The Magic Box
The THR10 has the slick retro appearance
of a 1960’s Japanese radio—right down to
the glossy sand-colored paint. It’s an attractive
little amp that would fit nicely in any
living room or practice nook. Weighing in
at just over six pounds, it’s super light—
thanks in no small part to the tiny but fullrange
eight-centimeter stereo speakers. And
the unit’s light weight makes its batterypowered
portability a much more appealing
aspect of the design.
The controls are easy to read and arranged logically. On the left there’s a power switch and five user memory buttons for storing your favorite settings. Below that you’ll find a LED display for the tuner and tap delay functions. There’s a surprising plentitude of knobs, given the compact dimensions of the amp. But it says a lot about how much this little Yamaha amp can do. A single knob lets you select the various amp models (Modern, Brit Hi, Lead, Crunch, Clean). The same knob has settings for bass, ACO (acoustic-electric input with mic simulations), and a flat input for non-guitar sources.
You can tweak your amp model using gain, master volume, bass, middle, and treble controls. And two additional knobs control the effects: One selects between chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo, while the other knob calls up either delay, delay/ reverb, spring, or hall modes. Outputs include 1/4" jacks and a USB output that you can use for porting out to your audio interface or the included Cubase AI 6 recording software you can install on your computer. There’s also an aux stereo minijack for audio input from external sources and a headphone jack.
When It Sings, It Glows
When you power up the THR10 you’re
greeted by a tube-like glow from behind
the speaker grille—a pretty cool trick given
the tubeless design. But it does have a sort
of reassuring effect and makes you feel like
you’re interacting with a living, twitching
piece of analog circuitry.
Starting with the Clean model, a hint of virtual spring reverb, and a Stratocaster, I coaxed some very convincing vintage American combo impersonations. In general, the tones were a tad tighter and not as organic as the real deal. At the same time, there was an unmistakable warmth and responsiveness to picking dynamics and attacking the strings with a little additional aggression induces some very organic breakup. Texas-style blues licks came alive with surprising lows and plenty of top-end sizzle.
With the volume and master cranked, the articulation from humbuckers was genuinely impressive. But manipulating the gain knob at these levels is definitely where the fun is. As you turn the knob counterclockwise, you can go from the clean, almost blackface setting to the wooly growl of a pedal-to-the-metal Bassman at a volume level the neighbors can live with.
The Crunch model offers more than a trace of a cranked Vox AC30. It’s a great rock rhythm setting, but it sounds even better for leads when you push the gain. Here again, the little speakers impress—there’s a clarity, but you get a surprising bump in the bass frequencies too. With the master cranked, it has the fierce and ballsy quality of an aggressive AC30 heard via playback.
The lead setting is based on a Marshall plexi that delivers convincing Hendrix and Trower tones, as well as some variations on those themes and a startling amount of sustain. The Brit-Hi and Modern models offer Marshall JCM800 and Mesa/Boogie-style amplification respectively. Brit-Hi delivers loads of saturation that make harmonics jump, while the Modern model supplies the additional thickness and characteristic EQ settings of a high-gain amp. At higher gain settings, the Yamaha runs up against a few limitations—most notably a little low-end breakup that you wouldn’t hear in the real thing.
Ratings
Pros:
A great compact practice amp and recording tool.
Cons:
No speaker output.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$299
Yamaha
yamaha.com
Digital effects can be a dicey proposition on amps like these. But the reverbs and delays all color the sounds with very organic space and dimension, while the chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo all sound free of digital harshness. The control parameters could be more flexible—you can’t tailor the effects too much from the amp itself. But if you want to get into serious editing, Yamaha’s free downloadable THR Editor software allows you to manipulate all the effects parameters in the box.
Recording is trouble free with Cubase AI 6. My digital audio workstation recognized the amp immediately and without complication, and I was recording sweet tones from the amp in no time.
The Verdict
If you’re a home studio freak with space
or volume constraints, the THR10 has the
potential to change your whole studio landscape
the same way trading a desktop workstation
for a laptop can change your office.
While the tones don’t mirror the sounds
they mimic 100-percent, they are, at times,
surprisingly close and the equal of many
dedicated amp simulations. That this amp
works just as beautifully as a standalone
practice amp is remarkable, and
at about 300 bucks, it offers a lot
of amplification and recording
solutions for the price.
