Yamaha Pacifica, opinions?
SidGard
Jerome Gaw
Tim Jenkins
>
>In article <3p2b24$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, SidGard <sid...@aol.com> wrote:
>>Are these any good?
>
>
>I've got a 604 and can thoroughly recommend them. If you're after a
solid superstrat- style guitar, it's well worth the money. The tremolo
is pretty good considering it's not locking - it stays well in tune
unless you start doing Steve Vai impressions on it !!
If you want to know anything more, email me and I'll get back to you.
Tim
Alexei Pawlowski
: Are these any good?
--
Howdy,
Welp, I've had a Pacifica 721 for about 2.5 years now. And I'm pretty
pleased. It's gone through a lot, been banged up in countless ways
(Roommates........lemme tell ya. Don't leave your guitar stand anywhere near
where your roommate can bump into it and send everything crashing.....it ain't
healthy.). Aside from lowering the action, I haven't had to make any
adjustments to it that resulted from its original condition. I can get a wide
variety of tones out, and it sounds pretty good. Overall, I'd say yes, it's
a pretty good guitar. Take care. :)
Alexei Pawlowski
apn...@acs.bu.edu
"Be bold, seek excellence, go subs!"
____
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David Morning
>In article <3p98hm$t...@nntp4.u.washington.edu>, nega...@u.washington.edu ('Sir' Henry Drew) says:
>>
>>In article <3p2b24$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, SidGard <sid...@aol.com> wrote:
>>>Are these any good?
>>
>>
>>I've got a 604 and can thoroughly recommend them. If you're after a
>solid superstrat- style guitar, it's well worth the money. The tremolo
>is pretty good considering it's not locking - it stays well in tune
>unless you start doing Steve Vai impressions on it !!
>If you want to know anything more, email me and I'll get back to you.
Could you post a review of it? I've been interested in either the 604 or
the 904, although the latter is a bit pricey.
J~ Nuno KORB
What about the YAMAHA RGX models ? are these any good ?
J~
Tim Jenkins
Right, well I don't pretend to notice every little detail, so this
is by no means an "expert" opinion, but here goes anyway. The neck
feels good - it's well suited for fast playing, but isn't a full-on
"speed" neck like you might find on an Ibanez or something. Mine came
with an _unbelievably_ low action and seemed to be strung with .008s,
the tension was so light ! I actually raised the action a bit to improve
the tone, because there was slight fretbuzz, but it was easy to adjust.
The pick-ups are fairly decent - the rear humbucker isn't quite as
powerful as the one in my Les Paul, but then the body of the Pacifica is
a lot lighter. It sustains well and gets a good tone. The two single
coils are great for blues stuff and clean rhythm playing.
As I said, the tremolo stays in tune pretty well - I'm not much of a
trem player, though, so it doesn't get a heavy workout. The tuners are
Sperzel locking ones, you put the string in and tune it, and then you
tighten up a wheel thingy (technical term ;-) on the back of the
headstock which locks it in place. They're available in cherry sunburst
(like mine) and mint green, both with pearloid pickguards. The mint
green looks a bit pukey to me, but that's just personal taste !
Guitar Player recently featured a review of the 604 and 904 in their
30-guitar "shootout" (comparing 30 different guitars)- I
_think_ it was the Feb. 95 issue - it's got Nuno B. on the cover in one
corner. Basically they said that both were good guitars - apparently the
neck and trem on the 904 were _slightly_ better, but given the price
difference, they said the 604 was probably one of the best value guitars
out of the 30 that they looked at. I certainly can't really think of
anything where I think "could be better" on the 604. But then I haven't
actually tried a 904 - it's probably best to check out both and compare
before you buy. I got mine for 350 quid - it was on sale for £429, but
I looked in Guitarist magazine, and other shops were selling it for £350.
Usually, if you find a shop selling it for cheaper, you can usually
persuade them to match the price - if it's a choice between taking
slightly less money and not making a sale at all, they'll sell it to you
anyway 9 times out of 10 for the lower price. Haggle, they can take it !
Tim
Chris Thomas (45456)
: T.O.J...@shef.ac.uk (Tim Jenkins) writes:
: >In article <3p98hm$t...@nntp4.u.washington.edu>, nega...@u.washington.edu ('Sir' Henry Drew) says:
: >>
: >>In article <3p2b24$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, SidGard <sid...@aol.com> wrote:
: >>>Are these any good?
: >>
: >>
: >>I've got a 604 and can thoroughly recommend them. If you're after a
: >solid superstrat- style guitar, it's well worth the money. The tremolo
: >is pretty good considering it's not locking - it stays well in tune
: >unless you start doing Steve Vai impressions on it !!
