THR30 II A Wireless Acoustic 30-watt Modeling Combo Review

Not what I expected

After owning one of Yamaha's older models the THR10 (which I still love) I had high hopes when I bought this one. I was expecting since it has more wattage then the THR10 it would be louder. But after playing them side by side it really isn't. Which is super bizarre considering one is 10watts and the other is 30. So don't expect this to be a loud amp. It works best as… read more a desktop amp and it does that well. Now I have used it busking on the street I had to turn it all the way up, gain 100% and volume. And it still barely hung in there. My friends Roland street cube blew it out of the water. The tone is alright if you are just using it for acoustic guitar, still found the the THR10 to be better. However I never found any use for the other sound settings (nylon, tube, etc). The "Flat" setting is the best for acoustic guitar in my opinion granted everyone's pickups are a little different. But also in the flat setting you can get the most volume. I mean the main con I guess is the volume, I just expected more from such an expensive amp. It does alright just jamming away in your room, it's not a great busking amp. If you plan on just using this strictly as a practice amp I think you'll be pretty happy with it. If you plan on playing out at all the lack of volume might let you down.

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Guitar tone is not what I expected

I had high hopes for this amplifier, having previously owned a THR5A, as well as a THR10C, and a THR10ii. During the past year, I've been using the 10C as a home PA, utilizing a small mixer plugged into the line input jack. It has worked very well in that capacity, with the 10ii amplifying my electrics and the 5A for the acoustics. I purchased the THR30iiA in the hope that it… read more would provide a battery operated portable system to use at small social gatherings. The vocal channel is rich sounding, even without the mixer, but the tone on the guitar channel is very brittle sounding when compared to the THR5A. The low end is very disappointingly thin and lacking in body, even when utilizing a Fishman or LR Baggs preamp to color the tone. I spent a couple of hours making adjustments in THR remote, in an attempt to duplicate the tone I get from the THR5A, but I've been unable to come anywhere close to finding a match. I do get a decent tone with an electric in the flat setting, using a TC Electronics G System to color the tone to my liking. Hopefully, continued experimentation will find a better acoustic tone.

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Great for our intended use.

I've had this unit for over a month and really enjoy it and so does my girlfriend. We primarily use it in the house to enjoy playing songs with different sound variations. Given that and all of its features, it is well worth the money (IMHO). But like any product; use it outside of its capability and you get some of the harsh reviews on it. I think some people fall into the… read more advertising trap as well and expect more than the product actually delivers. And no, it is not perfect. My personal thoughts: * overall great sound quality * volume was more than adequate for indoor use, while outdoor was acceptable given its size * sound variations are plentiful (and using headphones really becomes immersive) * Bluetooth is great for use like background tracks or just for streaming music * G10T works great, though as with any wireless device of this type, I had some interference pending on playing location * The app is simple to use and offers more sound flexibility over the dials * microphone and singing along...OK, my girlfriend singing since I can't sing for shi* sounds great with the options to alter the sound (which still does not help my voice). * portability and battery life is a bonus If you take the unit as designed and all of its features, it deserves nothing less than a 4-5 star rating. Can the app be better; yes and I expect updates (like every app out there). Would I prefer dials over using an app; somewhat, but you can only have some many dials for the form factor, so kudo's to Yamaha for provided us a means for more sound flexibility. Do I wish it had more bass...yes, but this is a personal preference and the target is for acoustics after all. Oh and Sweetwater as a company...it's truly the best. They worked over a month on an issue I had (turned out to be user error) and even did an exchange. This company exemplifies what customer service and satisfaction is all about.

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Updated Review

I'd like to update a segment of my previous review. The Bluetooth issue (not going to zero) seems to have been resolved. I personally don't know what changed as two separate devices exhibited this anomaly. But hey... it works now. Also, upon reading my previous review, I may have been overly harsh, namely the 30 watt point. In all, it's fine for it's intended purpose. And I do think… read more making it a modular system is feasible even with some of the preamp noise, which I'll probably end up doing once we're all out gigging again. Seeing how it's essentially several things all crammed into one elegant housing, I DO recommend it (another change from my previous review) now with some of the teething issues resolved. Happy playing.

