Yamaha AES620

wow

wow

sick

wow

beast

great guitar! pretty sick

See in the Yamaha Website. It's a Les paul, with 2 vol pot and 1 tone pot. But i replace the Yamaha Pickup. I put Seymour Duncan Jazz.

Wow!!!!The Seymour Duncan pick-up screams. Clear, high, fantastic. The sound is Les Paul. That's it.

Korean model, with great action. I replace the strings, because it was set up with 09. I put 010. The finish is great, well built.

This is a heavy block of wood. The hardware is great. Great quality. It keeps shinning.

Never deal

This guitar is much better than epiphone. I don't know why everybody gets epiphone. It's hard to believe. Yamaha is perfect for the price.

For the price of this guitar i think the features are amazing.

Has a very nice carved flamed maple top.

I wont go over them as they have already been written countless times.

This guitar offers a wide pallete of sounds for almost all genres. It is great for any thing from Gary Moore blues to Guns N Roses rock to Avenged Sevenfold metal.

My backline is a pathetic Marshall MG15 cdr Combo and this guitar still sounds good. I often put it through a Boss ME50 effects processor to get Tones not possible on my amp.

The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan JB which sounds amazing on the dirty channel but is a little too high output for the clean, and has a very bright sound imo.

I was extremely impressed with the stock Yamaha neck pickup which has a thick warm sound to it and is great for crunchy rythm. It has a far superior sound to most of the other stock pickups ive played. (mainly the prs SE range Which suck and are terrible value for money)

you can get a good clean sound with the middle position.

The pickups are very quiet (they dont hum) at high gain settings.

no problems whatsoever

i had no problems accept the tone pot became loose

never used them

Over all great guitar for the money.

Quilted top, LP body style, string thru body, Grover tuners come standard,great feature. Same size neck as the 1960 tapered LP. Came with nice yamaha case. 2006 model, Korean made and an excellent job I might add. Nothing flaky about this guitar. 22 frets 2 volume, 1 tone control, pickups are great, jb hummer at the neck, Seymour, a real Seymour on the bridge. This thing screams. Every feature that you would need is here.
If you like a coil tap you have to install yourself. I personally don't like a coil tap. If I need that I'll use my PRS Mcarty.

My music is blues, blues/latin, rock, some country. for country there is always the telecaster, or Strat. The yamaha will cover just about everything if you play with the controls. If you need distortion turn up the gain on your pedal and there it is. Smooth, back off the gain, adjust the tone knob and your there. Marshall amp, pre-amp, and Marshall speakers 1965b 410. Really a warm bodied sound can come out of this guitar, or it can scream. A guitar can only do so much with all the controls and pick-ups. Your hands really do all the work. Are you capable of playing light, aggressive, harsh, your style, technique, of playing has more to do with sound quality than anything else. The guitar makers can only do so much. The rest is up to the individual player. I have no dislikes about this guitar so far.

I remember reading somewhere that Carlos Santana walked into the PRS factory. Picked out a new guitar from the shipping dept and played it in concert that same night. My Yamaha aes 620 is the same. Take it out of the case and play. The only negative I will say and it's minor, is the volume knobs on one of my aes 620's and I have 5 of them. One has pots that are a little hard to turn, but remember this is a $ 600.00 guitar, not a $2000.00 Gibson. but I fixed that with a little oil. The finish is excellent. no flaws that I can find. The finish is better than my LP classic. A 9 because of the pots.

You could probably beat some drunk in a bar with it and never miss a lick. I think it will last a life time. Strap buttons are bigger than most. Certainly bigger than Gibson, but I always use strap locks on all my guitars. Hasn't let me down yet, and I don't expect it to.
I would never gig without a back-up, unless I only owned 1 guitar.

Off and on I've been playing 45 years. You know the old story, kids come along, get a real job, support the family. Let the music playing take the back seat for a few years. The kids grow up and leave, the wife leaves all on her own. Now it's time to go out and buy all that gear and here we go again. And this time my whole house is my studio, not just a little room in the back with egg cartons on the walls.
I bought one aes620 and loved it. So I bought more and there all great.
Lost or stolen I would certainly buy again. favorite features are the contour body, lighter weight than my LP. I made my comparison to other guitars at home. I have Tele, Strat, PRS Mcarty, Gibson es335, LP classic, Aes620HB, Aes 720, 68 SG.

Already mentioned in previous reviews but the Seymour Duncan JB in the Bridge , Grover tuners and Mahogany body make it stand out

Bought to compliment my strat for Classic Rock . Through my Laney Valve amp the Bridge JB sounds excellent very meaty and powerfull .

Ive changed the neck pickup which I found quite sterile to a Seymour Duncan 59 .This has greatly improved the clean tone .

This is a fairly common pairing of Seymour Duncan pickups even on guitars costing 3-4 times as much as the Yamaha ( eg Framus )

The Guitar I ordered straight from the distributor and came in very good condition - absolutely no complaints . The finish was much better than I expected and every part has a certain sturdness and quality feel such as the swiches and knobs.Set up was quite good although I did lower the strings which only took a couple of minutes

Last year I bought a Gibson Les Paul Studio new within one month it was returned to the distributor because the finish was flaking off the bridge and pickups .The replacement I received one month later had a faulty selector switch. This on a guitar thar cost 3 times more than the Yamaha

Only two months old and has been gigged about 5 times , maybe too early to say but so far no problems everything indicates it will be durable and reliable .

Ivs never used them so I dont know

Ive been playing for about 10 years and I am very pleased with the guitar especially for the price its almost unbelievable . Sounds great through a valve amp .Yamahas electric guitars are very under rated ( which ubdoubtly means lower prices) Compared to this how can epiphone sell any guitars ?

