Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar Review
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Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar
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Getting yourself a proper instrument is one of the main priorities for every musician. Whatever is the genre that you play, and even if you're a beginner, you should always be careful about what you choose. Otherwise, your and everyone else's experience around you might not be up to the level that you expected it to be. And this is especially the case with acoustic instruments. With electric ones, there's always a great deal of processing that you can apply. But with acoustic ones, what you hear is what you get. It's that simple.
Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar Review
Now, we would like to take a few moments and look into one of the acoustic guitars that caught our attention recently. The piece in question is by Yamaha, the LS16M model from the L Series. Of course, it's marketed as "Acoustic-Electric" guitar, but it's an acoustic instrument equipped with Yamaha's well-respected SRT Zero passive pickup. If you're looking to get yourself a solid acoustic instrument, the LS16M is definitely worth checking out. Of course, there are a lot of nuances to look into and it all comes down to personal choices. But let's see what makes the instrument so special.
Features
First off, we need to note that this is a relatively smaller-sized instrument with not that much of a massive body. The entire body is built of solid wood, without any plywood or similar cheaper parts. The top is Englemann spruce, while the back and the sides are mahogany, making this an interesting blend.
The neck is a five-piece mahogany and rosewood laminate, sporting the classic combination with the rosewood fretboard. The neck itself is relatively slimmer, and it somewhat adds to the instrument's overall resonance. But we'll get to that later.
The Yamaha L-Series LS16M guitar bears a completely passive pickup, the SRT Zero. This means that there are no preamps onboard, no added controls and knobs, just a simple pickup and an output jack. Although this would require an external preamp of sorts, it does allow the most natural tone and a very simple layout for those who are not fans of onboard controls on their acoustic instrument.
Design
There's absolutely no need to point out the quality design of this fine instrument, which is usually the case with Yamaha's guitars in general. The finish on the body and the neck is just great, keeping things up to their usual standards.
There were, however, a few things we didn't really like about it. One of them is the body and neck joint, which looks kind of sloppy after a closer inspection. It's nothing really drastic or anything that would completely ruin your experience, but it certainly could have been done better for this price level. Some have complained that it interferes with their performance, but we didn't really notice anything significant, only a minor disturbance for an otherwise good-looking piece.
Overall, if you're pretty interested in having a good-looking instrument, the Yamaha L-Series LS16M guitar definitely comes as a great option.
Performance
Although the space between the strings could have been just a little bit wider, the overall impression and performance of the instrument are just mindblowing. Whatever is the musical style that you're into, whether you're a finger-picker or a plectrum user – the guitar comes in handy for a variety of styles.
The blend of tones you get with such a combination of tonewoods makes it a very flexible instrument. The mahogany sides add enough to the lower end of the spectrum, while the Englemann spruce adds just enough of that brightness and attack to the tone.
The passive pickup captures the guitar's essence in the best way possible. Of course, it's impossible to make it as good as with a proper combination of microphones, but it still does a fairly good job of keeping its natural tonal properties.
The neck feels pretty great and you can have a good grip on it, both for chords and lead sections.
The instrument looks great, feels great, and sounds great, featuring no significant setbacks that might potentially ruin your experience as a performer.
Is Yamaha L-Series LS16M Acoustic-Electric Guitar Good?
The thing about Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar is that this is one of those instruments that come in handy for both beginners and higher levels of playing. Sure, it's not exactly an entry-level price, but it's also not a very expensive instrument either. If you're just starting out or are intermediate, and you're really serious about becoming a pro, getting this guitar will be an investment for the future. At the end of the day, the price is definitely worth it, and you'll rarely find such a great value for money, even with the high-end professional instruments.
Trying the instrument out with dynamic, condenser, and a combination of these microphones, the new possibilities open up. You're able to have anything from muffled and smooth tones, up to very bright ones with a strong attack on them. This is obviously a great strength of this instrument, making it a solid choice for session musicians and anyone who dabbles in a few different styles.
It's hard to say with certainty whether an active or a passive pickup is a better choice. This usually comes down to personal preferences, so you should bear in mind that this instrument has completely passive electronics. You'll need some additional preamp in your setup to make it work, but the tones you'll get with it are definitely worth it. It's a very balanced solution and you'll rarely have any problems with potential feedback, which can be an issue with active electronics.
Overall, if you're a versatile musician, or are just looking for a guitar that can do it all, Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar should be one of the choices on your list. It's not exactly cheap, but it's not expensive either, and you definitely won't regret getting one of these.
Yamaha L-Series LS16M Guitar