2022 Yamaha Revstar in-depth comparison: Standard vs Element | Which should you buy? Guitar Shootout

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Today we’re comparing the two best new and relatively affordable guitars I’ve had the pleasure of playing so far this year: the Yamaha Revstar Element and the Yamaha Revstar Standard!

Revstar Element at Thomann:
Revstar Element at Sweetwater:
Revstar Standard at Thomann:
Revstar Standard at Sweetwater:

I’ve been mightily impressed with both of these guitars – they both play, feel and sound fantastic – but which one is right for you? And is the Standard model – which costs around $799/€799 – worth the extra $300/€300 it costs over the $499/€499 Element? That’s what we’re going to try and find out today.

If you spring the extra money for the Standard, you get a maple top on your mahogany body, Yamaha’s VH5 humbuckers with a five-way switch and their Focus Switch passive boost option – as opposed to the VH3s, a three-way switch and the Dry Switch high pass filter in the Element. You also get stainless steel frets and a carbon-reinforced neck, and a decent gig bag too.

Is that worth the extra money? Let’s play the guitars and see! In the video, I test both Revstars out in as many different musical genres as I can – from pop, folk and blues to indie, rock, punk, metal and more – and I also give you my opinions on which guitar I think might be the best one for you, depending on your circumstances.

Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:

00:00 Hello!
00:18 Introduction and what we’re doing today
01:32 Revstar Element specs and info
03:03 Revstar Standard specs and info
05:33 Today’s rig and plan

Clean Sounds
06:20 Clean tone reference chords on all pickups/Dry + Focus Switch options
07:25 Poppy barre chords
07:56 Blues progression
08:20 Funky rhythm chords
08:47 Ringing open indie pop chords
09:14 Country lead sound
09:28 Atmospheric droning chords
09:48 Strummed folk pop chords

Crunch Sounds (Clean Channel w/Greer Lightspeed)
10:22 Indie rock barre chords
10:45 Indie octave chords riff
11:14 Fat indie rhythm chords
11:43 Edgy indie rock chords
11:57 Kings Of Leon inspired indie riff
12:27 Indie rock octave chords
12:52 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff
13:22 Airbourne inspired classic rock riff
13:34 Classic rock riff
13:51 Groovy classic rock riff
14:16 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff

Lead Channel Sounds
14:32 Classic hard rock riff
14:50 Hard rock riff
15:23 Glam rock riff
15:52 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock sound
16:27 Alt rock riff
16:50 Pop punk riff
17:16 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
17:42 Punk rock power chords
17:55 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
18:26 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D)
18:51 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)

Clean Channel w/Revv G3 Distortion Pedal (all in Drop D)
19:22 Metal chugging riff
19:55 Melodic hard rock lead sound
20:10 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
20:38 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
21:01 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff

21:35 My thoughts
22:20 First impressions out of the box
23:34 Playability and necks
23:57 Weight
24:21 Frets – stainless steel vs normal
25:27 Hardware
25:38 Sounds, pickups and switching options discussion
28:16 Is the Standard worth the extra money over the Element?
29:42 What other guitars are out there that compete with the Revstars?
31:13 My conclusions on the Revstar
31:50 Which Revstar model would I buy?
32:28 Thanks and goodbye


More info on the various Revstar models – and some cool pics of their chambered bodies – are here:


My setup was as follows: I ran the Revstars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, using my Greer Lightspeed for the overdrive and my Revv G3 for the heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.

Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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H&K Black Spirit 200 head:
Greer Lightspeed:
Revv G3:
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!):
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Enjoy!


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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#YamahaRevstar #Revstar #YamahaGuitar #YamahaGuitars


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