Home practice amp for a beginner guitarist ?

baldy

The THR certainly looks more Mrs baldy "room friendly" than the Katana as I might get away with having a THR in the living room as opposed to being hidden away in the back bedroom.
I have had "permission" to hang the Pacifica on a wall in the living room as it colour co-ordinates with the decor.
If I could have the amp in the same room it certainly would make practising easier & probably more regular.

BRISTOL86

baldy said:

The THR certainly looks more Mrs baldy "room friendly" than the Katana as I might get away with having a THR in the living room as opposed to being hidden away in the back bedroom.
I have had "permission" to hang the Pacifica on a wall in the living room as it colour co-ordinates with the decor.
If I could have the amp in the same room it certainly would make practising easier & probably more regular.

Absolutely do that. 

The THR is a very capable practice amp and as you say it’s a bonus that it’s very living room friendly. 

It makes a neat speaker too - if you get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable you can use it as a music player if you have a phone or iPod etc to plug in. 

pmbomb

baldy said:

Neill said:

If you have no thoughts on playing in a band anytime soon, you could do a lot worse than a Yamaha THR, 5 or 10. 

I doubt that I will be playing in a band ever !
By the time I get my head round playing they would have to wheel me on stage 

so did I, now we are jamming every weekend and up for a performance when we find a slot. 

also I have a THR10, if fills the slot of bedroom/lounge amp well, is easily hand portable and can hold its own in a jam. only thing is I find battery life is quite short so I use mains (possibly because I use rechargeable batteries), and the software includes a noise gate but I wish that was built into the hardware somehow so I could use it without patching.

TommyVercetti

Good call on the 611 btw - one of these was my first guitar (also 2nd hand) and it's absolutely awesome. I still play it a lot, so comfortable, that neck p90 is wonderful. Locking tuners too and it looks great!

Neill

Something else for Baldy to think about is - just my opinion - you really need to practice over some sort of rhythm if you are playing what we might call rock or blues, it's easy to convince yourself you have something nailed but unless you can play it in time, you haven't.  There are some practice amps that incorporate drum machines are there not?   I seem to recall there's a little Vox that does.   

BRISTOL86

Neill said:

Something else for Baldy to think about is - just my opinion - you really need to practice over some sort of rhythm if you are playing what we might call rock or blues, it's easy to convince yourself you have something nailed but unless you can play it in time, you haven't.  There are some practice amps that incorporate drum machines are there not?   I seem to recall there's a little Vox that does.   

When I had a THR10 I connected my laptop to the aux in and played backing tracks or an online metronome through it. 

ICBM

Personally, I think the overdriven sounds on the THR10 are terrible. Which is a shame, because the clean sound is fantastic and the just-breaking-up one isn't bad. Definitely try before you buy, in my opinion.

For me, for rockier sounds a conventional amp like the Peavey sounds far better.

The little Vox Mini5 Rhythm does have a built-in drum machine - I've got one, it's a very cool little toy... but not as good an actual amp as the Peavey, I don't think. It does sound good but the range of adjustment is quite limited, both on the amp sounds and particularly the effects.

Flink_Poyd

If you do go for the Katana I'd buy one new.  I was looking for a few months and they don't come up too often (50w) and when they do people still want silly money. A quick look on evilbay and they're trying for £145 plus £15 postage, new £163. 
 The only thing I regret is that I wasted time looking for a second hand one, although I did get a great deal on a new on when ebay did 20% off

Matt_McG

I have a THR10, and I love it.

The form factor is perfect, and it works really well when plugged into a laptop, too. You can connect it with a USB cable and it makes a great audio interface.  There are a million decent backing tracks on Youtube, and via commercial vendors.

I'd say that it has probably been the single most transformative piece of gear I've ever had, as I practice plugged in, all the time. I've been playing a long time (30 years) and my technique is fine, but always playing plugged in, with backing tracks or loops, has been a total shift in what I do for practice. I pick cleaner, and phrase better.

But, I'd have to say I agree with ICBM above. I don't personally find the high gain sounds on the vanilla THR10 that great. Clean, just-breaking up, and Vox-y crunch are all really good. The blackface Fender style sound is really wonderful. But I've always found the very high gain sounds a bit disappointing. Might be worth comparing with the THR10C and THR10X.

Matt

grungebob

I’d also go the Katana 50 route. The more I play mine and the more I mess about on the tone studio for it the more I want to play it. For home use I think it could just be the perfect amp. 

baldy

Thanks for all the advice 
This is where I am at at the moment.
The THR could be kept in the living room as it is more aesthetically pleasing to my wife.
Neither the Katana or Peavey can be kept in there & would have to live in the back bedroom.
The Katana 50 may marginally be the better amp for me.
I have now been told I can borrow the Vypyr for a few months & if I like it pay for it & if not just give it back.
As I can"t even play yet then it would seem to me that borrowing the Vypyr for a few months so I can get to the point (hopefully) that I can get a half recognizable simple tune out of it would allow me to make a more informed decision on whether to keep it or buy something else ?

aord43

I have had a Roland Micro Cube in my living room for a few years.  It's great for home practice, it can get quite loud if you want it to (as observed at the Fretboard Leicester Jam), and has a number of amp models and effects, with programmable memory, plus a built-in tuner, headphone socket and aux-in for playing to backing tracks etc.
There's also some kind of USB interface but I think it's for Apple only so I have never used that.
I suggest having a look online for reviews/prices.  I just got hold of a Katana 100, which is a bit overkill for me but gives a meatier sound when I want it.  Not sure yet whether I will keep the micro cube.

BRISTOL86

All sounds fine Baldy! But as you’ve learned from the cheap knockoff versus the Pacifica - sometimes you’re just better off getting what you want from the start

However the Peavy is certainly good enough to get you going and is the much cheaper option

Either way you should be able to get perfectly useable tones! Have fun playing - that’s the main thing! 

baldy

OOh what has just turned up 

baldy

How the hell do you post pictures on here ?
I am sure that previously I just copy/pasted but it won"t let me now ?

BRISTOL86

Posting pictures is a bit of a faff on here. Are you on mobile or pc? You need to copy the direct link to the image (ie ending in .jpg or whatever format) and then paste it into the drop down box.

If on a mobile add a space after you’ve pasted the link in 

baldy

I"m on my laptop, in the middle of my self assessment return, but what the heck what is more important.
Right lets see if this works 

baldy

Ah obviously not.

baldy

baldy

Now to do a NGD thread