Yamaha DG100-212

This is a follow-up review to my yamaha digital amp, the dg100-212. Since I purchased this amp, I have learned so many things about tone and effects. To be honest, I probably bought this amp for all the cool gizmos and whistles (motorized knobs!) more than for the pure tone of the different pre-amps. When I got it, the amp had three digital reverbs and a tape echo delay. Since then, I've been able to download chorus and tremolo from Yamaha's website along with some pretty cool presets, some of which I found I could use without any tweaking. It has the xlr output to run the signal straight to a mixer, but miking(sp?) the amp sounds better than the output even with the speaker sim on. You definately need a midi foot pedal to use this amplifier in a live situation.
This amp is very versatile. I can't think of any type of music you couldn't play with it. My band runs the gamut of styles, and it performs well in any situation. I've never needed to turn it up past eleven o'clock, and it sounds great at whatever volume you play it at.
I really can't think of any features this amp needs to have. I already don't have to buy a chorus, tremolo, or delay pedal. Plus it has an effects loop with a wet/dry knob. What more could I ask for?

There is no question for me on what to give this catagory. Each preamp serves a purpose, and I love the way they are all different. And I love the way each of them sound. I've played many different guitars through the amp, and some preamps are better for a single coil, while some are better for a humbucker. I guess that's why there are different types of guitars. There isn't anything in the sound catagory that I don't like about this guitar amplifier. It can be very full and rich, or soft and mushy, or in your face, depending on what your looking for in the song.
I used it in the studio for our band's latest record and the amp is not noisy at all. I love the way my guitar sounds on the cd, so that is what counts. From tube-like hi-gain to solid state clean, it does it all, and it does it all with substance.

This is one of the reasons I've decided to review my amp again. For two solid years, absolutely no problems, and then one day.... nothing. I don't gig without a back-up fortunately, and my band was in Kentucky (we're based in Oklahoma City) We had played that morning at a youth fall retreat, and loaded up to drive the 30 minutes or so to the church for a youth revival that started the next day. We got to the church and set up and blink... nothing. When we got back to town I put it in the shop. All the motorized knobs were working, and all the presets still worked, but no sound was coming out of the amp. So it has broken down, and I'll let you know how long, and how much it costs to fix it. The warranty was one year contrary to the three years that a girl at Yamaha told me when I purchased the amp two years ago.
Let's face it, everything breaks down eventually. ALWAYS take a backup!
I will give a rating when I get my amp back.

Like I stated above, there was a mixup when someone told me the warranty was longer than it was. Evidently Yamaha power amps have a three year warranty, but their guitar amps only have a one year warranty. Like I stated in my first review, loopy!?!

Overall, I'd say that I love my dg100. I hate that I don't have it right now. It makes me sound like me. There is a reason that people buy backup amps that are the same as their gigging amps. Oh if I could afford another one of these right now. There are a couple of things that I don't care for on the amp.
#1-If you take the battery out, or try a hard reset, all your hard work of coming up with your own sounds is gone like a fart in the wind. Buying a midi data filer is very important! Lesson learned the hard way for me! If and when I get my amp back, I'm going to have to find my sounds again.
#2-It's in the shop!
This is my amp, and I love it. No amp is going to be perfect, but this one is perfect for me.
Maybe you too!

This amp has all the features anyone should need, but it would be nice if the midi foot controller came with it. An amp like this that has the ability to make all of these different sounds is only half complete if you can't dance around between all of the patches easily.

I play Hamer teles and strats for single coils. That means Seymour Duncan Alnico ProII's on the strat and Seymour Duncan vintage Broadcaster lead and vintage rhythm on the tele. For humbuckers I play an Ibanez V and an Ibanez Destroyer. I also play a custom tele that has EMG active TC tele pickups. The sounds this amp makes are absolutely great. Don't get me wrong, it will not nail to a "T" every famous amp voice you could ever look for. For instance, I'm still looking for the spank that you get from a tele or strat through a Matchless. This amp comes close, but it doesn't nail it. But realistically, it does everything great instead of one thing perfect. Depends on how anal you are about tone, I guess. I do think that the digital tape echo is excellent, I stopped thinking about buying an old Echoplex once I got this amp. And many of the tones are very warm. But like I said, if you just have to have a certain tone from a particular model amp, and it must be dead-on, then buy that amp. I don't have enough money for all the amps I want, so this one will do quite well with just a little bit of compromise on my part.

