Yamaha THR10 Questions

Nomad

Copied/edited from my posts in the 10/10C thread, which seem to have been missed. I'm interested in the 10 and have some questions...

The two Marshall models (and maybe the Boogie one) in the standard THR10 appeal more than the various lower gain models in the 10C, but what's the 10 like for very clean cleans and edge of breakup sounds?

In the Anderton's vid about the 10C, it's mentioned that the clean in the 10 tends to have a bit of breakup, while in the 10C, it stays cleaner and more glassy. I'd rather have the latter in a clean sound (basically, no breakup at all, no matter how hard I play). Can the clean in the 10 be set up to stay clean? Can the AC30 model do clean to dirty with the guitar's volume control?

Do the speaker models make a big difference to the overall sound?

How do the preset buttons and rotary model selector interact? If I have custom presets, are they recalled by pressing the buttons? If so, what happens when I then use the rotary selector and the gains/EQ? If I select a preset and adjust one knob, does only that parameter change, or does it change to match all of the knobs? Is there any indication when knobs are tweaked after selecting a preset that the stored value has been dialled in or departed from?

How loud are these amps in the room compared to something like a 5-10W valve amp?

Found this post where somebody uses the bass amp for clean sounds...

http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/yamaha-thr10-settings-share-thread.333369/

...but no cabs, it seems. Anyone tried that? How is it for staying super clean, and how does it compare to the Clean amp model?

SimonC

Sounds like you really, really need to go and try one.

Adam_MD

I liked the thr10c when I had it but you really can't compare them to a 5 or 10 watt valve amp they're more like an iPod dock/PC speaker in terms of volume.  

Ultimately I moved mine on because I never used it once the initial honeymoon was over I always just plugged into my proper guitar amp.  When it did get used it was for very late night noodling through head phones.  

uncledick

Adam_MD said:

I liked the thr10c when I had it but you really can't compare them to a 5 or 10 watt valve amp they're more like an iPod dock/PC speaker in terms of volume.  

Ultimately I moved mine on because I never used it once the initial honeymoon was over I always just plugged into my proper guitar amp.  When it did get used it was for very late night noodling through head phones.  

My feelings exactly.  I'm lucky in that my wife is a sound sleeper and our neighbour is in a folk band so has no problem with the odd jam.  My 10C's up for sale - £150 delivered in original box if you're interested.

Hydra19

I got a THR10c 3 years ago and have been playing it almost everyday while watching tv, etc...I find it to be better than a tube amp only in that sense. You can get a pretty decent sound at TV volumes for some noodling. It can get louder than TV volumes, pretty loud, but it's not a gigging amp nor one to take to a jam with a drummer. But for a 3rd amp around the house, it's pretty good, with decent reverb too. I don't use the presets, just the amp tuner sometimes.

The sound: I'm not comparing it to tube amp here, just describing the sounds I get from it. My amp selections knobs are faded so I go by memory and I only use 2. I use the fender deluxe, all the way left on the knob 99% of the time. With gain and volume on 10, bass 0, mid and treble on 10 I get a pretty good crunch sound, bright. To play clean I lower the gain and volume to halfway and increase the bass to 4, mids and treble at 7 and add reverb. When I want a little more modern gain I use the channel all the way right on the dial, I think it may be a Mini Z model, but it's got more gain, but much less treble. 

For the price I paid 3 years ago, I've had a lot of fun with it, taking it to my beach houses, on vacation, etc. I also love to crank it, put on my favorite albums and jam with the headphones on, pretty good sound too. I use it as a mega low volume option and I've been very happy with it.

richardhomer

If you're really concerned about touch-responsiveness - I'd avoid the TRs. I know plenty disagree with me - but I think they sound poor and definitely don't respond to playing nuances like a valve amp.

Though their cleans aren't great, a Blackstar HT1R would be a much better bet in my view.

jellyroll

With a THR you're buying practicality. If the nuances in sound quality are a major issue for you, it might not be right for you.  

Nomad

SimonC said:

Sounds like you really, really need to go and try one.

I agree, and I plan to, but none in stock locally at the moment, so I'm trying to find out a bit more about them.

