# New Yamaha THR100HD and THR100H amps



## Triple-J (Sep 1, 2015)

Some of you maybe familiar with Yamaha's THR series practice amps well they've expanded the range with a 100 watt head!















"Both amps offer five amp types  solid, clean, crunch, lead and modern  as well as selectable power sections  EL34, 6L6GC, KT88, EL84 and 6V6  plus class A/AB operation.
The THR100HD also offers dual discrete amps, each with separate inputs, speaker outputs, amp types and power sections, which can provide true dual-amp sounds from a single head.
By pairing Yamaha's Virtual Circuit Modelling (VCM) tech with a new power amp section, the new THRs promises valve-like sound and response from a digital power amp.
Elsewhere, both amps offer a built-in reverb and booster  footswitchable using the included footswitch and adjustable via USB editor software  plus headphone and XLR DI outputs with Yamaha's IR speaker simulation, and the ability to load your own IR sims.
Yamaha has also released two speaker cabs to pair with the new heads: the THR112C and THR212C, both of which feature Eminence speakers."​

Personally I think the features on these are great yes they're not perfect but Yamaha have put together a very interesting package here only problem is the demo is pretty basic so I'm waiting to see some more examples.​


----------



## buriedoutback (Sep 1, 2015)

very interesting!


----------



## MoshJosh (Sep 1, 2015)

Very interesting indeed.


----------



## PBGas (Sep 1, 2015)

Looks neat! Will have to try it out at some point. There will be many that were probably hoping for a higher powered THR.


----------



## Zado (Sep 1, 2015)

Considering how good the low watt head played,I'm very interested. Price point curious

EDIT: around 600$ for the slim version,1300$ for the dual it seems...I hoped for less than dat


----------



## vick1000 (Sep 1, 2015)

Did Yamaha aquire Line 6? Or was it the other way around?


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 1, 2015)

vick1000 said:


> Did Yamaha aquire Line 6? Or was it the other way around?



Yamaha acquired them. 

Probably explains why the amps have IR loading


----------



## Veritech Zero (Sep 1, 2015)

Hm... unless you get the dual, it is pretty much a home use amp. Unless all you need is one channel. And for the price they are asking for the dual, there are SOOOOO many real tube options. And so far I'm not very convinced by the sounds, nothing against digital amps, modelers and the like, just that I don't think it sounds very good. I guess once it gets into a few more hands and we get some more demos we will see for sure. But it looks like more of a miss to me, at least at that price range.


----------



## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 1, 2015)

Cool, but are they going to release different flavors of these much like their little siblings?


----------



## charlessalvacion (Sep 2, 2015)

The features are mostly the same like the Blackstar ID Series amps.

Looks ok though.


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

What's the point of this? I was just hoping for a bigger THR amp with maybe some added features. A digital amp without presets? 

Headphone output on the back, no presets, no USB recording, only one effect, FAR too expensive.

For that price, people can just get a tube amp, if half of the features that you want if you go digital are missing anyways.


----------



## Spinedriver (Sep 2, 2015)

Lain said:


> What's the point of this? I was just hoping for a bigger THR amp with maybe some added features. A digital amp without presets?
> 
> Headphone output on the back, no presets, no USB recording, only one effect, FAR too expensive.
> 
> For that price, people can just get a tube amp, if half of the features that you want if you go digital are missing anyways.



It does seem to have a USB port on the back. I'd imagine since it doesn't have any effects or banks for pre-set patches (kind of eliminates the need for an editor), it could be for direct recording.


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

There is no mention of recording in the manual. Or anywhere really.


----------



## desmondtencents (Sep 2, 2015)

All of the THR10 models have buttons for 5 presets. Why couldn't they have kept that going and made them foot switchable? At least allow for 3 switchable presets......
Even with the dual it's still two individual single channel amps. Two different inputs and outputs for two cabs. Doesn't look like you can switch between the two "channels" from one input and using a single cab.


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

Spinedriver said:


> It does seem to have a USB port on the back. I'd imagine since it doesn't have any effects or banks for pre-set patches (kind of eliminates the need for an editor), it could be for direct recording.



It's for firmware updates and IR loading. The Yamaha rep over at TGP confirmed that there's no USB audio out for recording.

(EDIT: there are also some deep parameters that are accessed via the editor over USB: choose one of three boost types, reverb parameters, etc.)


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

desmondtencents said:


> All of the THR10 models have buttons for 5 presets. Why couldn't they have kept that going and made them foot switchable? At least allow for 3 switchable presets......
> Even with the dual it's still two individual single channel amps. Two different inputs and outputs for two cabs. Doesn't look like you can switch between the two "channels" from one input and using a single cab.