No reliability problems yet, and good thing. Read on about Customer Support...

Yamaha is not too hard to get ahold of, but here is where I have a complaint. I downloaded the V.2.0 software upgrade from the web and tried to install it via Midi from my computer. WARNING!!!!! The midi interface on this amp WILL NOT work with ALL computers/soundcards/midi interfaces. It is picky. My HP Vectra PIII-500 with onboard Crystal Fusion Soundcard would not work. A Midiman Midisport Serial Bus midi box would not work. What's worse, when I tried it through the soundcard's midi port, it passed the initial test on the Yamaha download program, but then errored out once the transfer started. And if that happens, it wipes out all of the programming. What you have on your hands at that point is a $1000 paperweight that no longer works at all!! Guitar Center, who I bought it from, were idiots, they didn't even know what I was talking about when I called them (San Jose). The closest service center was 50 miles away, and the tech guys had no clear cut answer at that point. I even wrote three letters asking them to lend me an MDF-3 to do the download and never even got a response. I thought I was screwed, but I began carting it around to various friend's houses to try the download on their computers. It finally worked when I hooked it up to a Dell. The Dell used a generic soundcard, which utilized Yamaha OPL3 driver sets (Gee, wonder why it worked, duh!). So beware the Midi interface, or at least Yamaha's download executable that's available on the web. You screw the pooch and you're on your own, as far as Yamaha is concerned.

I've been playing for about 28 years, and I've owned a zillion different guitars. I've had many amps, although in the past I was partial to GK solid state amps. But they always sounded a little harsh and tinney to me. As far as solid state goes, this amp's versatility is a winner. If it were stolen, I'd go listen to the DG60 or DG80, simply because this mutha is HEAVY! I'm sick of lugging it around, but it is a great amp. I'm still going to have to go buy a Fender and a Matchless. There are two distinct tones there that I'm not willing to compromise on anymore, at least in the studio. For everything else, as well as live gigs, the Yamaha fits the bill for me.

The amp's features have already been listed before on this site, so I will be brief:
- Choice of low and high guitar inputs
- 8 guitar amp models
- Genuine knob interface with motorized knobs which rotate to correpond to patch settings
- Reverb, Delay (Chorus and Tremolo on later models, also available via download)
- Effects send and return
- Balanced output with (or without) speaker simulation
- Celestion 12 inch speakers
- MIDI controllable

I bought this amp used in October 2000, and it was manufactured before chorus and tremolo were included as effects. Because I already use a BOSS SE-70 for effects (and perhaps because of laziness!), I have not yet downloaded the software for chorus and tremolo into the amp.

I play a Parker Fly Classic (which I have also reviewed here at Harmony Central) into the Yamaha and sometimes use the BOSS SE-70 for effects. Between the Yamaha and the SE-70, I pretty much have all the features I want.

Whether the amp has enough features or not depends on what you are looking for. If you want every bell and whistle (pitch shifting, wahs, flangers,...), you should look elsewhere (probably a Johnson Millenium or a Rocktron Taboo). But if you want a single replacement for a variety of tube amps, this is the way to go.

The two feature suggestions that I would have for Yamaha (these should be easy, should not compromise the design or quality of the amp, and should be really useful to all guitarists) are:
(1) A headphone jack
(2) An electronic tuner

I play a Parker Fly Classic which has a great warm magnetic pickup tone and a crystal clean piezo pickup tone. The Yamaha DG 212 is a great complement for the Parker, because the variety of sounds that you can get out the combination is incredible. Moreover, most of the sounds are really good (which is the bottom line).

