Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Thanks everyone for your comments. I love the idea of a small amp, both for its portability (from bedroom to living room and maybe to deck, and also because I do not need volume as I am not nor ever expect to be a gigger or even someone who gets together with other people to jam). The Yamaha THR is especially appealing in that regard. However, I don't want to sacrifice sound quality. I've been looking for a small tube amp but none of the ones I've looked at, over the internet, seem quite right. But it's so hard to know without demo-ing in person. As I live in Atlanta that shouldn't be too hard once the time is right for me to pull the trigger and once things start to open back up. There's certainly more than one sound I like but I'm not into everything. Mostly am not into heavy distortion, shredding, etc. I love the sound on Wind Cries Mary which I imagine to be something that is very much a tube sound but as I have very limited real experience, I am to some degree talking out my butt as the saying goes. But I love the rich full depth of sound, the clarity from high to low frequencies. If I can get that in a solid state/modeling amp, great. I also like what I would call the classic rock sound - like, for example, the intro to You Shook Me All Night Long. Anyway, I don't know how useful the internet is as I am ultimately listening for amp differences through the same decent-quality small headphone speakers. Well, as I say, I will be super excited to get into a store and listen to some of the amps on my candidate list in-person.

If you're on the north side of Atlanta, go to Rightous Guitars in Alpharetta/Roswell. They havean amazing selection of stuff. Don't be intimidated if you go, very helpful folks. Just make sure to ask for help before you try anything. They do like to pul down gearfor you so that you don't ding stuff up. Otherwise, great store.