Nomad

Adam_MD said:

I liked the thr10c when I had it but you really can't compare them to a 5 or 10 watt valve amp they're more like an iPod dock/PC speaker in terms of volume.  

Ultimately I moved mine on because I never used it once the initial honeymoon was over I always just plugged into my proper guitar amp.  When it did get used it was for very late night noodling through head phones.  

More like a 1-2W valve amp, then? (Which would be loud enough.) Late night noodling is something I'd use it for, with or without headphones. I'm also interested in using it for recording via USB (the easy re-amping feature looks well handy).

Nomad

uncledick said:

My feelings exactly.  I'm lucky in that my wife is a sound sleeper and our neighbour is in a folk band so has no problem with the odd jam.  My 10C's up for sale - £150 delivered in original box if you're interested.

Unfortunately, the 10C doesn't really appeal due to the lack of higher gain sounds. As I say, the Plexi and JCM sounds in particular are what I'd be into, and probably the Boogie for the massive gain and sustain.

Nomad

Hydra19 said:

I got a THR10c 3 years ago and have been playing it almost everyday while watching tv, etc...I find it to be better than a tube amp only in that sense. You can get a pretty decent sound at TV volumes for some noodling. It can get louder than TV volumes, pretty loud, but it's not a gigging amp nor one to take to a jam with a drummer. But for a 3rd amp around the house, it's pretty good, with decent reverb too. I don't use the presets, just the amp tuner sometimes.

Decently loud in the living room sounds like enough to me. (Not looking for 5-10W valve amp volume - just used that as a reference to gauge where the THR is at at.) Not interested in gigging or jamming with drummers (and I have other amps more suited to that sort of thing, should I ever want to).

DiscoStu

I've had my THR10 for a few years now and it's my most used amp. My 60 watter sits upstairs, unused. The THR looks good in the living room, it sits beside my TV and stereo, and is just so handy to have available for spontaneous moments. It can get loud enough if you want it to but don't expect gig volume, it was always designed to be a home/portable creative device and it fulfils the brief fantastically well. I wish there was an optional footswitch though!
I usually use the Modern setting for my Mesa metal tones, and the clean channel for sparkly stuff. The bonus with the 10 for me is the dry and acoustic settings. 

Nomad

richardhomer said:

If you're really concerned about touch-responsiveness - I'd avoid the TRs. I know plenty disagree with me - but I think they sound poor and definitely don't respond to playing nuances like a valve amp.

Though their cleans aren't great, a Blackstar HT1R would be a much better bet in my view.

jellyroll said:

With a THR you're buying practicality. If the nuances in sound quality are a major issue for you, it might not be right for you.  

I suspect the Blackstar lacks facilities (USB for recording in particular) and maybe range of sounds. In terms of sounds, the two things that are lacking with my present kit are power amp breakup at low volumes and lively, Marshally hard/heavy rock sounds for riffs and rhythm. The Cub 10 does clean-to-breakup quite well but is still too loud (and I haven't tried that with the Blues Deluxe, which would be far too loud). Either amp will do clean at any volume, and the Nova Drive can do heavily saturated sounds.

The things that appeal about the THR10, and my expected uses, are...

Better Marshall style sounds than I'm getting at present.

Possibility to have the clean to power amp breakup at much lower volume. (Whether or not it can do this well enough is something I think I'll have to try for myself. I'll take my headphones with me when I get the chance to try one.)

Late night noodling. I don't generally have a problem with a bit of noise, but do have to screw the nut after about 10pm and try to stay pretty quiet after 11pm. I normally jam along with backing tracks played through the hi-fi (decent kit that easily fills the room with sound), but the overall sound/mix gets a bit lost at lower volumes (guitar string acoustic sound starts to become audible, and the general tone of the overdriven guitar loses clarity. No headphone option on the proper gear.

Recording via USB, especially with the easy re-amping feature. Definitely has an appeal as a general guitar recording interface/tool. (I'm not a fan of guitar plugins, I have to say.)

