Budget Yamaha Pacifica Vs Fender Stratocaster | Brutally Honest Review
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- A deep comparison of a budget Yamaha Pacifica 012 vs a more expensive Fender Stratocaster. Which is best value and should you buy one over another? Which guitar will score the most points in this fun test!?
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:19 Price!
00:35 Weight
00:56 Tremolo quality
01:31 Tremolo test and unplugged sounds - let's push them to the limit!
03:22 Electrics Quality
04:19 Fretboard and neck
05:07 In depth neck measurements
05:58 Neck profiles - Surprising results!
07:27 Tone control
07:57 Tuning pegs
08:19 Hendrix Sound Demo Comparison
08:56 Oh dear... What's that noise?!??
08:59 Neo Soul Sound Demo Comparison
09:23 Guitar Solo Sound Demo Comparison
09:49 Let's Talk about that HORRIBLE NOISE.........
10:17 Yamaha noise
11:09 Final thoughts - Hudba
Just my views on a cheap Yamaha Pacifica vs a Fender Strat... a bit unfair to pitch such a cheap vs a much more expensive guitar I know, but it's fun to see how they really compare for the money! Is the Yamaha really that much worse? What do you think of these guitars?
it would be better to compare it to like a squier strat
I did a Vs of Squier and Fender here which you might find useful. It gives you a pretty good idea of the differences: czcams.com/video/1DlvW9x___A/video.htmlsi=Uf4rsF49f3YLH_cc
Exactly, entry level Yamaha vs. Fender Player strat.
If you open up the Yamaha I expect you'll find there's no shielding. This can be fixed for pennies. I was a little surprised to hear noise when the humbucker was selected, however, so your guitar might have a wiring fault. Regarding the sounds, I thought the Fender beat the Yamaha comprehensively; but since you're comparing expensive apples against cheap oranges, that's to be expected.
The noise is a bit of a strange one. I've got two of exactly the same Yamaha guitars, albeit the other is a natural finish, and they both have that noise. It's not super obnoxious once you're playing, but it is noticeable here and there. It might just be a grounding issue and I'll investigate further when I get time. In all likelihood if I'm going to bother opening one of them up again, I'll probably go the whole nine yards and put in new pups and pots. Despite that, the Yamaha is a nice guitar for the money. It's another one of those that with some carefully selected mods it could be within striking distance of the Fender. Even as is, it's a very nice, enjoyable guitar to play. I would have loved to have had the Yamaha as my first guitar to learn on and it's not a million miles behind the Fender despite the gulf in price. I suppose the main difference is the Fender feels and sounds premium off the shelf. No mods needed... unless you really want to for fun, e.g. hotter pickups, locking tuners.... there's always an excuse :)
This is really interesting. I have a Pacifica 112J and when I noodled in the guitar shop, the manager was surprised to like it more than the somewhat higher-priced Squire Strat I was also trying out but which was still in my price range.
The Pacifica is a winner no doubt. The Pacifica has a very different sound and feel to either a Fender or Squier. They all have a lot to offer in different ways. Cool guitars. Keep rockin 🎸🤘
Pacifica is a way better than other beginners guitar specially in that price rage
Apples and oranges here. The budget Pacifica should be a better match to a squire. There are new high-end Pacificas now, you know, that will be more of a match to the Fender strats.
Yes, the Squier is a good one to face off against the Yamaha. I'll try and do that one when I have time. The price difference between this Yamaha and the Fender is what it is, but the message I'm trying to get across is that even the cheap Yamaha is still really good. It punches well above it's weight, mainly in feel. It's great fun to play. The body and neck are nice, so with some strategic hardware upgrades (pickups/trem etc) it could shine even more. These are both guitars I own and play regularly. If I can get my hands on a more expensive Yamaha at some point, I'd consider doing that comparison too. Keep rockin'
The Squiers are still pretty different from the Pacificas. Also there's more than one type of Squier.
My friend had a Pacifica about 20 years ago, that was the last time I played one, but I remember being quite surprised by it how it played, was a long time ago though and I hadn't been playing that long
Also you might be able to sort that noise by checking the soldering on the ground cable is fine, then remove the bridge and make sure the cable is actually where it needs to be
The Yamaha is a nice playing guitar for sure. In the hands, it feels really good for a cheap guitar. The noise is there when you start paying attention to it, but it's not the end of the world and yes it could be a soldering fix. I have another Yamaha Pacifica in a natural finish and it has exactly the same noise going on when not touching the strings. I'm not sure if I got unlucky... either way I wouldn't want to part with my Yamaha's - they're really fun to play. When I've got some time I'll have to have dig into the cause. For me, it doesn't spoil overall enjoyment of the guitar. I've been playing the Yamaha like this for years - too busy enjoying it to listen out for the noise. It's really only in doing this video that my attention was drawn to it - and now I can't unhear it lol. For now I'm going to go back to ignoring it and rocking out.
I own both and the Yammy wins hands down every time.
It's a cool guitar for the price
Hey I am new to the guitar world how can they make it with out being sued.
