Recommend Me A Practice Combo Amp

sinbaadi

The thr10 looks really good. My current smallest amp is a 75w line 6 spider 4 and it's just clearly overkill for in the house. The yam is a bit more than I wished to spend, but it does look like a quality bit of kit.
Did anyone here buy without trying it? You must have doubted the claims, at least a little.

ddlooping

sinbaadi said:

Did anyone here buy without trying it? You must have doubted the claims, at least a little.  

I didn't know anything about it until a forum members meeting in London where I had the opportunity to try one.
That was enough to convince me that I wanted/needed one.

bertie

surely a jazz tone is just any old clean with the bass on 12 and the trebble turned down to 0

EricTheWeary

Roland have their Cube Lite which is a thr alike but cheaper. Might be worth a look if Roland tones float yer boat.

Jalapeno

bertie said:

surely a jazz tone is just any old clean with the bass on 12 and the trebble turned down to 0

You forgot the barbed wire strings ! :P

bertie

EricTheWeary said:

Roland have their Cube Lite which is a thr alike but cheaper. Might be worth a look if Roland tones float yer boat.

not  a lot cheaper than a THR-5,  and a lot less well spec'd by first glances.........................doesnt say what the wattage is either (on andertons site anyway)

EricTheWeary

bertie said:

EricTheWeary said:

Roland have their Cube Lite which is a thr alike but cheaper. Might be worth a look if Roland tones float yer boat.

not  a lot cheaper than a THR-5,  and a lot less well spec'd by first glances.........................doesnt say what the wattage is either (on andertons site anyway)

Google is suggesting around the £120 mark? Which is a fair wack cheaper then the THRs I thought.

Power rating is 10w. They have an IOS interface to do various things ( phrase training and recording mainly I think). As I don't have an IOS device I would feel I was missing out a bit. Less models and effects than the THR as well but the first model up is a JC clean so might be nice if the OP is after a jazzy tone ( I think that came up somewhere on this discussion). I don't know if it has full range speakers ( like the THR),my Mustang has an aux in but because it has a guitar speaker mp3s sound pretty crappy.
Not the thing if you want it to double up for small jams but looks nice for purely home use and, like the THR, looks like something designed for the home not Ted Nugent's backline looked at from a long way away.   

bertie

EricTheWeary said:

Google is suggesting around the £120 mark? Which is a fair wack cheaper then the THRs I thought.

the THR-5s can be had for about £150  -  its the 10s that are £100 more.............

Chuffola

sinbaadi said:

Did anyone here buy without trying it? You must have doubted the claims, at least a little.

Yep. Only watched youtube demos and listened to the opinions of my fellow fretboardians. 

Then, a quick 5 min blast on all three models in a reasonably quiet Dawsons made my mind up. So,I suppose I did try before a buy - but really, not much of a try!

Fretwired

I bought my THRC on berties say so ... ;-)  I'm a cynical old bugger, but I'm impressed and I play a fair amount of jazz. Excellent tones to be had .. the low gain boutique nature of the beast coupled with a spring reverb makes it an ideal bit of kit. Plug in an iPod with a cool backing track and away you go .. the hours fly by .. :-)

samzadgan

Im also in the market...im going between these right now...

- Laney Cub 12
- Ampeg GVT15
- VHT Ultra 6
- Bad Cat Cougar 5
- Bugera V22
- Fender Excelsior

Also looking at marshall class5 s/h

My thing is i need a 12"speaker at a minimum to handle the low end fuzz

But will add the laney lc15 to the list...

bertie

sinbaadi said:

.
Did anyone here buy without trying it? You must have doubted the claims, at least a little.

Yes,  and what "claims" ??   

ThePrettyDamned

samzadgan;38451" said:

Im also in the market...im going between these right now...

- Laney Cub 12
- Ampeg GVT15
- VHT Ultra 6
- Bad Cat Cougar 5
- Bugera V22
- Fender Excelsior

Also looking at marshall class5 s/h

My thing is i need a 12"speaker at a minimum to handle the low end fuzz

But will add the laney lc15 to the list...

