Yamaha THR10 which one

jellybelly

I got the standard (v2) one recently. I really like it (except the mesa channel!) but takes some working to get the dirty/edge of breakup tones right. The EQ is seldom where you would 'expect' it to be when you get it right. But once you find a tone there's a lightbulb moment as a dozen records you know all connect up with it ("ah that's what it was going for!"). It sounds fantastic now I've dialled it in.

I've found not running the master really high is important to keep from the 'grainy' sound mentioned. Full on power amp gain, modelled, isnt what we're used to hearing at a quiet level I don't think! 

Voxman

Played through one when trying out a Variax (yuk!) and a 611 and 612 Pacifica at Yamaha Music a few months back.

I'm pretty much with @ICBM here...cleans and light crunch were decent, but distortions were lack lustre, even with MV pushed...I actually thought this improved the gain tones...with MV down I felt the tones were too flat sounding, pushing the MV gave better feel.  I can understand its compact, retro-looks appeal, but as an amp I think its over-priced, average sounding overall, and a bit faddy.  YMMV of course. 

rivercider

Try the Vox Adio Air GT. it's like a THR on steroids. Just bought one and couldn't be happier. Combines best bits of all three THRs plus has Bluetooth and an app that's great fun to use.

siraxeman

just get a lil microcube or a lil valvetronix. Job done (as good) for a fraction of the price. Oh yes.

rivercider

siraxeman said:

just get a lil microcube or a lil valvetronix. Job done (as good) for a fraction of the price. Oh yes.

With respect, the Adio is worlds apart from a Micro Cube, in my opinion, hence the different price points.  The Micro Cube may well be fine for its intended purpose, so I'm not knocking it, but its definitely not a like for like comparison.  The little Valvetronix I had a few years ago was better, but again, not at the standard of the Adio, for what the Adio is.  This last is important - the Adio goes after the THR market, nothing more or less, and scores a direct hit by being better in all departments.  The market is perhaps limited (due to the lack of similar products?) but exists nonetheless.

chickenchaser

@rivercider I saw your comment on the latest Andertons THR/Adio shootout and I'm keen to try one of these now. The THR has a place in our lounge, because of its asthetics. I'm not sure the Vox will have the same welcome to it, but it sounds a bit more rounded than the THR with probably a bit more punch based on that video. I agree with the Capt that these amps should have a built in Looper because theyre a practice amp and to have that functionality is great for a noodle or a basic composition.

I'm hoping that Yamaha have something up their sleeve to update the THR, its about time they refreshed it with maybe a slightly bigger speaker setup, bluetooth auxilary and a built in looper/foot switch. Their issue will probably be cost based on how much the THR is currently and how much extra functionality they would need to include. Maybe I just need to look at buying a THR100HD and cab! The 100 needs a couple of preset settings though!

rivercider

Well I don't mind the omission of a looper too much.  In my lounge I run a Digitech Trio+ when I want looping, I run the guitar out to my Bassbreaker and use the THR (or Vox, now) for the drums and bass, due to its full range speakers.  As you say, it has a bit more punch than the THR, but mainly I have fallen for its amp models. In a direct shootout with the THR, when I A/B'd them next to each other in my lounge, the cleans and higher gain tones are much better in the Vox.  The middle ground is a bit closer, especially as I have the THR10C model, so the lower gain stuff still sounds good on the Yammy, but I do feel that the Vox pips it on nearly all amp models once you've tweaked it a bit.  I can remember the 10X and 10 standard models fairly well, having owned all three now, and think the above holds true for them all. Cleans and higher gain tones are very impressive.  The volume is greater, but not massively so.  The looks.....we'll, I am getting used to the Vox now, despite even the wife's derision, but ultimately it's about tone for me with this amp, and it beats the THR which, as you say, really needs a refresh to hold onto its market.  The bluetooth and app on the Vox are a godsend to me - wasn't sure how much I'd use them but I've hardly touched the knobs on the amp itself in the whole two weeks I've had it.  App is so easy to use.

RandallFlagg

The THR10X sounds good here. I had one for a while but didn't bond with it, I should have got the regular 10

darthed1981

Sassafras said:

I've never understood why they're so expensive.
Are they really that good?

The reason is, when they first came out, they were really the only product to do what they do, as they were unique, Yamaha could essentially name their price.

Now the amp market is saturated with low-end quality, the £250 price tag (obviously cheaper used, nobody reply saying that, we all know) looks expensive compared to the Blackstar Core series, or the Boss Katana (the Katana 100, a 100 watt amp with more options than you can shake a stick at and utterly giggable, costs the same as a THR) or the Blackstar Fly 3, which for 50 quid does a lot of what the THR does in terms of being tiny and sounding OK.

However they still sell, we have basically a monthly THR thread on here where everyone comes in saying how much they love them, and you can guarantee a retailer like Andertons or one of the others with a big presence online prefer you walking out with a £250 THR than a £90 ID Core Stereo 10.