Features have been covered by otehr reviewers
so this part is redundant, I guess
I should add that I like the modern looks of this guitar

I needed a guitar with humbuckers to complement my 2 teles (G&L tribute special and Fender Delux Nashville)for that gibson tone
I play classic rock, blues, breatpop - no metal or too heavy styles
The sound was good and the feel was good
Though I found a JB pickup decent (but I did not like its high output and too much midrange as it seemed to me(the neck pickup was decent too, may be a little lacking in sensitivity to your playing), I still prefer low-mid output pickups (so I went for a dimarzio paf classics set)
And these DM paf classics were just the ticket for me.
Now it is a real paf sounding guitar with sustain and all teh tome, which disencourages me to buy those expensive gibsons...
Why waste money? If you have good paf tone with this Yamaha.
I give a 10 in this department.

Setup was good
Later I installed pafs and adjusted the bridge and pickup height to taste
I string it with 9s

Yes this guitar is reliable and I guess it is durable too
The finish is as good as any fender I had. I like the color too (mine is red)
I put staplocks (I do this as default for all my guitars)
It can play a gig without a backup. See no concerns about it.

Playing for 13 years
I also have two teles (see above)
If stolen, I'd buy it again (see no alternatives to a lespaulish guitar in this price range)

it's the Royal Blue AES. Bought it bout 2 years ago.
Everything is basically stock. Did not change anything except for the intonation for my low E..coz i play drop D most of the time...

I play emo, hardcore and alternative styles and also the occasional acoustic with an electric guitar kinda thing.
This guitar plays like a charm. Will never sell it. The tones that i get out of both the pickups...simply buttery.....
But i do say that the neck pick up can get a bit too bassy for my liking.
Overall i like the sound that it produces. Especially the overtones i get from every string when i play. i played quite a number of guitars and i'm not saying i'm a good guitarist. but i do have a good ear cause i'm an audio engineer. This guitar really has sweet overtones that seems to thicken up the single notes that i play. The clean tone is always amazing..constantly blowing my mind off.. for the price i got it for..

I'm not really sure bout factory setup. when i bought it, it was on sale. 40% discount. so bought it for RM1500(bout less than 200USD). a darn good deal i say. no blemishes. tip top condition.
well, the only problem are the volume and tone pots. when i bought mine, they gave me lotsa problems. a lot of cracking and popping sound and i can't adjust the volume proper. any tips on clearing that without changing them?

all in all...i'm quite satisfied except for the pots.

this guitar is hardcore. i love it coz it can take a real beating. i've travelled to lotsa places with it and everything is still working like i just bought it. inlcuding the lousy pots.
and i've been using this guitar without any back up guitars at all. the strings dun snap easily. probably it doesnt snap at all during my gigs.
totally dependable. if i had to choose between a les paul and this...the yamaha aes really wins hands down.

Yamaha is pretty big in malaysia and south east asia. So no problems at all with customer support.
Couldn't get much of a warranty coz it was a discounted product.
But the yamaha retailer who sold me this could've been a bit nicer.

This guitar has its all. except for hollowbody type of guitar sound.
apart from that..i recomment it as a really good buy.

A Seymour JB on the bridge and a yamaha humbucker on the neck...
Great combination...

Some say the the stock pickup on the neck is not good,
I don't agree.It sounds better than those pickups on the *cough* Epiphone LP and PRS SE.

The Grover tuners makes tuning really butter smooth.
The tone/volume knobs are really solid and almost indestructable.
Really solid mahogany body, makes your sound really full and alive.

I play Metal (not those -core or nu metal shit), European/Middle-Eastern Folk, soul and Jazz.

And this guitar does it all.

My setup is Yamaha AES620,

-->Danelectro Black Coffee -> BOSS CE-2 -> BOSS DD-3 -> Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ -> MXR Dyna Comp -> Marshall JCM2000 dual super lead

It helps turn those pedals above into monsters.
The pickups are as quiet the forests of lothlorien.

The Seymour JB bridge pickup gives you a really bright, trebly tone.
Perfect for fusion/funk even jazz chord progressions.Although when you solo with distortion, the sound the JB gives you is a very sweet, addictive solo tone.(sometimes really agressive when playing pentatonic solos...)

The Yamaha neck humbucker is really sort of a JB with reduced treble and increased bass.When pick acoustically, it almost sounds as good as a really expensive taylor.I really love playing palm-muted riffs on the this pickup.Master of puppets?...yeah...this guitar gives you that fat rhythm tone...i usually play mid-paced solo lines on this pickup as it gives me a really smooth lead tone...(unlike the JB, whihc sounded too harsh for slow, relaxing solos...)

Both pickups gives you unlimited access to pinch harmonics.And because i play metal, pinch harmonics are important to me and both pickups does the job extremely well.

This guitar is very versatile and is perfect for any genre...

The action is low, and really comfortable to my hands.
The pickups are set up comfortably, and makes the guitar look "evil".

The lacquered finish as well as the Les Paul-styled body compliments well with how the guitar sounds.

This is the best-looking Les-Paul-type body guitar ever...

When played live, it kills.I havent been wiping the body for abt a week now but it stills looks new like the day i bought it.

The are two strap buttons to adjust to your style of playing.I like playing with the guitar at my waist.

I'm gona buy another one and tune it to low B...

Definitely better than LPs...

Great people, they provided me with the info i need everytime...

I've been playing for 4 yrs now and tried dozens of guitars.
I've had several choices, Gibson LP, Epiphone SG, Ibanez prestige etc.
But the Yamaha AES620 beats them all...

I cannot recommend you a better guitar than this one...
This guitar is really gorgeous and is the best-looking guitar ever,
plus the colossal and titanic sounds it gives me,
There's no reason to get another guitar, unless its Yamaha...

A Seymour JB on the bridge and a yamaha humbucker on the neck...
Great combination...

Some say the the stock pickup on the neck is not good,
I don't agree.It sounds better than those pickups on the *cough* Epiphone LP and PRS SE.