I play a lot of 80's rock, some progressive rock, and recently some ethnic (South Asian) folk music in a rock format. The amp handles all responsibilities very well. What it really excels in are warm, tubey sounds with a sweet midrange (some of this is because of the Parker Classic guitar). The amp cleans up really well as you turn down the guitar's volume (something I rarely did before I bought this amp).

The Yamaha is faithful to the characteristics of the guitar's original tone. It does not "homogenize" tone across guitars or pickups. On my Parker Fly Classic, a change in string gauge (nines to tens) made a very noticeable difference in the sound, even in a high-gain patch. Moreover, I played a friend's Fender Strat through the Yamaha and the amp handled single coils very well.

One thing the Yamaha will not do by itself - the "scooped mids" heavy metal sound. You need to put a pedal before the amp for that.

The amp is usually very quiet, which is impressive because it does not have a noise gate. But despite its quiet preamp, powerful lights, interference from other instruments, etc. can cause some noise. A noise gate would have helped in such situations.

A last word about sound - the amp has plenty of transparent power in the power amplifier to preseve the exact tone that you dialled into the preamp, all the way from low to very high volumes.

I have had this amp for about 3 months now and it has never given me any trouble. I use it without a backup for gigs, because if something were to happen to my Yamaha, I would simply use the distortions and amp simulators in my BOSS SE-70 (which has faithfully served me for 5 years) and go straight into the mixer.

I bought the amp used and haven't dealt with the company.

I have been playing guitar for over 10 years now. I also own a Parker Fly Classic, a BOSS SE-70 and a Fender Champ.

My overall recommendation is: If you are a serious musician interested in gorgeous tone that rivals or even exceeds those from your classic tube amps, check out the Yamaha DG100 212. It is very different from the other digital modeling amps out there - interface, sounds and all. It may not have as many bells and whistles as some other amps, but its fundamentals (tone) are unrivalled by other digital modeling amps in its price range.

Okay....
Eight diff. amp voicings; tremelo, chorus, echo, 3 reverbs; 2 celestion vintage 30's. 128 locations to save your sounds. Don't expect specific amp name brands in the amp voicings. Yamaha goes above that marketing bullshit to give the pro some seriously useful tools to gig with. This amp provides distinct, professional sounds with the balls to deliver what the working musician needs, for rock, country, jazz, blues, and more. The variety is amazing, mixed with simplicity of use.. you'll be amazed. Pay attention to this amp, kiddies. Your fancy, expensive, name-brand shit is cool and all (yes, I've played 'em), but Yamaha is on to something, and many pro players will be paying some attention to this product's technology before too long. It sounds so raw and real (not synthetic at all). The moving knobs are addicting, and they feed the intuitiveness, which only makes it fun, instead of tedious. You can punch buttons to get to the 128 sound locations, or buy a foot switch` to get to 'em instantly on stage (thru very easy MIDI) - that's what I do with a Boss GT-3, as well as control volume via its volume treadle.
Twist knobs until you like what you hear, save, and move on. Or play to your heart's desire. I usually find myself playing guitar late into the night because it's such a damn fun amp. And of course, it shines at gigs - it has done so for about 1 year. Has lots of power. I don't worry about what I'm up against in any situation anymore, volume-wise. But not just volume - tone.

Versatile!
I'm a realist. I don't pick nits down to the thinnest pubic hair. Yes, tubes are wonderful - I agree. I've played them. But if Mr. Purist can put away the pride long enough to really try this out, I believe he'll be pleasantly surprised. It's got balls, dynamics, and will let your guitar's color come out the front. It's as tubey and raw as I've seen yet in the digi world. I've seen lots of people here both praise and criticize either its clean or distortion sounds. My take is that the cleans can be rich (and clean), and are very good. Distortions are tasty and can be really mean.. but if you don't want a lot, back off the gain and enjoy the gnarly shit in between, because it delivers that too. This amp responds very close to the way the amps of yore did. I'll end this section with the word I started with... versatile!

