What to choose to play at home?

tartaruga

Hi all people, glad to know you.
I'm in acoustic player (finger style/picking).. in my youth I received an electric guitar but didn't play that much in the last 15 years because I didn't have money to spend on gear (only a 15w crappy fender amp plus a jackhammer and a wah wah).. I updated the guitar in the last weeks, new pickup and electronics and re painted from scratch.
I would want to invest time in learning the electric way but I don't have a band as of now so I'm playing 100% at home for the moment, and I can't crank amps loud. Moreover, 70% of the time will be through headphones..
I also want tiny gear, I don't want, for instance, a boss Katana laying on the floor at home.

1. I recently discovered about amp1 and seen a lot of videos and comments about it. Everyone seems happy with it. I can find I used one in mint conditions for 400€ (comprehensive of midi adapter). It has superb tone and dinamics from what people says. However I don't know how it is through headphones compared to the other devices I'm going to list. I will not attach it to any cabinet, I want to stay light at least for the moment, and I can't spend more then 400€. I only have that crap 15w fender amp.
2. The other device I was looking at is the Mooer ge200, for 290€ new. It seems to have good tones, it has FX (good also for headphones?) And third part IR compatibility. Can I use amp cab simulation and ir through headphones with success? You can also use it on any training room with other people (if needed) as the amp1. Of course it's not the same quality wise. But I'm at home...
3. The third device is the yhamaha thr10 that people praise as the best home amp. Versatile, tiny, good looking (wife approve, also cause she can listen to music using it), you can plug music in and play easily over any MP3. It also has a tiny speaker if you don't want to use headphones. Of course this is good only for home. I don't haven't any need to play with people as of now, ok, but who knows? It's not at the same level of quality, to both the others in my opinion. New for 270€, quite expensive for the thing.

Do you have any thought? Or any other device you have knowledge of?
I also want to ask you how is the power soak of the amp1. Do you need it to play through headphones and having the tube saturated? How much is it usable at 2w (the minimum?) At home? How much does it cost the cheapest midi controller that allow the power soak to function? Can I play through my cheap fender for the moment?

Oh another thing. I don't want 25356 FX effects and I don't want to spend days and years getting different tones etc, I just want to play... but I never had the possibility to buy them in the past, so I ended up learning songs without effects and finding myself shocked when I played 3 songs with a band with a borrowed pedalboard. You have to get accustomed to play with compression, delay, pot volume, Palm muting with distortion and so on, I have to know at least how they works and get accustomed to play with at least basic effects on, because it's not the same thing when you never actually experienced them unplugged.


As for genre... Not having a band I can say I'm quite flexible... But I tend to love hard rock, guns roses.. some Steve Vai here and there, cleaner sounds like rolling stones... Recently got very attracted by"leave of absence" kind of style.

Thank you for the time

TTBZ

Yamaha THR or Boss Katana seem to get universal praise for this sort of thing. I didn't think the THR10 I tried was amazing but it wasn't bad, just a bit generic sounding. It was still quite loud as well - I'd be tempted to go for the THR5. 

Have heard some bad things about the Amp1 reliability. I've been looking for something for home use that I can also take to band practice and the Amplifire Box is what I want to try. I hate having a million different options but the AFB seems limited enough whilst providing just enough flexibility. You can use it in A/B mode to change between 2 of your 9 patches on the fly, with a global lead boost button. That's enough for me! Only downside is for band I'd need a small power amp or run it through the PA.

tartaruga

TTBZ said:

Yamaha THR or Boss Katana seem to get universal praise for this sort of thing. I didn't think the THR10 I tried was amazing but it wasn't bad, just a bit generic sounding. It was still quite loud as well - I'd be tempted to go for the THR5. 

Have heard some bad things about the Amp1 reliability. I've been looking for something for home use that I can also take to band practice and the Amplifire Box is what I want to try. I hate having a million different options but the AFB seems limited enough whilst providing just enough flexibility. You can use it in A/B mode to change between 2 of your 9 patches on the fly, with a global lead boost button. That's enough for me! Only downside is for band I'd need a small power amp or run it through the PA.

Thr10 justifies the 100€ more in comparison to thr5 in my opinion. Ampli firebox, don't know, I did not read good things about sound in youtube demos, comparisons and comments... that's why i just sticked with the amp1

Anacharsis

I had a THR10 for years, and it was great (likewise the 10C). When I no longer needed to limit myself to very small gear, I very quickly switched amps wit more speaker in open back cabinets, but that was just my preference.

axisus

I was disappointed with my THR10. It's pretty meh. I think I was too hyped up on it and it's just a bit fizzy for my liking. What I love is my old axe fx. Sounds great records great and you can get a vast array of sounds out of it. 

flying_pie

Haven't tried one myself but the Katana mini would be worth checking out if you want a small practice amp with headphones and line in 

Mickeyji

Don't get the Amp One - it's not the right piece of kit for what you want to do. It's a very portable and good sounding live amp that's designed to replace a 50 or 100 watt Marshall head on stage. I'd probaly go with one of the Yamahas.

Musicman20

Boss Katana. They can be VERY low volume bedroom amps. Then you can rehearse with it and gig with it.