Yamaha THR100HD 100-Watt, Dual-Channel Modeling Amplifier

This is a remarkable amp. A tweaker's amp foremost and a valuable tool that can support past the typical guitarist. It offers tremendous tone shaping capabilities throughout its entire signal paths. Its capabilities often seed its own caveats with this amp. If you are looking for a simple plug and play amp that allows easy fiddling into more normal accepted tonal palette ranges, it may not be for you. Definitely a learning curve to this amp. You do need to read the manual for howtos, gotchas, and elaborations on its many features...SOME KEY UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL FEATURES:1) Truly 2 complete amps. Every aspect of the entire signal path from 2 inputs to two speaker outputs is fully mirrored. A lot of amps will have more than a single channel, but usually something, somewhere in the middle is shared. Effects loop, master volume, EQ, etc. The THR100HD can be used as if it is 2 fully separate and configurable amps. Pretty much only the power chord is shared. And there is all manner of ways to share the 2 channels and doing that does requires reading the manual, but is worth it as you have many options. That last capability excerpt is a microcosm on the use of many features on this amp. 2) A boost feature that can be applied before the preamp voicing. 3) A master knob that also allows for specifying gain in the power amp section. 4) More on the power amp configuration. A lot of solid state amps model aspects of tube amps. Yamaha's version of this is VCM and they use it in many aspects of the amp. This includes the typical usual preamp voicings, but also non typically in the power amp. You have tube types. Selectable power characteristics (Class A and A/B) in addition to the aforementioned gain setting on the output section....All of the mentioned features sit alongside the more typical features of most amps. B-M-T EQ, presence, reverb, and final output volume. And these controls are quality and work well together to give you a tremendous range of sound tweaking from many angles. The downside is knowing what you want, are doing, and avoiding analysis paralysis. I will admit that at first I thought I had made a mistake. Attacking this thing without knowing it well and making assumption based on typical amps (I have a lot of amps and you do tend toward generalities) can be frustrating. Sorting out how to use the effects loop was a big one for me. After finally reading about its nuances, sorting how the footswitch controls it, I eventually not only came to be able to use it. But also appreciate how flexible it is (remember the completely separate signal path between amps? Yup - you can have separate effects loops for each channel - NICE!). Another problem I had was a lack of volume when configuring a clean sound. The normal methodology I typically do with other amps wasn't enough. Eventually I discovered/stumbled on the preamp boost - set for a *clean* boost - was the ticket. It really is an amazingly flexible amp that will grow on you. More and more as you learn to use it...WHAT I LIKE MOST ABOUT THIS AMP:1) I like the different gradients of sound tweaking. The usual coarse preamp voicings, the more intermediate gain and EQ, but additionally the power amp controls. Not sure if the different tube selections/controls really mirror the claimed tube types that well. But they definitely have quite different characteristics, very useable sounds. And pretty easy to play with to make a real difference in deciding on a sound. 2) Also that all of that tweaking is upfront with single purpose knobs/controls on the amp. Yes - it does have a software configuration program that allows for sophisticated tweaking (Speaker impulse configuration. Reverb types. Boost types. Effects loop control, etc.), but once you have an amp component configured - that's what it is. You don't have presets. They have their place, but I'm one who tends not to use them. I like a basic sound or two usually with the ability to subtly be able to tweak them. Something like the Katana I find gets in the way of itself. The amp knobs/controls can get lost in the confusion of presets and multiple modes. Not so on this amp. WYSIWYG and I usually prefer that. 3) Sound. I had heard a lot about how good the various small THR10 amps were. Yes - this guy does not disappoint. And across quite a spectrum past any of the individual THR10 amp versions. This thing can do magnificent cleans through thorough dirt. If like me, a large range of cleans and a good working effects loop are paramount, and good dirt is a bonus. 4) Though the audience is mostly guitarists here, this thing has frequency range enough for more. Yes - I have and love tube amps. But I still occasionally love (and use) that SS clean. Yamaha saw fit to include the SOLID preamp voicing for giving the best of both worlds. And allows my wife to plug in and work with her electric violin. And sound great, which a typical guitar amp doesn't have the range and resources for. Plus I can actually play on the other channel at the same time with her. As dirty or as clean as I wanna be...Quality Swiss army knife amp here. Build, size and usability (after you read enough of the manual!) at a fair price for all of the features. Biggest caveat would be if you want more of a one trick simple plug and play amp rather than a lot of these features. How all around valuable is it to me? I have/had several very nice amps. This would make it to a very short list of keepers if I had to cull the massive herd...

Awesome! Nuff said

Have had it about 1 month & gigged with it twice this past weekend.Where this amp shines is combining the 2 amps with different settings through 2 cabinets. I run one side '1 notch' cleaner than the other side (like Crunch/Clean, or Lead/Crunch, heck sometimes even Lead/Clean). Man this thing roars! And forget about whether it sounds 'as good as' a tube amp - it DOES for live gigs -or- recording!The emulation of the power tube 'sag' is the first thing I noticed & was VERY pleased with it! And, get this.... If you're the only guitarist in your band (or bedroom), try running it stereo with either a Mimiq pedal or a Boss PS-5 or 6, with a slight delayed signal to 1 side & the pitch barely flattened, and MAN, does it sound good! Not exactly like 2 guitarists, but as close as it comes!I had to go into the settings by computer & turn the Effects Loop to 'mixed' vs 'separate' for the loop to work on the 2nd amp ('channel 2'). And the volume knob doesn't do much past 12:00 (or 5), but it was plenty loud at my gigs - 1 of the soundmen even put a baffle in front of my cabs to tame it a little. I'm running the Yamaha 1x12 & a Panama 1x12. Great combo! One a little boxy, one throaty!A very pleased owner here!NOTE: The speaker IR's ONLY change the tones in the XLR Outs & the Headphone Out, NOT your speaker cab (per Yamaha support). This is my only 'ding' - it should change what my cabs sound like, but it doesn't. Took me ALOT of digging to find this out - maybe this will save somebody some time.