Yamaha's THR100H Converts Tube Amp Player
Roseville, CA- Last year, I did a review on the Yamaha THR10X awhile back and loved it as a home practice amp. Recently, I broke down and purchased the big brother, the Yamaha- THR100H.
Starting off with a very small open back 1-12 speaker cab with a very good Fane speaker, the original plan was switching to a bigger cab later on. However, after a few months, we love how well the small small cabinet works with this Yamaha head.
The THR100H includes five pre amp settings in the front with all the normal EQ, gain, volume, reverb, and features a boost as well. Around back it has 5 power tube settings, class A or class A/B, and power from 25 to 100 watts. The foot pedal can control the boost and the reverb.
Connectivity & Modifications
For those seeking more customization over their sound, you can connect your computer and jump online at the Yamaha website to modify the factory settings by downloading different boosts, reverbs and noise gates.
Starting off in the lead pre amp setting with my common EQ settings, I used the EL34 power tube setting with the 100 watts of A/B class. (Expect standard Marshall type tones) With the boost off and a touch of reverb, it delivers the classic power rock tones. To pump out some fantastic sounding leads, consider turning to the Xotic AC overdrive.
Floored by Dumble and Mesa Tones
Seeing what else this unit could deliver, we were floored with some very cool Dumble type tones in the class A/b 6v6 settings and perfect Vox/Dr Z tones with the class A EL84 tube setting.
The Modern pre amp setting with the 6L6 power tubes in class A/B 100 watts really nailed the modern Mesa tones with ease.
Ideal Settings Discovered
Going online and talking with many players on the forum helped us discover our ideal setting…
Crunch pre amp setting with EL34 power tubes and class A/B 100 watts with the Boost on just a tad. thisdelivers very tube-like sweet cleans and a nice big fat crunch. Dream lead tones that I only used to dream about were obtained by adding in an OD pedal.
Yamaha also makes a dual-head that gives you twice as much as this model, I can only wonder about how great that one must be!
Modeling Convert after 45 Years
After 45 years of playing tube amps, I am hooked on these modeling amps now. I have used modeling amps in the studio for over 15 years but never live, until now.
I couldn't find a single negative aspect playing the Yamaha THR100H and that really says a lot.
If you can go and try one out you might find your dream amp.