2022 Yamaha Revstar Element RSE20 vs Epiphone Les Paul | In-depth tone, features + specs comparison

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Today, we’re comparing the 2022 Yamaha Revstar Element RSE20 in Neon Yellow against my 2014 Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro to see how close the Revstar actually gets to being a genuine LP replacement!

Revstar RSE20 at Thomann:
Revstar RSE20 at Sweetwater:
This is the newer version of my Epi Les Paul:

When I did my first video on the Revstar – which I love, by the way – I said it has certain similarities to the legendary Gibson singlecut design, but it’s also definitely its own thing. What we’re doing today is seeing how close the two models really are.

I chose my 2014 Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro for the job because (a) I own it, (b) 2022 Epiphones cost around the same as the Revstar Element (about $500/€480) and (c) it actually shares a number of specs with the Revstar. Both guitars have mahogany bodies and necks, and both necks are satin-finished, relatively chunky C shapes and feature rosewood boards and the traditional Les Paul scale length of 24.75”. The Revstar has jumbo frets and a 12” fingerboard radius, though, while the Les Paul features medium jumbo frets and a 14” radius.

The two guitars do look very different. The Revstar’s double cutaway design and fatter lower bout contrasts to the Les Paul’s timeless rounded look and flame maple top. The pickups are also different: we have Yamaha VH3s in the Revstar – and a Dry Switch, which is a high pass filter that cuts out unwanted low end tonal woof and flubbiness, and emphasizes your sparkly top end – and coil splittable Epiphone Probuckers in the Les Paul.

All that said, though, how similar – or different – do they sound, and which is the ‘better’ guitar? That’s what we’re about to find out. In this video, I play a bunch of riffs on both guitars in a wide variety of styles, from pop, country and indie to rock, punk and metal, to find out which works best for which type of playing.

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

00:00 Hello!
00:16 Intro and what we’re doing today
01:47 Revstar specs/info
04:31 Les Paul specs/info
06:14 Today’s rig and plan

Clean Sounds
07:38 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup options
08:39 Poppy barre chords
09:11 Blues progression
09:37 Ringing open indie pop chords
10:03 Funky rhythm barre chords
10:32 Strummed folk pop chords
11:07 Country lead sound
11:22 Atmospheric droning indie chords

Classic Rock Crunch Sounds (Crunch Channel on amp)
12:03 AC/DC inspired riff
12:33 Airbourne inspired riff
12:55 Groovy classic rock riff
13:31 Classic rock riff
13:57 Hendrix inspired riff
14:29 Another AC/DC inspired riff

Indie Sounds (Clean Channel w/Greer Lightspeed)
14:46 60s rock rhythm sound
15:07 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
15:36 Edgy indie rock chords
16:05 Indie rock barre chords
16:30 Indie octave chords riff

Lead Channel Sounds
16:55 Classic hard rock riff
17:30 Glam rock riff
17:57 Alternative rock riff
18:22 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
18:51 Punk rock power chords
19:19 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
19:51 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D)
20:15 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)

Clean Channel w/Revv G3 Distortion Pedal (all in Drop D tuning)
20:47 Metal chugging riff
21:19 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
21:43 Hardcore punk riff
22:15 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
22:28 Lead sounds
22:53 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff

23:28 My thoughts and how similar these two guitars are
24:37 Build quality and hardware
26:23 Weight
27:13 Playability and necks
28:39 Sounds and versatility
31:43 Which guitar is best and why?
34:51 Which one would I buy in 2022?
35:36 Final conclusion and goodbye


My setup was as follows: I ran the two guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Greer Lightspeed for some 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 #Epiphone #Revstar #YamahaGuitar #YamahaGuitars #EpiphoneGuitars #LesPaul


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