These amps all have really quite different voices - the Marshall class 5 is also horrendously overpriced for a small, mass produced amp that sounds average (imo etc ).

12" speakers won't necessarily handle low end fuzz - it's a practice amp, so a 10" speaker won't be driven hard enough to go weird. And the thr amps are highly regarded, but don't even use guitar speakers.

Get out and try some, basically. They're all find for practice, but you need to know what you're after sound wise.

sinbaadi

bertie;38459" said:

sinbaadi said:

.

Did anyone here buy without trying it? You must have doubted the claims, at least a little.





Yes,  and what "claims" ??   

Basically that the little speakers are able to provide a satisfyingly full sound. I went and had a go t'other day, mind, they are really brilliant.
I've bought a Blackstar ht5r second hand, but I am going to buy a thr too. Maybe even just the 5. It's something that has made me think about new ways to use it, and now I feel like I ought to have one.

bertie

sinbaadi said: 

Basically that the little speakers are able to provide a satisfyingly full sound.  

never even thought about it as a 'claim'   -  other companies have been getting 'full range sounds' from small (non guitar) speakers for years.

My expectations were that they'll probably be good but they werent going to be a Bose surround system,  

samzadgan

ThePrettyDamned said:

samzadgan;38451" said:

Im also in the market...im going between these right now...

- Laney Cub 12
- Ampeg GVT15
- VHT Ultra 6
- Bad Cat Cougar 5
- Bugera V22
- Fender Excelsior

Also looking at marshall class5 s/h

My thing is i need a 12"speaker at a minimum to handle the low end fuzz

But will add the laney lc15 to the list...

These amps all have really quite different voices - the Marshall class 5 is also horrendously overpriced for a small, mass produced amp that sounds average (imo etc ).

12" speakers won't necessarily handle low end fuzz - it's a practice amp, so a 10" speaker won't be driven hard enough to go weird. And the thr amps are highly regarded, but don't even use guitar speakers.

Get out and try some, basically. They're all find for practice, but you need to know what you're after sound wise.

with the 10" i've had two in the past that had the same issue with the low end...it just lost all clarity, whereas i find with a 12" i get low end and clarity remains...it might be the actual amps and wiring as well the speaker types...i know there is a lot more to amps then purely speaker brands and size...

as for trying...the cub12 i have played before and really liked it...the excelsior, i like the idea of a 15" speaker and onboard term...but will have to try it out...the others, i cant find any shops near me that have them...they would all have to be online purchases, in a couple of cases, they would come from germany.

right now i would say the Laney and Bad Cat are at the top of the heap.

as for the THR...i did have a go of one a while ago, and although i liked it as a headphone type amp...i really didn't like the sound that much. I guess the difference is that this amp is going to be my main amp until i move to a bigger place and or get the band going again...and THR is more suited to a second amp i guess.

dindude

I like the Yam THR, I have the THR5 and it is very good fun. The watch out is that they are still just a small digital practice amp, albeit a good one - from how some people carry on you would think they are the end of all GAS.

I find the clean not as good as a Mustang for example, and the hi gain drive sounds have a grainy quality in the low end - but overall, for the size of the 5, it is a cracking bit of portable fun.

I've just noticed these new from Fender, how the hell they differ from the Mustang is anyones guess, but I like the trad looks and simple layout.

http://www.fender.com/amps/guitar-amplifiers/champion-20-120v/

 

 

bertie

dindude said:

 from how some people carry on you would think they are the end of all GAS

 

well for the application a lot of people use them for - they are pretty much.................... I certainly wouldnt need or want another amp, practice tool or recording device

dindude

dindude said:

I've just noticed these new from Fender, how the hell they differ from the Mustang is anyones guess, but I like the trad looks and simple layout.

http://www.fender.com/amps/guitar-amplifiers/champion-20-120v/

 

 

Scratch that! They sound fvcking terrible, don't watch this if you like your ears  http://youtu.be/2jmyk9L6_tw

Did I mention how good the yam THRs are? End to all GAS I reckon

bertie