Yamaha THR5A Acoustic Modeling Combo Amplifier in Gold
Jun 06, 2018
Yamaha THR5A Acoustic Modeling Amp
I was looking for a high quality amplifier for my electric cello that sounded as natural as possible, was lightweight, and had little or no tonal coloring. My Fishman loudbox 100 (similar to the loudbox artist) sounded really good, but was becoming a chore to cart back and forth to practices, and its power wasn't needed in a medium sized room.
This THR5A only weighs 4.4 lbs! After experimenting with the settings (microphone type, effects, reverb), I found a setting that produced a very pleasing sound. While the 3.3" speakers are tiny, and don't move a lot of air for a cello, the volume and quality and tonal transparency were surprisingly effective in a medium sized room. I can get more loudness than I need, especially with the pre-amp in the cello, and I like the reverb on the amp better than the built in reverb in the cello's pre-amp; it sounds very natural. I was expecting a wimpy sound, and was very pleasantly surprised. Added benefits are the built-in tuner, auxiliary input, and the fact that the amp can be battery powered. I also ran some guitars and a ukulele through the amp and they sounded wonderful - transparent and very natural. After listening to some other amps, such as Roland and Peavey, the tonal quality of this amp stands out as much cleaner. This is a 4.4 lb wonder, isn't terribly expensive (used), and it works well with an electric cello - a very tall order!