You can, actually. And you can combine the two channels, and use the built-in boost (you can select one of three types). That's what the included footswitch is for. So there are six separate sounds available in the Dual.


----------



## devastone (Sep 2, 2015)

Awesome, the THR10X I had for a while was the first modeling amp that I've enjoyed playing (and no, I haven't tried a Kemper or Axe-FX). May have to keep an eye out for these.


----------



## RustInPeace (Sep 2, 2015)

I like the ideas and features of these! Would like to hear them though, to justify the price.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 2, 2015)

I agree that there should have been a preset feature, especially on the single-channel head. Sucks, because it could have been a decent gigging amp for around $600. And the built-in IR loader is an _amazingly_ good feature that more amps need to have.


----------



## tylerpond05 (Sep 2, 2015)

I would imagine that the presets are programmable to the footswitch. I just hope that the FS is included, if they aren't giving you presets on the amp itself.


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

No presets on the footswitch, although the switch is included AFAIK.



HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> And the built-in IR loader is an _amazingly_ good feature that more amps need to have.


Yeah, i agreee. Although in this amp it's only for head phone and line out.


----------



## minorseventh (Sep 2, 2015)

adding IR's to this was a smart move, and for me personally, makes this into a potential purchase. a year or two ago on another forum there was a long conversation with a digitech rep, and he stated they had no plans to incorporate IR loading into any of their devices, because outside of a small core of forum posters no one cared about that stuff and it was too expensive to implement. 
I've been using digitech stuff for decades, and frankly those posts kind of insulted me. In a non-personal and completely rhetorical way of course... but it made me realize that these bigger companies really are just gunning for the guitar center buyer and dont actually care what more serious players want. I bought a Kemper and ditched my rp1000 after that, and discovered that IR's REALLY make a huge difference.
Well, now Line 6 is about to spank Digitechs (and fractals?!) bottom, and Yamaha is jumping into it along with them. I hope they sell as many as the little THR10 units.
This, in particular, is super cool because its a power amp too.


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

Lain said:


> Although in this amp it's only for head phone and line out.



There's no sense in running an IR to an actual cabinet, is there?


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

Of course there is, if the cabinet has a flat response.


----------



## tylerpond05 (Sep 2, 2015)

Lain said:


> No presets on the footswitch, although the switch is included AFAIK.



Just looked at the site, wow, that is pretty ridiculous. Maybe that can be fixed via a midi footswitch?


----------



## vick1000 (Sep 2, 2015)

Wait a minute, two descrete amps? Can you use them both at the same time without a split signal?


----------



## desmondtencents (Sep 2, 2015)

celticelk said:


> You can, actually. And you can combine the two channels, and use the built-in boost (you can select one of three types). That's what the included footswitch is for. So there are six separate sounds available in the Dual.




Ahhh...Well I just had a look at the manual online. I see how the signal can be routed so you can get a two channel type of setup with a single guitar and one cab. That's definitely better than my first impression. 
I still think it would have been a bit better to keep with the five presets (or at least three) that they had in the THR10's. It'll be interesting to see how this is received by the masses. Definitely a cool looking piece of gear. The THR10's seemed to be pretty popular so we'll see. Still seems a little light on features for the price tag........
And no USB out for recording? Didn't the THR10's have this ability? Why not keep it for the bigger boys?


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

vick1000 said:


> Wait a minute, two descrete amps? Can you use them both at the same time without a split signal?



Yes. That's why there's a switch on the front panel and the FS.


----------



## desmondtencents (Sep 2, 2015)

Here's the manual:

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/file/?language=en&site=ca.yamaha.com&asset_id=65608


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

desmondtencents said:


> And no USB out for recording? Didn't the THR10's have this ability? Why not keep it for the bigger boys?



Yes, they did, and there's been much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments over at TGP about this omission. Yamaha's reasoning seems to be that this is envisioned as a more "traditional" amp rather than as a modeler (that's also their reasoning for not including presets), and that at this price point it's entirely reasonable to expect that users will have recording equipment with XLR inputs. That said, they also haven't formally ruled out adding USB audio out in a future firmware update. I'm not really in the market for this, so I don't much care either way. (I'll be buying a THR10 in the next week or so, though.)


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

tylerpond05 said:


> Just looked at the site, wow, that is pretty ridiculous. Maybe that can be fixed via a midi footswitch?



It's nothing to do with the footswitch. There are no presets on the amp. Also no MIDI.


----------



## Mmcgrouty (Sep 2, 2015)

There's always a lot of crying over at TGP. This thing has features you can't get with other amps, all that will matter in the end is if it sounds good.


