Yamaha AES820

Designed in USA and built in Taiwan probably around 2000. LP-style body, 22 frets, solid top, three-way switch but also a three-way switch for humbucker, single-coil and warm sound mode so in total you have 9 basic settings. 2 Dimarzio humbuckers. I understand these were custom made for this guitar. Also the Sperzel tuners on it are special and maybe unique. Piano black, perfect finish, retrocool with high-tec features. Didn't come with a hardcase. (Why the .... not????)

I've played blues to metal for the past 23 years and with this guitar you can pretty much get 'em all. I play through a 5150 signature. No effects. Can sound like Chuck Berry's ES just as easy as James Hetfields Explorers. Single-coil mode is very different and sparkly. Warm sound mode is usefull for softer parts.

Looks good, plays good, sounds good. Not just a guitar but an instrument! Everthing is well thought-through and well built. My experience over the years is that, no matter what Yamaha makes, (from mopeds to saxophones), they make well. This guitar is above that.

Needs no backup. I don't think you can build them more dependable.

No expirience with Yamaha. Limited lifetime warranty from the factory and 2 year-warranty from the store. So there is confidence.

I first played this guitar in my local guitar shop in about 2002. Blew me away! It was a D-6 but I wanted a normal scaling. That day I bought a Fenix Telecaster (pre-lawsuit, see reviews). Still have it and beats most Fenders. However through the years the AES820 linguered in my mind and in 2006 I bought one new from a music shop through mailorder. I played it for about 2 months and then I had to sell it because I really needed the money. I sold it to a guy who wanted to learn how to play. The moment I put it on the mail I knew I was going to be sorry. And I was! For the next two years I frequently searched the internet for another but NEVER encountered one. Until december '08. I looked for Sperzel tuners to put on my Fenix and there it was...the same AES820 I sold to this guy. I immediately put a bid out and emailed him that I was the guy who sold him the guitar 2 years before. He accepted and I finally had my AES820 back. I will never sell it again, in fact, I'm going to try to buy more!!

All been covered already, blue, stock. Not big on the electronics, but I dig the tail pieces/string thru setup. I bought this guitar for a coworker who told me to keep an eye out for a good deal, and for $140 at a pawn shop I think I've never gotten so much guitar for my buck, I'm going to have a hard time handing it over.... If I was going to keep it I think I would change it to coil taps on puch-pull volume pots and the third pot would be a normal tone. I wouldn't have much use for the third setting on the as is tone pot, it's kinda like it's just there to make the other two settings sound better by comparison.

for a $140 bucks, I wish I could rate it an 11, my first electric way back was a Squire Strat I payed $250 for and after replacing the tuners and saddles it was still a plywood turd that wouldn't stay in tune, if I had bought this as my first guitar I would still be playing it 14 years later. I was playing this thru my deluxe reverb with no effects, all I can say is it sounds great, nice, full, rich except that third position on the tone knob, that sounds like that might be the "suck" setting, but hey, at least they tried something different.

action was very good for a pawn shop neglected guitar, it was missing some hardware and had some loose nuts, tightened everything, tweaked, cleaned and threw some new strings on there and this thing is full on ready for the stage or what have you. Frets are next to flawless, which is alot to say about a guitar which sees to have no been treated all that well (far share of dirt and scratches) makes me think it'll be a good player for a long time to come.

it looks typical Yamaha, rock solid, would gig with it, bet you could knock it over, drop it without doing any real damage, not that I would try.

I've been playing for 14 years, I own a pair of 81 Ibanez artists, a les paul DC (which I'm off loading cause as pretty as it is it doesn't have anything playing wise on those old artists) and a MIJ tele. Like I say, I bought this on behalf of a coworker who wants to learn how to play, and like I said, it's going to be hard to turn it over. I've always thought of Yamaha as a company that will make gear that will take any punishment and last forever, but isn't terribly inspiring (like peavey too) but I really like this guitar, I didn't want to put it down which I figure is about the best thing you can say about a guitar. nuff said.

This is an update to my previous review. I have recently had the stock pickups coil tapped, with DiMarzio 500k push/pull pots. I also had it setup for 11s.

The coil taps have opened up the tonal possibilities of this guitar far beyond what I expected from a Les Paul style guitar. I can now switch from Melvins-style rock pig to a bright, lively ska/funk tone in one easy pull, and everywhere I want to in between. I'd recommend having this mod carried out. Also, changing up to 11s makes the wood resonate more from body to headstock; this translates to a much beefier tone than with 10s.