One year.. no problems yet. Yamaha is known for higher-end shit in the pro musican world. So yes, I do trust this amp - it appears to be built to last. Put it this way - been packing it around to gigs for a year and it's fine. But a word to the wise: Always treat your shit with a little respect when packing it around. I lay my amp back-down over a foam rug in the back of my truck (w/campershell). If it goes in another band members rig I make sure it's secure and un-encroached by other gear. It's basic respect for your stuff. But hey, if you lay a combo tube amp down on it's back, you might worry about the bumps in the ride messing up tubes or their connections. Not me. And when I get there I plug in to the Yammy and get a great tube-like sound everytime.

Yamaha's good for helping you out. I know this first hand. The head honcho of Yamaha guitars and amps (Gary) personally responded to me to provide the V2 update before it even reached the public. I do feel comfortable with Yamaha in this category.

As you can probably tell, I'm content with this piece of gear. If you've done your time and are tired of tedious, extraneous programming with complicated shit, or you're tired of having to search for (or keep) 28 amps around to express yourself, try this amp out. It is pure simplicity, with major balls and tone. Add to that 128 sounds you save to access at any time. It's a winner.
Yep, I love it! It'll be a serious piece of gear around my place for a time to come.

Try it.. crank it.. do whatever they'll let you in the store. Except for various guitars' noisy-ass pick-ups (or PU configs), this amp is noise free.. so I wouldn't be blaming an obnoxious experience on this amp. So many people do that, mostly the unexperienced. To them, I'd suggest flipping your guitar switches every which way - if you get a noise-free sound somewhere in there, your amp is doing fine. When you get an obnoxious one, blame it on your guitar. Or turn your body and guitar a bit to minimize it, and live with it (your guitar).

Great amp.. muscle.. simplicity.. versatility! I know the game is subjective, but I can't see disappointment being delivered in this amp. Rather, I see a lot of eyes opened. Moreover, pleasure!

PREVIEW: I don't own this amp yet, but would like to, but I've been messing with them in stores for a while. I would like to point out a few things until I get the chance to post a decent review. The first thing is, why is this thing not getting "10"s all across the board in the features department. Doggone guys, you've got motorized knobs that turn when you get to a certain preset, can instantly save them (with the touch of one, count 'em, one button), and everything is automatically there, including any about or setting of reverb, simulated tape delay, chorus, and tremolo. AND an effects loop. I realize there are maybe 100 people in the U.S. that might need more, but I just can't imagine (I grant that some need midi).

TONE TWEAKS: First off, I will freely admit that the DG amps can very easily sound edgy and brittle (best words to describe the phenomena), but I have remedies for that (stay tuned). One thing to remember is that this amp needs a lot of tweaking, as it has a lot of sounds that are available. Don't let the cheesy factory presets turn you off. Do some knob twiddling of your own when you check one out. Now, I'd been playing these for quite some time, and I think it's perfect for anyone who needs a lot of different sounds (at least decent ones) at the touch of a footswitch, like Pink Floyd one song, SRV the next, and then Rush, U2, and Zeppelin. However, one thing that bothered me was that the gain tones still sounded a little harsh. It seemed that no matter how I dialed it, I still couldn't lose that edgy, brittle quality totally that's inherent in the overdrive. And then I learned the trick.

HERE'S THE TRICK: I learned this from Steve Lukather (actually, from someone else who learned this from Steve Lukather). One way to lose a bit of the harshness (aside from the usual treble and presence tweaking) is to access the effects, and while leaving the chorus' rate and speed controls all the way down, turn the chorus level all the way up. Trust me, this fattens things up in a big way. It's not overwhelming, but it's the one thing that totally (in some voicings) eliminates that edgy brittleness. "Luke" says that's how he got the lead sound in Rosanna, by doing the same thing with a TC Electronics Chorus+. In Crunch 1, with the gain all the way up, I could get eerily close to Eric Johnson lead sounds, and Cream era Clapton stuff. Does this sound just like a real tube amp? No. It still has a bit of that modeling sound, but if you tweak the amp right you almost don't notice it.