I'm assuming ur talking about the noise from the Yamaha...? If so, to be fair that noise is very normal with a guitar that has single coil pickups. What's not so normal is to get it from the humbucker in the guitar. That might be a grounding issue somwhere inside, which with a bit of time should be a relatively easy fix. In day to day playing it actually really isn't much of a bother. I've had these guitars a while. I love playing both and the noise isn't something that I paid much attention to until I sat down to do the review and was being really critical of both. The Yamaha is still a great beginner guitar. I wouldn't want to part with it. It's extremely fun to play regardless of playing level. If you are looking for an excellent starter guitar, another option I highly recommend is the Epiphone Slash Les Paul Special II, I've done a review here: czcams.com/video/WY-RIFcS4jU/video.htmlsi=H3YMugSDmQJUPaYb
"Budget Yamaha Pacifica Vs Fender Stratocaster | Brutally Honest Opinion"
There, fixed the title for you.
Thank you very informative.
I am always considering why I would want to by a MiM Fender Strat. I use a PAC112 and don't see the need, unless there is some "magic" with Strats about them, which there does seem to be, giving their following.
But I struggle to see myself not just getting a higher spec PAC...
The PAC112 has higher quality pickups - mine is quite. So I think the PAC112 would be a closer comparison to a Strat and still more than half the price of a MiM Strat.
As far as a cheaper Fender (Squire) - after playing a PAC, I wouldn't even consider it.
The Yamaha range are great guitars. It sounds like you have a really good one for sure. I use my Yamaha here and there for fun. The more and more I play guitar, it becomes very clear that the most important thing is one's own ability on the instrument. As long as the instrument plays well and sounds basically decent, the focus is better placed on practice and enjoyment than the next guitar. I have got caught in that loop too many times! The Fender is brilliant too... But there are x2 guitars I play and use for practice every day at the moment which are relatively cheap 1. An Ibanez 421PB 2. A modified Squier Affinity (I switched the neck out for a much chunkier profile). The reason I use those is because they are very light and incredibly easy to play. I can stand up for hours to get good playing posture with little fatigue. I have various other guitars for slightly different sounds and for variety... and more reviews/comparisons incoming. I should really do a 'Squier vs Yamaha' video at some point if that's of interest.
I think the reverb makes both sound cheesy... ..the Yamaha neck p/u has a familiar midrange honk-like presence that isn't pleasing to my ear.. ...a slight non-musical tone that I would not expect to hear on the neck position of a good standard scale Stratocaster. i find all good sounding neck p/u's....even T-tops or old PAF's are positioned on the harmonic scale where necessary to have that sweet, flutey type neck p/u sound... some Gibson's like the early SG Specials were forced to have the neck p/u re-ocated away from typical harmonic scale, a touch further towards the bridge, compromising the tone, because the first year double cut Les Paul Specials in 1959 developed weak neck joints having the p/u rout encroaching into neck tenon space, weakening support.
Gibson's deep cutaway, open access neck pocket was a nice idea....but, the fingerboard protruding without support while almost touching the neck p/u with zero surrounding wood to strengthen the joint waas a bad mistake.. You see many 1959 LP Soecials with repaired neck joints until 1960 when they moved the neck p/u further back. They corrected this for 1960 but in moving ther p/u , they lost the typical sweet tone in the neck position that most Gibson have. They fooled with different 9 neck joint and heel configurations from 1960 to 1970 trying to keep SG necks from weakening. The Yamaha does not have an isuee with surrounding wood,, the scale is the same.as the Strat.......but.......counting frets.....
....I wonder if Yamaha realized that adding that one extra fret without adjusting relative proximities would cause the neck pickup to move away from the standard neck p/u harmonic node and give it that slight non-musical honk? You'll hear that same weird neck p/u honk on the not so popular vintage Gibson ES-350T and Byrdland models where adding extra frets forced them to place the neck p/u out of its correct harmonic position.....
i bought a Cheap MIC 012 yamaha pac for $90 and 611'd it and dropped $350 lollars in it its my J rock guitar and i have a brass tone claw its great now lol
Wow, nice upgrades! The bones of the Yamaha are worth it. I might do the same at some point. With some upgrades the Yamaha could feel and sound very much like a high end instrument at a fraction of the cost. It's a really great guitar for cheap.
@@appetiteforguitar yeah lol the neck is to die for i'm a yamaha convert now
oy fix the trem springs mate. they go on straight
Thanks, constantly tinkering. It works nice like this. I did straight and I just like the feel of this. It might be the slightly different tension between high and low strings. Whatever works... 🤘
Interesting comparison. The Fender is much warmer sounding. What color is the Fender ??
They can go either way.
Unless you have some physics principles on which way is better.
@appetiteforguitar they can go either way, placing them diagonally just increases the spring tension :) (useful for counteracting thicker gauge strings)
@MrThomasv Thanks, I think these days it's called Lake Placid Blue. The Fender has a more nuanced sound to my ears, but the Yamaha still sounds pretty great for a less expensive guitar.
The Yamaha sounds better