The second hand value on Yamahas in no way relates to the actual quality of the instrument. If I could, I'd have the SA503TVL as well, but domestic line management operates a 'one in one out' policy. Maybe one day...

i have a yamaha aes 820 in gloss black and one in brown korean made .
les paul body style the cutaway is more open than a les paul so you can get pretty high up the neck without too much effort .
locking sperzel tuners
the neck is finished in satin black and is almost as fast as a unfinished birdseye maple neck , i love this feature !
custom dimarzios sound amazing !
esthetically this guitar isn't as pretty as my goldtop les paul but , it plays just as well . I use these guitars as my main guitars for playing live , you can beat the shit outta them and not worry about it .
the only thing i don't like on this guitar is the tone pots seem cheap ... the pickup switch selector is kinda weird so i will be replacing it in the future to just another tone knob .

i play mainly rock from guns n roses to ac/dc to social distortion
i use it through an engl thunder 50 w/ a line 6 pod pro , sounds amazing
sometimes a little noisy , nothing some shielding can't fix
the neck is a baritone so its really easy to pinch and squeal for your solos .
the sound is huge pure meat and potatoes sounds just as good as my les paul classic , perfect for rock
i love almost everything about this guitar for the price
to hear this guitar in action check out my friend michaels band , he is endorsed by this company and uses these guitars as his main guitars


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the action is ridiculous ! super low and fast w no buzziing ! you can get a perfect feel for this guitar in any tuning , i play in Eb and this thing sounds low ...its amazing .

this thing is built well
the finish , the whole package is great , some of the other problems with the jack i haven't experienced yet its just been great .
i bought these as my backup guitars , they seem rock solid

no worries yet

i have owned every kind of guitar you can have and been playing for 21 years and am a pro musician , these guitars kick a@# !!! for the price i tell all of my friends to get one , do not pay more than 300 bucks as the resale on these suck instead , keep it ! you seriously can't beat this guitar if you are looking for a nice guitar for the price . Esthetically , these aren't the prettiest guitar on the block but you can dress em up and not feel bad about it seeing as how cheap they are.
i will be keeping all mine !

Body - Alder - Les Paul similar shape
Neck - Maple w/Rosewood Fretboard 22 frets
2x DiMarzio custom humbuckers
2x volume , 1x 3-way tone switch for humbucker/split coil/tone rolloff
Sperzel tuning heads
Metallic Brown finish

this guitar sounds incredible in my opinion. with the 3 way tone switch, it will give you all the sounds you want, from Les Pauls to Strats. the pickups are really good for heavier styled music, such as metallica, alice in chains, guns n roses and more.
the neck is a lot larger than my good ol' ibanez, but it is surprisingly easy to play some fast lead runs on.
only complaint would be to have a push/pull pot instead of a 3-way.

the finish is a metallic brown, whick looks pretty cool, however noth the colour for everyone.
the action is set pretty low after some tweaking, and there is no fret buzz whatsoever.

the reliability is good all round, except the pickup selector. ive had mine replaced 3 times now, and i finally have a winner (i think it's another brand.
the input is also located on the back, which can cause it to come loose easily. i have installed a spring washer thing on it and it has been good.

this guitar is by far my favourite guitar out of the 3 i own. I also have an ibanez whick has been signed by Black Label Society, so i cant use it anymore. I also have an old Aria Pro 2 Straycat which i have painted in a Eddie Van Halen design.
overall, this guitar is the meat for my potatoes, and by far the best sounding guitar i have ever played.

Yamaha - AES820

With its blend of traditional single-cutaway AES styling and a radically sculpted top, the AES820 is a picture of sleek efficiency and retro-cool. And what you?ll hear is huge! - two gain-laden custom DiMarzio humbuckers dishing the hooligan filth, with a flexible rotary tone control system that will also simulate more open-voiced single-coil sounds.

If all that isn?t low-down and dirty enough, the guitar also comes as the Drop 6 AES820-D6, with a longer 666mm scale length and heavier strings enabling down-pitching to A or B without losing string tension or having to learn new tunings. Truly grunge-o-matic!

Specifications:

* Body: Alder
* Neck: Bolt-on maple
* Fingerboard: Rosewood, 350mm (13.75?) radius
* Frets: 22
* Scale length: AES820 - 629mm (24.75?); AES820-D6 - 666mm (26.25?)
* Pickups: Two custom DiMarzio humbuckers
* Controls: Two volumes, three-position tone control (standard humbucker, simulated single coil, master tone), three-way pickup selector switch
* Bridge: Tune-o-Matic type, six string anchors
* Finishes:Black-Light Brown Medium-Flat Blue

I mainly play jazz (Pass) blues (Hendrix) and rock (Muse/Radiohead) The guitar can be modified to sound comfortable in most genres. Its three position tone selector is perfect for reaching the most definable tones every guitarist needs when playing. The extent of which tones is conveniently configurable on the control panel as well.
The only thing this guitar has difficulty replicating is the twang of a single coil, which I miss. But is not a feature you expect from a H-H guitar, even a coil tapped one.
I use the guitar through a Zoom GFX8 through my PC into my Sony 5.1 Surround sound system. It sounds amazing.
This guitar doesn't produce any static noise, mainly due to there being to single coils in sight, but also due to the fnatastic quality of the wiring job under the hood.

