Yamaha AEX 1500

MIJ, laminated, humbucker and a piezo pickup,yamaha tuners

Jazz, and all its little Niches can be well covered here. As for the amp I use a blues deville 410 MIM and am very happy with the results. Very Very Warm tones, I am a big fan of the tubes amps it just make the guitar sound real

everything was perfect from the factory even the action was set the way I like it

As far as hollowbodys go this is sturdy but that doesnt mean its indestructable.

I have been playing 9 years, and on top of this guitar I have an ovation 1763 classical, and an american deluxe stratocaster. The amps are a yamaha DG80 210 modelling amp and a fender Blues Deville. If stolen I might get a heritage H575. I love that it doesnt feed back like a carved top, I hate that it isnt a carved top but I really enjoy the neck it is the best neck I have ever played on plain and simple. Compared to other guitars there isnt much in its price range except maybe a nice used heritage (both are great deals). On a final note if its good enough for Martin Taylor its certainly good enough for you.

Superb In every way: much better than the Gibson ES135 that I sold to buy it.
Original humbucker! I wouldn't change it.
Mine is the Sunburst version

Superb. I cannot understand the pickup comments by other users as this guitar gives a unique sound, especially when mixing the two pickups.
Read the comments like "doesn't sound like an L5" An L5 doesn't sound like an AEX1500! I like a hint of brightness and definition to my jazz box sound.
Listen to Martin taylor in the 90's, Chuck Loeb on his album "eBop", Listen to Vinny Valentino of late.He alternates between a AEX1500 and a Yamaha SA2200.
It's got to be the most versatile Jazz box on the market

As well made as any guitar that I have owned, or ever played.
Superb neck and action.

Not owned long enough, but should be fine

Jazzer with mini humbucker and piezo in the bridge. Acrive pre-amp, superb blond maple finish and ebony fretboard. Gold hardware, stunning looker! Great for jazz, blues and acoustic work.

Deep jazzy tones from the humbucker. The tone is superb, just add fingers! Piezo produces a useable acoustic sound, albeit not quite there if you use flatwounds. However, very good with acoustic strings. Pre-amp is useful tool for blending the sounds, although you're stuffed if the battery fails. Leaving that aside the sound is great. I played in a big band recently (doing my Freddie Green impersonation) and the sound was spot on. Never had problems with feedback, but then I play mostly clean.

Bought from one of New York's 48th Street stores in September 2000. I tried every jazz guitar in the shop before settling for this one. Flawless in every respect, a perfect jazz box.

It's lasted 7 years so far, although I have not gigged it that regularly - thse duties fall to the Strat. It's my "Sunday best" guitar. It's reliable and still looks new. However, I would not go into a live situation without spare batteries for the pre-amp.

Never needed it!

Been playing for 30 years, with a Gibson Marauder as my main guitar until the 90s, when I switched to Strats. Always wanted a jazz guitar and this was the best I could find. If lost I would collect the insurance and buy another, if stolen, I'd start a small war.

Beautiful finish and figured woods, absolutely faultless finish all round. Lets face it folks, the Japanese have got it together,this is a beautiful design and sits comfortably, not too heavy either.
The idea of a piezzo and humbucker on the same instrument, separated or blendable seems to be yamaha's invention, i did own the AEX 500 at one time.
Great because you can be playing electric guitar then switch to a real accoustic sound in a split second! That is so useful.

Don't expect a Gibson or heavy duty jazz sound, the stock humbucker pickup is in my view the worst thing about the otherwise faultless guitar. It is also a real problem trying to find a replacement that will fit the space. HOWEVER my clever guitar tech found a way: I noticed the Seymour Duncan SM1 mini HB's were the right size, although body mounted. I bought one, and he managed to extract it from its casing and get it into the casing of the Yamaha p/u! It works beautifully and now the guitar sounds more like a Gretsch doing jazz..and has a lot more character.
I play it through a variety of amps including a custom built 5 watt valve (class A)(for jazz sounds), a fender blued deluxe, Roland BC30, Fender Accoustasonic Jnr. With the accoustasonic there are 2 channels..one can be set for the accoustic p/u, the other for the humbucker and a simple footswitch used to route the signal for fantastic sound.
Accoustic sound: excellent if you adjust the graphic properly, also RECORDS exceedingly well, so have used it in the studio a fair bit.

No flaws, all fine and dandy

Any hollow archtop will produce feedback given half a chance, not its fault really! Most yamaha guitars are built to last, witness the early ones that still turn up everywhere. Actually the build is not unlike that of the Gretsch Double Anni i have, which was made in the Terada factory...maybe AEX came from there too?

No dealings necessary

Been playing 38 years, have masses of kit of all kinds inc guitars, but this one gets played in a jazz duo (2 guitars)
One GREAT thing is that when there are only 2 guitars, its really good if they sound significantly different to each other. Nothing out there really sounds like this one so thats great.

feature packed,

Needs f-hole plugs for live playing or preamp setup which controls feedback. Other than this it is a dream.It is a bit subdued as strictly an acoustic, but amped it is a sonic masterpiece.

Superb, with a bit of fine tuning setup. Rock solid neck etc..

yes to everything on this one.

No use for this, but I know Yamaha, and they'll break their back for you.

You can't buy a better jazz box for the price in my opinion. I've used it live and it got all you want.

1997 The neck is solid as a rock. Frets have remained tight and with minimal lineup work this guitar has fingering to die for.

A bit prone to feedback live, but with preamp help it is great.

Factory setup- rating good

Never needed anything.