----------



## celticelk (Sep 2, 2015)

Mmcgrouty said:


> There's always a lot of crying over at TGP. This thing has features you can't get with other amps, all that will matter in the end is if it sounds good.



No doubt, but I think there are some legitimate questions about why certain features aren't on the amp, especially since they've positioned it as part of the THR line, and those features *are* present on the lower-cost previous units. If they'd started a new model line with this amp, I think there would have been (a little) less complaining.


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

Mmcgrouty said:


> There's always a lot of crying over at TGP. This thing has features you can't get with other amps, all that will matter in the end is if it sounds good.


Is that all that matters though? 
I mean, surely some people will like it, some will use it as a backup rig, etc. pp and i have no doubt it's going to sound good but if you look at the market, there are countless of amps that sound good in that price segment (or even lower priced). Hell, you could get an amplifire for that price.


----------



## Mmcgrouty (Sep 2, 2015)

Lain said:


> Is that all that matters though?
> I mean, surely some people will like it, some will use it as a backup rig, etc. pp and i have no doubt it's going to sound good but if you look at the market, there are countless of amps that sound good in that price segment (or even lower priced). Hell, you could get an amplifire for that price.



The thing is, it's not a modeler like the Amplifier. It's a 100 watt amp. Actually 2 amps that you can use as a stereo rig, and it weighs 9 lbs. There isn't something else on the market like it. I was saying all that matters to me is that it sounds good, because the features are right up my alley.


----------



## 4of3 (Sep 2, 2015)

This thing sounds quite convinving in the Andertons Sneak Peak, great Playing Chops help of course 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jeJ3FG17lo


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

Sounds really good in that video!


----------



## Lain (Sep 2, 2015)

Another video for those who care: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWolu2JiCiE


----------



## RustInPeace (Sep 2, 2015)

Dual amps into a stereo cab like that is just awesome. Could do stereo clean tones ala JC-120?? Maybe they will make the thr10x into a dual head like this?


----------



## viesczy (Sep 2, 2015)

The smaller amps are a hit, don't see how these will fail. 

I like the tube voice choices and seems as they're as responsive as the Blackstar ID line.

Yet another SS amp to want and never buy due to my tube addiction!

Derek


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 2, 2015)

Lain said:


> Another video for those who care:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWolu2JiCiE



Crunch tones sound MUCH better there. 

Still worried about the muddiness of the high-gain sounds.


----------



## wakjob (Sep 2, 2015)

They still should have made the preamp section 'Al-la-carte'. Being able to hand select which amps that work best for you, downloadable after purchasing.

The single amp one looks like it would make a nice computer monitor riser.

It _does_ have an FX Loop, so.... not all is lost.


----------



## bloc (Sep 2, 2015)

Holy .... this amp is genius. Amazing move from Yamaha


----------



## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 2, 2015)

My only issue is price for the dual amp, l saw $1000 street, I think it's a bit too much.


----------



## Spinedriver (Sep 5, 2015)

Just curious if anyone has heard when the release date is supposed to be ?


----------



## PBGas (Sep 7, 2015)

Looking a bit deeper into the manual, I could make this work with the HD version and a couple of Bogner cubes or the Yamaha speaker setup. I would love to have presets but at the same time, a couple of nice settings and I would be good to go. Amp one could be the crunch tone and amp 2 could be the lead or heavier rhythm tone. Use the booster for the lead we are all set. 

Will have to take a much closer look and see how it sounds when it hits stores.


----------



## Wolfhorsky (Sep 7, 2015)

I would buy it if it had presets (or at least 3-4 channels), fx and delay from thr10.

They could make 3 or 4 channels with the possibility to assign fx/rev/dly to each of the channels. It could make up for lack of presets.
I dunno why they didn't do it 
In live scenario i prefer the omph of the tube power amp and I also use 3-4 sounds. Clean with chorus and reverb and delay, riffin' dry tight sledgehammer, fluid lead with reverb and delay for my epic solos .
It would be enough for most of us. Limited, but not lacking.
For now, i will wait what Yamaha will show in the future. This product is pricey and lacking basic features FOR ME. YMMV of course.


----------



## Spinedriver (Sep 7, 2015)

These days, an amp like that for that price is pretty decent. Years ago I paid close to $600 for a (at the time) new Peavey Supreme XL. It had 2 channels with 3 voicings each and that's pretty much it. This amp has 5 amp settings, built in boost, IR loading for direct recording, 6 simulated power tube settings along with a variable power switch.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Sep 7, 2015)

Spinedriver said:


> These days, an amp like that for that price is pretty decent. Years ago I paid close to $600 for a (at the time) new Peavey Supreme XL. It had 2 channels with 3 voicings each and that's pretty much it. This amp has 5 amp settings, built in boost, IR loading for direct recording, 6 simulated power tube settings along with a variable power switch.