The guitar was set up too high for me, but this was no problem correcting thanks to the tune-o-matic. The truss rod was adjusted perfectly and the pickups optimal distance from the strings, until of course I changed the action. The saddles were set for perfect tone on all strings and the finish was perfect. Wouldn't expect any less from yamaha.

This guitar looks great, totally unique. Its hardware is no exception. Each locking tuner is a different size to compensate a different tensile stress of a string. They appear very hard wearing.
The custom DiMarzio are fitted securely and adjust without wobbling all over.
Looking in the control panel, the wiring is very well soldered and looks like it could go the distance.
The only real issue is the potentiometers. The nuts have difficulty gripping the finish. This only requires swift spanner and allan key action though and you're sorted.

Yamaha support is fantastic and renound.
They still supply the product manual for this online and the product is still locatable on the custom USA guitar pages. I purchased this guitar in the UK, so the warranty should last for a year by default. But I doubt it'll ever see the light of day!

I know how a guitar should play and sound.
I chose this guitar because I wanted a guitar with the reliability in build and sound of a classic strat/tele/LP, yet unique and much more versatile. The AES820 looks fantastic, has so many strong sounds and seems like it will last forever. It is perfect for me. It will not be replaced in my collection for a long time, perhaps until I die.

2004 Korean made, gloss black, the same features as all the others. There's nothing excessive or fancy about this guitar, which is what I wanted. The stringthrough body and Sperzel locking tuners make changing strings easy and quick. I'm giving it a 9 because it has everything I want, and nothing I don't.

I'm using it currently through either a VAmp2 or a Digitech Bad Monkey, depending on the sound I'm after. I've also played it through a TSL100 at practice; it sounds great through anything. Combining the tone switch, pickup switch and volume controls I can make any sound I want: it won't sound quite like a Tele or Strat on the single coil style setting, but has its' own sound which I like. I managed to download the service docs, found the trimpot inside the jack cavity which controls the brightness of the topmost position and turned it fully clockwise, so I now have three distinct sounds available from thick through to fairly bright. The last fifth of the travel on the volume pots seems to really boost volume, which can be overpowering but is easily cured by rolling back a little. It can be noisy on the single coil setting when I'm near my monitor, so I turn around and it goes quiet. As I posted in my Antoria Rockstar review, I don't have a style, so that question doesn't apply. It sounds as good as it looks.

The first thing I changed was the factory strings- I prefer Rotosound Yellow 10s. The action was higher than I like, easily lowered with the TOM style bridge. The rest of the guitar came perfectly made, fitted and finished- with one glaring exception. Yamaha have still not rectified the known fault where the jack socket shorts out. The soldering on the jack looked like bird snot- not good, so I took it to my local luthier and had it sorted. I haven't had a problem since, but I shouldn't have had one in the first place, and it meant the guitar cost me more than it should. Poor show Yamaha.

I've seen the same model guitar being hammered on stage by the guitarist with Fleshies, and it seemed fine. The hardware is solid and probably durable. The strap buttons are a good size; I always use Grolsch straplocks ( you have to drink a couple of bottles for a set but they never let you down, heh). The finish seems enough to last, but you aren't playing the finish, if it goes it goes. I don't have a choice about a backup, which is why I bought this guitar.

Never had to deal with Yamaha. If it breaks down I'll get it fixed locally.

If it was stolen I'd claim on insurance and get another- after catching the thief and making them regret their decision.

You know the features already, so lets go to the bone:
The good: The Sperzel USA tuners are great (you dont need to rewind the string around the tuner to lock it), in conjuction with the string pass-through body it makes restringing a 6 minutes task. The tune o-matic bridge is also good, you can remove buzz easily above the 7th fret. Alder body! at this price range is a glory.
The bad: The jack connector came loose, as other ones have stated...I will have to lock it somehow. There is no tone contol :(. The neck is a bit thick for my taste, but coming from the Ibanez world everyone is.
The ugly: For the price you are paying...nothing!

OK...I know you are asking yourself: How close are these custom DiMarzio PUs to the high end ones?...The answer is: Pretty close.

I play british, 80's and heavy rock, I got a RG570 stuffed with DiMarzio Paf Pro (neck) and Evolution (bridge), so I played both guitars together clean and with distortion: the bridge PU is really close to the sound of the Paf Pro, a LITTLE bit less full/bright. The bridge PU OBVIOUSLY cannot match an Evolution but it sound more like a FRED one. All in all...good quality PUs, and definitely usable. The upgrade to top DiMarzio ones is not justified. I my particular case I will upgrade in future to EMG's 81 &60/85 as I already cover the DiMarzio tones with my RG570, if you are into heavy tones, you should consider the Zakk Wylde EMG PUs kit, or go straight for the ESP EC1000 guitar.

