Yamaha SLG100S Silent Steel String Guitar

I think I already reviewed the SLG100S. It's a great guitar. I'm posting this as a follow up to help people get the best sound from their SLGs. Its wonderfully rich acoustic guitar sound doesn't survive the trip through typical guitar amplifiers. My best results came from a Fishman Loudbox, but that amp is too expensive and large/heavy for my needs. After trying a bunch of amps, I'm now happy feeding the SLG100S through an old Acoustic Research 570 Powered Partner - a compact and decent quality studio monitor. The SLG's output is just too complex for regular amplifiers. You need a studio monitor. I imagine that ones other than my AR570s will work as well or better. Regular acoustic guitars probably do best with studio monitors too, but the SLG REALLY needs one because it produces almost no unamplified sound to mask the thin and disappointing sound that comes from typical guitar amps.

I needed something portable that played well.The Yamaha Silent is stupendous.The sound is great through the earphones, a headset is even better, and a chorus amplifier is glorious. I love the action, and can play it all day.It is very quiet. The Silent is every bit as small as the Backpacker, but hangs better on your body, because of the take-down frame. It looks full size. Because of the frame's shape, half of the people watching me play don't even notice that there is no body until I stick my hand through the place where the body should be. The Silent is solid. It looks like it can take a beating that the Backpacker, which is hollow, couldn't. This adds to its portability because you will be willing to take it into harsher environments and transport. I am already using it more than any other of my guitars, and see no reason to go back.

When I first purchased this, I was looking for a really decent clean tone, because my electric guitar just wasn't cutting it. The Yamaha silent guitar completely floored me. It has a super rich tone and I use it for all clean tracks I record. Really light, portable, feels great, and sounds amazing. The Reverb is not super useful for recording, but may work well in a live situation. Yamaha Silent=Amazing.

My wife bought me the SLG100S for use as a travel guitar. 'Fraid my gift choices to her didn't measure up. The heck with travel. The SLG will go places my Guild D25SB never did but it also sees heavy use around the house. The assembled body positions perfectly on my knee. The composite wings are slightly textured; after using the SLG for a while my Guild seems slippery and difficult to hold in position. Funny how it never struck me that way before.The SLG also has an excellent sound, though you need headphones or a good amp to bring out the best. The bass/treble and reverb controls don't offer the fine tuning of most amps, but they are effective and handy. The SLG's action is very good for a stock guitar. My Guild's is better, but then it has been tweaked. Any downsides to the SLG? I would have to pick nits. The sound falls a teeny bit short of my Guild in dimension and complexity. That may be because the tones of a hollow body guitar work into your bones instead of just out the amp. Yamaha could have finished the neck a little more smoothly. Well worth the purchase price! The SLG100S has energized and extended my playing. No more putting the guitar away when someone else in the house takes a nap. Great gift choice, and a fine guitar by any measure. Forget the plug-in transformer. A 9V battery lasts a good long time and gives you a lot of freedom.

Yamaha has continued its design innovations with this well-thought-out sequel to the SLG 100N "Silent Nylon" guitar. The steel version has the narrower neck you'd expect from a steel-strung guitar. The slightly higher price no doubt reflects the addition of a truss rod to this model (the nylon version does not have a truss rod). the Baggs piezo p/u sounds quite smooth. The action was a bit high for me, but otherwise plays well and comfortably. Comes complete with a "wall wart" power adapter (an alternate to the 9v battery that reportedly will last about 12 to 16 playing hours), "ear bud" phones, and one of the better-designed gig bags I've seen. You can also jack in a boom box or cd player, and listen to your favorite recording as you practice along with it - all over the earphones. No more annoyed spouse or roomie. Tone is good - about equal to a similarly-priced full-bodied dreadnought with the piezo. You can plug into your stage amp with the 1/4" jack as well. Sounds good live - and you really got to turn it up to get feedback! I give it four-and-a-half stars. I NEVER give anything five stars, but this little gem is darn close! One disadvantage is the eq - just "treble" and "bass" (ie, 2 channels). Not a huge tonal range, but what's there is live, believable and full. You have two levels of dsp reverb, which is fairly realistic. I never use it, but wouldn't be ashamed to use it if I were playing an amp that didn't have a good reverb channel. I play it through a Peavey Classic 30 and it sounds good.