Yamaha - THR-II

Started by admin, September 19, 2019, 07:11:56 AM

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admin









https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/amps_accessories/
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/amps_accessories/thr-ii/specs.html#product-tabs
Realistic tube-amp tones and feel plus essential effects
15 guitar amp models, 3 bass amp models, 3 mic models for acoustic-electrics, and flat voicings for everything else
Bluetooth® support for audio playback and editing via THR Remote
Built-in wireless receiver compatible with optional Line 6® Relay® G10T transmitter
Built-in rechargeable battery lets you play anywhere
Hi-Fi audio playback with Extended Stereo Technology
Plug-and-Play USB connectivity for recording and playback
1/4" line outputs provide additional flexibility for recording or performance
THR Remote editor/librarian app for desktop and mobile devices




https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/6/1287046/thr30ii_wireless_en_qg_a0.pdf
https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/7/1287107/thr30ii_wireless_en_rm_a0.pdf


gumtown

An improved version of the Boss Katana Air ?
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Mrchevy

#3
I have run across this recently myself. I am very intrigued. Specifically the 30 watt version. I love that the batteries are rechargeable. Apparently it has shipped now but first run has been depleted and all my sources are taking orders for the next run  :-\ . I have tried the competitors and while they had some features that the thr 10 didn't have, I just thought the THR sounded better. I have the THR10c but would have liked to have the other amp models too. New THR II fixes that combining all 3 amps into one. Still no FX loop but my GT100 sounds good plugged into the AUX in. The price is a little steep at $500 without wireless or $600 with it. but if it sounds as good as the original, I may bite. GC and SA store cards with 0% interest promo's make it very tempting. I foresee GAS and NGAD in the near future. Divorce lawyer on speed dial  ;D

Andertons does a great demo and review here...

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

mchad


I'm keen to see Yamaha develop the THR100HD. If they do my two Katana 100's are out the door. Unless of course Boss do a stereo Katana.  :o

Mrchevy

#5
NAD........ I picked up the THR10II today. Couldn't see dulling out $500 or $600, so went for the base model (non wireless)$299. it still has the bluetooth and app capabilty. I installed the app on my phone before going to the money disposal facility, so i could try it out before pulling the trigger. worked great. I was able to get some really good sounds out of it in just the short time tinkering with it. The only time playing it so far has been at the store, so I will run it thru some paces and do a follow up in a couple of days. I will say that it does have more ass than the older ones as its 20 watts. Still not gigable without PA assistance but enough to run off the cat.

Side note : I tinkered with the Katana Air while there and the fender GT40, because they were there. My opinion means nothing but I thought BOTH were junk. Wanted to try the vox adio, but none were to be seen. YT demos between the Vox and Yamaha seemed to be favorable regardless of which one you decided on but one minor short coming for me, the vox offers reverb OR delay, but not both at the same time. Theres not a whole lot out there as far as reviews on the non wireless version so if anyone has any questions about the $299 version let me know and I will do my best to answer questions.I also have the older THR10c if anyone needs something compared.
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

admin

#6

Gear used - A Fender Yngwie Malmsteen overdrive, plus a Boss NS-2 noise gate, or a Strymon Sunset.

Mrchevy

I will give kudos to his chops. More than I have. I don't think much of his review and respectfully disagree with it. I thought the factory presets he demo'd sounded better than his. I was able to get much better sounds out of it just the little time I spent with it in the store. I think his overall demeanor in the video towards the amp seems to display a genuine disinterest in it to start with. It's one thing to be interested in something then get disappointed in the end, I can see that, but if your looking for a Ferrari, you don't go drive a Toyota, why would you. Bitching about the different preset levels ???? Did you try adjusting the volume before setting the preset. I heard more nonsense than legitimate grips. Some will like it, some won't, depends on what your wanting from an amp. I've been happy with the THR10c so I think I will likely enjoy the newer models added features. time will tell. Thanks for the video Steve, I had not found this one when looking.
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

admin

#8
^ agreed

Elmo does bring a different perspective being an independent reviewer
QuoteGear used - A Fender Yngwie Malmsteen overdrive, plus a Boss NS-2 noise gate, or a Strymon Sunset.
But he has a habit of always using an additional stomp box  floor booster distortion on most of his Amp demos -
then demonstrate " This amp sounds terrible"  - when its actually because he is overloading the input preamp>A/D convertor on the DSP amp under review

Classic examples of: "This Amp does not play well with pedals"  
You might miss the fact he's Not running  guitar straight into the amp under review. 
He tries to always aim for Metal tones most of the time which means if you're seeking classic rock / blues tones- he'll convince you the amp you are considering is a lemon - though it maybe perfectly suitable for non metal genres

And he intentionally rigged his Fender Champion 50 review with settings no one would  actually use

Mrchevy

To be fair, I was using a nice Les Paul Standard when I tried it out at the store, not a crappy Ibanez ;D
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

Mrchevy

    OK, here is my thoughts and opinions on the THR10II $299 version.
Its going back. All my thoughts are based on comparison to the THR10C I have. While I don't really play heavy metal anymore, I have in the past, and I wasn't really impressed with the hi gain models. not bad, but not good. I did find I liked a lot of them with the gain rolled back and were adequate for classic rock, but I could get that with the THR10C. Now my THR10C has the original firmware, not the updated version, never did it as most of what I was reading at the time was not to favorable for the updated sounds so I left it alone. While I did get some good sounds out of it, I felt it was a little cumbersome getting them compared to my original THR10C.