: >If you want to know anything more, email me and I'll get back to you.
: Could you post a review of it? I've been interested in either the 604 or
: the 904, although the latter is a bit pricey.
I just picked up a 604 myself, and am totally delighted. I tried to resist
the lure of a non-American guitar on principle, but the quality of this
line is too good to ignore. All the good strat tones, plus humbucker
for those special monents. It really sings through my Classic 50.
Sperzels too, excellent neck, tremolo seems solid, beautiful finish.
List price - 750, I got it for 430. I think there's a lot of room to
move on Yamaha prices. I also played a 904, (1250/630), also very
excellent, but I soft of liked the 604 a bit better. Also, for bargain
hunters, take a look at their lower priced line. Very good tele and
strat copies, with excelletn necks and bodies (change the tuners and
maybe pickups) in the 230 - 330 street price range. Bag the mexican
strats, buy Taiwan.
Andreas C Perret
> What about the Yamaha RGX models ? Are these any good ?
Well, I've owned one for 5 years (an RGX 612 I think), the
humb/single/single one... It's got probably the worst locking
tremolo ever seen in the whole history of guitars... It's not
a knife-edge one but some alternative ball-bearing (?) shit
technology... The problem is it never returns the bridge to
the exact place where is was, but will find a new "center"
position every time. Also it has a height-adjustable nut which
does not work very well... The pickups are kinda dark in tone,
and there was a rather large gap in the neck pocket...
Otherwise it is fine :) I'm still using it though, it's the
only one I've got... To quote EVH : It's really a piece of
shit, but it's served me well... Perhaps the cheaper models
without the locking trem might be ok but the Pacificas will
most likely rock them anytime... I say go for a Pacifica, it's
well made, sounds good, and is not too expensive...
Andreas Perret / per...@cc.helsinki.fi
Andreas C Perret
Oh, and while on the subject, the RGX tremolo had another flaw,
the bridge was not made of a solid enough material and the
screws used to finetune the thing didn't last... I've installed
new screws since. They are of a different size (the "tracks" are
bigger and can stand the pressure of slightly thicker strings)
but it was no problem getting them there, I just put them in the
hole and used my hands to screw them down, making new tracks
in the bridge :) My cousin still laughs at the guitar every time
he sees it and says : "Man you still using that fucked up old
piece of shit guitar ?" :) Again, DO NOT BUY an RGX, it will save
you from a lot of trouble...
Andreas Perret / per...@cc.helsinki.fi
SCF Operation
Well I don't know how old your RGX is but I bought a rgx 321p about
a year ago and absolutely love it. It only cost me 275 dollars and
it's got a double locking floyd, 24-frets, 3 pickups and plays fan-
tastically and has a pretty decent tone. I even was contemplating
buying a second one around Christmas when I saw them on sale for
250 dollars! Instead i bought a used Ibanez EX 370 that took a
*tremendous* amount of work to get straightened out. The bolt on
neck was put on wrong (not enough distance from the low e to the edge
of the fretboard, and all the inlays look like they were put in by
apes. The quality of the Yamaha is *light years* away from this
particular Ibanez, i don't know if it is indictment of the ex's or
if someone just had a bad day putting it together. Anyway if you
see a rgx321p, you like metal (and whammys) and you don't have alot
of cash this seems (to me at least) to be the best deal on the market.
The only gripe I have with it is I think the frets are kind of soft
because after only 18 months of playing (not real seriously) they
are kind of worn down, and I am starting to get buzzing. Maybe with
the money you save you can buy another one and have it on stage for
when a string breaks and the whole thing goes to shit tunages wise :-)
just my 2 pennies
Andreas C Perret
Well, as I wrote in the earlier message, the cheaper RGX models
might actually be fine guitars. To say something good about my RGX612S,
it's recorded pretty well, the actual sound is kinda nice, "meatier"
than many hum/single/single guitars I've tried. Part of that might be
due to my 012-054 strings, though. I think the thing that really spoiled
the RGX 612S was trying to be too technically advanced, with solutions
that didn't really work (the height-adjustable nut, RM-Pro trem with
needle bearings instead of knife-edge and so on...). I dug out my old
catalogues (Yeah I've still got 'em :) ) to give you some solid data.
The RGZ 612 (yes, RG_Z_), that was introduced in 1990 as a follow-up
to the RGX, features an enhanced version of the RM-Pro, the RM-Pro II.
This one's gone back to the standard knife-edge fulcrum, which indicates
that the needle-bearing experiment wasn't really successful. The RMXII
vibrato system used on the RGX300- and 200- series also features a
knife-edge fulcrum. The height-adjustable nut can be found on RGX 600
and up, and also on RGZ 300 and up, so perhaps that one turned out to
be ok. I've had some problems with it though, wasn't really as solid
as it should be. My conclusion is that you might want to buy an RGX 100,
200 or 300 (series), but watch out for the RGX600 featuring the no-good
RM-Pro.
