Amp recommendation please.

adamm82

essentially I want something that I can play at low volume. perhaps to a moderate level TV volume.

I unfortunately use my macbook for the majority of my playing due to where I live. whilst I like the versatility it's not fun.  where I live it's really tricky as I can even hear my neighbours snoring at times. can't move any time yet! 

I am not able to play at any real volume. I had a VOX VT-40 but I didn't like it. not sure why just wasn't for me. what I didn't like about it that everytime I channed channel or presets it would go extremely loud and would have to keep changing the volume down sort of defeating the point of my foot swtich. 

I am currently using an old Orange Crush 15r that I may have bought 15 years ago. But would like something a bit nicer and something I can use in the future once I move and hopefully will be able to play at some louder volumes. 

As for my style of playing mainly classic rock. 

or if you have any ideas how I can get a good sound at low levels using other methods that would be great. I got nice guitars and want to play them through decent amps

peteri

Honestly - I've tried most solutions, and at the volumes you're saying - the major problem is going to be the guitar strings.

For instance, when I had the Yamaha THR10 - yes it could be super quiet, but at the volume where I could comfortably hear the amp, and not the guitar strings - it was just as loud as most other things - and why shouldn't it be?

If that's the volume you're going to be at - then I'd say headphones, and then pay as much as you can afford - Helix etc. and also don't forget to get a good pair of headphones, amazes me the poor quality phones some people use.

If you can stand a little more volume - the world is your oyster, for example I used very successfully a Peavey Classic 30 (selling mine actually, but the point still stands) both with and without an attenuator.

But loud TV level is actually quieter than you may think, I would say your best option would be to get a free DB meter app on your phone, then measure what your TV is putting out and compare that in the shop to a range of amps - you might be surprised how quiet that is.

simonk

For playing at TV volume levels in a smallish space I don't believe there's anything better than the Yamaha THR10. 

Exorcist

I have three amps for sale, that are all great at TV volumes (it's why I bought them) - other than plugging those, I also have a little yamaha THR5 that I use in the lounge when noone is about, it takes up so little space and they are great bits of kit for practicing. I do prefer the sound of a real valve amp at low volumes though IMHO. The Amp I use for quiet (and louder) playing that I am not selling, is a fuchs 4 aces, but it requires an attenuator to get TV volumes. Jettenuator works wonders. Hope this helps.

Beexter

I have to echo the recommendation for the THR10. I've owned quite a few alternative home practice options and the Yamaha is the best I've come across and gets more use than any of my other amps. It's not for everyone though but I'm really happy with mine ( I hate practising with headphones) 
Blackstar do a cheaper alternative that gets a lot of praise but I've never tried it but worth looking up. 

Sassafras

If you can hear your neighbours snoring then I'd recommend headphones.

professorben

simonk said:

For playing at TV volume levels in a smallish space I don't believe there's anything better than the Yamaha THR10. 

For sounding terrible I agree. 

I really really don't understand why people rate these amps, I tried the green one and the cream one and each time the Cube 20x blew them away side by side. 

Unless the ones i tried were defective in some way, I was actually surspised as it's the first bit of Yamaha gear that sucked, and I'm normally a huge fan of Yammy. 

professorben

What about a software alternative?
Guitar Rig
Amplitube
Scuffham
Positive Bias. 

bingefeller

I have a THR 10 V2 and I don't like it. 

I downgraded the firmware to version 1 and it sounded a little bit better, but still not great.  I tried loading in some of those JohnDaleLive presets, where the uses the delays EQ to tweak the sound, and it still didn't sound good to me.  No amount of tweaking will make this amp sound good to my ears - the Yamaha THR Editor is essential if you do go with the THR. 

The Bass channel is the best clean channel on the amp and provides a decentish platform for pedals, but still not that good.

Like @professorben says, the Cubes are much better.  My Cube Lite makes a better clean platform for pedals than the THR10, and I'm glad that I kept my Cube Lite. 

