaha's catalouge. only the aes 820 has the 3 way tone pot with. depending where you read in the catalouge you will get different info. the wood is Nato, which is a relative of mahogany.
i got mine with a real nice case for 799.00 canadian. great deal on a quality Les paul styled guitar.

it suits my styles well,i play anything from ac/dc to blues and country as well as heavy metalish stuff. my amp is a yamaha dg100 which gives me many tones. noisy? no way! very rich full sound, the yamaha neck bucker is sweet and i can spend a lot of time on that pickup alone. the JB in the bridge is clear and full. i would not say it is lacking any bottom at all like the last reviewer stated. he could be having some problems with his pots. mine are bad and being replaced. with the selector in the middle position i can get very sweet cleans. there is so much you can do with a guitar to fine tune it so if you want more meat get rid of the 9's that come on it and throw on some 10 or 11's. i can nail angus youngs tone and this guitar has a bit more resonance and clarity than a les paul. a big plus to me. i do like the wooliness of a "paul" but thats only one sound. that gets tiring quickly for me. i think its more of an sg/prs tone. which is a good thing. the bridge design is clever and a big improvement to other designs. it is more resonant and alive. any time you feed strings up through the body it adds sustain and resonance. i would suggest if one wanted a more regular les paul tone all you would need is a set of seymour duncan 59's. or rather one in the bridge, for the neck pickup is fairly vintage sounding. i was not usually a fan of hot pickups like the JB but after using it in this axe i am happy. ths guitar is a fine quality instrument. i have no complaints except for the pots being bad in mine. a freind of mine has one as well and has had no problems with his. its all under warranty so no big deal to me. in fact i will probably end up with better quality pots anyway.

incredible workmanship. the only things i have noticed are a slighty tight nut slot on the g string and the pots (probably a bad batch from the supplier). as far as the overall quality, i would rate it up there with the big money guys! really. i have seen gibsons with flaws that should not be on a 2000 dollar guitar. my buddy has a prs mccarty and there is no way you can tell i spent $2500 less than he did, even plugged in you can't tell. i judge guitars on the merits of the hardware and construction not the name on the headstock. the vintage burst on my flamed top is beautiful. it is a thin maple veneer but thats not an issue. like i said earlier it is more PRS in its design. the neck is big and beefy, it is way chunkier than my Godin lg sp90. but it isn't at all hard to play. i love it. awesome fretwork.

should hold up well, it is solidly built. the finish is durable yet they have kept it thin enough to not kill the tone. the strap buttons are real big and i will probaly keep them on as opposed to adding straplocks on this. nothing is loose or rattling. like i said , solid. when i looked inside the control cavity i was greeted by the neatest wiring and sheilding. its all clean and orderly.

yamaha is great, the store had worked out a deal with yamaha so they had free cases included. when i first got mine i noticed the case had a missing foot on the side and a small crack in the covering on the bottom edge. i now have a new case that is even nicer than the last one and my pots are going to be replaced. i have had lots of help from the yamaha guys on various occasions and am very happy with the support the reps deliver. the tech at yamaha emailed the pages of the shop manual for a yamaha pacifica 721 i bought on ebay and needed wiring schematics and part lists. this was a 14 year old used guitar. i also had an offer to help me with the software upgrade on my DG100 from the yamaha rep. both my pacifica and DG amp are used items and under no resposibilty of yamaha.

my gear.
Yamaha DG100 amp
Yamaha pacifica 721
Godin LG sp90
Yamaha AES620
i have been playing over 25 years. and have owned a pile of guitars. there have been a few that got away. but what i have now is staying.
i practically try everything out i see in my local store and i have access to guitars that cost much more if i need to compare. i will let my friends buy the expensive ones. i will use my ears and eyes and end up with more for less.
it has great tone, construction, hardware, design and awesome looks for one quarter the price of a les paul in my neck of the woods.
i don't wish for anything except maybe a bit darker colour on the outside of the sunburst. it looks very vintage as it is.

As advertised, it's a 2 HB solid body guitar w/maple top and what looks like a mahogany neck. Pretty much a standard good quality electric guitar with quality components such as grover tuners.