To help you, here are the models featuring the RM-Pro, be careful not
to buy them without at least checking them for any tuning stability
problems.
RGX 600-series, RGX 1200-series (?) (Wasn't featured in my catalogue but
I know they exist), Image Deluxe. RGX 400-series might exist, but
I don't remember if they used the RMXII (ok) or the RM-Pro (bad).
So, generally, the RGZ-series should be good, but give that height-
adjustable nut a good look to see if it's ok. The RGX 300 and below seem
to be good budget guitars. Also, the Pacifica line is one of the finest
lines of "modern" guitars I've ever seen, ranging all the way from
budget to "pro" guitars.
Andreas Perret / per...@cc.helsinki.fi
Olle Bridal
the different Pacifica models. I have a 112 which is the cheapest of
them all. Am I right in assuming that the only differences between
this one and the more pricier 604 and 904 are the pickups, the tuners
and the fretboard? (My 112 has Yamaha pickups, yamaha tuners and
Bubinga fretboard, while the other ones have Di Marzios or something
similar, Sperzel locking tuners and rosewood fretboard).
I like my guitar, but perhaps a pickup replacement would be advisable?
--
-----------------------------------------------------
Olle Bridal | Heard Backstage: "Will the
ol...@ce.chalmers.se | musicians and the drummer
| please come to the stage!"
J~ Nuno KORB
: >In article <3q4fkk$8...@kruuna.helsinki.fi>,
: just my 2 pennies
I was the one who asked for information on the RGX models and in particular
about the new ones, RGX 421,521,721... but now I checked out the new Ibanez
guitars made in Korea that are copies of the ones from Japan, but for half
the price. I've seen them all, JS series, JEM series, RG series... and now
I don't know what to do.. I liked the RG 470 ,which is just like the RGX
models from Yamaha: 24 frets, H-S-H pickups, floyd-rose, alder body, maple
neck with rosewood fretboard. What do you think? can you give me a specific
information on these guitars? Are they just like the korean Jacksons? what
are the alternatives?
thanx!
J~
Andreas C Perret
In article <3qcbmr$n...@nyheter.chalmers.se>,
Olle Bridal <ol...@ce.chalmers.se> wrote:
>I wonder if anyone could enlighten me about the differences between
>the different Pacifica models. I have a 112 which is the cheapest of
>them all. Am I right in assuming that the only differences between
>this one and the more pricier 604 and 904 are the pickups, the tuners
>and the fretboard? (My 112 has Yamaha pickups, yamaha tuners and
>Bubinga fretboard, while the other ones have Di Marzios or something
>similar, Sperzel locking tuners and rosewood fretboard).
>
>I like my guitar, but perhaps a pickup replacement would be advisable?
The more expensive models have two other advantages that I know of :
1. A custom neck (fretboard varies in radius, more curved at the nut
for easy chording and more flat at the upper frets for soloing) that
is really good, I think it's made by Warmoth but not quite sure.
2. The neck joint is kinda special, they use some aluminium joint that
holds the neck in place and therefore are able to remove a lot of wood
that usually gets in the way of your hands.
Haven't checked out this year's models really, but I think these two
things are included still.
Andreas Perret / per...@cc.helsinki.fi
Chris Thomas (45456)
: I wonder if anyone could enlighten me about the differences between
: the different Pacifica models. I have a 112 which is the cheapest of
: them all. Am I right in assuming that the only differences between
: this one and the more pricier 604 and 904 are the pickups, the tuners
: and the fretboard? (My 112 has Yamaha pickups, yamaha tuners and
: Bubinga fretboard, while the other ones have Di Marzios or something
: similar, Sperzel locking tuners and rosewood fretboard).
: I like my guitar, but perhaps a pickup replacement would be advisable?
: --
: -----------------------------------------------------
: Olle Bridal | Heard Backstage: "Will the
: ol...@ce.chalmers.se | musicians and the drummer
:
I just got a 604 after playing every one of the Pacifica line
They are all very good value. The lower price models are
actually fine chunks of wood, but could benerfit from new
pickups and tuners.
CT
MR P A MOORE
pickups. I think maybe they are a bit thin sounding this is compared to my
mates strat played through a nice peavey amp I was using my 10W park amp and
his sound was "meatier", but maybe it's just the amp causing this.
Having said that I am pretty pleased with the sound I particularly like
neck/middle with just enough distortion it sort of honks like a goose (hmm is
that a good sound or am I wierd?).
Paul