New amp for a future new Dad

[John(aka: Moby Dick)]

I keep a Yamaha thr10C under an end table in our living room.
You wouldn’t even notice it’s there.
I plug in and play along to YouTube videos on the TV.
It’s a great practice tool and also is great for direct recording into your favorite DAW.

Of all the gear I own, my thr10 gets used the most.

 

[Ddur]

Thanks a lot for the answers! I'm intrigued by the IR setup. I'll try to find a video or a website to educate myself. Is it something that I can still play through my pedal board? (I'm really new to the recording/studio gear world)

 

[Gallery]

Get a Suhr Reactive Load IR and a good pair of headphones... two kids later and it’s the best gear purchase I’ve ever made.

 

[stephen78]

Before my son was born I bought a Yamaha THR5 for headphone playing. Worked great! Now that he’s almost 2 and going back to daycare I’ve gone back to my amps for the most part, but still play the Yamaha at night.

 

[Jerry G]

I love my Fender Blues Jr. for playing at a low volume when I need to.

You still get that Fender sound and feel and reverb.

 

[Les Paul Lover]

Blackstar HT-1R

Funny - I have one (offered it to my 7yo son) and find it extremely disappointing.
I tried to upgrade to better amp, my my son won't have it so the better amps have gone.....

 

[Les Paul Lover]

You just need to work out what you need. Cleans only? Clean and dirt from amp?

What sort of volume do want to play at?

When my kids were young, I played through a range of 15 to 50w valve amps at home, all with excellent master volume, that enabled me to play at TV volume at home.

Below that sort of volume, you don't need an amp, I just play unplugged.

 

[heyrobscott]

Thanks a lot for the answers! I'm intrigued by the IR setup. I'll try to find a video or a website to educate myself. Is it something that I can still play through my pedal board? (I'm really new to the recording/studio gear world)

Yes, everything from guitar to amp stays the same, you just plug the amp's speaker cable into the Reactive Load, and then send that to your interface. You set the amp and your pedalboard to your preferred gain and settings, and the amp thinks the Reactive Load is your speaker.



You then run Pro Tools, Logic, or whatever DAW you have, and you use a plugin to load impulse responses to simulate your speaker(s) of choice. There's software that let's you load the plugin without having to open your DAW and setup a track, I use this when I just want to play quickly like normal. Speaker IRs are less than $10 each, you can purchase and download the ones you want, then switch between them with a click of a button.

If you get the Suhr Reactive Load IR, you can load the IRs directly on the device and can listen with headphones (you'll still need an interface or some type of powered speakers if you want to listen through speakers).



If you need a cheap interface, the Scarlett Solo or 2i2 is great. I just got the regular RL and connect it to a 2i2 and load an IR with the free Pulse IR loader plugin.

 

[De Batz]

Proper practice amp with headphone socket.

THR, that Vox Adios thing, whatever. I have a first run Mustang I and it is more than loud enough to wake children. I've also added a speaker out for when I want to shift a bit of air, but that gets maybe 15 minutes a week.

Thing is - sacrilege alert - it sounds better at low room volume than big amps turned down, attenuated, run into headphones via a number of routes, and modelling through (decent) monitors, particularly through a bigger cab. Why? For the same reason it's hard to park an F1 car in the supermarket. Too much power for the rather delicate application...

 

[De Batz]

Yes, everything from guitar to amp stays the same, you just plug the amp's speaker cable into the Reactive Load, and then send that to your interface. You set the amp and your pedalboard to your preferred gain and settings, and the amp thinks the Reactive Load is your speaker.



You then run Pro Tools, Logic, or whatever DAW you have, and you use a plugin to load impulse responses to simulate your speaker(s) of choice. There's software that let's you load the plugin without having to open your DAW and setup a track, I use this when I just want to play quickly like normal. Speaker IRs are less than $10 each, you can purchase and download the ones you want, then switch between them with a click of a button.

If you get the Suhr Reactive Load IR, you can load the IRs directly on the device and can listen with headphones (you'll still need an interface or some type of powered speakers if you want to listen through speakers).



If you need a cheap interface, the Scarlett Solo or 2i2 is great. I just got the regular RL and connect it to a 2i2 and load an IR with the free Pulse IR loader plugin.

