Yamaha Revstar RS420 Review

Cost: $499.99 new, find it on Sweetwater or Reverb.com (Affiliate Link)

This review would not have been possible without Stephanie from Yamaha generously lending me this for review!

Overview and Final Score: 9.2

The Yamaha Revstar RS420 is a pure garage rock monster. The guitar features a stripped down design with vintage vibes while still retaining some Gibson similarities that will attract less adventurous buyers. This version of the Revstar is the on the lower end of the series, making it an excellent candidate to become someone’s second guitar or trusty (but not too dear) stage guitar. While not as popular in the electric guitar field as they are in their other pursuits, Yamaha once agains shows off their quality control, craftsmanship, and design skills with the RS420.

Sound: 9

The Revstar RS420 has something for almost anyone thanks to its high quality tonal controls, pickups, and features not often found in this price range. Both pickups are nicely balanced and sound clear, even as you increase the gain. The bridge especially sounded great as the humbuckers drove my Vox AC15 nicely without any outside boost or distortion beside rolling up the guitar’s volume knob. To me, the guitar sounded best when used in a punk or garage rock setting. The Clash, The Black Keys, The Ramones, and The Strokes all poured out of this guitar and I felt very inspired bashing out power chords on it. Huge bonus feature was the “dry switch”, which is a pull-push function on the tone knob, which creates more a single coil sound without cutting out any of the output or noise removal that sometimes happens with normal coil tapping or coil splitting. The switch essentially increases the treble, while slightly cutting lows, taking away the full, warm PAF-like humbucker sound. And honestly, it sounded spectacular, I almost bought the guitar on the spot after playing it, there is so much potential for getting a variety of sounds out of it live or in the studio.

Playability: 9

I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the guitar was and how great the setup was out of the box. At this price range, it is always a mixed bag on what you’ll get, as some companies give up quality control in favor of electronics or vice versa, to keep costs down. But Yamaha did not do that here, this guitar plays smoothly. My only critique would be that only the G string would go out of tune really easily, which is obviously a common complaint of guitar players at all budget/experience levels. The guitar also features a bit of a neck contour on the heel which makes the higher frets super accessible. Otherwise, the guitar is super light and well balanced when playing sitting down or standing up.

Finish and Construction: 9

I was generously sent a model with a “Fire Red” finish and it was stunning, it drew tons of compliments from roommates and friends when they walked by and saw it. The finish was almost flawless, except for a few dings and dents, but that could be because I was sent a well-traveled demo guitar. It is hard to tell how scratch resistant or road worthy the finish would be because of this, but the guitar felt structurally solid and tough, and the low price makes it easy to take it out on the road without fear of ruining a cherished, vintage instrument.

Value: 10

The RS420’s best feature is absolutely the value. For under $500 you’re getting a ton of tonal options, a beautiful instrument, and reliable performance every time. I would kill to take this thing out for a gig and see what kind of stripped-down rock goodness I could coax out of it. While I’m sure you will build up a strong emotional attachment to it, the cost makes it easy to replace, modify, or beat up without fear of being bankrupt should it break, get stolen, or falls out of favor in your rig.