The Grover tuners makes tuning really butter smooth.
The tone/volume knobs are really solid and almost indestructable.
Really solid mahogany body, makes your sound really full and alive.

I play Metal (not those -core or nu metal shit), European/Middle-Eastern Folk, soul and Jazz.

And this guitar does it all.

My setup is Yamaha AES620,

-->Danelectro Black Coffee -> BOSS CE-2 -> BOSS DD-3 -> Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ -> MXR Dyna Comp -> Marshall JCM2000 dual super lead

It helps turn those pedals above into monsters.
The pickups are as quiet the forests of lothlorien.

The Seymour JB bridge pickup gives you a really bright, trebly tone.
Perfect for fusion/funk even jazz chord progressions.Although when you solo with distortion, the sound the JB gives you is a very sweet, addictive solo tone.(sometimes really agressive when playing pentatonic solos...)

The Yamaha neck humbucker is really sort of a JB with reduced treble and increased bass.When pick acoustically, it almost sounds as good as a really expensive taylor.I really love playing palm-muted riffs on the this pickup.Master of puppets?...yeah...this guitar gives you that fat rhythm tone...i usually play mid-paced solo lines on this pickup as it gives me a really smooth lead tone...(unlike the JB, whihc sounded too harsh for slow, relaxing solos...)

Both pickups gives you unlimited access to pinch harmonics.And because i play metal, pinch harmonics are important to me and both pickups does the job extremely well.

This guitar is very versatile and is perfect for any genre...

The action is low, and really comfortable to my hands.
The pickups are set up comfortably, and makes the guitar look "evil".

The lacquered finish as well as the Les Paul-styled body compliments well with how the guitar sounds.

This is the best-looking Les-Paul-type body guitar ever...

When played live, it kills.I havent been wiping the body for abt a week now but it stills looks new like the day i bought it.

The are two strap buttons to adjust to your style of playing.I like playing with the guitar at my waist.

I'm gona buy another one and tune it to low B...

Definitely better than LPs...

Great people, they provided me with the info i need everytime...

I've been playing for 4 yrs now and tried dozens of guitars.
I've had several choices, Gibson LP, Epiphone SG, Ibanez prestige etc.
But the Yamaha AES620 beats them all...

I cannot recommend you a better guitar than this one...
This guitar is really gorgeous and is the best-looking guitar ever,
plus the colossal and titanic sounds it gives me,
There's no reason to get another guitar, unless its Yamaha...

everythings good here. made me a convert to the duncan 59 plus the stock pu isnt as bad as some say im leavin it in. mahogany is great, no buzzing here very quiet even with my uber metal on its butt!

nothing is perfect, but after going from emg's to the duncan 59, im hooked wont go back. emg's are sterile, this guitar with the wood pickup combo makes your sound alive. very nice.

mine is perfect. got the sunburst color and wow nice. has a chunky neck but ill be honest have a jackson with a thin neck but now like the chunk. a tad bit slimmer than a les p. action was great with the shorter scale length, you can bend like mad and it takes very light touch here shredders.

dont know its new but yamahas been in the game forever so i trust it.

get it. dont spend 1500 for les p without trying both. bet you get this one!

Mahogany body and neck, with maple cap. I understand this guitar to be a solidbody and not chambered. But when you look at the large size of the body in pics, you might think it has to be chambered. In the hand, the weight is less than my Les Pauls. Chambered or not? Sometimes, people refer to the body as being made of 'nato'. I take it that nato is in the mahogany family of woods? Sorry, I know I should know this...

The neck is two piece, with the headstock spliced on, a la Ibanez necks. But it in no way detracts from the quality of construction, nor the feel of solidness of the guitar. Basically, the guitar is similar to Les Paul formula. Set neck, single cutaway, two humbuckers, etc. We get Yamaha's tune-o-matic bridge design, which I really like, as well as a custom stoptailpiece design that is supposed to add to resonance..and I think it works.

The neck is interesting. It is a little club-like and is thicker than most modern guitars have. It reminds me of a classical guitar neck just a little. However, it's a really good neck. Very substantial without being unwieldly. The gloss finish feels wonderful, and along with the neck profile, makes for a really organic, stimulating, good experience. Top notch. It took me five minutes to adjust to the neck, and then, everything has been gangbusters!

22 frets. Really nice flamed maple top. These seem to look better in person than in photos. Ya get a real Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, and a Yamaha pickup in the neck.

Together, everything seems really, really solid and inviting. If your used to playing thousand dollar guitars, you'll be suprised when you pick this one up and play it for 5 minutes. Total kudos!

I wish you could coil tap the pick ups, but I'm really not complaining.

Well, I have a lot of mahogany guitars, and mahogany and maple guitars, and this one sits right up there with them all in terms of sound. The maple is the perfect addition to bring a beautiful top end snap to the warm, round mahogany. This is a great formula.

What I really look for in a guitar of this type are three main things. First is how well is roars with open position chords. Next is how vibrant and rich the guitar sounds with single note runs and string bends. Finally, I really like guitars that sing and purr and groan, ones that have all sorts of voices at your fingertips, depending on what technique you use and how you play them. I love the guitars that have this sort of 'life' to them. And I really like a wood-y, organic sound, even when I'm shredding and playing heavy stuff.
So this one sounds just great. Fellow guitar players, the AES620 is the real deal. Don't be fooled by the price. Yamaha is soooo very underrated.

Everything about the construction is really top notch. This guitar just feels so solid and playable. The finish is great, and the flamed maple top looks excellent.

My guitar needs a set-up, as the strings are buzzing a little, but not enough to disguise the tone.

I just wanted to add that the playability of the guitar is another plus. As a player, I am very sensitive to the feel of the strings from my picking hand. For example, do the strings feels taut and tight, or loose and rubbery, or somewhere in between. Loose strings aren't necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on how each indivual guitar plays. With this AES, the strings are taut but responsive. They are just perfect for delicate, or precise playing. But they invite you to play hard and dig in as well. I can still get more life out of my Les Paul, but the AES is a little more welcoming for my picking hand. Part of this may be due to Yamaha's proprietary design for the string anchors?...Well, anyways, time will tell what I can really get outta this guitar...and I am really hopeful,based on the time I've had so far.