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Decent but with sizable drawbacks

I've owned the THR30IIA acoustic amp just over a month so I feel I can finally give a comprehensive review of the unit. In short, it's a love- hate relationship. A little background first. My reason for wanting this amp was so that I could create a modular system. For example, the THR by itself for home use, then when playing at a cafe or larger, I can simply add a powered speaker… read more to the 1/4" jacks in the rear and build out from there depending on the venue. In effect, I would use the THR as a sort of PA head/mixer I could control from the app and wirelessly via the G10T transmitter. I like this idea because I'm not bound to an unwieldy (and ugly) amp inside the home for quiet practice. I simply add on as needed. By placing a jack into the headphone port, one can mute the speaker on the THR and basically use it a glorified DI box/preamp/mixer. So there's a few options. However, I've discovered a few quirks about the amp that give me pause about doing things this way. So read ahead fo the Pros and Cons. PROS: The form factor is nice. The front plate is metal however the rest of the unit is plastic. It looks good on a bookshelf but it most likely won't take a hard fall. It's really meant to be the third amp in your life (THR.Get it?) behind a gigging amp, a practice amp, and now this, a home amp that isn't an eyesore in the living room. Through headphones it sounds pretty good (with preamp caveats - more on that later) and the stereo imaging sounds really nice. It really does sound like two mics are place in front of the guitar. The different mic emulations give a different character in each setting so it can alter one guitar enough for a variety of textures. The effects are pleasing and adjustable via the nice knobs or the app. However, the app is where you want to stay. You can fine tune the unit MUCH more via the app and there's just more options that way. It has a decent rechargeable battery though I've never ran it down to completion, so I can't say for certain how long it will last in the real world. It's G10T ready as it has a receiver built in. I haven't bought one, and not sure I would but it's nice to know it's there if you don't want a mess of cables. It would have been awesome if it was included, but what are ya gonna do? You're able to record a dry signal out from the external jacks. The right channel will be wet while the left is dry (or other way around, I forget). This is good for adding ones own reverb in post if you wish. However, the vocals will NOT be separated. Bummer. I would have been nice if this was an option so one can tweak each in post. CONS: 30 watts is weak. I find myself turning up the gain to about 3 o'clock(!) and maxing the onboard volume on my guitar to get an acceptable level just in the home. I'm not rocking out either. I can only guess that because of the nature of an acoustic guitar, it doesn't have the mids that a emulated electric guitar amp would have so it doesn't ever cut through. There's no firmware or anything that can change this. It's just a weak sounding amp in this regard. When using the THR as a home stereo playing music via Bluetooth, the volume never decreases to zero! Even when the volume is literally off on my iOS device, the THR is still producing sound (maybe like 1 or 2 on a volume knob of a stereo). This may be solvable with a software update and I can only assume it's a bug. If you tweak a parameter on the app, and then twist a knob on the unit, the THR will default back to the factory parameters. This is annoying because the factory parameters are heavy handed. Chorus for example (in my opinion) should be subtle but the factory parameters makes me sound like a mid 80's acoustic rocker. However the app allows you to adjust pre-chorus, the mix and feedback etc etc. So essentially, you're bound to the app if you actually want to make it sound good. Granted, you can save a preset, but every situation is different, and you may want to just adjust something quickly, and the app is the only way unless you want to default back to factory. The App works (for now). However when I bought the unit, it was useless. The latest iOS update (14.3) solved all the issues, but it highlights a point. Because of point 3 above, a new update may break the app, and in doing so, break your fine controls over the amp. The compressor (in the app - it's not available on the physical unit) colors the tone way too much. There should be a mix knob in the app to allow for the transients to come through better. Instead, turning on the compressor darkens the overall tone and makes everything sound "wooly." I never use it for this reason. Also, there's no High Pass Filter on the guitar portion of the app, only on the mic portion. The preamps are just noisy. I know it says it's the D-Pre, but I also own the Yamaha MG06X and those are very clear. These are just a hiss machine. My mic is a Sennheiser e935 so it generally needs bit of a bump, but I'm questioning it's ability beyond the living room, especially for my particular need I wrote above about being modular. All in all, if I had the opportunity to buy it again, I probably wouldn't. There's just too many drawbacks in my personal use case. Some of the issues can be fixed with a software/firmware update. Others like the 30 watt output is just what it is. Because we're all in a lockdown, I decided to keep it for now, but down the road I already know I'll sell it off. The staff at Sweetwater were helpful as always.

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