Post by bobcarter on May 18, 2014 18:47:26 GMT
Well, I reckon writing a review for something just the day after you've got it can be dangerous, as there's a tendency to be overly positive before the "honeymoon period" is over. But I've spent a good time playing with this since I got it yesterday and think I've given it a good going over. If it starts to do anything horrible or crashingly disappointing in the coming weeks I'll update the review below!
Playing, as I do, instrumental twiddly stuff (without nails as well) unamplified round the folk clubs, what I was looking for was something that was small, battery powered and could lift the volume just a little, as I often find myself a bit on the quiet side. Nevertheless, I was hoping to find something that sounded decent rather than the standard tinny practice amp.
In steps the Yamaha THR5A, one of Yamaha’s THR range (the rest are for electrics) of modelling amps. And, yes, the 5 means 5 Watts (no need for your earplugs).
It’s tiny, really tiny (look up a video on YouTube) and runs on mains or batteries. I’d originally been looking at Roland’s Mobile AC, but although that too was small and ran on batteries and admittedly is £50 cheaper, it sounded like playing through a transister radio to me. Just as I was leaving the shop, I saw the THR5A sitting unassumingly in a corner, decided to give it a go and instantly fell in love.
It doesn’t look like a combo amp. It looks more like a small amp head used by a rock band. But it’s definitely aimed at the acoustic player. Retailing for £176 everywhere it seems at the moment.
Unlike the rest of the THR range, which feature amp modelling, the THR5A features mic modelling. Choose between Condenser, Dynamic, Tube and Nylon settings plus an “EG Clean” for electric guitars.
The Blend control mixes the relative proportion of “direct from pickup” and “modelled” signal, except when using the EG Clean setting, when it functions as a Gain control.
The rest of the controls are Master, Volume, Tone (a more sonically complex and usable adjustment that you’d think), and two effects knobs, one covering Compressor, Compressor + Chorus and Chorus, the other covering Delay, Delay + Reverb and Hall Reverb.
One other button functions as three things depending on how long you hold it down - an onboard tuner, a “tap time” button for the Delay (which is really handy), as well as the option to turn on or off the amp's “wide stereo” feature.
One of the things I love about this amp is that all the effects, buttons and adjustable things are really usable. Most of the time I find that the majority of such gizmos are useless to me (the fixed On/Off “Chorus” effect on the Roland, for example, I didn’t like at all and would never use) and end up using just one or two sounds, but here I think there’s a place for everything.
Fingerstyle players doing instrumental stuff are probably going to prefer the “condenser” setting, but the others are also usable and add some interesting colours. The ability to mix the wet/dry signal is really useful.
The THR5A is not really intended as a performance amp (though it can produce a reasonable volume for its size, actually, and that’s what I’m plannning mainly to use it for), but rather as a high quality practice amp and, crucially, recording tool. There’s a USB output and the unit ships with a copy of Cubase (haven’t had a chance to try that out yet) as well as a downloadable editor which, via the computer, gives access to additional effects including flanger, tremolo and noise gate (don’t think I’ll be needing those - acoustic Cure covers anyone?!). There’s also an AUX socket for input from mp3 player, etc and a Phones jack.
So far, I love it. The blurb promises professional studio tone, and I don’t think that’s too far off, actually. You certainly get an instantly “polished” sound which I haven’t been able to find when using other amps.
As a recording tool, I’ve only tried it out briefly, not using the USB interface but just taking a line out via the Phones jack to my Zoom R8.
You can hear the results by following the links below. Same tune three times, using three of the models, condenser and dynamic with a steel string and the nylon setting with an electro classical (though the nylon setting is usable for steel string too)! About 80% modelled signal and 20% direct from the undersaddle pickup. No effects or EQ at all from the Zoom R8, just the amp, using a bit of Compressor (really useful for ironing out those peaks and troughs – how did I ever do without one?!) and a bit of reverb.
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-condenser
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-dynamic
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-nylon
Do they sound like they’re recorded with a mic? Well, no, not really, but they do sound rather “airier” than the straight pickup sound. I suspect the ideal option would be to use a blender pickup on the guitar or to mike up as well during recording and mix the two signals together.
Like many online reviews have said, in an ideal world a proper Line Out (rather than just the Phones, which are fine but of course mute the speakers) would be nice and could make the unit more useful on stage as a monitor. One thing I thought was nifty about the Roland was that you could mount it on a mic stand, and that would be handy to help it project in a small venue or for use as a monitor. Maybe they’ll add those in the “Mk II” version.