Now that you are happy with the PUs..the bad news: the only sounds I founded really full and soulfull are each Humbucker alone, not that I need too much variety anyway, but the single coil "emulated" position and others (activated by the rotatory switch) really darkens the quality of these PUs and in general produces muddy results. A push pull pot and circuitery like in the Ibanez JS100 is a good example of diversity of sounds using two humuckers...but this is NOT.
All in all, I think you got excellent raw stuff here, If you want more variety or a tone control, you take your chances and modify it.
The guitar is NOT noisy.

I got to say it: I promised myself 5 yrs ago never to buy Korean guitars again, but...it seems the quality has improved, and in this case, the hardware selection is also good.

The previous owner action was crap... but hey, I raise the tune o-matic bridge "with my fingers" a little bit and that was it. Action is now low, but if you are crazy about it, you are invited to look elsewhere. The frets are medium and well mounted. Nut cut, controls, etc are fine.

For live playing the guitar is great, as long as you dont touch the Sperzel string locks by mistake.

The finish looks good quality and it seems it will last.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup? If you are gigging without a backup I would advise you to buy a 20 bucks guitar on eBay just for this purpose. But if you don't, remember restringing a string is a two minutes task.

never dealt with them.

25 yrs I've been playing, I do my research carefully before buying, but this guitar has exceeded my expectations for the price paid. True it lacks some features like the tone control or more sound variety...That being said, the DiMarzio PUs are great, the hardware quality very good. Well put together instrument. I know I will trade at some point my RG570 for a RG770, and that this Yamaha will be my sidewing in this life until God takes me. I dont need more...do you?

AES820, metallic brown, two dimarzio humbuckers, volume for neck-volume for bridge-special 3 position tone switch, bolt-on neck, tunomatic, string thru, sperzels, alder body, painted maple neck, no inlay rosewood fingerboard.

Set up with 10-46 gauge. Great bridge humbucker for hard rock/alternative. I prefer the closest volume knob to my hand to be the bridge pickup, so I unsoldered and swapped the red leads to the two pots with each other. In doing so, the pickup switch became reversed, so I swapped the blue and white wires on the switch to get that back to normal. I also prefer my neck pickup to be a single coil or a humbucker split into single coil mode. The 2nd position tone switch does not truely split the coils (as well stated by Norman 11/05/02), but I did note that the black/white wires from the neck pickup were soldered to a green wire that went to the switch. As those wires are the Dimarzio 'coil-tap' wires, I simply ran a wire from the black/white/green solder connection to ground, and now my neck pickup achieves a true single coil sound. Also, as Norman stated, regarding the sound of the 3rd position on the tone switch, there is a potentiometer on the switch you can adjust with a small screwdriver. This little pot basically acts as a tone pot when you turn it. I found the pot to be delivered in the middle position. I turned it fully clockwise to get some highs back, so now that position doesn't sound as muddy as most people mention in their reviews.

I bought used on ebay, but the action was very close. I did a slight adjustment to the trus rod and bridge height to bring it to my preferences.

Very nice hardware, very nice solid construction, great paint. Overall, a very good guitar for the money.

I would not hesitate to take only this guitar to a gig.

Bought used, don't anticipate needing and support.

Very impressive guitar for the money. Plays and feels better than a USA standard Wolfgang and a Jackson SLSMG I just bought (both for a lot more money!).

Comfortable, great controls and location, great sound.

Nice new wave look to it, doesn't look like everything else.

They don't offer this model any more. I think it's better than the current AES line up, recommend getting one if you can find one.

Made in Korea....*loud gasps*...yes Korea it is. I now know that country of origin isn't the final word. In short, there is little on it and little to screw up. The tonal variations are now blown out by lack of a "real" tone control. If you play with it enough, you will find those tones. I don't like a lot of stuff on my axe. 10 it is.

I play all sorts of rock. Blues rock, alt rock, old rock, rock and roll, etc. With a nice amp, this thing kicks! Beautiful sound. The other guitarist in my band has a Les Paul, and he plays mine more at shows than I do! (Ha ha, I still can use the SG) I love how the thing sounds. It does great for both rythym and lead (but I let him have the better chunk). Straight ahead rock tone.

Feels good, plays good, it's good. I'm not too picky...

My only main complaint is that the pickup selector is very easy to trip. I could have put another in, but I just prefer to play closer to the bridge anyway.

Never had to deal with them

I have been playing for about seven years, but I have been in numerous groups and bands. I have played more guitars than anyone my age could get their hands on. I have an ear for tone. I actually used to study guitars for a long while. In short, I know what I am talking about. If you can find one, buy this guitar. Great main axe or backup. They used to sell for a LOT more than what they call for now, mostly due to a Gibson/Fender grip on the guitar market. Good axe.