chyc

4 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Found s/h (in France...), all under £150...

 

Fender Super Champ XD..?

Ibanez TSA 5..?

Blackstar HT-1R..?

Fender Champion 600

Bugera V22..?

Blackstar HT5..?

 

Nothing similar near you..? 

 

Thanks, I'll check them out!

6 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

I'll admit to not understanding; if the sound you're after comes from a small valve combo, with reverb, why not look for and buy a small valve combo with reverb..? It would cost no more (possibly much less...) than the Yamaha, and solve the issue, no..? 

That's a fair point. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place to find a valve amp at a decent price. Cheapest THR30 I can see is £300. If I go for the THR10 then it's £150. Is that doable for an all-valve combo? I guess size is also an important factor: an all-valve combo will come with at least a 10" cone compared with the THR that can fit on a shelf.

I can do without much of the other fanciness that Yamaha have included in the box: I've been burnt with the Amplifi.

I've seen puff pieces online for this thing, and I don't trust any of them. Are people using this amp here? What are people's experience with them?

A few months ago I tried a valve amp for the first time after years of using emulators like the Line 6 Amplifi. I can now believe it when people say "real valves cannot be properly emulated", particularly compared with emulation tech from 11 years ago. However the march of progress continues and I'm curious how something recent such as this Yamaha combo stacks up on that front.

I wouldn't say I have particularly sensitive ears or a definite tone that I'm after, but I was shocked at how much nicer a guitar sounded with a clean valve combo plus tube reverb. To be frank, I wish I'd never tried that valve amp as now I have a real itch for a better tone. I've been looking at Ashdown all-valve guitar amps but something cheaper would be more appropriate for my ability.

On 14/02/2022 at 15:07, EdwardMarlowe said:

That does sound odd! There must be a reason for it, though, if it's designed that way! 

I've found the manual online:

Quote

RECORDING/HEADPHONE jack

This speaker-emulated jack enables you to connect directly to a mixing console

or portable recorder such as a Korg PXR4 or D1600. Additionally, you can hook-

up headphones to this jack for a great emulated sound. Turning the VOLUME

controls (6) to zero will facilitate "silent" practicing.

So there's some proof  I'm not making it up. You can alter the headphone loudness by twiddling the gain knob, then then obviously that affects the gain!

19 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

As memory serves, these were designed so they could be used either as an amp on their own, or as a pre-amp (I believe May's original is exclusively a pre-amp). Could some wiring quirk around that be why the headphones work oddly that way? 

 

Possibly. It's intentional though, because the instructions make mention of that. Means volume controls don't work for headphones.

I'd need to double check, but the line-out feed *does* cut the speakers, but then if you plug your headphones into it it only comes out one ear. So infuriating.

I have one, along with a Burns Brian May guitar. Definitely could sound like the man himself if I could play like him. I just choose not to (practise).

The original Deacy I believe was a speaker and a battery, so no volume or gain. The VOX one has all the knobs you'd expect from a combo, but there are some really odd design decisions. One that for the life of me I cannot understand is that using the headphone output doesn't cut the speaker output, so you  put some headphones on and your neighbours will still hear you.

Reliability wise, the thing has failed on me and been repaired. It's old, but I hardly play it so that's not a ringing endorsement. If you like near Oxford you're welcome to come try it. It's currently gathering dust under my desk at work.

Interestingly it looks like the promotional photos on their own website show the problem you're having. Of course I wouldn't have noticed it unless someone pointed it out.

Sorry you experienced that. Such a shame because otherwise it looks like a mighty fine guitar stand. Just a few mm difference in design and this wouldn't have been an issue.

https://ruach-music.com/product/ruach-gr-3-customisable-3-way-guitar-rack-for-guitars-and-cases-copy/