Ignore the folks complaining about price. 

This is DEFINITELY $800 in amp.


----------



## rewihendrix (Sep 7, 2015)

The no presets thing is quite a flaw. There's essentially no way to go from a clean sound to a high gain sound. I can't think of any way that I could dial in a Mesa (or whatever style of modern high gain amp) to go from the clean part in Master of Puppets to the thrash part with just a boost. You're going to actually need the two separate amps just to switch channels.

Other than that I absolutely love the concept. Plug-n-play design, lightweight, plenty of volume on tap, IR loading, tone knobs rather than menus, and it sounds great from everything I've heard.


----------



## Wolfhorsky (Sep 8, 2015)

I like simple plug and play approach. Not much a tweaker myself. I like to have a good starting sound with controls at the noon. 
Regarding price - in EU it is listed 869 &#8364;. That would be fair price if it had a bit more features. 
If it would have at least 3 channels with loops for each of them it would make up for its hideous limitations. 
If Yahama want traditional approach, then why do we need to connect USB to change reverb and boost types? I don't get it.
My dream pro-thr would be lightweight combo with stereo 2x50w with two neodymium 8" fr drivers. Combo with exactly the same layout as thr10. It should have all current simulations from all thr10s. And one more knob: prescence. Period. 
It is what the majority of the current thr10 users wants. Yamaha guys made a product to be proud of, but they didn't listen to their customers' needs. It's that simple.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 8, 2015)

Really, all I want is the THR100 with presets, as well as a front-end effect block for distortions, overdrives, and compressors. 

I haven't read the manual, so I dunno if it has that or not. 

EDIT: Well I just actually did that. Went through the head and utility manuals. There IS a boost, but not sure how tweakable it is. Might see if I can actually run the utility.

EDIT2: Nope, just the single knob in front of the amp. There is a TS, but you can't tweak it. 

I like what Yamaha was trying to do with the amp, but man it's really stripped down compared to other modelers.


----------



## Mordacain (Sep 16, 2015)

rewihendrix said:


> The no presets thing is quite a flaw. There's essentially no way to go from a clean sound to a high gain sound. I can't think of any way that I could dial in a Mesa (or whatever style of modern high gain amp) to go from the clean part in Master of Puppets to the thrash part with just a boost. You're going to actually need the two separate amps just to switch channels.
> 
> Other than that I absolutely love the concept. Plug-n-play design, lightweight, plenty of volume on tap, IR loading, tone knobs rather than menus, and it sounds great from everything I've heard.



If there's one thing I've learned from playing my THR5 for a couple of years now, it's that the best cleans are found by dialing in your preferred crunch tone on Lead or Modern and then rolling off the guitar volume. Since Yamaha are positioning this as a more traditional amp design that makes sense and with the boosts available that really accounts for a wide range of sounds.

One the whole I think this sounds like an amazing amp for the price and has features that you don't find in anything else in the price range. One of the videos the demonstrator mentioned that it took pedals like a champ (which was my major complaint with the THR5/10). The ability to combine the amps channels is great. One of the things I loved about my old Mesa quad preamp was the ability to combine channels, it just creates a massive sound.

Also, not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, but though the effects loop appears to be mono, they are apparently stereo plugs.

Only thing I'm really bummed about is the lack of USB recording, but hopefully they'll enable that via firmware. Granted, a decent stereo input XLR preamp is not a huge added expense anymore.


----------



## XMetalcheFX (Sep 16, 2015)

Is it just me or is Yamaha always marketing guitar products to an audience that doesn't exist? Some cool features here tho. I am not turning back from the modeling processor, but this is cool...

I dont understand why they have two different amp channels to input into, i guess if two buds wanted to practice through the same amp? That's some weirdness brewing. I initially thought one was high gain and one was lo gain (BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON THIS FEATURE HASNT BECOME OBSOLETE YET AND DEDICATED TO A PUSH BUTTON) cause the idea of having a non digital amp you can have two totally different pre amps on the front panel with seemed cool.


