Yamaha THR range but with fx loop!

Gear & Tools Talk 🔊 Amplification & Effects
21

Hehe, you’re banging your head against the wall on this one Gordon :wink:
You’re right. They missed a trick- or tricked the fools- whichever way you look at it. But it is what it is.
I don’t think see this as a primary working amp, as in a tool for chasing tones, recording etc (even if that’s how I use it). It’s an attractive, unobtrusive, small versatile amp you can easily have in a sitting room, bedroom or indeed outside.
Does it tick all the boxes? No.
Does anything else? :thinking:

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22

Cheers for those links, Clint :smiley:
As you may have gathered, I went on safari yesterday, big tone hunting, and was once again astounded at the unexplored beauty of the vast savannah. I understood more than on my last trip, but much remains a mystery… :wink:

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23

I think it may be more of a design choice. They COULD add one, but maybe it doesn’t fit in what they want the THR to be?

They see the THR as the third amplifier. One that you can put on your coffee table in the living room without it feeling terribly out of place. It’s meant to be unintrusive and low effort to get into (the built in battery and wireless receiver illustrate this).

The entire concept of the THR is “less is more”, and adding a load of pedals goes against that.

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24

Hi Gordon,
My vox 699euro ,(often more expencive) doesn’t have one either,…I haven’t missed it yet, but I can see a point coming that it can get annoying,…

Greetings,…

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25

That’s the reason I have changed from Katana 50 to 100, it’s only a tad bulkier than 50 but as you say not as compact as THR. If you are keen you could exchange existing 50 through PMT or alike store, they took mine for £100 which I was happy with.

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26

The other reason I fancy the THR is the ability to access various preset tones. I can’t do this on my Katana 50 as it is not iPhone/iPad compatible.
That feature probably outweighs the lack of fx loop.

27

Maybe worth asking if anyone has any experience of using the Katana Librarian app on the iPad with their katana using a Bluetooth adaptor?

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28

As Socio says I found this workaround, shame that they made app only for Android users surprised me there.

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29

Maybe also worth checking out the below as Justin did some videos with him

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30

This is what I use being as my main amp doesn’t have an FX loop, you can pick one up for around £70/80, might be worth ringing around your local guitar shops if you’re interested!
I also use it into a Thomann 1x10” Celestion CAB if I want great Fender tweed sounds!

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31

This may also be of interest:

Cheers,

Keith

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32

My gut feeling is a mark 3 version of the Katana range is due. When and if that happens, I would bet on it having Bluetooth for streaming and app control, probably as an add-on option via the Boss BT-DUAL as that seems to be their strategic approach.

My reasoning is that the original Katana came out in 2016, and the mark 2 in 2019. My guess is they do product refreshes every 3-5 years. Bluetooth is something that the Katana is lacking compared with the recent competition, and something that Boss seem to be enabling on many of their more recent products. I can see them wanting to address that for the Katana in the near future.

Obviously, that doesn’t help those who already have a Katana. In that case I would consider the Airstep, as in the video I posted above.

Personally, I prefer a footswitch for this, which is a 3rd party add-on for the THR (which is why I bought the Airstep for my THR). Obviously being able to select and tweak those patches is also useful.

For the Katana, the Airstep Kat edition scratches both those itches.

Cheers,

Keith

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33

It is a really useful piece of kit :smiley:
I find I only ever really use it though, if I am practicing for (or performing) an open mic or video recording; otherwise I just pause and tap the button.

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34

I think that is a great call. If I understand correctly @sairfingers has to dial in the tones manually as his computer have up and therefore doesn’t have access to Tone Studio to build up a library of presets and swap them over. With the airstep he can access Tone Studio or Katana Librarian (which seems to be recommended more) as well as having footswitch control.

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35

Thanks for all your replies and interest in my query guys. I’ve looked at your various suggestions and some other options on the internet.
It all gets a bit too complicated and nothing solves both the fx loop issue and the amp to internet connection issue.
I’ll save the money that would be required for a footswitch etc and bide my time until the next generation of Katana or THR comes out.
Until then I’ll play with the mainly clean tone I probably like best anyway. :smiley:

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36

You may have to wait for a while. Boss have just done a minor product refresh with the Katana mk 2 50 EX and mk 2 Artist Head/cab.

No FX loop on the 50W EX and no Bluetooth on either.

TBH, much as I would love to see an FX loop on the Katana 50, I’m not sure they will do it as it’s a reason to push people towards the 100 W model.

It’s a product strategy and, unless they see significant sales erosion from competitors like the Line 6 Catalyst because of this, I don’t see this changing.

But I do expect Bluetooth capabilities at some point in the future, across the range.

I suspect these recent product launches means any major refresh of the main Katana range are at least 6-12 months away.

Cheers,

Keith

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37

We’re also still in supply chain hell, and general global chaos with potential recessions, I doubt companies are rushing for new cutting edge product releases.

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