10- Best box for the money I think.

fit and finish is very precise and well done.

alot has been said about the non gibson sound of this instrument, and while i agree i do not think this is a problem.The ability to blend magnetic and transducer style pickups allows a full and tonaly accurate and articulate guitar. another interesting observation is allthough inspired by a finger style guitarist, this instrument has great potential when played in a plectrum style.This guitar is a versatile jazz box, and with the right selection of strings has great vintage jazz sound, mellow not muddy. If you like 9's 0r 10's for strings, stick to your 335

the fit and finish of this guitar is without a doubt in the range of guitars costing three to four times its price. I have owned, setup and restored many gibsons over 45 years of playing and the quality over this time has become poor at best, even the custom shop could take lessons from these fine luthiers at yamaha

archtops have some inherant frailtys, however yamaha has built a sturdy and road worthy jazz box capable of constant professional use with normal care.

n/a

i have been playing and working on guitars for 45 years, if lost or stolen i would replace this guitar, as for the price i do not feel you can get a better instrument. i have owned gibsons and played them for many years and i wont compare this guitar to a 60s or 70s vintage L-5 or a johny smith, however if you have played recent gibsons,even custom shop versions i think you will have to admit that the "new gibsons" are just not the instrument they use to be

This is a follow-up.
Yamaha uses the same battery case as on their lowest line of guitars, perhaps they shouldn't. Because this jazz wonder is obviously a professional guitar, and must be absolutely reliable.
I had some problems with this battery case, with some batteries the contacts are not tight and you get pops, noises and even sound interruptions. It is absolutely unacceptable!
I had a bad time during a gig because of this, and you're stuck because even with the balance full on the humbucker you ain't got no sound without battery! Dumb. On the other hand the design is symetrical so you can use a non-shielded very long cable without any problems, provided you don't use a pod or v-amp that are too touchy.
A zoom 503,for instance, works perfectly.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR BATTERY CASE, CONTACT-WISE, VERY CAREFULLY!
For the record, our drummer(yes, in very rare cases it happens) provided the solution: another battery... Thanks again pal!

This is a follow-up, I have this axe since 2001 and it only plays better. Better acoustic sound, and now I put normal electric strings (011-052, but with wounded 020 g-string) and I have better electric sound than with the elixir gore.
I set the action very low and I discovered it wasn't necessary because it plays wonderfully. I can't explain well but it always plays right, detuned a half tone or with higher action, I feel this guitar has some strenght in it, not like the others flatboxes I checked through the years.
As for the tone no problems, only gems newly found. The para-eq works well to reject feedback, but as I'm lazy I drive the yam through a zoom 504(first version, 18bit instead of 16 for the 2nd...) and I just stomp on the pedal if feedback occurs: the zoom faaastly find the faulty frequency and stops the feedback! It is magic, no other words.
Lately I found that driving the zoom through a behringer mic200 tube preamp gave the sound a far better snap and warmth, best of both worlds.
I have to say I don't like to play live with this guitar, too precious and things happen. But in the rehearsal room it does very well, but again I don't have John Bonham as a drummer hee hee.

I can only quote sir royce(or his pal i don't remember): Quality still lasts, when the price is long forgotten.
Not to mention it is very cute to look at, everyone of my pals wants this.

Japan-produced Jazzbox, laminated maple, very proper finish,
at first sight a very traditional style; but with some modern features
like the blendable Piezo-Bridge- PU. The look of the EQ-Unit doesn't
suit very well to the rest of the instrument - Yamaha could do this
one better!!
I found the neck-playability very comfortable for me as a player
with "medium gauge"-hands, tuners work very smooth. Guitar comes
with an excellent hard case.

I'm a Blues Player, who made some steps into the jazz-jungle - also
try to do some interesting fingerstyle stuff (Chet Atkins-Duke Robillard - Danny Gatton-Joe Pass- Martin Taylor are my favourite material)and for this the AEX 1500 is a very good, professional tool.
Mostly I play it over a KOCH Multitone-Combo or my old Yamaha G 50-Combo with very little Reverb and I have no problems to get some
sounds, that I really like (warm, rich, full).The piezo blended to the HB-Neck-PU is really
great for fingerstyle-playing, it adds some crisp presence. The piezo sound
alone isn'nt very useful to me. With this guitar I've not so much
feedback-problems in a Band-context, as I had with other Jazzboxes.
As I'm really not a great Jazz-Cat - nearly every time I had this guitar at a Jam-Session, Workshops or so, there were people who come around saying: oh what a nice, full sound,... what a lovely guitar ,
ooh, it isn't a Gibson and so on ......

I play the guitar today as I bought it 1,5 years ago . I only changed
the Roundwound-strings to Thomastik-Jazz-flatwounds (12-Gauge).
The overall finish of this instrument is very fine - high japanese
workmanship standard - I owned several much more expensive guitars which
were not produced in that accurate way.

I Play my guitars mostly at home and sometimes on sessions, club gigs
etc. The Yamaha is a professional tool , which seems to make always
a good job without any allures.
You have to watch about the Battery status of the active PU - but
until today I haven't found any weak points in the construction.

The warranty is about 24 months - until today I have no idea, why I should have to use it!
No experiences with the Yamaha Customer Service!

I play guitar for 30 years (with more or less intensity....).My other gear
includes: Yamaha SA 2200 (also great ...), Gibson Les Paul Classic,
Framus Jan Akkerman-Model, G+ L-Tele, G+ L Strat, Music Man Silhouette,Larrivee D 05, Albert + Muller S 4 and a Lakewood A 32.
(and I owned many more in these years ago..)I would buy this guitar
again, if it would be lost or stolen. For any guy, who wants to lay
his hands on a real well made, good and flexible sounding Jazzguitar
I would recommend this one !
In this price range you would hardly get a better instrument!