I was led to believe that this guitar had active electronics of some sort. But I can't find them. Anybody know where they are? I opened the covers on the back and saw just the usual volume controls and a single tone control. There was no battery compartment to run active electronics. Not a big deal because I'm not crazy about active electronics anyway. Just curious why people are saying this is an active electronics guitar.

Well, I like the looks and playable of this guitar but I really am not blown away by the tone. It sounds to me like this guitar was made for heavy metal which I'm not a fan of. It seems to be lacking lows compared to my other guitars with humbuckers. This is true when I A/B it against my LP and my PRS. So I'm going to give this guitar a low rating on tone. It's not bad mind you. It's just average sounding to my ears. What it seems to lack is woodiness. It just seems to my ears that I can't hear the mahogany wood through it like I can with my Les Paul. I can't get that women tone out of this thing like I can with my Gibson. Instead I get a searing tone perhaps good for metal oriented stuff.

Plays well. Workmanship is top notch. Built very well, no doubt about it.

I'm not expecting problems. It's built like a tank. It's heavier than my PRS as a matter of fact.

Not expecting to have this thing break on me. Best support is to have it built well at the factory. This guitar stands up well by that criteria.

Great Player. Great looker. I just wished it sounded as good as it looks. I read the other reviews and see everybody rates this guitar nearly a ten when it comes to tone. I'm glad they all like it and I wish I did too. But I only find the tone to be average. Admittedly, I usually play guitars that cost much more so maybe I'm spoiled. But I'm still baffled why I can't get it to sound better. I think I'm going to replace the pickups and see how I like it. Perhaps putting in P-90s will make me like it better.

For metal this guitar would work as it is because it's aggresive sounding but that's not my bag.

And to be fair, tone is a very subjective thing. Different strokes for different folks.

New, I assume made in 2003. Mine is the purty blue model. I would've prefered the sunburst, but this is a very nice looking axe. I won't go over all the details, it's a set-neck short-scale guitar with two buckers. Grover tuners, volute at the headstock too. I love the fact it has a separate vol for each pickup--this is a NECESSITY for me. Neck's pretty substantial which is cool. Frets are closer to vintage than fat (sort of surprised me). Hope they don't wear too quickly. Mahogany (or Nato, depending on where you get your info?) body. I will say this, if it truly has a maple cap, I'm pretty sure the flame you see is a veneer over it. Also, the "wood binding" matches the grain of my body, which leads me to believe it's "faux" binding, ie, just colored different than the rest of the mahogany body--which is fine, just wanted to point it out. Whatever the case, it's a well made guitar.

The sound from the bridge pickup--a Seymour Duncan JB--is to DIE for. Awesome for rock 'n roll, especially at high-gain settings. The neck pickup is okay; I'll likely one day replace it. I assume the reason this guitar sounds so good is a combination of the woods with the pickup, but I'm a big believer that the pickup is a HUGE factor, and one thing's for certain, I'm sold on the JB! It is one smokin' pickup. I play mostly rock: classic rock, alternative, 80s/90s "dance" rock, some pop, and some punk. This guitar is well suited to my style of music.

The shop where I bought mine offered to replace the pots and put a pull-push tap on mine, and I'm glad they did, because the bridge vol pot is very static-y and goes in and out as you turn it. Disappointed in this. The shop is going to put in the more robust "CTS" pots, and I think this is a worthwhile investment if you plan to gig with your AES. Have to knock points off for going the cheap route on electronics. Otherwise, fit and finish is great: good fretwork, no apparent flaws in the finish, abalone inlay work is very clean. Very nice.

I think this guitar will hold up well, but I wonder why they put this rating here? Who knows? Only time will tell. The strap buttons are the wide ones, which I like almost as much as strap lock pins.

Dunno

What a great value! For $500, you can own a pro-level guitar. Musicians Friend will no doubt eventually blow these out for 2 or 3 bills I'm sure, keep an eye out for them. I do recommend replacing the electronics, but I've seen this from a lot of Korean made guitars, that are otherwise well made (the SE series from PRS for instance). The JB already in the bridge really takes this axe up a notch for me in the overall rating.