Another "has anyone ever tried these" thread

notonlybutalso

So after posting about people's experiences of Reverend guitars i am now after hands on information about something completely different. The Yamaha Pacifica 611 vfm. I have terrible memories of cheap pacificas cluttering up my school years which is giving me pause, but i am a big enough man to look past the name for a guitar i really want and this one seems to have everything i need in one go. So, who has one/has tried one and what can you tell me about them?

jimboflojo

Since your thread about reverends ive been on the lookout for a jetstream 390! I had the hardtail 611HFM for a while so take it itll be exactly the same apart from the trem. Really nice, excellent quality and played great, loved the p90 in the neck, plus had quality hardware, only reason I sold it on was the neck was a bit thin, a bit narrow at the nut- but thats all subjective so might be worth playing one yourself unless you know you like a thinner neck. It was really light as well, which was nice!

notonlybutalso

Hah glad i could help point you in that direction! Or more truthfully, glad that everyone who chimed in did as i have zero experience with reverend still  :P Hmmm i do find a thinner neck more comfortable for wrapping my thumb over and with the 25.5 inch scale that it has i still wont be too cramped on my chords length-ways. I might get the nut width spec and measure it against some of my other guitars to see what kind of feel i am looking at in that case. Yeah it seems to be the full package! bridge bucker that splits, p90 in the neck which i always love and since they are duncans i can get their tone chart online and change pickups accordingly if i don't like them. Also unlike the Reverend it has a real flame maple cap on the alder body, whereas the rev i was looking at had a flame maple finish but the body was just solid korina so i think it was one of those "photoflame" tops. Thanks for the feedback!  anyone else?

cbilly22

Been using a Pacifica 611 (black one though) for the last 5 months and it might be the best guitar I own. First rehearsal I took it to I think we ran through 28 songs including Lizzie, Bowie, Stones, Chillis, Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Bad Company, Beatles etc etc...covered the lot easily...every sound I wanted was just about there straight away. I'm now using it for my blues band too.

Great neck (for me), radius is pretty flat so bends are easy as is playing slide, awesome pickups especially that P90....and I can't remember tuning it after the first tuneup at any jam or rehearsal...rock solid. Get one and if you don't take to it I'll buy it off you

notonlybutalso

cant say fairer than that! I don't think i will be moving it on if it's as good as you say but nice try  and especially for more than 100 less than i was going to pay for my other choice we seem to have an outright winner!

monquixote

Pacificas are bloody great. 

cbilly22

notonlybutalso said:

cant say fairer than that! I don't think i will be moving it on if it's as good as you say but nice try  and especially for more than 100 less than i was going to pay for my other choice we seem to have an outright winner!

Probably for the best, I've really got my eye on one of the new 502V with the tow stacked P90s and the trem

ChrisMusic

monquixote said:    Pacificas are bloody great. 

I totally agree.  Well made and remarkably good value too.  Even the cheap ones, I tried a 2xx owned by a well known guitarist, which i believe is a 1xx with a fancy top, and it easily played a good as some of his more expensive guitars, that was a surprise for me.  It actually felt nicer and more responsive, to me, than his top of the range Godin !

I have a 912 and it is right up there with the best IMO.  (oh and it is made in Taiwan, so don't let country of origin put you off either, it is all about the instrument)  Sorry none of this answers about the 611, but Yamaha make great guitars, (again IMO).

I was surprised how good the stacked P90s in the 502v sound, very versatile too.

grungebob

They are well made easy playing guitars with what feels like a narrow nut, iirc though its 42mm so should feel the same as most fenders yet it doesn't. Maybe its the string spacing at the but?

Anyhoo even the cheap ones play very very well.

HAL9000

I've got a Pacifica 311H which is the 611HFM's somewhat cheaper sibling. It has Yamaha's own pickups rather than the Seymour Duncans that come withe the 611HFM. Other than that and the fact that  it doesn't have a fancy top I believe it's essentially the same guitar. For the £240 I paid for it it's excellent value and it would be easy enough to upgrade the pickups at some point in the future. I actually quite like the slim neck but could totally understand that some might not find it to their liking. It has some nice sounds in it too, particularly the neck P90. 

I seem to recall it not being quite as resonant as the 611 though even though both bodies are alder.  I suspect that the fancy top of the 611HFM helps here - in fact, thinking about it, I did once try out a Pacifica 212VFM (with the fancy top) and that was surprising resonant too so, yes, I guess that extra layer of wood helps.