CONSIDER: All this is coming from an admitted high end tube amp snob who has owned both vintage Fenders and Marshalls (sixties pieces, guys), Kendrick, Bogner, Diaz, Dr. Z, Mesa, and I still own a Matchless - and I've played a lot more amps than that, "where folks that know what a good tube amp is supposed to feel and sound like". The sounds don't really edge out any of my aforementioned amps. But they do come close. In some cases, real close, when dialed right. You just have to play with it. And when you consider you'll pay a little over $1000 for the 100w 2x12 combo, and the fact that you can recall 128 patches instantly, and the knobs(!) are motorized, it's really undeniable that this is probably the world's greatest gigging amp for guys that need a lot of sounds "right now", and don't want to fool with racks and footpedals and a thousand cables, etc. You owe it to yourself to at least try it if you haven't and are able. You might not like it much, as personal taste is a consideration, but you have to admire the people at Yamaha at least for all the thought that was put into this. Kudos.

Very versatile. It's a digital modeling amp that simulates eight different amp-tones and it gives you echo, reverb, chorus and tremolo. It's not all that loud for a hundred-watt amp but still, loud enough. I use it in all kinds of situations. From playing small clubs to playing major stages in front of 5-8000 people. It also features motorized knobs so that you always know the true position after a patch-change. This is not only a fun gadget, it is actually quite helpful. This is something that the other digital amps don't have. The one feature that I don't like is- THE WEIGHT! In my custom-made flightcase it weighs in at about 110 pounds...

I play everything from pop, soul, jazz to country and irish folkmusic on this amp. It never really fails. I'm not really pleased with the crunch-sounds though. I can't really get it to sparkle like a tubescreamer and a Twin would. I front the amp with different guitars- strats, teles, jazzboxes and it lets the guitars true personality shine through.

Seems reliable to me.

Never dealt with Yamaha. Standard factorywarranty. Should be longer. I have had amps with lifetime-warranty.

It's the best modelingamp you can get. When you get one of these you're most probably after the versatility and it gives you that. To me it has a much clearer sound than the Line6 and Johnsons. I wish today that I had bought the preamp-version (DG1000) and matched that with a good poweramp and two Mesa Recto 1x12's so if it was stolen or damaged I'd probably get that. I control it with a Custom Audio RS-10 that I bought directly from Bob Bradshaw. It rules! Best controller ever made! Oh, I have to say this again- the weight onthe DG sucks big time!!!

Lots of features as mentioned before. I have the MFC10 foot control that goes with it and I can control volume which comes in handy when switching presets as volume can change. With the foot control it is a very powerful amp.

The sound is very natural, full and expressive. The speakers really sound great and the power really is more than needed for a 2x12 combo. I didnt like many of the presets which had echo and chorus and too much reverb, vibrato etc. but you can store 128 presets so there is room for lots of different sounds.

The amp is well taken care of so it has not had any problems, and when I gig it always sounds great .That is the best thing about the amp, since it can store the sounds you like there is no time wasted trying to get the sound you need unlike a regular amp. Which you would have to redial in eq, reverb, vibrato, chorus, etc.

n/a

Would have to replace it if stolen although it is a pricey amp. I can really get nice tones out of this thing. I like the 8 different amp models better with different guitars. Some sound much better with the Telecaster and with the Strat, most amp models sound good with humbuckers. But there are sounds in this thing to please anyone I would imagine. Not quite the best amp around but it does what it does to the point where the amp models sound has real tubelike response and doesnt have boring digital modelling tone. Who has the money for the few vintage valve amps that this thing comes so close to sounding like? The best tubelike "real" sound I heard ever come from a digital setup.

I bought this amp new in Jan. 2000 and wrote a review here within a few weeks, which might still be found here. This serves as an update after using this amp for 6 months.