Built like a tank. Totally dependable.

I've been playing for 25+ years. I'm a comitted humbucker guy, and usually go to a Les Paul or SG as a first choice. I had heard good things about the AES range, and had a GAS attack, so I bought it new on E-bay. I've gotta say, that I've played Ibanez, ESP LTD, and the PRS SE's, plus more, and that this Yamaha is top of the class in this price range. Does that mean these other companies are no good? No, far from it. I have an Ibanes SZ320MH which I play all the time and like a lot. But this Yamaha AES620 just has a lot more life to it. I'd REALLY recommend anyone shopping for a top-notch guitar to check out the AES920. The AES620 could sell for $800+ easy, and you'd still be getting a good deal.
The neck might not please everyone, especially sensitive players. At this point, I like it when a guitar plays differently than other guitars I own. Variety being the spice of life. But seriously, the neck is not really an issue. It's just not a thin, speed neck. Otherwise, it feels really good, fingerboard included. The knobs, the switches, everything solid.

SERIOUSLY, these guitars are sleepers! Yamaha are often refered to as great value for the money. This guitar is just good, period, regardless of price. It sings like a good, USA made Gibson. Then again, it's not in the same class quite as the top-notch Gibsons, but for some, the AES620 should become their first choice axe. No joke. I'm suprised myself, but am totally serious about this opinion.

I've gotten to the point where I know what I like, and know how to get what I want out of various guitars. The mid-priced guitars today are just excellent when price and playability are considered. I can take my Ibanez RG570, or SZ320 into a studio and record with them with confidence. But this AES620 could be a first choice for many applications.

Royal blue trans. A real knockout. I am a little skeptical about the bridge. I love the sound I get out of this guitar. The Yamaha neck pickup does the J thing for me.

You know what to expect in a two humbucker, 24.75" scale, maple cap, mahogany body guitar is going to sound like and this guitar does not disappoint. However, the sound has a lot of life to it. I had a Godin XTsa, same basic idea, but it sounded rather dead. I lean towards a jazz sound - from mainstream to fusion.

It looks very good. The only issues will be addressed below. The fretboard could use a little finetuning by a good luthier.

N/A. Seems solid enough.

I bought it used. So, N/A.

A long time. I bought this guitar from a girl who told me she had barely played it. I beat her down in negotiations and figured I could pick up some $ on a quick re-sale. Now I'm beginning to really like it and I think I might keep it. But here's my crticism: the input jack enters the guitar at the centre (where you'd expect to find the strap button). at an upward angle which puts a lot of stress on the cable. The cable prevents you from standing the guitar on end, leaning against the amp, for example. It can be awkward playing sitting down. Also there are two strap buttons on the bottom of the guitar. Who has a guitar strap with two button holes? And wouldn't the strap interfere with the cable and the input jack. Did someone actually play the prototype before Yamaha approved the design?

2005 Model. Maple Top, Mahogany body & neck with Rosewood fingerboard. Set neck construction, 2 humbuckers with independent volume controls and Master tone. Bridge Pickup is a Seymour Duncan and is probably their most popular. Transparent Amber Faded burst. String through body with adjustable saddles (like a Les Paul)

I play alot of rock, metal and alternatvie to say...but also some blues and jazz styles. This guitars pickup combinations really open up the tone palet quite a bit even though its only a 3 way selector. The 2 pickups really compliment eachother quite well. The Duncan JB is an excellent pickup for just about any style of music. Its has the cruch for metal, snap for country and definition of everything. The Yamaha neck pickup is simply wonderfull for those quite jazz passages, or speeding Zakk Wylde style neck solo's. I'm simply impressed with the choice of pickups for this guitars very impressive vet simple tonal capabilities.

Out of the box, the music store had this guitar setup perfectly. Action low enough just on the verge of buzzing if you really hammer it hard. The neck was perfectly straight. All the fretts were even across the board and nicely finished at the ends. Well done Yamaha for fret work!! The finish is wonderful. I love the look as well. There are no finish flaws anywhere on this guitar. The finish is perfect. The pickup height is perfect for the string height. I assume that the music store had done that, but in any case, I've played these guitars before actually buying one, and tried one right out of the box with no setup and it played and sounded amamzing! All the controls work just fine. I read a review were someone said they used cheap pots...well, I have the same post in my 1996 RGX421D and they're original. And I use the volume control alot. Good choice on what ever pots they used then and now. Everything is tight and makes no noise. Pots feel really nice and the selector makes no noise. The jack (I might add has perfect placement) is good and snug. Not too tight but definetly not loose.

This guitar is IMO better built than the Epiphone guitars. Everything about this guitar just feels right and sounds right. It plays flawlessly, has incredible tone no matter what your playing. The grover tuners are awesome, the rounded saddles are excellent (better than ANY les Paul out there). Pickups and electronics were well chosen as mentioned for the music style I play, and for other styles as well. I always carry a backup guitar incase I blow a string, but I would still take this with out a back up if I was doing a one nighter with out question. I know a guy who's been playing one now since they came out. He swears by it. I've used Yamaha guitars since 1996 and they've always been Very dependable. My old RGX looks like its been over the world...and its still going strong.

Yamaha Is an amazing company. I have dealt with them before to resolve minor issues and they've always been the best. Always wanting the customer to be happy. They'll go the extra mile even if your guitar is slightly out of warranty, where other companys will just say NOPE...its out of warranty.
Yamaha's support is excellent IMO

I've been playing guitar now for 13 years or so. I still a Yamaha along with this one. I also play a Peavey Wolfgang. For the money, this guitar cannot be beat. Its features and tone will surprise you. Most people don't give Yamaha a chance. I did 10 years ago and I've never been happier with them. Out of all the mid / mid high guitars I've tried, this series is by far the best bang for the buck. I'd like to try out a 920. I've played the 520 and 720 and both were excellent guitars as well.
If you've been affraid of Yamaha for what ever reason, GET OVER IT. You'll do yourself a favor.

