Hi Everybody,
I’ve been thinking of getting a new small practice amp for lessons/consultations. At the moment, I’m using a Roland Micro Cube GX. It does the job well enough I suppose (no complaints so far), but I only use a clean tone on the Black Panel setting, I find all of the models with more gain sound (and feel) quite bad.
Does anybody hav any recommendations for something which can get a nice clean and an acceptable distorted sound at a similar volume?
The Yamaha THR10 might fit the bill
That sounds good, that might be the one I go for. Having easily switcheable presets would be nice too.
Some of the Blackstar combos seem to be ok for practice amps. The ID core series have different modes (clean 1, clean 2, crunch 1, crunch 2, OD1, OD2) and you can also store individual patches for each mode. It also has a few reverbs, delays and modulation effects. It probably doesn’t sound amazing, but its quite versatile. Not sure how it stacks up against something like the Yamaha THR10.
I hope this helps 
@Tom_Gilroy are these all virtual lessons? Why not just use s-gear and share your machine’s audio on the video call? Even if in person…just use s-gear presets galore of course too!
S-Gear is great, and it would work for Zoom lessons from our office room where the monitors and interface are setup. However, my girlfriend uses that room during her working hours. When I teach during her working hours, I need to teach from another PC in our kitchen, so I need a small amplifer.
Doh. One of those times software ultimately answers to hardware
It’s funny, the reason I started using S-Gear in the first place was because she was working nights, and I couldn’t plug into my Cornfords while she was sleeping during the day. S-Gear, an audio interface and a pair of nice headphones was the best solution then.
Blackstar Fly is one of the most useful things I’ve bought lately. Has a useful OD and Delay too. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fly3--blackstar-fly-3-3-watt-1x3-inch-combo-amp
I hear good things about the Positive Grid Spark Mini.
I trust this guy’s recommendations:
I’d recommend either a Boss Katana or a Yamaha THR10, depending on what you’re looking for.
Are you after something really small and portable? If so, the Yamaha is a tiny practice amp that sounds good.
Are you after a 12" combo that can handle quiet, at-home practice volumes but can also keep up with a rock drummer? The Katana sounds great and is extremely versatile with all its effects.
I like both better than the Spark, but that may be worth a look. Another honorable mention is the Fender Champion, which is less versatile than the Katana in terms of effects but is easier to use with better cleans.
the new positive grid spark GO is actually quite pleasant for this.
Edit: I also own the Mooer GTRS Smart guitar with its little 5W bluetooth amp (basically personal ecosystem of guitar modeling, amps and effects within the mooer amp, it’s cool) and the Blackstary Fly 3 bluetooth amp. Im liking the Spark GO over both of these so far
the NUX Mighty Space is really nice and totally can be used wireless including power. The Clean and Distortion tones are pretty good too.
Hi Tom. I highly recommend the Fender Mustang GTX100. It has amazing features and it actually sounds really good. I have it sitting right next to my Marshall JVM410H half stack and it sounds remotely close! Sounds good loud or quiet. 40 amps. Multiple pedals. Bluetooth control from your phone. Comes with foot pedal. About 10 of my students have bought it and they all love it. And when one of my main amps that I use for students went down. I ended up buying one. Not cheap but can’t go wrong.
An iPhone has GarageBand on it for free, and that has guitar effects (I’m not sure how good they are).
I was wondering if you wanted some powered speakers in the room so you could either send in regular music (Spotify, etc.), your guitar, or even other audio. I guess it depends on if you need a great tone or not.
My home stereo setup in two rooms is a mixer with multiple sources (Alexa, computers, Axe-FX3, etc.) going to powered speakers, and this works very well for me, although some people think it is strange.
One more vote for the Katana, if you use a PC to get deep into the options you can really improve on the stock setup and get good sounds at whisper-quiet levels. Also loud enough to rehearse and cheap enough to not worry about.
Personally, I have found the Katana to be very underwhelming. Very limited on actual sound variations compared to the Fender Mustang GTX100, or even my old Line 6 Flextone. The sounds the Katana has are ok, but again, very limited. Editing is also WAY harder than on the Mustang GTX. Every student I have had, whom I have helped dial in their Katanas, have ended up bailing on it and getting the GTX. Just saying.
Hard to beat something like a Katana or Mustang. Particularly if you’re not picky about used/new. Some models can be had for a pittance and sound absolutely killer.
The Boss Katana in any of its versions is difficult to beat for this use case, IMHO.
Yeah, well, y’know, that just like, your opinion man.