Recording - August 2014 - 41

becoming a Blend knob for modeled piezo
pickup and miked sounds. Finally, the Flat
model removes the amp modeling from the
audio path, so as to capture other audio
sources besides guitars. I didn't get to try the
THR10 with a Rhodes electric piano, but it
sounded awesome with my synthesizers!
It's worth noting that since all of these
controls are in the digital domain, not only
can a knob change its function based on
the model (see the Acoustic example
above), but a seemingly simple control can
have multiple effects when cranked up. The
best example of this is the Master knob,
which for the five guitar amp models adds
in the natural compression you hear in a
real amp when cranked way up.
The two Effect knobs not only increase
effect depth, but let you switch from sound to
sound. Each knob accesses four different
effects over its travel; the Effect knob jumps
from Chorus to Flanger to Phaser to Tremolo,
and the Delay/Reverb knob jumps from
Delay to Delay/Reverb to Spring to Hall. It's
a bit limiting to have only control over delay
amount/feedback without delay time control, so the THR10 lets you use the Tap Tempo
button to set delay times precisely. And if you
need more effects control than that, you can
have it, as I'll explain in a moment.
Plug in (your DAW)
The Aux Input mixes with any signal coming from your DAW over USB, and the
THR10 acts as a 4-in/2-out audio interface
with 24-bit/44/1 kHz conversion. What's
interesting here is that the four inputs are for
a stereo signal of the modeled/effected guitar sound as well as a stereo (centered) dry
guitar input. That gives the guitarist the
option of capturing tracks with the amp providing "confidence tone" for an inspiring
performance while preserving dry sound
for later reamplification, all without the
need for an extra DI box. The THR10
comes with a DVD of Steinberg's Cubase
AI, a good entry-level DAW program for
those users who don't have one yet.
The THR10 also comes with Mac/
Windows patch editor software that lets you
save and recall presets from a huge library
and decide which five you'd like to store in
the amp itself. Of particular interest to tweakheads: while there are no more controls for
the amp models than you get on the box
itself, the two Effects knobs suddenly turn into
a full-on effects rack! There's a compressor,
modulation effect, delay, reverb, and noise
gate, in five separate slots with multiple models and parameter choices that change
depending on the model you're using. You
don't get control of these effects from the
amp itself, but your settings are stored in
User Memories for instant recall.

electroacoustic mandola sounded gorgeous
through the Acoustic model with the miked
tone turned up in Blend, and as I mentioned
before, the Flat model worked fantastically
with my keyboards. But to judge the five guitar amp models, I wanted to hook up with
someone who worked with recording guitars
every day, and Recording author and educator Michael Schulze gave me that chance.
I dropped in on Michael at the Lamont
School of Music at the University of Denver
to do some playing with a variety of guitarcentric recording tools; you read some of
Michael's impressions of the Hotone
Skyline effects pedals and Maxon Fuzz
Elements stompboxes in our July 2014
issue. I also brought the THR10 with me,
and it ended up occupying our attention
for a good part of the day.
Michael was fascinated by the THR10,
and had comments about the various models as he played through them. He noted,
"The Crunch model has a nice touch to it,
it responds very well to playing dynamics

and guitar volume control. The Middle control for the Crunch model is a nice meaty
Fender-style middle, not a 1 kHz Marshall
middle. I like the tone of this... it's basslight, but that's the size of the speakers...
get a dynamic or ribbon mic close to it and
you could get your bass that way."
Michael chose the Crunch model as his
favorite, followed closely by the Lead
model, of which he said, "This is a nice,
more vintage-style lead tone, not an overthe-top lead tone with super high gain." Of
the Brit Hi model, he noted, "This is a very
bright sound, less midrangy and meaty
than the Lead, but a nice tone that still
sounds good when the amp is set to be
quiet." The Modern model "saturates and
gets darker as you add gain. The change
in tone is pretty cool."
Over the course of our tests, Michael kept
gravitating back to the Crunch model. "This
is the most full of the models. I would gravitate toward this with an added distortion
stompbox... it'd be fun to show up at a gig
with just this amp!" His curiosity about
adding low end via close miking finally got
the better of him, and he ended up putting a
Shure SM57 and a Cascade Microphones
Fat Head ribbon on the THR10 and listening
to the results in the control room as one of his
students played in the tracking room. True to
his expectation, both mics in the right position yielded a full, meaty tone with plenty
down low.
Thumbs up
This little amp/modeler/interface/effects
processor is a blast to play with. It's got a
great feature set, great sound, and a price
tag that will see it happily taking up residence
in a lot of small studios. Check it out!
Price: $299.99
More from: Yamaha,
http://4wrd.it/thramps

Fun in the big room
I tested the Bass, Acoustic, and Flat models in my home studio. The Bass model made
my Schecter A-5X really roar, my nylon-string
RECORDING August 2014

http://www.4wrd.it/thramps

Recording - August 2014

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