There are dozens of reviews of the guitar already listing features etc. Basically it has everything it should have. Neck pickup could have been better but that would have increased the price

Using Vox valvetronics AD15 amplifier the sound is very good. The Seymour Duncan pickup gives a great sound for rock. Fantasic sustain as well.

Setup was ok but intonation was quite some way out. I had to adjust the intonation on every string and on teh G string I had to remove the spring from the tunomatic bridge and cut it in half to get enough adjustment to fix the intonation. Action was ok from the box but was adjustable even lower without any buzz. Nicely balanced guitar and feels like a quality instrument.

Been using it for 6 months. Nothing has gone wrong and so it has to get a good mark

Not required.

I played for about a year ten years ago then 6 months ago bought this to start again. It is a fantastic guitar for the price and it is only after realising that I am enjoying playing so much that I can justify a much better instrument that I have decided to replace it with a Gibson Les Paul Standard. This is clearly better but 4 times the price (it is clearly not 4 times the guitar!)

The main features of this guitar have been posted already, so I'll skip this part. Read up from other users/yamaha site if you dont know.

I picked up one with a Charcoal Maple finish and IMO its pure eye candy.

The only extra that I bought for the guitar was the Yamaha hardcase. Its well built, has a nice leather handle, has a plush interior, comes with a locking latch and key, and fits the guitar perfectly. It seems more sturdy then the generic hardcases shops give away with every new guitar. It adds a bit of class and I wish it came standard.

I'm a pure guitar hack who plays mostly bad rock, metal, punk, alt style stuff and some easy licks. Generally, I like the way this guitar sounds. The duncan has some bite. It sounds really crisp and bright, great for heavy riffing duty IMO. The yammy neck pickup isnt that bad either. It's way more warm and has some nice tones. I think yamaha should have put in another duncan, not another JB, but something away from yamaha's own parts bin. I duno...

I'm playing throught a 100w fender princeton and 75w Line6 SpiderII. This guitar can be quite versatile. It seems to get the job done for now.

Right out of the box I liked the factory settings. It must just be dumb luck that the bridge is set right where it feels fine for me.

No buzzing or $%^&!@ crackling sounds.

Its built well. It seems like the caftsmanship is there.

I opened up the coverplates on the back of the guitar and didnt find any spare screws like I did with my Mexican Strat ... It musta been tequila time when mine was assembled back when in '96.

I dont gig now, but I would use this puppy live.

All of the hardware is in place and seems like it can take a bit of a kicking. Firm, solid, and durable are the first 3 words that came to my mind.

It's a new guitar so I can't talk about dependability yet, but it seems like a rock.

N/A

I've been playing on and off for 6 years. More off then on though. I'm not a great guitarist by any means, but I can play. I've had some with with my Mexican Strat, Jackson Flying-V, a few old time Peaveys and others. I'm not a fine guitar critic, but i know what I like, and I like this guitar. It looks, feels, and sounds great IMO.

I wanted to buy a Les Paul, but that was out of the question. Then an ESP 1000 came next because they look so $%^&ing cool. In the end I became more realistic and checkout out something I could easily afford that actually had some value.

I was set on a single cutaway double humbucker style from the start so I just kept narrowing down my choices. In the end I'm gald I bought this guitar.

If it was stolen, I would seriously think about filling my Les Paul dream, because it would be a perfect time to step up. Whats the chance of it being stolen anyway? I would probably buy another one though.

The one problem with this site is this user review section. Some jerkstore, (myself included) can come along and praise or bash something saying they have 20 years of experience and just be some kid living a crappy basement. So take my review and all others with a grain of salt, talk to the d00ds at your local music store and play everything these interweb reviewers have bashed and see for yourself...

Bless.

just adding info on tuning

if anyone has issues with tuning stability, just get a good luthier to file the nut.
the nut slots are too tight, with proper setup you will have zero tuning issues. i know i did it to mine.
a set off locking tuners would even improve it more.

Well the features on this guitar had already been dissected on other reviews, ill just state that mine was made in korea.
Charcoal grey finish
I do miss a coil tap function on this guitar.Otherwise it has the features you would expect on guitar in this price range and tipe.

The sound, well it has a SD JB on the bridge, i think its quite good and does its job with rock a metal sounds, The clean sound from the bridge is rather harsh.Can be used to rythim with OD, or for bluesy solos.
The neck pick up is a yamaha custom, and sincerily, i dont like it a bit, the sound is very dark with little definition, this will be my first mod to the guitar.
Overall its a great sounding guitar for od and distortion, but clean sound are very poor

When i first ordered it at a local store, i was needing it prety bad, since my back up guitar had a problem.I picked it up, and it had .09 gauge strings, wich i hate, i tried it for a while but had problems with it constantly going out of tune, and the action was pretty low, wich caused fret buzz to occur, but overall i saw it was a nicely built guitar with potential to be improved, so i asked the guy to set it up and i would try once more.
I went there, but the guy said he had no time and bla bla, so i said ok ill take it home as it is and ill set it up my way, but if i cant tune it properly ill return it, ok i took it home and raised the action a bit, and putted som .010\.50 strings on it, and thought wow this could be a very nice guitar, indeed it was, for 3 minutes, after that it was constantly going out of tune all the strings, and i have been wondering what could cause this, i noticed the tuners had some loose screws and i tighted them up and it seems its fine now, so i took it to the man to tune the intonation correctly, because i was already sick of dealing with the guitar, and barely returned it the day before.

well i had this guitar for a week, i had a reharsal with it and had to tune it between every song.So ill need more time in order to evaluate the behavior after its finally set up to play

i havent dealed with them directly yet and i hope i dont have to.

overall its a well built guitar i a good value for the money payed.
I just hope mine comes back in perfect shape and does go out of tune often, if it does ill just return it.

