Due to a change in living conditions (primarily some family members living above my studio area for a while) I have been searching for a quiet way to play and practice at night since I can no longer use my array of tube amplifiers. After some research I decided the most cost efficient thing to try was to go with a stand alone digital modeling amplifier, specifically the Yamaha THR10C. So far it has exceeded my expectations.
I had been intrigued by the THR10 series since it’s first introduction years ago, but never committed to buying one due to two simple facts; first I have some very nice tube amps with no need to turn down to un-toneful levels, and second I have been unsatisfied by digital amp simulators in the past. While I’ve had some that sounded great, like the Digitech GSP1101, they were not really inspiring to play and were not complete packages requiring external amplifiers to play out loud.
There was also the issue of option paralysis where I spent more time creating tones or sounds and not actually playing, an issue solved by the THR10C’s simplicity in controls. Amp, Gain, Master, EQ, 2 Effects and Volume controls are all that are here and are just the right amount of customization without ever spending too much time hunting for a tone. Speaking of tone, as much as I was skeptical from all the hype and buzz wording, this thing sounds fantastic and really does react and feel like a tube amp. Turning up the Master control gives a very satisfying compression as it would on a small tube combo and allows for some great variation in setting headroom or a more punchy tone.
Effects selection is simple and split between two knobs, one for modulation (Chorus, Flanger, Phaser and Tremolo) and one for time (Delay and Reverb). All of the effects are nice and simple to use with tap tempo for the delay (a Tape Delay simulation to match the vintage feel of the amp models) and sound as you’d expect. A tuner is also built in for ease of use as well as five favorite settings that are easy to assign and recall. There is also a suite of software that lets you customize more settings via usb, but I have yet to play with those so will report back later on that front.
The last feature I’d like to highlight has actually turned out to be one of my favorites and has redefined the use of this amp, and that is the aux in. While it sounds like a very simple thing, and indeed it is very simple to use with a stereo in port and a separate volume control, it makes the amp a much more world and practice friendly device. It allows me to play along to backing tracks with a dead simple ability to balance my guitar volume to the track volume (which by the way is always played through a flat eq in case you were worried) as well as use the amp as a loud speaker for parties (which it does very well).
Overall the Yamaha THR10C is an outstanding value that does everything it sets out to do very well. It is an outstanding practice amp that sounds great even at low volumes and a great loudspeaker for parties. I look forward to trying out the software side of it for tweaking and recording, as well as trying out my pedal board with it as I hear it takes to pedals very naturally. One day I may switch to a Fryette Power Station or a Kemper for my low volume playing, but for now the instant startup and quality tone for a price tag of $200 blemish unit, you just can’t go wrong. The one modern feature that I would say is missed which I would suspect would come in a future update is Bluetooth pairing for the aux input. That little quibble aside, there is nothing else I would want to see improved and am more than satisfied.