----------



## s2k9k (Sep 16, 2015)

Prices seem good to me

Yamaha THR100HD 100-watt 2-channel Modeling Head | Sweetwater.com


----------



## rewihendrix (Sep 16, 2015)

Mordacain said:


> If there's one thing I've learned from playing my THR5 for a couple of years now, it's that the best cleans are found by dialing in your preferred crunch tone on Lead or Modern and then rolling off the guitar volume. Since Yamaha are positioning this as a more traditional amp design that makes sense and with the boosts available that really accounts for a wide range of sounds.
> 
> One the whole I think this sounds like an amazing amp for the price and has features that you don't find in anything else in the price range. One of the videos the demonstrator mentioned that it took pedals like a champ (which was my major complaint with the THR5/10). The ability to combine the amps channels is great. One of the things I loved about my old Mesa quad preamp was the ability to combine channels, it just creates a massive sound.
> 
> ...



You really think you can roll off the volume do that a) you can go from high gain thrash to squeaky clean jazz b) you won't be sacrificing actual volume c) you won't get that loss of top end associated with rolling off the volume on passive pups?

Don't get me wrong I do the volume trick all the time when playing rock, blues etc but there's a fundamentally different type of tone specific to metal rhythm guitar. 

With all that said I would gladly gig this up to hard rock levels, and probably metal too with the use of a good distortion or preamp type pedal. It's just particularly disappointing not to be able to take advantage of the IRs - again, unless you get the two channel version.

I really like this thing and am pretty sure one simple upgrade would make it my ultimate rig.


----------



## Mordacain (Sep 16, 2015)

rewihendrix said:


> You really think you can roll off the volume do that a) you can go from high gain thrash to squeaky clean jazz b) you won't be sacrificing actual volume c) you won't get that loss of top end associated with rolling off the volume on passive pups?
> 
> Don't get me wrong I do the volume trick all the time when playing rock, blues etc but there's a fundamentally different type of tone specific to metal rhythm guitar.
> 
> ...



Absolutely it's a different tone, but who's to say that a warm jazzy clean is what is necessarily the best tone to have? The volume drop is negligible when the power amp is sufficiently driven (the drop is only noticeable when playing under 90dB or so in my long experience playing 100 watt amps).

Something to bear in mind though is that this is a product marketed to most guitar players. Metal players are a relatively small subset of guitar players everywhere. For pretty much all everything else in the rock realm, a clean obtained by rolling off the guitar volume on a gained up, mid-heavy tone is one of the ideal clean tones you can have.

That being said, any two channel is typically going to give you the limitation of a clean and a dirty. Add in a boost of your choice for dirty clean or lead boost on the dirty channel. Since this amp looks squarely positioned as a traditional amp replacement with some added versatility I think it's going to accomplish it's design parameters rather well.

Whether it works for the modern metal player is going to be limited to the player in question and when one can actually get their hands on them and play them.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 16, 2015)

s2k9k said:


> Prices seem good to me
> 
> Yamaha THR100HD 100-watt 2-channel Modeling Head | Sweetwater.com



Well, that's a lot better than the $1200 I thought it would be.


----------



## rewihendrix (Sep 16, 2015)

Mordacain said:


> Absolutely it's a different tone, but who's to say that a warm jazzy clean is what is necessarily the best tone to have? The volume drop is negligible when the power amp is sufficiently driven (the drop is only noticeable when playing under 90dB or so in my long experience playing 100 watt amps).
> 
> Something to bear in mind though is that this is a product marketed to most guitar players. Metal players are a relatively small subset of guitar players everywhere. For pretty much all everything else in the rock realm, a clean obtained by rolling off the guitar volume on a gained up, mid-heavy tone is one of the ideal clean tones you can have.
> 
> ...



Agreed on every point.

I guess what I'm looking for is something in between this pure plug-n-play (great sounds, ease of use, but just a touch lacking in functionality) and the Oxford dictionary of drop-down menus and presets that is every other modeling amp.


----------



## Fathand (Sep 17, 2015)

Too much nice gear coming out these days. I'm diggin' this (too) a lot!

Anderton's playthrough video shows pretty nicely what you can do with this, and I could imagine using this for home practice and recording (DI + 1 x 12" cab). Seems to take pedals pretty nicely too.

...and this is somewhat closer to the "modular modeling amp" I was dreaming about in the Helix thread - I could basically load a more bass friendly IR into this thing and use it as a bass amp.. right? Wattage might be a small issue, but if you use the DI...


----------



## RustInPeace (Dec 8, 2015)

Got to try one of these recently. The dual amp setup. I really wasnt digging the high gain tones. I didnt really mess with the settings on the back though, but it didnt blow me away for the $1k price tag. Ill stick with my 5153 50w


----------



## rewihendrix (Dec 12, 2015)

The way the effects loop works is a dealbreaker for me. Basically means you can't run the amp in channel-switching mode with effects in both channels.


----------