Anyway, I like it! If you’re looking for a really fun little amp, one you can even use live if you don’t need to be loud, you could do worse than to have a look at the THR5A.
Playing, as I do, instrumental twiddly stuff (without nails as well) unamplified round the folk clubs, what I was looking for was something that was small, battery powered and could lift the volume just a little, as I often find myself a bit on the quiet side. Nevertheless, I was hoping to find something that sounded decent rather than the standard tinny practice amp.
In steps the Yamaha THR5A, one of Yamaha’s THR range (the rest are for electrics) of modelling amps. And, yes, the 5 means 5 Watts (no need for your earplugs).
It’s tiny, really tiny (look up a video on YouTube) and runs on mains or batteries. I’d originally been looking at Roland’s Mobile AC, but although that too was small and ran on batteries and admittedly is £50 cheaper, it sounded like playing through a transister radio to me. Just as I was leaving the shop, I saw the THR5A sitting unassumingly in a corner, decided to give it a go and instantly fell in love.
It doesn’t look like a combo amp. It looks more like a small amp head used by a rock band. But it’s definitely aimed at the acoustic player. Retailing for £176 everywhere it seems at the moment.
Unlike the rest of the THR range, which feature amp modelling, the THR5A features mic modelling. Choose between Condenser, Dynamic, Tube and Nylon settings plus an “EG Clean” for electric guitars.
The Blend control mixes the relative proportion of “direct from pickup” and “modelled” signal, except when using the EG Clean setting, when it functions as a Gain control.
The rest of the controls are Master, Volume, Tone (a more sonically complex and usable adjustment that you’d think), and two effects knobs, one covering Compressor, Compressor + Chorus and Chorus, the other covering Delay, Delay + Reverb and Hall Reverb.
One other button functions as three things depending on how long you hold it down - an onboard tuner, a “tap time” button for the Delay (which is really handy), as well as the option to turn on or off the amp's “wide stereo” feature.
One of the things I love about this amp is that all the effects, buttons and adjustable things are really usable. Most of the time I find that the majority of such gizmos are useless to me (the fixed On/Off “Chorus” effect on the Roland, for example, I didn’t like at all and would never use) and end up using just one or two sounds, but here I think there’s a place for everything.
Fingerstyle players doing instrumental stuff are probably going to prefer the “condenser” setting, but the others are also usable and add some interesting colours. The ability to mix the wet/dry signal is really useful.
The THR5A is not really intended as a performance amp (though it can produce a reasonable volume for its size, actually, and that’s what I’m plannning mainly to use it for), but rather as a high quality practice amp and, crucially, recording tool. There’s a USB output and the unit ships with a copy of Cubase (haven’t had a chance to try that out yet) as well as a downloadable editor which, via the computer, gives access to additional effects including flanger, tremolo and noise gate (don’t think I’ll be needing those - acoustic Cure covers anyone?!). There’s also an AUX socket for input from mp3 player, etc and a Phones jack.
So far, I love it. The blurb promises professional studio tone, and I don’t think that’s too far off, actually. You certainly get an instantly “polished” sound which I haven’t been able to find when using other amps.
As a recording tool, I’ve only tried it out briefly, not using the USB interface but just taking a line out via the Phones jack to my Zoom R8.
You can hear the results by following the links below. Same tune three times, using three of the models, condenser and dynamic with a steel string and the nylon setting with an electro classical (though the nylon setting is usable for steel string too)! About 80% modelled signal and 20% direct from the undersaddle pickup. No effects or EQ at all from the Zoom R8, just the amp, using a bit of Compressor (really useful for ironing out those peaks and troughs – how did I ever do without one?!) and a bit of reverb.
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-condenser
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-dynamic
soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-nylon
Do they sound like they’re recorded with a mic? Well, no, not really, but they do sound rather “airier” than the straight pickup sound. I suspect the ideal option would be to use a blender pickup on the guitar or to mike up as well during recording and mix the two signals together.
Like many online reviews have said, in an ideal world a proper Line Out (rather than just the Phones, which are fine but of course mute the speakers) would be nice and could make the unit more useful on stage as a monitor. One thing I thought was nifty about the Roland was that you could mount it on a mic stand, and that would be handy to help it project in a small venue or for use as a monitor. Maybe they’ll add those in the “Mk II” version.
Anyway, I like it! If you’re looking for a really fun little amp, one you can even use live if you don’t need to be loud, you could do worse than to have a look at the THR5A.
Jo whoever he is.
