Review: Yamaha A1M and A3R Acoustic-Electric Guitars

This video is related to the February 2012 issue of Guitar World. For the full text of the reviews, you can pick up the issue of newsstands now or in our online store.

In the following video, Guitar World's Paul Riario reviews two of Yamaha's A Series acoustic-electric guitars, the A1M and the A3R. Both models are dreadnought cutaways that feature built-in preamps and saddle piezo pickups.

Paul Riario has been the tech/gear editor and online video presence for Guitar World for over 25 years. Paul is one of the few gear editors who has actually played and owned nearly all the original gear that most guitarists wax poetically about, and has survived this long by knowing every useless musical tidbit of classic rock, new wave, hair metal, grunge, and alternative genres. When Paul is not riding his road bike at any given moment, he remains a working musician, playing in two bands called SuperTrans Am and Radio Nashville.

Latest

“One of the best compact wireless systems you can buy”: Xvive A58 Guitar Wireless System review

See more latest ►

“The Uni-Vibe was an excellent alternative to a Leslie and became a mainstay for Jimi Hendrix”: Everything you need to know about modulation, from Leslie emulators and chorus pedals to bucket-brigade chips and phasers

“For me, it’s not how many are watching, it’s who is watching – Tosin engaging made me feel like I was doing something right”: Dante Swan is blurring the lines between djent and trap music – and he wants you to steal his riffs

“For me to be so appreciated, I think I can start to feel guilty and pressured. But I guess it’s a good problem to have”: From playing Steve Vai's guitars to playing with him onstage, Tosin Abasi's rapid ascent made him one of the biggest names in guitar

“I bumped into Eric in a club and I thought we were going to get into a fight! But he went, ‘Hello, man!’ and gave me a big hug”: Jeff Beck took the Yardbirds in a new direction, but the constant Eric Clapton comparisons took years to shake

“We knew listeners usually wanted a memorable song rather than an insane guitar solo or riff, but we wanted to be extreme”: Jason Becker and Marty Friedman on their wild ride making Cacophony’s Go Off! – one of the Eighties’ most in-your-face shred albums

“Like Gretsch’s Duo Jet, it was surely spurred by Gibson’s success with the Les Paul”: The mysterious history of the Guild M-75 Aristocrat, the blue-blooded hollowbody played by John Lee Hooker, John Mayer, St. Vincent and Dan Auerbach

“Top money buys forensically aged details and incredible craft, but you won’t necessarily hear £5k’s worth of difference in the sonic performance”: How close are Gibson's ’59 Burst replicas and their boutique rivals?

“Chris Shiflett has this great AC30 from the ’60s – that’s the main amp on the album. That and a Princeton Reverb – until I blew it up”: How one-man blues rock band Steve Hill cheated death – then found redemption at Foo Fighters’ Studio 606

“This is a guy who worked for Frank Zappa. Frank said to him, ‘Whatever you do, don’t learn how to read music.’ He's all-creative – he's a miracle, really”: Steve Vai on BEAT, being a virtuoso in his 60s – and the Fripp riff he just couldn’t master

“The Grateful Dead wouldn’t let us use their amps. Ray was aghast – he kept saying, ‘Pigpen? Someone named Pigpen won’t let me use his instrument?’” With a volatile lead singer and no bass player, they left an indelible mark on rock

“Roxy insisted I have a white Strat – I bought that guitar off Brian Eno, who bought it off his milkman for 30 quid!” Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera on how he found his bargain Firebird and why he has no regrets about rendering a ’51 Tele “valueless”

Get The Pick Newsletter

Most Popular