On-Stage sound at home with Yamaha's revolutionary compact THR Combo-Amplifiers
The guitarist's fantasy: playing on stage at Wembley
The guitarist's reality: mostly playing at home, with an iPod, iPad or YouTube
The problem: guitar amps are designed for the fantasy, not the reality
The solution: an amp that gives you the sound and feel of playing on stage but is designed to fit in with how you really play
Until now conventional guitar amps have not met the rapidly growing number of guitarists playing at home with laptops and iPads - the traditional stage driven design does not work in this context.
A world leader in the professional and home audio sectors with an unmatched reputation for innovation, quality and durability, Yamaha has now combined this know-how to deliver the amp to match what guitarists really want and need - a living room friendly amp with incredible hi-fi reproduction, home recording and much more.
Now, Yamaha's unique and highly-affordable THR Guitar Amplifiers are revealed as the ultimate all-in-one compact solution for guitarists, recreating and delivering uncompromising tube amp sounds together with the features that guitarists really need - all in a package that fits on your desk. Yamaha's THR is the first guitar amplifier truly designed from the ground up for off stage and home use.
These highly compact units combine outstanding audio with ultra-cool good looks. Both THR amps have already received the coveted 'Guitarist Choice' awards from Guitarist magazine, the UK's top-selling specialist title, who described them as follows.
" Yamaha have reinvented the practice amp to dovetail perfectly with the demands of the average guitarist's modern life. Make no mistake , whichever THR units you choose, both amps will make you play more. They're also likely to consign existing iPod dock and laptop speakers to the attic. hi-fi reproduction via USB or the stereo auxiliary input is good enough to put some dedicated stereo systems to shame."
Priced at just £199 for the THR-5 and £299 for the THR-10, the amplifiers enable serious players to recreate stage and studio sounds at home, whilst beginners can emulate the sounds of their heroes with ease. Hugely versatile, the units also boast a wide range of programmable effects including delays and reverbs. They are loud enough for small gigs and, therefore, more than loud enough for the living room and the bedroom! On the beach or by the pool is cool too thanks to - 7 hours battery power.
How do they work? It's all down to Yamaha's exclusive Virtual Circuit Modelling (VCM) technology previously only available on their top-end live and studio digital mixing consoles. VCM delivers impeccable simulations of classic tube amplifiers, replicating every aspect and detail with amazing accuracy. And because VCM models the actual electronic circuits of an amp, not just the sound, THR is the first small amp that really responds like a tube amp cranked to ear-splitting volumes. Guitarists talk about the 'feel' of a tube amp turned all the way up - with THR you don't need arena-filling volume to get it.
Yamaha’s well known obsession for detail is evident in the superbly engineered brushed aluminum retro-chic cabinet and the heavy duty control knobs. Both units even emit a warm orange glow from behind the powder coated speaker grilles like a traditional valve amp- a feature Yamaha call ' virtual tube illumination'.
Also in evidence are the company’s hifi credentials, Yamaha's propriety Extended Stereo Technology ensures a spacious, three-dimensional experience previously unavailable on compact guitar combos : this feature makes them perfect for playing along to iTunes, YouTube and Spotify content via USB or an iPod or iPad via the universal auxiliary input. The amplifiers can be programmed with your personal settings and come complete with Cubase AI professional recording software for studio-grade recording and music production at home. The sophisticated USB editing facility also allows you to modify the sounds to the nth degree and share them with other players!
Yamaha's Julian Ward was a member of the development team and he sums up the product concept " The THR's break the cycle of compromise that has been associated with compact guitar amps. The design brief was simple : to make an amp that suited how, when and where guitarists really play. Pretty much every member of the THR team is a guitarist, so we looked at how we all played, and found we wanted the same things that we just couldn't get with our existing amps, big or small. And when we talked to other guitarists, their experience was basically the same. The thing that really sets THR aside from any other amp is the unique combination that only Yamaha can create - incredible guitar amp sounds, outstanding hi-fi playback and simple integration with your home computer and recording setup. It's not designed to replace a big amp, but to be an amp that everyone wants and needs but nobody has - the one that really works for all the time you spend playing that isn't on stage."
ENDS
FOR INFO AND TO WATCH THE VIDEO VISIT www.yamaha.com/thr
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