Yamaha THR10C or Blackstar ID:Core BEAM or alternative

notanon

Hi All,

Given these have been around for a while now and people have had the chance to use them in anger. What are the current recommendations on these for a home practice amp? I do like the idea of the bluetooth on the Blackstar but the technological might of Yamaha seems to be in force for the Yamaha THR10C.

I currently have a Boss Katana 100 and happy enough with that but a more portable solution would be nice. IMO the Yamaha THR10C wouldn't look too out of place in a living room.

Advice appreciated.

notanon

P.S. I like to play a range of tones: Blues, Rock, . . ..  even dabble in country and jazz so versatility is important.

Chris_J

Consider the original THR10 too as there are a wider variety of sounds in it.

The THR sounds better than the BEAM in my experience but for home practice both would do the job. Music playback is ok at lower volumes from both, but, Bluetooth makes it slightly easier on the Blackstar.

Fishguy

I bought a Yamaha thr 10c. There have been several occasions I kicked myself for not getting the standard one. It's an incredible pc speaker.

I find myself using an ancient second hand Peavey bandit far more often now though.

notanon

Thanks for the feedback folks. 

Are they pedal friendly or sufficiently varied in their tones?

ICBM

notanon said:

Thanks for the feedback folks. 

Are they pedal friendly or sufficiently varied in their tones?

The Blackstar sounds like different varieties of shit on any setting... I never tried pedals with it, I couldn't turn it off quick enough after just trying it with a guitar. Just my opinion of course - and I hated the Katana too, so you can just ignore me .

The Yamaha is much more varied and sounds far better clean and lightly overdriven. I didn't like the higher-gain sounds, but it does take pedals quite well - as a clean platform to amplify them, rather than use them to push the amp.

rivercider

I had all three THR10 variants and eventually moved them on in favour of the Vox Adio Air GT, which is a bit more beefy (output, I mean - looks wise its the polar opposite of beefy).

The Vox is also way more versatile and simply sounds better, in my humble opinion, plus has a very nice bluetooth app. 

TADodger

Laney ST mini Lionheart is also worth a look (or the other flavours that the mini comes in). The ST is stereo which sounded better than the single speaker to me.

The delay works quite well, plus it has Bluetooth and can act as a BT speaker. 

It it also has something called LSI that allows bespoke amp and pedal sounds to be added via a phone. No idea if this works as I haven’t tried it. 

notanon

How does the THR5 series compare?

Great feedback so far, thanks again.

Fishguy

The 10 has quite a few extra features which make it more flexible. The presets are useful as you can modify them on the computer and save it. Using that preset at a lush of a button wherever you are.
If I remember correctly the 5 also doesn't have as many tone controls on the unit or a volume for the auxiliary input.

steven70

I had a Blackstar - as someone else has already said, it sounded awful on every setting. Just a horrible boxy tone  - whether it was clean, dirty. That said, some people love them.

Also had a Vox AC4 which sounded good but was flipping loud.

Funny as someone above has mentioned the 'Bandit'  above- often use an old Peavy 'Basic 60' bass amp which sounds better than most things.

Fuengi

I own a Blackstar ID Beam, it's sort of handy for plug and play with effects bit it sounds utterly shit next to a proper valve amp. We use it as an amp to have around the house, I've got a nice Mesa in my studio. 

I'll eventually replace it with a nice valve amp and maybe keep it for bass and playing music through. 

Considering there is a Laney Lionheart in the classified section going begging at £350 that's a shitton of amp for the money compared to the Blackstar at £200+ 

I had a Blackstar ID Core 10 that actually sounded a lot better than the BEAM. @Danny1969 has that now if he got it working! 

Danny1969

Fuengi said:

I own a Blackstar ID Beam, it's sort of handy for plug and play with effects bit it sounds utterly shit next to a proper valve amp. We use it as an amp to have around the house, I've got a nice Mesa in my studio. 

I'll eventually replace it with a nice valve amp and maybe keep it for bass and playing music through. 

Considering there is a Laney Lionheart in the classified section going begging at £350 that's a shitton of amp for the money compared to the Blackstar at £200+ 

I had a Blackstar ID Core 10 that actually sounded a lot better than the BEAM. @Danny1969 has that now if he got it working! 

Yes it's fixed and my son uses it so thanks for that ...... good little practice amp 

EvanEvanNorth

A couple of years ago when I decided to restart playing guitar I bought myself a Yamaha THR 10C as a decent sounding, space saving amp and was initially impressed with it.
The basic sounds from the THR 10C are pretty good and its overdrive can be improved by using the PC editing option.
The biggest drawback to me was the lack of a footswitch to enable switching its effects on and off.(There is a footswitch available online but it is an expensve piece of junk).
After a few months later  I tried a Blackstar  ID15TVP at a local store and, as soon as I engaged its TVP mode with the KT88 power amp model knew that my time with the little Yamaha was coming to an end.
Apart from superior amp modelling (plus more than adequate effects) the Blackstar has the much needed footswitch readily available ( a four way footswitch ).
I still wonder why yamaha have still not provided a footswitch option for the THR.