Yamaha LL16 A.R.E. Natural

Super easy to play, fat and clear bass. Very good response when finger picking, super dynamics and incredible volume possible when played with the pick. Completely tuning stable and in all positions 110% in tune. Works for all styles, no tonal "pre-coloring" in the way". You get every tone you want to hear out of this guitar. Feels more like a 5.000€ instrument. Pickup is top notch to boot. Wow!

I bought this guitar as a replacement for an Ovation mid depth round back 12 stringer. That Ovation sounded very nice amplified, but unplugged it was very weak on lower strings. So I wanted something that produces a balanced sound in the entire frequency range without an amplifier. The Yamaha LL16-12 totally fulfilled my expectations. It is loud and clear on both highs and lows.
The build quality is not like what you can find in more expensive instruments, but for the price it is very good. Taking a closer look you can find some black resin fillers used for filling gaps between the binding and the body wood. The same is true for the headstock binding. The maple binding around the body gives this instrument some kind of unique prettiness which I love.
The finish is very professional. The body is glossy, but the neck including the headstock is matte which adds a lot to the playability and makes the neck very fast. Anyway the neck is very convenient to play. It is thin the way I like it.
The tuning hardware is average but fortunately the guitar is not too heavy on the head. When you buy this guitar please consider that it only has one strap button which is the one combined with the output jack. So if you don't like to tide your other end of the strap to the guitar head, just as I, you need to by a strap button separately and drill that in at the neck heal.
The factory setup is very good too. I like very low string action and this is almost as low as possible. I don't quite like the hassle of adjusting the string action so I decided to go with the factory setting for now.
The pickup is nice and clear but due to the lack of on-board electronics the signal hates traveling long distances so make sure that you have a preamp as close to the pickup as possible. I'm using a custom built active DI box that I attach to my belt and connect the guitar with a 15cm short cable. I also tested it with a 6m cable and the difference is unbelievable. The cable length is a very important factor for passive instruments like this anyway. I would say you get drastic loss in audio quality if you use a cable over 2m long between the pickup and the preamp.
I'm mainly a bass player and another reason why I choose the Yamaha over others is this concept of no on-board electronics which is the same concept I recently adore in my basses. It lets the instrument do what it is made for which is producing a nice round sound and then gives you the flexibility of using the electronics and affects of your choice outside the instrument.
The guitar comes with a good quality soft case which I prefer over hard shell cases due to the weight factor and back straps.
I definitely recommend this instrument for those looking for a full sounding, nicely built and attractive 12 stringer bellow 1000EUR.

Before I decided to buy the LL 16, I had already bought the Lj 6 a year ago on recommendation and was very taken with its sound and workmanship. The LL 16 has now fully met my expectations in this regard. Starting with the optics in the discreet, classical style over the workmanship with solid, noble woods up to the crystal-clear, powerful sound, it can compete in every respect with much more expensive instruments from Gibson, Martin, Taylor, etc. This is not a mass-produced instrument from the Far East. This is not a mass-produced guitar from the Far East, but a handmade noble guitar!