“For the style, it’s a near-perfect”: We called this do-it-all Superstrat a world-class instrument – now Yamaha’s groundbreaking Pacifica Standard Plus is cheaper than ever before

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Underestimate this Pacifica at your peril: with $200 off, this is the Strat-style guitar to beat this Cyber Monday

Yamaha Pacifica Standard Plus
(Image credit: Future)

I first encountered Yamaha’s groundbreaking Pacifica Professional on the day it launched. At the time, I asked whether a Yamaha Pacifica – a model name traditionally associated with beginner guitars – could ever be worth $2,000 – but its innovations and supreme playability confirmed to me it could.

That guitar is built in Japan, but Yamaha also dropped a version made in Indonesia – the Pacifica Standard Plus – with almost identical spec. In fact, it was so similar, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two, and we hailed the cheaper version as “near-perfect”.

And the brilliant news is that guitar just dropped to its lowest price ever, with a $200 discount at Sweetwater bringing it down to a cool $999 – half the price of Yamaha’s flagship but damn-near indistinguishable. If you’re in the market for a Superstrat at this price, this is the guitar I’d be buying. Absolutely no contest.

Yamaha PACS+12 Pacifica Standard Plus Electric
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Yamaha PACS+12 Pacifica Standard Plus Electric: was $1,199 now $999 at Sweetwater Sound

Offering outrageous value for money at under a grand, this unassuming Yamaha is the Superstrat to beat. It’s built with top-quality components from Gotoh, plays like a dream and offers some genuinely innovative industry breakthroughs, including acoustically engineered resonant bodies and the first-ever pickups designed by audio legend Rupert Neve. This is a professional guitar by any standard, with boutique feel at production-line prices. This is your last chance to get $200 off.

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The Pacifica Standard Plus is a tier below the absolute top-of-the Pacifica line, the Japanese-built Professional model, but both are pronounced evolutions of a model long associated with beginners. Still, though, we rate the Pacifica 112V as the best budget electric guitar for beginners, so even the most entry-level guitar in the line is by no means shoddy.

Some may balk at a four-figure price tag for an Indonesian-built instrument, but the Pacifica Standard Plus is, specs-wise, quite similar to its Japanese-built sibling.

The HSS-configured Reflectone pickups are among the most impressive modern pickup designs we've heard in years, and work in harmony with Yamaha's resonance-minded Acoustic Design process. The build quality is outstanding, and the industry-standard Gotoh 510 vibrato and rear-locking tuners keep things in line.

Yamaha Pacifica Standard Plus PACS+12M

(Image credit: Future / Olly Curtis)

“To be honest, for the style, it’s near-perfect,” wrote Guitarist’s Dave Burrluck in his review of the guitar last year. “Yes, there’s plenty of competition from the usual suspects, and some might be thinking that the price, certainly compared to the higher end of other Indonesian-made guitars, is steep.

“Yet this Standard Plus looks, feels, and sounds thoroughly professional. It’s fit for purpose both as a superb and stable live tool or rather good for your recordings: a perfect match for modelers like Helix, which, as Line 6 is a Yamaha-owned brand, is hardly surprising.”

For even more great deals – on basses, amps, effects pedals, straps, strings, and every other strain of gear you can imagine – keep your eyes on our full list of Cyber Monday guitar deals.

Shop more Cyber Monday sales

Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

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