Home practice amp advice

shsam75

Modellista said:

The THR is a totally different thing. Far smaller, no way you’d gig it, more “lifestyle”. 

Surely you’d know in advance which suits your needs just from the form factor and power output. 

Form factor and looks don't bother me. The Boss falls into contention due to the 0.5W power output. Plus the dials- EQ and effects seem clear. Same with The Vox.

The Mustang 1s effect dials were labelled ABCD and each letter had 3 colours, so 12 in total, impossible to remember!

HAL9000

Modellista said:

monquixote said:

I found the THR 10 really underwhelming.

The Blackstar ID stuff is much cheaper and sounds better.

The Boss Katana is substantially better than either. I'm using mine as a clean pedal platform and it's actually blowing my mind how good it sounds

^ This. 

+1. Katana IMHO is great as a clean(ish) pedal platform. Despite Boss's extravagant claims the built in effects simply aren't anything like as good (or as tweakable on the fly) as having actual  pedals. Also, the different power settings mean it can be made quiet enough for the bedroom or loud enough to gig simply by turning a knob. Although it can be hooked up to a PC for deep editing I suspect most users simply won't bother - it sounds good enough straight out of the box and is reasonably intuitive to use. Would definitely recommend.

rivercider

If you want to play along to youtube backing tracks and the like, the THR or Vox are of course way more suited to that, being as they are designed for a different purpose, the smaller, stereo speakers etc, EQ tuned appropriately, compared to a bigger single speaker Katana which is more in the mould of a traditional guitar amp, as other here have pointed out.  The THR / Vox is such a different concept to the Katana 50 they aren't really comparable.
My wife is happy to let a THR / Vox type of thing inhabit a bookshelf, or sit in the TV cabinet, for example, and i can noodle away at low volumes even whilst she's watching the TV, but a traditional amp in the living room, on display?  Not a chance. 

The thing I appreciate most, though, is that at low-ish volumes the THR / Vox concept works far better (IMHO) at giving a convincing range of guitar tones than a larger, single speaker type amp being played really quietly.  
  

Modellista

HAL9000 said:

Modellista said:

monquixote said:

I found the THR 10 really underwhelming.

The Blackstar ID stuff is much cheaper and sounds better.

The Boss Katana is substantially better than either. I'm using mine as a clean pedal platform and it's actually blowing my mind how good it sounds

^ This. 

+1. Katana IMHO is great as a clean(ish) pedal platform. Despite Boss's extravagant claims the built in effects simply aren't anything like as good (or as tweakable on the fly) as having actual  pedals. Also, the different power settings mean it can be made quiet enough for the bedroom or loud enough to gig simply by turning a knob. Although it can be hooked up to a PC for deep editing I suspect most users simply won't bother - it sounds good enough straight out of the box and is reasonably intuitive to use. Would definitely recommend.

Yes I would definitely use pedals up front for anything important but it is extremely handy having built in delay and modulation for when I can’t be bothered to rummage around for some pedals. I’m using the Katana head for country and use the delay set for always-on slapback - that’s one less pedal I need, and no chance of accidentally switching it off (quite easy when wearing cowboy boots!).

The delay is useful because it has a tap tempo but the modulations less so due to the single control. Tremolo isn’t a default effect so it has to be USB to activate and control it. Inconvenient, but still a bonus to have it in the first place. 

darthed1981

I was having a good noodle on my Vox Handbag last night, they are great little things, just sits on my desk.

No match for a Katana as an "amp" but as a little praccy/mindless noodling setup they are superb.

Lestratcaster

I've got the Roland Microcube, small 3 watt amp which is ideal for home playing, also has headphone jack input.
7 different amp models as well from clean to high gain, and built-in effects such as chorus, delay and phaser.

Easy to carry around and doesn't take up too much space.

jonnyburgo

Dont discount the Vox VT40x i had a THR10c recently and it really is good but sounds like a toy next to the Vox, the vox can be whisper quiet with the power scaling. Obviously the vox is bigger but doesnt look bad. The Katana is on a par with the Vox but is really lacking in the looks dept. I picked up the Vox brand new second hand for £95 and it is all i need for the house.

Rocker

If you want to learn to play guitar, to play chords with no muffled strings etc., slides, pulls and hammers and the like, get a Pignose amp.  It tells you the truth about your playing, you hear everything clearly.