Brand new, 2005, left handed model in faded burst finish. A nice take on the 2 HB, single cutaway story we all know. Yamaha has had the good taste though to design their own hardware for this model. This at least makes you feel like there was some thought to this re-design and it was just not another duplication of an already classic. Nice chunky neck that feels like my PRS McCarty, Nato (some species of Mahogany, I believe) neck and body, sweet bookmatched Maple veneer top, Grover tuners, individual tailpieces for each string that supposedly add tension to the bass strings for a tighter low end ( I just know it sounds good...), a Yamaha alnico neck HB, and a Duncan, not Duncan Designed, JB HB in the bridge position. Coil taps would have been nice

The first test of any guitar should be how it sounds unplugged. This guitar resonates just beautifully when unplugged. It sounds terriffic through my Blues Junior, my Dr. Z Z-28, and my Bassman R.I. It also took to pedals extremely well. I used a variety of overdrives and fuzzes through the various amps I own and could not get a bad sound. Pickups are dead quiet. I read some reviews complaining about the earliest models having bad pots. They must have corrected this problem because mine are smooth and really nicely tapered. It also feels REALLY good when around your neck. The contours are well thought out, and the hollow chambers make the guitar just light enough to balance perfectly on your shoulder.

The guitar arrived form an online retailer in a cardboard shipping box. I was expecting a less than stellar setup but to my surprise, it was really close to what I normally do myself. I had to restring it with a higher gauge set of strings and then lower the treble side of the bridge. It played wonderfully after that minor adjustment. The truss rod also required no adjustment. I must have gotten lucky! As far as the finish goes- flawless. The faded burst is a little "orangey" to me, though. Faux wood "binding" is perfect, no wiggly paint lines along the fretboard, no finish drips or orange peeling. I've had Gibson products not finished as nicely.

I can't wait to get out and use this guitar live. It feels solid and ready to go. I always use a backup anyway but this guitar seems extremely roadworthy and if I had to, I'd use it alone on a gig.

I have owned, and still own, many fine quality guitars. Fender Custom Shop, Gibson Historic, PRS, etc. Dare I say it- this $549 guitar has given me more bang for the buck than any guitar I've ever owned. I had absolutely no remorse or doubt after purchasing this guitar. I bought an Epiphone Casino a few years back which was also Korean made and it was about the same money. Absolutely no comparison quality-wise This is a pro quality guitar at an unbelievable price. The pickups sound great, the action is fine, and it feels REALLY good when strapped on. Yamaha has a winner in this AES Series of guitars. I just wish they made more lefties!

2004 Taiwanese Yamaha 620. Features are the same as mentioned in other reviews...flamed maple on mahogany top, set neck and two humbuckers of which one is a Seymour Duncan at the bridge. I was very lucky to have purchased mine at $699 new all because the colour was dark blue (at the time it was retailing at over $1000). Apparently Yamaha found the colur wasnt selling so gave vendors discounted price to clear stock. Quite interesting as in Australia, Yamaha gives very little discount to retailers no more than 10-12% usually.

This is a very versatile guitar and would suit most styles but probably fit in best in the rock/punk genres. At the moment Im playing only through a Peavey practise amp which is a shame as Im sure this guitar would sound so muich better through something better. I have owned in the past a Yamaha AES500 which was pretty crappy in my estimations and I was so surprised at the great improvements made. The AES500 was a Nato bodied guitar, not the best wood for electric guitars and had very brittle sounding or thin sounding tone. The neck was also very disappointing. With the AES620, the tone is unbelievable and regardless of price is a very good quality tone and sound. It has great sustain, partly due to the fact it has through body bridge. The humbucker at the bridge is a rocking pickup and really compliments this guitar well.

Excellent fit and finish straight out of the box, I didnt need to adjust anything. Its buzzing a little bit so might have to take it back and get the store to have a fiddle around. The guitar is high quality, and looks to be very high quality control. Once again unbelievable fit and finish and quality at the low price.

This is a Yamaha. Ive had a cheapo acoustic and the AES500 and they last forever. The construction is solid.

5 year warranty never dealth with them.

Been playing 5 years and sine then owned a Yamaha AES500, Maton MS500 and Yamaha F310 Acoustic and looking to purchase a new Yamaha acoustic (hopefully L series). Ive owned Laney VC50 amp, I wish I had it still would have liked to play the 620 through this amp. I would definitely buy another one if it got stolen. I absolutely love the look of the guitar and the fit and finish. The neck is so good and so easy to play obviously not as fast as Ibanez but then again this isnt an Ibanez. I dont usually give things 9/10 but I cant really find fault in this guitar. I believe for 699 i got something that would have cost me $4000 in Australia. Wake up Gibson and PRS and to some extent Fender. Stop ripping people of, you make good guitars but I cannot justify paying 4000 for something that sounds not much better than my 620.

Made in Korea. Details on the construction have been given in previous reviews. There is no need to repeat them here. For this price point its hard to beat the features on this guitar. These include the Seymour Duncan bridge pickup, a pretty decent Yamaha neck pickup, string-thru body design, Grover tuners, and overall nice fit and finish. The guitar is well built except for one glaring issue with the pots that I will elaborate on later in this review. Other observations on the features include a kind of cheap looking nut, a very nice ?clubby? neck and smooth rosewood fingerboard.