My original review was quite high. Little has changed... I've been gigging regularly with this amp and continue to dig it more than any other combo amp or processor I've had. The hunt for the amp that would work for me went on for several years, and I bought and sold off a lot of equipment like a lot of people do. The DG has everything that I was after. Everybody has different interests in gear.. some people do enjoy extensive stereo programming in menus, etc. After going that route myself for a while, my needs changed and I settled on a criteria that had to be met before I would dish out any more money on another new rig. This was it:
It had to be a 1 or 2 speaker solid-stae combo guitar amp. I love tubes, but I just didn't want to mess with them. It had to have multiple sound patches that could be recalled with a foot-controller... in essence, not just 2 sounds resulting from a 2-channel amp, but SEVERAL sounds to go from one style of music to another (I do a lot of classic rock and country). If a modeling amp, it had to have convincing tube tone and also approach the power of tubes.. weight was no problem if it had real power. No sterile sounding crap at all.. no mosquito tones... it had to have the beef. It had to have extreme ease-of-use and enable me to make occasional tone mods easily on-stage. That pretty much ruled out menus. It had to be so comprehensive that I could read the manual once and not have to read it again. It had to have beefy speakers that are in high regard among professionals.
The DG met all this.

I used to plug into my processors to play guitar by myself and then quit in 5 minutes because I wasn't satisfied with the sound and didn't feel like diving into the parameters inside menus to change things. It became a tedious thing and I wouldn't play at all sometimes because of so much to have to screw with in menus. But now it's fun to go into my rehearsal room at home and turn knobs and just play guitar. Gigs are funner too! I have no desire to save money for any more amps. In fact, after 20-plus years of spending my money on nothing but music gear, I finally felt comfortable going out and blowing some coin on an entirely different toy.. a motorcycle.

The one and only thing on my wish list for this amp is that there could be a 2 modes of operation when switching/choosing a different amp-voicing. As it is, when you choose a different amp-voicing inside a given patch, all the knobs return to pre-set "neutral" position. I like that sometimes (as a fresh canvas), but other times it would be nice to have all the knob settings stay put while I compare my tone tweaks between different amp models. I'll bet Yamaha could write that into the software without too much effort. How about it Yamaha.. vers. 3 ??

I've rambled on enough. In my book this is a great amp with muscle and simplicity.. I have developed no regrets whatsoever.

it seems to be a pretty nice amp. i got it because i thought it sounded pretty good and i liked the knobs that moved on their own. i think it has quite a few features, more than most amps.

i play it with a single-coil solid body guitar and i think it sounds good through the amp. i try to make the amp sound like some stuff i hear and it does a pretty good job. it has a few different distortions and two cleans. plus gain and master knobs so u can have some variety. the reverb sounds digital though, they should have thrown in real spring reverb, could have made it better. oh yeah it has tape echo, chorus, and trem that sound ok too. the distortion can be heavy or calm since it has 6 different choices. i like the sounds it makes, one of the better solidstate amps around id wager.

i've only had it for 2 weeks so i dont know yet. the knobs might need repaired some time in the future. i just play once in a while so they will probably last awhile though. i could see them wearing fast for a gigging musician. and it seems to be build well plus has casters so it seems like it was built well.

again it has a warranty but i never had a problem so i cant give an opinion. i think it was made overseas so it might be a problem. but i think yamaha has repair places in the US i think. warranty is for 2 years i think

i traded some of my other stuff to get this amp so this is my only amp and i like it. i hope it never gets stolen because then i wouldnt have any amps. it definitely is loud enough for me it is 100 watts and has 2 12inch speakers that are loud. i dont play it that loud but it sounds good at low volume too. i like having the wheels to move it around. i wish it had real spring reverb, my other 2 previous amps had real spring reverb that was better than my new amps. i cant rate it as good as something a professional musican would use for their performances but i think it is good for what i need it for. which is just to have fun trying to play some stuff.

This is really a feature-loaded amp that still keeps it vintage in styling and that is one thing i really like about it. Then knobs are all motorized if you choose to use presets (you can store 128 settings). It also has digital tape echo that i use just slightly for a nice almost reverb quality or i can go crazy with it and turn the feedback knob, time and level up to achieve a Pink Floyd phsycadelic echo sound. It has digital reverb (spring,hall,plate), tremolo with intensity and time knobs, and chorus with 3 adjust knobs that sounds better than any pedal i have tried yet. Although i dont use these all that much they are nice to have. It also has a trim know to adjust depending on how hot your pickups are. It has treble, high mid, low mid, and bass knobs, plus presence control. I just keep dialing away until i find a setting i like and then store it as a number but write it down in a notepad as a song it sounds like (such as little wing intro, little wing solo, or blue sky lead). I also write the pickup and tone settings used on my guitar. This makes it really easy to achieve a sound i liked before. I love it!
It has effects loop send and return with a blend control, line out, and midi pedal implementation, plus can the speakers can be plugged into another amp head easily to be used as a cab.

