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The Roland Cube series is probably the most popular all-in-one mini amplifier, but of all the things it gets right, distortion is not one of them. There were those novelty Marshall micro amps that clipped to your belt like a walkie-talkie – and sounded like one, too. You might have tried to get by with a Pignose, especially if you saw Crossroads, but rock and metal would have been out of reach. The desktop amp was not much of a market before. You’ll find yourself setting up in a corner here or an armchair there and wailing away for hours. It’ll even run on batteries, if you want to rock the yard over summer. You get a generous lengthy power cable to help create a little noodling zone anywhere you fancy. They’re all cute enough and small enough to look good in an office, living room or bedroom.
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This version, with its flat green paint and stenciled markings, looks like Master Chief’s lunch box. It’s such an attractive little package, with the rounded corners, metal case and faux tube glow. Let there be no doubt that aesthetics helped Yamaha convince so many players they needed a desktop practice amp. Here we’ll look at the THR10X, which specializes in filthy high-gain tones. These are the modelers we can enjoy free of distrust, leaving only fun. Yamaha’s range of loaf-sized 10-watt practice amps has proven enormously popular, even with the tone snobs positioned as an addition to, rather than a replacement for, the guitarist’s “real” amp, the THR10s acknowledge their position in the food chain, and thrive in it.