Nomad

DiscoStu said:

I've had my THR10 for a few years now and it's my most used amp. My 60 watter sits upstairs, unused. The THR looks good in the living room, it sits beside my TV and stereo, and is just so handy to have available for spontaneous moments. It can get loud enough if you want it to but don't expect gig volume, it was always designed to be a home/portable creative device and it fulfils the brief fantastically well. I wish there was an optional footswitch though!
I usually use the Modern setting for my Mesa metal tones, and the clean channel for sparkly stuff. The bonus with the 10 for me is the dry and acoustic settings. 

Can the clean channel be set up to not break up? From what I've read/heard so far, it seems that it can be pushed to mild breakup as if that's a good thing, but to me, clean means no breakup at all. Choppy, funky stuff should cut, not crunch. Also, if it can, how's the volume when set like that? I also read that the clean channel is noticeably quieter than the others.

jellyroll

Like you, I went looking for crunch at bedroom volumes. I did own a THR10 as well. Eventually, I decided that playing a clean, responsive (valve) amp at those volumes is more rewarding than something like the THR on a crunch setting. It's a personal thing but maybe try embracing the clean?

DiscoStu

Nomad said:

DiscoStu said:

I've had my THR10 for a few years now and it's my most used amp. My 60 watter sits upstairs, unused. The THR looks good in the living room, it sits beside my TV and stereo, and is just so handy to have available for spontaneous moments. It can get loud enough if you want it to but don't expect gig volume, it was always designed to be a home/portable creative device and it fulfils the brief fantastically well. I wish there was an optional footswitch though!
I usually use the Modern setting for my Mesa metal tones, and the clean channel for sparkly stuff. The bonus with the 10 for me is the dry and acoustic settings. 

Can the clean channel be set up to not break up? From what I've read/heard so far, it seems that it can be pushed to mild breakup as if that's a good thing, but to me, clean means no breakup at all. Choppy, funky stuff should cut, not crunch. Also, if it can, how's the volume when set like that? I also read that the clean channel is noticeably quieter than the others.

I tend to have my master volume just past half volume, and I don't go full gain on the clean or crunch channels. It's plenty loud enough, in fact the cleans are louder than the drive channels on mine.
I have never played with the editing software so have only tweaked the presets via the knobs then resaved them. The editor opens up options such as compressor settings which you will probably find of use.
If you try it in a big guitar store you will probably crank it up full and be disappointed. But in the living room environment it's too loud full up so rolling off the master pays dividends.

Beexter

For me, the THR10 excels at LOW volume ie. barely louder than the noise the strings make without an amp. For quiet practice, I prefer this to headphones as I'm not faffing around with a cable in the way of the fretboard and my ears don't get sweaty and uncomfortable. At these sorts of volumes and normal TV levels it stays perfectly clean if you want it to. As for volume compared to a 5 or 10 watt valve amp - no, it won't do that. 
As others have said,  I think you'll need to try it in person to see if it's for you. For me, its a great low volume practice solution 

darhart

I have the Yamaha THR5 and love it, I would say that how clean it is varies quite a lot depending on the pickup used, it's sensitive much like a valve amp. On the same setting my Strat will sound clean and my Les Paul Deluxe with the boost on has a reasonably heavy crunch. For bedroom playing it can't be beaten and the tones are great (IMO). If it's not going to be your only amp then I cant think of a good reason not to have one.

Chalky

I've got a THR10C and I find tones are simply too synthetic for me. I get a better clean guitar sound out of a £50 Trace Elliot solid state amp with a Vintage 30 in it.

TTBZ

richardhomer said:

Though their cleans aren't great, a Blackstar HT1R would be a much better bet in my view.

Do they actually sound good at "tv volume" through a proper cab though? I'm having such a headache trying to find a good practice amp!

Jack_

TTBZ said:

richardhomer said:

Though their cleans aren't great, a Blackstar HT1R would be a much better bet in my view.

Do they actually sound good at "tv volume" through a proper cab though? I'm having such a headache trying to find a good practice amp!

No.

Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying, or is half deaf.

Even 1 watt in tube is too loud to get a good sound at TV volumes, unless you usually listen to your TV at full volume.

I have a HT1, on the clean channel you can raise the volume a bit, but to get near break-up it's much louder than TV volumes, and if you use the drive channel then good luck getting past 2 on the volume knob and staying quiet.

THR10 is much better for this purpose.