The latest offerings from Yamaha in the area of digital amp modeling include the DG Stompbox and the DG60FX-112 which incorporates the DG stomp box into a amp combo.
The DG80-112 is an 80 watt, single 12" speaker (Celestion) DSP-based digital modeling amp. This amp has received rave reviews on newsgroups, Harmony-Central user reviews (garnered 8.9 overall rating) as well as a digital amp shoot-out in Guitar Player magazine form 1999. In fact, the DG80-112 bested the Rocktron Replitone, though both amps received the Editor's Best Pick award.
Weighing in at 52 lbs, the DG80-112 boasts 128 user and preset programs, 40 or 50 of which the user can modify. The amp originally shipped with reverb and echo as it's only 2 effects, yet still captured awards for the best sounding digital amp in a field where competitors sported dozens of effects.
To help make up for the lack of effects, Yamaha initially offered a free DanElectro Cool
Cat Chorus pedal to new DG amp owners. Since then, Yamaha has issued a
software patch
to add both chorus and tremelo as well 80 new patches to the DG series of amps.
Yamaha's MIDI pedal costs about $300. Other
cheaper alternatives that may or may not work,
include:
Here are excerpts from a few reviews plucked from
http://www.deja.com, searching for yamaha dg80.
It is hard to find a negative review of the DG80 even from digital amp haters.
Patches
Patches can be downlaoded from the following locations:
MIDI pedals
Reviews
Hi Daniel,
Like you I have some reservations about modeling amps. But, hoping to be
open minded I tried out a Yamaha DG80 for a week. During that time I played
three times - once with a jazz group the others with a rock based group. I
used an old Tele and a Wolfgang. I also had access to some other amps for
comparison (old Fender twin, Fender Deluxe hot rod, Peavey Classic 30 and a
JTM 30 Marshall.
These are my thoughts:
1.) The Yamaha/Tele had a beautiful clean sound for jazz and was able to
emulate a twin almost perfectly.
2.) Using the Wolfgang I was able to get the sound almost identical to the
twin with a TS9 pedal.
3.) The Classic in my mind sounded sterile compared to the Yamaha
4.) By tweaking I was able to get a sound similar to the Marshall.
5.) The amp cut through in a live setting just fine. I've always heard that
modeling amps don't do this but it worked fine for me.
I have little criticism about the Yamaha but.... I was still afraid of it
and didn't buy it. Incidentally the Marshall and the Yamaha were being sold
for the same price. Granted the Classic is not in the same price bracket
and it would have been better to compare it to a 50.
This is only IMHO.
Keith
>>FWIW - an excellent guitar-playing friend of mine worked at the local
MARS. I stopped into visit him once, asked him what was cool of all
the thinks he was selling. He proceeded to fire up on of those Yam.s
and play hot country licks that sounded pretty good (turned a few
heads and made a few teenagers emabarrased to continue playing...
whatever it is they play these days). He was suitably impressed with
the sound.<<
I tried the DG80 when visting a MARS in Cincinnati. I too was impressed. I
had been VERY underwhelmed when trying to use POD with a band live. Best thing
about the Yamahas (other than their sound) is that they will work with standard
midi pedals. You're not forced into buying proprietary crap like the big Line6
and Johnson pedals to get the most out of your amp.
I just tried the Yamaha DG 80 at the guitar
center here in Silicon Valley and liked it. I'm
trying to convince myself to take the plunge and
buy a modeling combo (convenience, sonic variety,
step into the 21st century, etc.).
The fact that Yamaha has already responded to
potential gripes about "no tremelo" and provided
a patch is impressive responsiveness (is this
common amongst modeling amp vendors?).
My biggest fear is that I'll buy a modeling amp
and then it will be made obsolete or get
discontinued (I guess keys players get over this
fear by buying MIDI controllers and replacing
sound modules over time as piano sampling gets
better...)