I play mostly rhythm guitar in a classic rock band. The guitar comes with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge which is really a special touch, it?s the real deal. It is tight and loud, if maybe a little harsh. The neck pickup is a Yamaha that has a kind of unique bluesy kind of sound that is growing on me. It?s not cheap in any way. The option is always there to replace it later but that would be out of personal sound preference. When you crank up the gain and dig in, especially with the SD selected, it really responds with a full, gutsy sound. But it can also give you a quality quieter sound as well toned down and run clean. There are some adjustments described by previous reviews that seem to help improve overall sound so I?m sure you could dial this guitar in to give a sound that would satisfy most anybody. Both pickups are quiet. The pots crapped out on me, which certainly impacts the sound.

The finish is high quality. Detail flaws are few and barely noticeable. The guitar came with 9?s. I replaced them with tens and had some minor tuning issues with the ?G? string, a common malady with Les Pauls. This can be corrected. The neck needed no adjustments at all and the action is good. There was no buzzing. The rosewood fingerboard is really nice in appearance. The chunky neck is very comfortable, and the through body string design is definitely nice. The chrome pots are really sharp but a little slippery and hard to turn with sweaty hands. The pots look pretty but they were defective on my guitar- more to come on this. It?s unfortunate that Yamaha put a lot of care into the details on this axe but left a fly in the ointment, the defective pots. Don?t they test stuff they get from a supplier? For this price point however, the overall action, fit and finish is rather impressive.

I purchased this guitar to play for fun but also to play at gigs. Therefore, I have to depend on it. At my second gig with it, it started to cut out on me. The pots were bad. I then had to resort to my backup guitar and park the pretty new Yamaha on the stand. As a previous reviewer pointed out, cheap pots are totally unacceptable. If the guitar lets me down at a paying gig, then I have to give a poor grade for Reliability/ Durability. I will not use this guitar without a backup in the future. Positives are solid strap buttons and a strong overall construction.

Here is where I have a real issue with Yamaha. My Yamaha was under warranty, of course, and I did the right thing and brought it to my authorized Yamaha dealer, Sam Ash, who happens to have a Yamaha authorized tech on the premises. The problem is that the current Yamaha position on the bad pot repair issue is that the guitar must be sent back to Yamaha (4-5 weeks wait) for repair. A call to the Yamaha service rep revealed the Yamaha position that for the Yamaha dealer tech to repair the guitar at the store is more costly than having Yamaha do it at the Yamaha repair center. He offered to send me ?improved? pots but would not cover installation costs (about $70). Yamaha screwed up in the first place by procuring defective pots. They should own up to it and incur the costs for the dealer to make the guitar right, plain and simple. Now I have to play my backup guitar at upcoming gigs. Sorry, Yamaha, you get a 3 on this. Its not a ?1? only because I was able to discuss my issue over the phone with the Yamaha rep. He was understanding but said his hands were tied. The decisions were made higher up in the inaccessible Yamaha bureaucracy. Bottom line is that many folks have to depend on their guitars, and in these cases Yamaha is not supporting its players. I have to put in a positive word about Sam Ash music in King of Prussia, PA. They went as far as they could to help me out.

This is a great playing guitar with great sound, playability, workmanship, and value. The issue with the pots and the way Yamaha has handled it leaves me with a negative experience with this guitar purchase. Yamaha should have stepped up to the plate. They screwed up by installing defective pots, and they have passed on the burden to the customer to save on Yamaha?s cost of fixing the problem. Bottom line is that they should suck up the cost and work with the dealer to fix it and get a properly functioning guitar back in the hands of the customer as quickly as possible. I would have given the guitar a 10 for an overall rating, but have to subtract 5 points for this issue. I?m being generous. I?m not a happy customer playing my backup axe while my new axe is off at some service center for 4-5 weeks.

This is a follow up review for the product: I just got back from my first gig with my guitar and I have to say that I'm thrilled! It held out really well and even tuned down to D kept up without goin out of tune. I played it through my friend's mesa boogie 50 caliber + 50W 1x12 combo with a metal zone pedal and I was totally satisfied with the sound I got =D Obvisouly if I would have used a better pedal then I would have gotten a better sound but for my purposes I'm happy with my mt-2... lots of sustain and harmonics and a great metal sound. This guitar rocks!

Out of the box the action was really low, which I really liked... Unfortunately because the action was so low my bass E string buzzed a lot on the 5th and 7th fret which irritated me like crazy so I decided to get my guitar set up properly... After that the buzzing was almost completely eliminated and now I couldn't love my guitar more! The charcoal gray finish like I metioned in the review below is beautiful and as far as I can see has no major flaws. Just a small line of glue residue which doesn't really bother me at all so what ever... pickups are great, hardwear seems sturdy so I have not complaints here!

Dependable but I'd like to put strap locks on it just in case =D

in Austrlalia Yamaha gives a 5 year warranty =D

Awesome guitar people: for the money nothing really comes close... Honestly, as nice as Gibsons are, I don't think I would get a "real" LEs Paul over this because I'm not going to get a much better instrument and I'm goin to spend a lot more... I've played some new LP's and I'm not as impressed as I should be for an expensive guitar. The yamaha aes 620 is a sturdy, beautifully crafted, great sounding guitar that's comfortable to play... and it's very well priced so I give it an overall 9 cuz nothing is perfect =D but this guitar really is awesome people =D try it out and see for yourself!

This guitar is awsome. It has 22 frets with a very comfortable body style. It has 2 Duncan and 2 humbucker pickups. The knobs are built right in to fit nicely and the finish is flawless. It is also one solid peice of wood, so it holds a note longer. Mine is a dark green, sweet. i bouth it for $600 (usual $900) and it came with hardshell case, patch, strings, strap, picks, the works!

I tried many other guitar (over $1000) and this beats em all!

Sweeeet! One of the best sounding guitars I've heard. It is great for both rock and blues. It is loud(not the annoying loud). Every setting is great, no buzzing or any of that. I like how the sound is just so..together with the pickups.

