..I mean, objectively good, as opposed to "for 100 quid it's great!"
Background; I have a Fender Mustang 1 (mk1) that's been in the cupboard and hardly touched for years, but I'd very keen to have something small that sounds objective good compared to a proper big amp. Tonewise I want that edge of clean/chime/breakup thing, ideally on the line between blackface and vox type tones, with an ability to plug my pedalboard in and still sound half decent. Bonus marks for anything that looks nice enough that I can keep it in the living room.
Jamup for iPad does a great job of all that except for not being very "plug and play" and ideally needing to go through headphones.
I've quite enjoyed the Yamaha THR stuff I've plugged into on occasion, but I understand they basically spit the dummy out if you wave a dirt pedal at them.
The bad news is I can't demo stuff easily cos I moved to the middle east and the guitar shops here are poo, so anything other than a THR would probably have to come from Andertons.
Any ideas?
Comments
I haven't tried the Katana mini thing but better than any other practice amps I tried. Can get good sounds at any volume which is a great bonus for me playing when kids and wife asleep.
No small amp is ever going to sound as good at really low volume as a big one does slightly too loud to use in the house, that's just one of those things we have to live with .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My Trading Feedback | You Bring The Band
Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youI'm not being facetious btw, it's light, sounds fantastic at home and is what, three or four inches wider than a typical 1x8 piece of crap?
The 50w is significantly smaller, lighter and probably sounds just as good as the 100 at low volume.
Great clean and slightly dirty sounds. Just about loud enough on its own to be useable with a band. Has a speaker out so you can hook up a bigger cab and get a lot more volume and depth. Takes my pedals well. Built in trem, reverb and boost.
Used live by someone in Norah Jones band apperently (you can see it in her cameo in Ted2 as well I think)
Discontinued though so may be a bit tricky for you to pick up S/H, but they come up for sale pretty regularly.
My 2p.
Feedback
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Others have suggested the Katana, but the physical size might be a problem, so what about the Boss Katana-Air (with wireless) just introduced? Again, it looks size-wise similar to the THR, with a lot of the functionality of it's larger brethren.
And if you like Blackstar tones, they have the extensive iD-Core range, which also features several amps larger items than Yamaha's THR-series.
I've just found exactly the same comparing a Roland Cube 40 to the Vox AD15 as well - clean, the Roland takes it. Overdriven, it's the Vox by a mile - the Roland sounds appalling on anything other than the JC120 and Blackface settings.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I saw an Andertons comparison vid a while back and I have to say I thought the Vox Adio sounded best of all the amps used, including the THR. Pity it looks like an inflatable handbag!
The THR is not brilliant with pedals in my experience but if I want to grab a guitar and practise in a spare few minutes, I don't want to be faffing around connecting up a pedalboard. The convenience of plugging straight into the THR and getting some pleasing tones right off the bat is a big plus.
Having said that, I have used the THR as a means of amplifying my AX8 for quiet practise - using the "FLAT" setting on the THR. Astonishingly, any presets I tweak on the AX8 whilst hooked up to the THR translate really well to full on gig volume. The speakers on the THR also do a better job of reproducing anything played through the aux input which is great for playing along/ learning stuff.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/27/fender_smart_guitar_amp_dumb_security/