Yamaha THR5A

Today I took delivery of a new acoustic amp.

I have had my Mya Moe for a while which is fitted with a passive K&K twin spot and a new Kanile'a which has one of their active pickups fitted. I had never previously been attracted to using an amplifier but was clearing out my cable drawer the other day when I came across a 1/4 inch to 3.5mm cable I didn't know I had and as I had nothing else to do on a rainy afternoon I plugged one end into my Kanile'a and the other into the mic input on my PC and turned the volume up. It sounded surprisingly good.That got me thinking and looking at YouTube reviews to see what the options were. In the end I decided to go for the Yamaha. If it doesn't sound great I'll just send it back, I thought.

It is amazing! My Kanile'a sounds fabulous. Loud at about a third volume. My Mya Moe sounds fabulous too but needs a bit more volume - it absolutely does not need a pre-amp which is what I was worried about. They both sound amazing when I add a pair of headphones too - this machine is incredible. I have experimented a little with the presets and like the hall sound but will probably mainly use a clean natural sound with maybe a touch of reverb.

I think this would work for solo performances in very small venues but not if it had to compete with other instruments, however I only want it for home use so am more than satisfied with the volume.

My wife, a guitar player plugged in her Faith Naked Venus and agreed - it is worth every penny.

I think there are more THR5A owners here? Is this not the best acoustic home/practise amp there is?

My first foray into small acoustic amps was the THR5A. Like you, I play K&K-equipped Kanile’as through it sans preamp. It’s great — just an instrument, instrument cable, and an amp with 8 rechargeable AAs gives you a little clean headroom and access to reverb, compression, and delay. I use mine all the time for poolside parties with friends, jam circles, back porch picking sessions, etc.

I have one and use a computer battery thru the ac plugin. It lasts for hours and hours. Konanmike posted a thread about the batteries a few years ago. A great combo and both fit in a bag. Nice thing is it can be set on a shelf and not taking up floor space.

I know I'm late to the party and this has been around for a few years now but I'm very impressed. No complaints from the neighbours yet either.

Yes I have had one for a couple years and they are a great battery powered small practice amp. The different microphone modeling settings are fun to play with and different ukes sound better through specific settings. I have it plugged in most of the time but the convenience of battery power when taking it to practices session or jams is great. Congratulations on your purchase.