The new Vox thing that looks like a handbag in Andertons new video sounds to me comically nicer than either the THR or Fender GT40 they put it up against, I thought the Fender sounded sh*t.  However the Vox handbag is only marginally cheaper than the THR.  Even Blackstar's (IMHO prettier) rival, the Core Beam is still £200.

So why lower the price?  If you can sell what you want to sell for £250 you aren't going to lower the price because some other products are better value for money.

DiscoStu

I still love my original THR10. I agree to an extent with what @ICBM says, the Clean and Crunch are fab and my acoustic sounds better on the Flat channel, however I really like the Modern channel and use it all the time. For the size of the amp and for living room use it was and still is impressive to my ears.

My two main gripes are the difference in volume between clean and hi gain - the cleaner channels are much louder - and it would be great to have a footswitch.

Oh, and I still haven't tried the editor software! I'm still using factory settings after all these years so I need to find time to sit down and mess around with it as the consensus is that it sounds even better with some tweaks.

RandallFlagg

It's interesting that in that Anderton's home amp shootout, the guitar sounds were some of the best I've heard from them for a while, way better than when they use the 'big' amps. I think Rabea did a great job in the mic'ing up and made them sound great. I agree that The Vox sounded the best.

rivercider

RandallFlagg said:

It's interesting that in that Anderton's home amp shootout, the guitar sounds were some of the best I've heard from them for a while, way better than when they use the 'big' amps. I think Rabea did a great job in the mic'ing up and made them sound great. I agree that The Vox sounded the best.

I would also say that the difference between the THR and Vox is much more pronounced 'in the flesh' than you get to hear in the video. 
I don't say that because I'm a Vox fanboy or anything daft like that, or even that I don't like my THR (as stated before - love all three models of THRs that I own/have owned) but rather that I think they picked sub-optimal amp models for both the Vox and THR,
The Deluxe model on the Vox is not, in my opinion, even close to being as good as the Dumble Clean, although I realise from what they said that they were trying to compare similar models/tones. 
I'm just not sure they succeeded in comparing apples with apples, really.
The 800 model on the Vox, in my opinion (which I think they used IIRC), is one of the weaker of its 'gainy' models, too.
This is all subjective, of course, but I still have my THR10C (for now, it's up for sale) and don't have an axe to grind at all with it, but I'm just finding that the Vox has a lot more adjustability in addition to the greater number of amp models (23 vs 6 on the THR, or something like that).  
Sorry to say that the GT40 sounded awful to me, at every step of the way in that video.  Shame, as I have a space in my house that would be perfect for one of those, too, if the wife ever allowed it....I'd fully intended to get the Fender, too, until I found the Vox.  Handbag looks aside (sack that designer!) it's a great little amp, like I said before, it's kind of a THR on steroids in my opinion.
  

DiscoStu

Watched bits of the Andertons vid and the Vox sounded really good. Question is (as per Lee) - how easy would it be to mod it to make it look better??

axisus

RandallFlagg said:

Philip Sayce makes his TRH10 sound amazing, with a Tube Screamer and Wah:

Just saw that video this week. Sounds awesome all things considered and great playing as well.

darthed1981

Can we please make the official forum name for the baby Vox the "Vox Handbag"?

I'm going to call it that ☺

Zodiac51

Spent a lot of time A/B/Cing all 3, the standard came across as having more usable sounds, so that's what I went for, not regretted it at all. Fits the niche it's designed for perfectly - discrete awesome sounding couch amp.

jellybelly

As others have mentioned, the THR remains a popular choice because our partners don't mind it being in the living room on display. If vox had dressed their offering up better I might have considered it. As it stands, it wouldn't be allowed in the living room and therefore it wouldn't matter how many models or effects it had, or how good it sounded. It wouldn't get used even half as much. 

ICBM

I'll admit I like the look of the Vox Handbag - it does at least look like some thought has been put into 'styling' it in an interesting way - even if the result is a bit jarring for a guitar amp, at first... whereas the Yamaha looks like a giant air freshener or a miniature heater that's been drilled for some guitar amp knobs.

I'll have to try the Handbag now...

rivercider

jellybelly said:

As others have mentioned, the THR remains a popular choice because our partners don't mind it being in the living room on display. If vox had dressed their offering up better I might have considered it. As it stands, it wouldn't be allowed in the living room and therefore it wouldn't matter how many models or effects it had, or how good it sounded. It wouldn't get used even half as much. 

I just told my wife she can borrow it to accessorize next time she goes out and about.  Cheaper than a Louis Vuitton.  

rivercider

Seriously though, at first I hated the looks of the Vox, but that's possibly because the THR was unique in design and concept and (to me) just looks really cool.
The THR has that kind of retro radio look that wifey was happy enough with in the lounge. 
The Vox is like a lot of things though in that you just get used to it after a while.  It takes up the same physical space as the THR (will fit my bookshelf, exactly the same width etc) so is no more obtrusive really. I enjoy playing it so much I can easily forgive the design of it and to be honest I don't think about it that much anyway now - i use the bluetooth app too so it's not like I'm constantly fiddling with the controls and eyeballing the amp up close, I do all that from across the room on the sofa normally, so it just sits tucked away doing its thing and has quickly blended into the room.