Evening folks - Long time no see!
So, just a quick rundown: I've played for 16 years now, and although I pretty much gave up electric guitar a few years back to focus on acoustic, it's come back with a vengeance this year. I'm still rocking the Yamaha 611VFM, but... I'm running it solely through a Yamaha THR10C.
The THR10C is a killer bit of kit, and whatever I go for, I'll keep it 100% as it inspires me to play so much, but still. I want something... More.
I've done pretty much everything before. I tried the "home usage valve amps" with the Laney Lionheart & the old Blues Jr, but neither of them really worked for me due to volume limitations. I've tried modellers with direct out recording like the Digitech GSP1101 (?) through a pair of M-AUDIO monitors. I've had more effects working for me than an Instagram model, and to this day the only one I regret selling is the Moog MF104-z (although I did buy it for £470 and sell it for £600, so I can't moan too much).
They all have serious limitations I'd like to avoid as much as possible. My theoretical budget, given I'm moving on quite a bit of audiophile gear to fund this, and my 30th is coming up... Let's say £2.5k. Primary usage will be home recording & low volume jamming, but I would like something I could take out to play with family/friends (should I ever find any to play with, haha).
Things I've considered:
Kemper with a couple of monitors: Speaks for itself - The unit is simply a winner, but I'm entirely unsure of it as something I can go out & play with. Plus, the idea of having all that money tied up in a piece of digital gear, honestly, worries me. I'm sure the Kemper folk have great repairs/warranty service, but still... It's something that concerns me. Also, not having a real cab would be a bit of a bummer, but I'm not sure I could work a proper FRFR into the budget (never mind the footswitch & expression pedals).
JC120 / Yamaha THR100HD with either pedals or a MFX (Boss GT-1000 or Helix FX): Breaks two of the major issues I have with the Kemper (price invested in one unit & having a proper amp I could plug & play into), but at the cost (at least in the JC's case) of overall tonal flexibility/quality. I'm still researching the THR100HD, which looks to be a real interesting piece of kit (that's how I actually re-found this website after years of taking the guitar more casually
), but my inexperience recording with DI compared to a simple USB connection concerns me somewhat, as I'm unsure what else I'd need... A mixer? Sure, but how much more would I need after that?
Splitting the budget between two rigs for playing out & home/recording: A few ways I could do this. I could pick up something like a second hand Blues Jr & an old ME-50 to give me enough while out & about, & go a bit cheaper on the home setup (like the GT-1000 with a pair of monitors instead of the Kemper). Downsides of this would be having a portable rig I'd not get any use out of unless actually going out, and a lower quality home solution to boot (although honestly, I'd probably be hard pressed to pick out the differences between the GT-1000 and the Kemper anyway, as the majority of my playing is clean).
So, as cheeky as it is to ask, I'm here for some inspiration
Do I just sod it all & get a Kemper when I can?
Comments
I'll do some more research Cheers.
I have one with a 12-inch speaker and a master-volume mod, and it’s perfect at home. Coupled with a Hudson Broadcast and you have clean to dirty completely covered, at any volume.
My one tip when I got mine, getr it from Thomann as they honour the 3-year warranty they come with and they said simply box it up and we will collect and get it back to Kemper. Andertons were very shirty about it at the time and said thats between you and Kemper we only guarantee stuff for 12 months.
So far 4 years on its not missed a beat and got better with all the updates over that time.
Gigs Great although you need the pedal or something to make it easier to do the patch changes.
For recording its the nuts you can dig into loads of great profiles which actually suit the song.
I wish it had a few more knobs for controlling effects on the amp, but it'd pretty quickly get into ridiculous territory if it did. A minor gripe. Still, definitely a real contender - Especially at sub £500 (although I would need an expression pedal on top as I no longer have one).
I have had the AX8 and the Helix previously but I'm just too lazy to put the time in to get the most out of them. The THR gives me the Fender and Vox tones I like plus a useful footswitch operated boost and a decent reverb.
It may just be me but I'm not as much of a fan of the heavier tones in the THR100Hd as the ones in the smaller THR5 - they are a lot of fun and just seem a bit smoother than the equivalents in the bigger unit.
its a shame you aren't closer as you'd be welcome to come and road test mine - for whatever reason you don't seem to see too many Thr100 amps in the wild.
I am selling as bought a Princeton reverb and I thoroughly recommend one. Not as home friendly but does work for that and sounds fantastic.
You could just get 2 Katanas.
Plus the Kemper comes with all the effects you will need.
I reckon if you're considering a Helix HX for your effects if you go THR100HD means that you should probably look at getting hold of a full fat helix and running it into the FoH live and through monitors at home.
Really not sure that digital stuff is more likely to break than valve amps.
A valve amp is more likely to go wrong, but it's likely to be easier to fix when it does.
I've not had many major problems with valve amps, but I've had valves go bad at inopportune times on several occasions.
Running costs will probably be lower with digital as well. You won't have to replace valves, and the power consumption is lower.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
I've been using high end valve amps since I started playing some 40 yrs ago and finally decided its too much agro trying to continue to use my valve amps at home and I wanted a simple all in one grab and go amp I could use without pedals at home but could also handle gigs if I did not want to carry a weighty valve amp.
I had read all the great reviews of the Katana but never tried one before but I saw an Artist on Gumtree locally at at great price so thought I'd give it a try.
I'm frankly staggered at how good it sounds. I had it in a studio practice room yesterday alongside my Friedman Dirty Shirley and it stood up really well in comparison. You'd have to be very pick'y to fault the Katana given the price difference.
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