    The "all new models" didn't seem as good to me as in the original. I never did get that deep, far away clean that I got in my THR10C. I didn't think the wide stereo span sounded as good either, didn't seem to sound as wide,smooth, and creamy as in the THR10C. I don't know if the extra watts has anything to do with it. It is louder, but for the intended market originally aimed at "bedroom rock stars", I don't think the extra volume was really needed. I've not played the THR10 or 10X much but I think it would have served the THR community if they had just combined the original 3 together in one amp as everyone wanted, but left the models alone. Adding the wireless and bluetooth is certainly a nice addition which brings me to the next thing, the app and bluetooth. Now the app seems to function fine but it did seem just a touch buggy at times. Bluetooth disconnected a couple of times and once or twice some changes didn't stick for whatever reason. I suspect Yamaha will fine tune it in an upcoming update and it will be fine. You get 1 delay. did I mention you only get 1 delay. The effects are ok but a little sparse compared to other offerings, a few more options would be nice.

     Another dislike is the app and editor visual. It is a very basic 2 dimensional look compared to the original editor which was 3 dimensional and much easier on the eyes. I couldn't figure out how to play music from my phone with the bluetooth, probably user error. I did connect my MP3 player into the AUX in. I thought the MP3 player sounded better in my THR10C than in the new model, which makes me wonder if they changed the power amp, speakers, or acoustics of the amp which might explain it not sounding as good overall IMO. My only other complaint is they changed the headphone jack from a 1/4" to an 1/8" jack. I do use it occasionally as a line out to my board and I just like a beefier jack for that.

   In closing of my personal review, the subtle cosmetics of the new amp, I am indifferent. I think they went in the right direction in some things but made some obvious changes that I think would have been better left alone. It was the king after all. IMO, the older ones were better, albeit with less features. I think I'll be keeping the THR10C and maybe run my Zoom MS 50 G into it if the mood to thrash strikes me. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I now have my eye on that Wasa Air wireless headphone amp from Boss. Dear Santa...............
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

Mrchevy

#11
Just a couple of additional notes..... I did finally get the Bluetooth music to work. The THR10II shows up with 2 different signals, one has a Bluetooth icon (for the app) and the other has a headphone icon (MP3). It seemed to work well and I played a few songs off Youtube and it DID sound good and full. My MP3 player wired connection I think is just not the best quality recordings so I give back the thumbs up for the Bluetooth MP3.Also, the editor doesn't seem to work on earlier versions of windows, only 10, not even 8.1

I also want to note that the guitars I used was a Gibson LP custom with JB/Jazz pickups and a PRS SE custom 24 with stock pickups. The hi gain models may sound better for metal if I had Hot pickups  ??? I did not try it with single coils as I don't usually play my Strat, I just keep it around for when I just flat need the Quack sound. Just wanted to add these notes to be fair, YMMV
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

admin

Early Yamaha -  THR-II Reviews
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/29683127/
Monstercastle wrote>

I received my THR30II WL today. I've spent about 30 minutes getting acquainted with it and here are my initial thoughts.

The Good:
Feels substantial, not cheap plastic. Not light like my Katana Mini (which felt very toy like)
One of my Relay G10T transmitters connected immediately with no drop outs or connection problems.
Iphone XsMax stayed connected over bluetooth the entire time (and I have a lot of 2.4Ghz stuff in my office).
Near immediate feedback on the app from knob changes and vice versa
Sounds OK as a bluetooth speaker for streaming
The effects sound sound nice and are pretty useable
The Bad:
Everything sounds congested and or tinny/buzzy and a bit strident. This can be dialed out with some work, but I expected this to sound much better with all knobs at noon and not having to change cabs, which doesn't really change much for some.
Wild swings in volume, and EQ between models even within the same family. i.e. Classic to Boutique to Modern. I would have expected moving from crunch to lead to be more similar than different, just gained differently and a little more "compressed"
Reconnecting to bluetooth after powering the unit off/on was not automatic. Had to issue "connect" again through app to get it to connect again and bluetooth settings show two devices.
Gain/Master interaction is a bit all over the place. On some models it seemed like having both gain and master at noon resulted in gain staging problems and the sound got woofy and a bit like the stages were clipping harshly. Backing down the Master would help a bit, but this was almost like a fuzz effect most notable in the lower frequency area
In short, it's clear that this unit needs some software fixes and I hope that Yamaha is indeed working on this. If I'm reading the app right, my unit seems to have shipped with firmware version 1.30.0.C. Loading the factory presets didn't make the above go away for me.

I'm not planning to return it, but I'll play with it a a lot more over the next week before I make the final decision. I wanted this unit specifically for the built in battery and the wireless capability, so it does meet the use case I set out to solve for. It's not my primary amp (Mesa TC100) and I typically use my AxeFX III into FRFR for practice in my office space and recording, so this was to be a "third amp" just for noodling in the living room or out on the patio next Spring/Summer without my dogs getting tangled up in cables. While it certainly hasn't wowed me outright, I can get some good tones out of it for my intended purpose and that's worth what I spent on it to me.

~Doug


Mrchevy

I have to agree whole heartedly with this review. He ticked on several thoughts that I didn't mention. I was reading some other reviews on I think the Fractal Audio forum where a part of the thread was discussing the THR10II compared to the THR10C and a few of the 10C owners all were pretty much saying the same thing regarding the 10C just seemed to have better stereo imaging, and just seemed smoother and more hifi. They (and i think one of them works at Yamaha) were saying that some of the original amp models have been replaced and it is apparent that they didn't just combine the 3 originals.
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Epi Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG 50's prototype
Squire classic vibe 60's
Epi LP Modern
Epi SG Custom
Martin acoustic

Princeton chorus 210

GT100
GR-55
Helix LT
Waza Air Headphones
Boomerang III

And, a lot of stuff I DON'T need

admin


admin