Small Guitar Amplifier Recommendations

judethedude

Just found the Yamaha THR10, anyone have any experience of this amp ?

Philly112

Yes I have a THR10. It's a battery powered amp (mains as well of course), and double the cost of the small Roland or Vox's. I had a Roland Micro Cube and the Yamaha is simply a better piece of kit (as it should be, it's twice the price).
I've not heard the Blackstars or small Vox amps. If the battery thing is important to you I'd certainly check out the Yamaha. If not, there might well be better solutions, as it's pretty expensive for what it is.
I use mine mainly for playing in the garden in the Summer!

Note mine is the older model, not the newer THR10C. But the basic sound quality should be similar.

Christian 71

Def play some small amps, going from a 2x12 to a 7" or smaller speaker is a huge difference in tone. Even 10" from a 12" speaker can sound really boxy and muffled.

The Blackstars and Amplifis are pretty good as they use full range type speakers and even the tiny  Blackstar Fly I've been pretty impressed with. The TH gets great reviews on this forum from people who bought them.

Only you can decide if they are good enough, but I wouldn't swap a Valvestate for a Blackstar 15. Plugging a Amplifi TT/FX100 would be a much better buy, could always plug it into portable speakers  or your hifi if you want portability.

Philly112

Yes as per Christian above - the small amps (and I mean my THR10, the Micro Cube etc) sound small. The have small speakers, and have little bass. But.......  they are small!!!!!! So it depends what you want. If it's simply playing on your own in a room, they might be OK.
Note I generally now use my THR10 for playing my acoustic through. It has a pretty good simulation of an acoustic mic as one of the presets, and positioned a little away from the acoustic it certainly widens the soundstage. Note this isn't an acoustic simulation that you'd use to get an acoustic sound from an electric, it's meant to be used with an electro acoustic guitar, and sounds pretty good.
But again, it's only got those small speakers, and needs the reinforcement of the actual acoustic guitar to help it out.

judethedude

Thank you for the posts.

I really want something small and I'm very tempted by the Yamaha THR10X. I know the "sonics" of a small speaker cannot reproduce the sound of a larger 12" speaker (or cab) but, having read many reviews, it seems to tick all the boxes. Basically, I want something small, portable and with a great punchy sound. The amp will only be used for home use and so, at the moment, it's top of the list ! I know the look of it will not be to everyone's taste but it's certainly a talking point

Axl

If it does what you want then go for it, It's nice to see something different too.

Christian 71

Ahhh the quote of many a person under the influence of GAS, best of luck been there so many times.

Just make sure you buy a used one so you can re-ebay in case it disappoints. The THs are due for a refresh as they have been out a few years, my guess this spring given the 100s have just been released.

judethedude

Hmm, thanks for that Chrisitan71, now you've got me thinking ! Maybe eBay would be the better option

Out of interest, which is the best "Classified" section to sell equipment on the forum ?

reevesy

well I've got the blackstar id 15 vtp...and it is a great flexible amp...especially with quick and easy way to get other peoples tones downloaded to it....but as you say I would'nt class it as  a 'small' amp.

tried a few out last time I was shortlisting...the little blackstar fly will really surprise you for it's size...don't think you'll get much smaller....trouble with that is you then have to fork out about 20 quid extra for a power adapter

I also liked the little orange amps....very much plug n play...the crush series in particular...nice cleans on clean and nice on the dirty channel.

...then theres always the little orange micro heads and a little speaker cab

judethedude

After reading and watching many reviews, I've bought the Blackstar ID Core 10 which is quite a bit smaller (and cheaper) than the 15 TVP. Hope I don't regret it !