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Yamaha THR10

Hi, I was searching for a small amp for home use and tried some stuff the last weeks (Roland MicroCube, Vox DA5 and a VHT Special6 combo). The Roland MicroCube and the Vox DA5 sounded not natural to my ears. The VHT is a good sounding tube amp but way too loud when playing in the

crunch channel. A friend of mine is working in a musicstore so I had the chance to try the Yamaha THR10 (standard modell) and the THR10 C (classic blues). After 1 week of experience I bought the standard modell. It´s more open to my ears than the Classic blues.

This amp offers a very natural tube sound thru it´s 2 small hifi speakers and is really suitable for home use. There are 5 channels for electric guitars or CBG´s (Fender, Vox, 2 Marshall´s and a Mesa Boogie).

3 further channels for bass, acoustic and a flat one.

First I tried it with my acoustic guitar. I was surprised how natural the guitar came through.

The gain knob can be used for blending from a pure piezo signal to a pure microphone signal and all between.

Even with my bass it sounded fine in the bass channel. Very comfortable for playing at home.

I´m waiting for my cigar box guitar from ChickenboneJohn to test it with this amp and will report later.

The last 2 channels (Marshall JCM800 and a Mesa Boogie) are very hot but they can be dialed in for a bluesy tone.

For me that´s by far the best amp for home use and my ears are very critical when it goes for sound.

Other features: a headphone out, AUX (for using any MP3 player), it runs with batteries too and offers a USB port.

I didn´t try the USB and can´t say anything about that but you can connect the amp with the PC and fine tune some adjustments like Delay, Reverb, Chorus etc. and the amp adjustments too. There is a Cubase AI6 in the box of the amp and you can install it on your PC.

This thing is small and lightweight and looks cool too.

It´s more expensive than the amps mentioned above but I think it´s worth every cent.

The amp offers the best sound when placed on the ground. It looses some warmth when placed on a table or something else.

I want to share my experience with the guys here and if you have some questions just ask.

There are some good videos on YouTube (Andertons UK with Julian Ward from Yamaha, Soren Anderson etc.)

Thanks,

Willi

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Permalink Reply by bemuzic on December 11, 2012 at 10:35am

I tried one of these recently. Bought it from a local music shop which lets you return things if you don't like them. I'd read good things about it, but one thing I'd read worried me for how I would want to use it. A few people had said that when used with batteries it sometimes cuts out if you play loud.

I liked the sound a lot, but unfortunately as soon as I used it how I would for busking it kept cutting out. Fine for doing some laid back acoustic stuff, but using my loop pedal into it with a thumping beat then some dirty guitar it was unusable so I sadly returned it.

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Permalink Reply by Willi Ender on December 11, 2012 at 8:49pm

I didn´t try the THR with batteries till now. Yamaha recommends Eneloop XX(Sanyo/Panasonic) rechargeable batteries and they should work. I will order these batteries and look what happens. For me it´s not really a

problem as for working with a looper I take another amp. If I have the batteries I´ll try it with the looper too and

report if it works or not. My intention is to use it with the PC, fine tuning the settings and make some recordings with my own ideas.

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Permalink Reply by bemuzic on December 12, 2012 at 6:45am

sounds like it should be good for what you want to use it for. I'll be interested to know how you get on with the Eneloop batteries. What amp do you use with your looper?

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Permalink Reply by Willi Ender on December 12, 2012 at 7:15am

I use a VHT Special 6 combo. It´s a nice real tube amp (6V6 power and 12AX7 preamp tube).

This amp has a clean channel and a boost channel (pulling the volume knob or with a footswitch). The combo offers a 10" speaker. Sometimes I use it with a extension cab with a 12" speaker - that´s fantastic. This amp is cheap and well constructed - point to point - no PCB. The only problem for home use is that it´s really loud in the overdrive channel because the louder it gets the more the power tubes are cooking and that´s my sound. With the Yamaha THR I get this tubedriven sound at a lower level. Good for my ears and my wife likes it too when it´s not too loud.

I will order the Eneloop batteries and report at another time. Thanks for your interest.

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Permalink Reply by bemuzic on December 12, 2012 at 10:40am

Just read what you said about the VHT amp and Googled it expecting it to be really expensive, so was surprised at the price...mmmm tempting!!

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on December 12, 2012 at 8:32pm

I have not used the THR but i know there are many good small bat. powered amps. One i have used and like is the Fender mustang mini great little amp only wish they would run on lithium bats. They have all the normal stuff plus usb to update the sound files. Not a tube amp but they sell for under$150.

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Permalink Reply by Willi Ender on January 17, 2013 at 12:59am

Hi, I tried the Yamaha THR10 with batteries (Eneloop XX). At a loud level (75% or more) the amp cut off in channel 5 (Mesa Boogie). No problems when playing cleaner.

Usually I don´t play so loud at home, so no problem for me.

Anyway, a fine amp with a lot of possibilities but not for everyone.

Willy