Seeing as the THR10 sounded so bad, I went out and bought a Cube 10GX and this sounds far superior in every way.  Pedals sound good through it, you have three channels (not footswitchable) and you can load more amp models on via the Cube Link app.

The THR10 has a Flat setting so, if you wanted to run a modeling unit through it, it might sound good in that function.  Otherwise I would steer clear.  I will probably end up selling mine at some point as it's sitting my attic. 

Voxman

professorben said:

simonk said:

For playing at TV volume levels in a smallish space I don't believe there's anything better than the Yamaha THR10. 

For sounding terrible I agree. 

I really really don't understand why people rate these amps, I tried the green one and the cream one and each time the Cube 20x blew them away side by side. 

Unless the ones i tried were defective in some way, I was actually surspised as it's the first bit of Yamaha gear that sucked, and I'm normally a huge fan of Yammy. 

I played a THR10 at Yamaha Music.  Sounded OK, but it was distinctly average, nothing special at all, & it was ridiculously overpriced.  I understand they look chic and are very light and compact - if that's what you want fine - but tonally there are cheaper, better amps out there eg Boss Katana etc. 

@adamm82 ;;;;; If you need to play at such low volume, perhaps a better solution is to buy a small mfx unit eg Zoom G3, Vox Tonelab etc and just play through headphones - that way you can play at a decent volume you can hear & enjoy without disturbing your neighbours?  

Re the volume jumping on the Vox Valvetronix VT40+, these amps work very differently to 'conventional' amps and owners often misunderstand how these amps work.

• The amp provides you with a load of factory presets (that are restrictive & a pain in the butt), and 8 user presets.  This is a huge 'dumb-down' from the original 'Blue' full-featured Valvetronix amps that gave a 32 patch memory, all of which could be fully customised.  
• Factory presets are fixed - including their relative volume levels. You can't make permanent changes to a factory preset.  If you lower the volume on one and then turn the dial to another amp model or factory preset, the volume will jump to the factory preset volume.  You can control the overall master volume but you can't alter the relative volume, EQ, effects etc of factory presets to each other.  If you change any parameter of a factory preset - amp model, EQ, volume, effects etc he moment you switch to another patch and go back again you'll lose all those changes.
• So why is the amp designed that way? Its because the amp has low processing power to save money. The factory presets are there simply to demonstrate what the amp can do and are for 'fun'. 
• How do you resolve?  Simple - don't use factory presets.  Create your tones, effects, EQ & volume level in the 8 user preset slots, or in Manual mode and then save it to a user preset. You can set the volume of each of your 8 user patches so they are all the same volume.  Then when you switch from preset 1 to preset 2 you'll get no volume jump.  Overall volume can be controlled by the Master Volume. If you like a factory preset and/or want to permanently change something eg volume, save it to one of the 8 user patches first. 
• Or for general tinkering if you use the amp in MANUAL mode, you'll have WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get).  Here, if your volume level is '2' and you change amp models, it won't jump to a preset factory volume.  
  
• NOTE: if you are in a preset but the physical position of your 'real knobs' is different, and you just touch the knob, it will revert to its 'real' position.  So, lets say you set volume to '2' and saved your patch in a user slot.  You then play in Manual mode for a while and leave the physical position of the volume knob at '6'.  You come back to your amp and select your preset - no problem, it remembers you saved volume at '2' and you have the volume you want.  But then you accidentally 'nudge' the volume knob that you'd left on '6' - and your volume jumps to the actual level of that knob (or reduces if the other way round etc).  That's because the moment you touch a dial, your sound reverts to the real position of the knob you moved - same is true re EQ settings etc.  This is why amps like this take a bit of getting used to because they work a little differently to a 'straight' amp.  All modelling amps are the same eg a Fender Mustang will do the same thing (albeit like the 'Blue' Valvetronix, every patch is customisable). 

There's loads of info on how to get the best out of the Vox Valvetronix amps over at Valvetronix.net (http://www.valvetronix.net/forums/ ) - particularly in the FAQ section.