The finish is amazing! It is glossy with a nice pattern on it. It is one solid peice of wood with a nice neck. Very easy to tune. The pickups are perfect aswell as a perfect bridge. The one and ONLY flaws are that it's staticy when turning knobs and one of mine fell off... Easy fix however. You just need a allen key and screw it back on again. Tada!

This guitar is great. Playing at home or on the stage. It is very tough with a thick finish. It is just a nice ass solid built guitar.

I'm 15 and I've been playing for two years now. (still not in a band) :(
I like the sound mostly. You can't really describe it, you have to hear it. I say BUY THIS ONE because of the features, the looks(oh yea), the sound... everything. I know your thinking, wtf Yamaha?!?!?!?!?. I know how you feel, but, although it's a Yamaha, it sounds like a Les Paul. BUY IT! DON'T PASS THIS ONE UP!

Mahogany body with a maple top, grover tuners, sd jb humbucker at the bridge and a yamaha alnico pickup at the neck..... Individual volume knobs for the buckers and master tone and 3 way selector switch.

Unfortunately I have not had the pleasure of playing my axe through a cranked tube amp but from what I've heard it sings! I play it through a fender 60W princeton 65 dsp with a boss RV-3, MT-2 and a SD-1 and I get a pretty killer sound. The sustain is superb and the Jeff Beck pickup kicks out some awesome tones... I can't wait to play it through my friend's mesa 50 caliber!! The Yamaha neck bucker is nice as well although another seymour duncan would have been nice but what the heck.... I got a great price for it and this little baby sounds every bit as good as any Gibson that I've ever played.

I took a look at the charcoal gray finish and my heart skipped a beat... It looks every bit as good as it sounds. Beautiful guitar and from what I can see solid as well... I expect this guitar to last a long long time. As far as electronics go Yamaha have built a professional instrument. My only complain is that my low E string buzzes at the 5th fret but I guess it's just because the action is a little low; it's just a matter of getting it adjusted and that's about 20 mins worth of work. Great job Yamaha!

I just got this guitar and haven't played it live but like I said earlier I expect this guitar to take a beating! It survived a plane trip from one side of the world to the other so I'm not worried about my aes... Dependable and durable all the way!

5 year warranty! Who else does this? nuff said...

I'm really impressed with this guitar... For the price nothing else comes close: it's really not hard to see why it won the guitar of the year award cuz this baby sings! If it was stolen I'd definately buy another one: ladies and gents... This one's a keeper!

All the features have already been covered. Would have scored 10 if it had locking tuners, fourth control pot, coil tap and Seymour Duncan Jazz Neck instead of the Yamaha Neck pickup. What's really impressive is that Yamaha use their own designed hardware, as well as other companies (Grover, SD). Original Volume/tone knobs, bridge etc. Nothing generic here.

Without a doubt the best sounding guitar on the planet bar none. Although I would prefer a SD Jazz neck, others may understandably prefer the Yamaha pickup, it sounds gorgeous. The Jeff Beck pickup is as detailed and powerful as ever. The overall tone of the guitar is like a mix between a Gibson Les Paul, a PRS and the ultimate rock tone. It sounds better than either of them on their own. I use this guitar stringed with GHS Boomers 11-53 through a cranked Marshall Silver Jubilee. No one in the world can come anywhere near the greatness of my tone.

For the average player this guitar was set-up perfectly, not for me I use a very high action at the lower strings. Flawless finish, PRS and Gibson's prices are a joke in comparison. I've sold my PRS since I got this guitar. The Yamaha is as good as anything built in the USA. Don't get me wrong, I love Les Paul's and PRS's build quality. But now that it's availible at a millionth of the price there's no need for Gibson or PRS to even exist anymore. Yamaha should make a nitro finished version of this model. I'd pay the extra cost. I also find this guitar more comfortable to play than anything I have ever played. I really love the comfort of resting my hand on the Tune-O-Matic when palm-muting etc. Much comfier than Gibson's. The upper fret access is as good as it ever could be on a single cut away.

No problems whatsoever. The hardware seems as good as it ever could be. Yamaha says it should age gracefully, I'm sure they're right. When live, I would prefer the wood around the Tune-O-Matic to be thicker so that it raises the bridge, without me having to raise the action any higher than I already have it. But that's only when I'm standing up, when I'm sitting down it's fine as it is. And I'm asking the impossible there. A guitar whose wood gets thicker around the bridge when I stand up!

Never used.

You might as well get rid of your guitar collection. Get one of these, this Yamaha deserves to be known as the most classic guitar ever made. It sounds better than anything, and is perfect for the bluesy, classic rock that I play. And it's available at an amazing price.

Solid mahogany body with a flame maple top in dark red, Les Paul shape (but sufficiently different to avoid being sued. Two humbuckers, one of which is a Seymour Duncan JB (yes genuine, not SD Design) and the other a slightly warm Yamaha Alnico V. The hardware is chrome, non-locking tuners (not like the AES820 with its Sperzel locking tuners - pity). I would also have liked to see either a coil tap for both pickups or the three-way tone pot that Yamaha fits to the AES820, which has a setting which simulates a coil tap. It would have just rounded out what is really a very good package.

The finish is typically Yamaha - high standard.

This is a lovely guitar. The sound is probably a little raucous for me straight out of the box, so clean jazz is a bit of an ask. But blues and rock are this baby's natural sound. The bridge JB is as you would expect. The neck is a bit of a contrast. Together they may be a bit too far apart for comfort, so I am going to fit a Seymore Duncan '59 to the neck. With the JB this is a classic combo and should really rock out.

Well set-up straight out of the box. The finish is excellent - somewhat at odds with what a previous reviewer wrote, still even Yamaha can sell the occasional 'Monday' guitar.

Seems good so far. I will report back in 12 months if I am unhappy.

I bought it from a local dealer on sale. They have always been good to me and I have no reason to doubt them. Yamaha have always stood firmly behind their products, so I feel equally confident.

40 years. broad range of other gear. I would buy another if the 620 was stolen