I use it with my Fender American Standard Strat, old 1961 Fender Esquire (much like Tele), Guild Starfire jazz guitar, and a new Dean Chafin Del Sol which is another semi-hollow blues/jazz guitar. It feeds back alot with my acoustic (Yamaha LL-11) but i just have a transducer without a preamp, i think a preamp with a feedback notch would help that. For now, i just turn the gain down and the master up on one of the clean channels when playing it.
This amp suits blues, rock, jazz well but probably not metal although i never play it anyway. The amp is too warm sounding for metal probably in part due to the Celestion Vintage 30s. Although lead channels are saturated and probably can be used for some metal they still are kind of warm and bluesy, especially when lowering guitar volume and gain on amp. The drive channels are good for rock and blues and with gain you can dial in a variety of distortions. The crunch channels are good for a slight distortion sound or like it says crunch although i think Crunch 1 sounds quite warm and bassy.
The clean channels are shimmering and quite nice but can be distorted with high gain like a tube amp so i leave it on 5 and master on 10 then adjust output accordingly.

Although i have only owned it for 2 months i dont think it is the most reliable amp you can get. The knobs are motorizied which, although i have had no problems, im sure they wont last forever, but i wouldnt mind not having them if it would cost alot to fix them. For now i have a 1 year warranty that they are covered under. I bought this amp at a local store which leads me to another story.
I like the way this amp sounded in the store alot but when i got home i turned it up and noticed a slight buzziness or rattle when playing at bassy volumes, especially on Crunch 1 preamp (which is bassy). I first took it back to the store and they held it for a week and said it had no problems electronically and didnt really notice a buzz unless maybe turned up real loud. So i kind of said OK reluctantly and took it home. I tried my bass out on it and it definitely was buzzing when playing bass. The buzz seemed to be coming from the amp itself, not the speakers. Now i have a Fender BXR200 bass amp and it can handle bass without buzzing so i knew something was wrong. I didnt want to take it back because they would have to send it to a repair center and i wouldnt have it back for a long time. I still really like the sound of the amp and just wanted to figure out what was wrong. I took it apart and took the head out and padded the inside with a sound dampener. This helped slightly but it was still doing it (again mainly on bassy setting and crunch 1 particularly). I squeezed an oak board in between the head's frame and the bottom of the cab kind of right behind the left speaker and this really helped. The head itself was kind of capturing the sound and amplifying it and making a buzz like a soundboard on an acoustic.
Well i just had to mention that. Maybe the Dg130 head and Dgs412 cab would be better for someone who likes to play loud. This combo's head can kind of buzz when up on loud bassy settings but i remedied it.

Well i mentioned earlier that i had a problem earlier and it would have been a pain to get it fixed. I should have noticed the buzz before i bought it but i didnt. Anyways im glad i didnt since i fixed the problem and now have a great, great sounding amp. But as i said customer service for me was a kicker.

I have been playing for 7 years and like to play some of my own blues/jazz oriented stylings, Pink Floyd, Doors, Grateful Dead, Phish, Eric Clapton, Allman Bros., and many more tone monging bands. This amp can come pretty close to a lot of sounds around and is hands down the best digital modeling amp around i have ever tried. I tried the Line6AX2 and Johnson Millenium which even has 2 12AX7s in the preamp. This amp sounds more like a tube amp than any of them. It dont sound quite exactly like a tube amp but very close. It may not have menus but i like its style more. I have a Fender Twin Reverb combo also which is nice as well but has better reverb and they both cost about the same. Which one would i recommend more? I can't decide but would probably be the Fender.... no wait the Yamaha can do that tape echo....the Yamaha.....the Fender.... i like both and NEED both!