This, if you're going for recording quality. My suggestion is to get you playing as much as possible, based on my own experience over 8 years and two noise-sensitive kids.

 

[SmartAlex]

I love my Fender Blues Jr. for playing at a low volume when I need to.

You still get that Fender sound and feel and reverb.

I am new to the Blues Junior world and got one recently. In what way would you call that a low volume amp?

 

[SmartAlex]

Yes, everything from guitar to amp stays the same, you just plug the amp's speaker cable into the Reactive Load, and then send that to your interface. You set the amp and your pedalboard to your preferred gain and settings, and the amp thinks the Reactive Load is your speaker.



You then run Pro Tools, Logic, or whatever DAW you have, and you use a plugin to load impulse responses to simulate your speaker(s) of choice. There's software that let's you load the plugin without having to open your DAW and setup a track, I use this when I just want to play quickly like normal. Speaker IRs are less than $10 each, you can purchase and download the ones you want, then switch between them with a click of a button.

If you get the Suhr Reactive Load IR, you can load the IRs directly on the device and can listen with headphones (you'll still need an interface or some type of powered speakers if you want to listen through speakers).



If you need a cheap interface, the Scarlett Solo or 2i2 is great. I just got the regular RL and connect it to a 2i2 and load an IR with the free Pulse IR loader plugin.

Second Scarlett Solo! Works great with Bias!

 

[Ddur]

Yes, everything from guitar to amp stays the same, you just plug the amp's speaker cable into the Reactive Load, and then send that to your interface. You set the amp and your pedalboard to your preferred gain and settings, and the amp thinks the Reactive Load is your speaker.



You then run Pro Tools, Logic, or whatever DAW you have, and you use a plugin to load impulse responses to simulate your speaker(s) of choice. There's software that let's you load the plugin without having to open your DAW and setup a track, I use this when I just want to play quickly like normal. Speaker IRs are less than $10 each, you can purchase and download the ones you want, then switch between them with a click of a button.

If you get the Suhr Reactive Load IR, you can load the IRs directly on the device and can listen with headphones (you'll still need an interface or some type of powered speakers if you want to listen through speakers).



If you need a cheap interface, the Scarlett Solo or 2i2 is great. I just got the regular RL and connect it to a 2i2 and load an IR with the free Pulse IR loader plugin.

Wow that's really interesting! Pricey, but it seems to be perfect.

Is there any cheaper alternative of the Suhr reactive Load?

 

[heyrobscott]

Wow that's really interesting! Pricey, but it seems to be perfect.

Is there any cheaper alternative of the Suhr reactive Load?

Hit up Rogue Guitar or Prymaxe and see if they'll give you 15% off. I got my regular RL for $300.

 

[RC Mike]

No directly guitar-related, but what gave me the most practice/free time is a Snoo. Best baby purchase we’ve made, by far.

At one month, he was sleeping for 3.5 to 4 hour chunks at night. By two months, slightly longer with just one wake up to feed. At three months, he started sleeping for about 9 hours through the night. It’s made sleep easy, consistent, and possible.

 

[heyrobscott]

No directly guitar-related, but what gave me the most practice/free time is a Snoo. Best baby purchase we’ve made, by far.

At one month, he was sleeping for 3.5 to 4 hour chunks at night. By two months, slightly longer with just one wake up to feed. At three months, he started sleeping for about 9 hours through the night. It’s made sleep easy, consistent, and possible.

We also had a Snoo. When my wife told me the price my head exploded, but eventually gave in, and it was probably the best purchase we made. We got it new and sold it after six months on FB Marketplace for a good price and got a lot of our money back, so it was definitely worth the investment.

 

[MrTAteMyBalls]

Yamaha thr

 

[TeamJA]

Congrats! Get ready for a ride of a lifetime. My son, Waylon, just turned 3. It's been a blur. I was so tired my first year I don't even remember if I played at all...lol

I used and still use my Quilter 101. I already had it for back up while gigging and it absolutely works great with my pedals.

I like that it can serve two purposes.

 

[tonedover]

yamaha thr 10 series

great sound, low volume, small form factor

 

[SteveO]

My dad is a keyboardist, and when I was a wee little munchkin he had a very large Guilbransen organ (three keyboards and a full pedalboard). I used to fall asleep every night to the sounds of that beast shaking the house.