If you want to sound like any of your guitar heroes, you need one of the many modelling amps, a lot of which are listed in replies to the OP question.

tralfamadan

I tried a THR10C today. I like the range of EQing you can get out of each Amp model and getting good distortion at practice level volumes is great. I'm guessing the Vox is similar although its a real shame it so hideous  

Can anyone comment on how well they take pedals? I use a looper a lot for practicing and in an Anderton's video they were bemoaning (for both amps) how the loop volume drops out when playing over it. Is there a way round this?

arayadis

For me THR10 for using with pc. If you want something different I can advice Blackstar amps too.

OilCityPickups

HAL9000 said:

Modellista said:

monquixote said:

I found the THR 10 really underwhelming.

The Blackstar ID stuff is much cheaper and sounds better.

The Boss Katana is substantially better than either. I'm using mine as a clean pedal platform and it's actually blowing my mind how good it sounds

^ This. 

+1. Katana IMHO is great as a clean(ish) pedal platform. Despite Boss's extravagant claims the built in effects simply aren't anything like as good (or as tweakable on the fly) as having actual  pedals. Also, the different power settings mean it can be made quiet enough for the bedroom or loud enough to gig simply by turning a knob. Although it can be hooked up to a PC for deep editing I suspect most users simply won't bother - it sounds good enough straight out of the box and is reasonably intuitive to use. Would definitely recommend.

I love our Katana 50 ... and like @HAL9000 I don't use the onboard effects, but it's a cracking little amp. 

darthed1981

What the Katana excels at is being able to dial in a huge variety of tones very quickly to give you a useable tone for any given home, practise, jam or small gig situation.

If you want something that does everything reasonably well, quickly, easily and for not much cash, it's the best thing on the market.

For very specific needs, like trying to gig a particular tone, or for someone trying to gig many specific complex tones, there are better, but also far more expensive options.

I'd personally like a small pedal platform valve amp to give me some more authentic screamy valves, so I'm looking at something like an HT5R

SouthpawMark

My first ever amp was the Katana Air. It sounded ok, but I found the control panel to be somewhat frustrating. It seemed to me that it would only be really useable if you had your iPad open, which isn’t really practical all the time.

Last week I bought a Vox Adio Air GT from a chap on here. It doesn’t look anywhere near as bad people make out. In fact, I quite like it. Functionality is great. The app is straightforward, and the Bluetooth works well (as long as you remember that there are two Bluetooth connections you need to make). Playing music through it sounds awesome, but whilst playing guitar through it sounds pretty good, it also sounds a little bit artificial. 

Yesterday I bought a Blackstar HT-5C Mk II. What. An. Amp. I had previously been put off Blackstar by people who said they are dark sounding, (which was the reason I got rid of a Bassbreaker 30R). It’s nothing of the sort. It’s incredibly versatile, and absolutely blew the Marshall DSL 5 out of the water. The 0.5w setting is immense too... you can crank it and it loses absolutely nothing. Obviously it’s not that cheap (£479) but I think it’s a far superior product to any other practice amp below £500. 

darthed1981

SouthpawMark said:

My first ever amp was the Katana Air. It sounded ok, but I found the control panel to be somewhat frustrating. It seemed to me that it would only be really useable if you had your iPad open, which isn’t really practical all the time.

Last week I bought a Vox Adio Air GT from a chap on here. It doesn’t look anywhere near as bad people make out. In fact, I quite like it. Functionality is great. The app is straightforward, and the Bluetooth works well (as long as you remember that there are two Bluetooth connections you need to make). Playing music through it sounds awesome, but whilst playing guitar through it sounds pretty good, it also sounds a little bit artificial. 

Yesterday I bought a Blackstar HT-5C Mk II. What. An. Amp. I had previously been put off Blackstar by people who said they are dark sounding, (which was the reason I got rid of a Bassbreaker 30R). It’s nothing of the sort. It’s incredibly versatile, and absolutely blew the Marshall DSL 5 out of the water. The 0.5w setting is immense too... you can crank it and it loses absolutely nothing. Obviously it’s not that cheap (£479) but I think it’s a far superior product to any other practice amp below £500. 

You have intrigued me, I'm very interested in this amp to supplement my Katana 50.

When I was trying my Jizzmaster I used a mildly cranked HT5 and I thought it had a lovely valve squeal, admittedly quite a "dark" one, but not in a BAD way.

I think it is potentially a great home "oooh, oooh that's nice" practise amp, that would struggle to cut through playing with others because of volume but also tone.  This could explain why many people find it a bit "fake" as it generally does seem to want to scream while not, well, screaming.

I would love to give some pedals an outing through it, most especially my mini-board mainstay of a tubescreamer and a tone city fuzz, but I'd also love a Thorpy Warthog!