Yamaha DG130HA

-130W (solid state)
-8 amp voicings (Clean 1&2, Crunch 1&2, Drive 1&2, and Lead 1&2)
-Motorized knobs that turn automatically when changing between presets (gain, master, bass, lo mid, high mid, treble, presence, reverb)
-Trim level to accommodate different output levels of pickups and an output knob that works as the overall master volume
-128 presets can be controlled through MIDI
-FX Loop with blend level control
-DI out
-4 digital effects (reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo) and 3 different reverb types (spring, hall, plate)
-The head version

With the 8 amp voicings, you can really get a lot of different tones out of this amp.
These voicings are not modeled after any specific amps and each kind of has it's own unique sound. When switching between clean, cruch or lead tones on the fly, it sounds convincing enough to believe that all the sounds are coming out of this one amp, rather than multiple different ones. This for me makes the amp viable for live use, unlike most of the other digital gear that I have used.
Sure you can dial in fender type clean sounds or crunch sounds similar to those of other amps, but the voicings here are somewhat more versatile than that.
DG is responsive to touch.

This amp delivers surprisingly tube-esque tones ranging from sparkling or jazzy cleans to metal distortions. Covered also are the in-between drive and crunch sounds which the amp handles really well.
I used to play in an avant-garde fusion jazz band years ago and this amp was my main one. I did not use much of the heavier amp models, but a lot of different kind of clean sounds and crunch tones. Also occassionally required were strong lead sounds.
No one ever believed that I was playing with a solid state amp instead of a tube equipped one.
As a tip, this amp is seems to combine very well with a greenback cabinet. Vintage 30's sound good with this amp also.
Cleans do make this a rare jewel.
Cleans get a 10, crunchs tones a 9. Heavier distortion scores range from 7 to 9, depending on how you set the amp up.
You can definitely play death metal with this amp.

This amp was most likely made in 2000.
No servicing has been required as of now and the amp is still working perfectly to this day.
This has been the most reliable amp I have owned.

The music style that I play nowadays with my band requires me to use different kinds of amps, so the DG is no longer working as my main head. I always bring it as a backup though.
I think this amp makes an ideal practice or live amp as it can cover a lot of tonal bases.
The clean tones actually make this amp a keeper and I would not dare to part with it. If I ever need to record clean guitars, this is the amp I use.

Don't know when it was made but Yamaha's discontinued these versatile, user-friendly and great sounding amps.

How versatile is it? Well, most people tend to be pigeon-holed in select few genres but if you can more than just blues, rock or metal, you'll love this amp. Will help you push & stretch any boundaries your practice has prepared you for.

Can use this amp in the house, band practice to large gigs. Cool thing is that you can get heavy sustain and feedback at very reasonable volumes that won't get you evicted or piss off the neighbors. But it's got enough power to do that and piss off your drummer and other bandmates... lol.

So, it has more than enough power at 130W and not have enough problems cutting through the mix.

FYI, I own tons of amps... Fenders, Marshalls, Egnaters, Dr. Z, Peavey and alot of experience with many boutiques including CAE, Diezel, Bogners, etc. As far as guitars, I own various Fenders, PRS, Parker, Ibanez and Yamahas (that are one of the best values out there!). Too much freaking GAS and an understandin' wife.

I've seen reviews that say that this can't do heavy metal or nu metal. I don't play much of it but having been from the late 80s - early 90s, I don't know what these people are talking about. As long as you have the control in the hands, this amp can get as brutal as you want.

The beauty of this amp though is 'sensitive' it can be and respond to your playing dynamics. Remember folks, this is a DIGITAL modeling amp. Actually, one of the earlier ones out there. Anyway, you have to know how to use the various presets and the setting of the incredibly easy knob interface just like a classic tube amp.

Also, helps to do some Google research on how these DG amps have been used. For example, to get a nice tube-sounding Fender BF clean sound, turn up the main Output & Master while turning down the Gain to your tastes. Hit the string hard and you'll hear a little growl like when tubes get spanked. This is how Allan Holdsworth sets up one of two DG80s he uses (the other is set on a lead tone & not in stereo as most people think).

No, I don't play in the style of Holdsworth but knowing his approach on the clean setting has helped me get a very good Fender clean tone. Yeah, I can leave the Twin, Bandmaster Reverb, Princeton Reverbs alone... have you checked out how much they're going for these days!? I thought paying $500 for a SF Deluxe Reverb was way too much back in the early 90s.

For soloists, the DG is awesome. You can get those elusive EJ, Santana & other iconic lead tones.

And once again, lightened up on your picking or turn down the volume, the amp eases up like a real tube amp.

Awesome... without the headaches of replacing tubes (also getting expensive), amp having some tempermental tizzy fit or just plain sucking in tone. These are very versatile but also consistent... very important.

Since the 80s, I've dealt with various products from Yamaha. This is a very serious company that focuses on QUALITY and INNOVATION. Look at the history of their product design and reliability.

Although I haven't opened it up, I'm certain that they use very robust boards and manufacturing controls. Being in the electronics industry, they've done rigorous vibration, environmental and series of drop tests. Yamaha knows what we do to these amps... late at night, too buzzed to remember anything and too concerned about where that cutie when to. Musicians get stupid and we drop amps.

I feel very confident about this amp... including these moving knobs that are used on their studio stuff.

Never dealt with their US organization. Japan side is very good.

Can't go wrong with these. Too bad that Yamaha stopped making them but they were pretty pricey when they were first brought out to the market.

I figure that most people didn't see the point since there were tube amps that could be bought for less (without the versatility).

Don't get me wrong... I know what a real good tube amp can do. Some will also attack with the 'feel' thing which is a real issue... I know all those things. Play a Line6, Johnson, H&K... I would never stray from a tube amp.

But with the YAMAHA DG amp series, it got very close. Unless you're in the upper echelon of performing guitarists, do you think that small difference is being noticed and worth the hassle of tube amps? Although I see no issues recording with this, save your tube amps for the studio.

Finally, the VOX stuff is pretty cool but this is the ONLY modeling amp that has the BEST interface... MOVING KNOBS. Soldanos were the only other amp maker who attempted to do this very convenient feature.

Get it if you can find one.

130 watts into 4 ohms, 100 watts into 8 ohms, and 80 watts into 16 ohms (or something around there). Very powerful with amazing tone. God-like cleans, searing crunch, soaring distortion, and some of the warmest, sweetest "in-between" tones you can imagine. 8 independently assignable preamps (channels), 4 digital effects (reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo). The delay uses a high-pass filter to mimic the sound of an old tape delay. It doesn't sound like a tape delay to me, but rolling off the highs on the repeats warms up the tone nicely. The DG130 also has motorized knobs that move when you change between presets. The motorized knobs intitially turned me off, I thought they were a gimmick, but they are actually quite useful as you can see your settings in a familiar layout, and it makes tweaking your sound on the fly very intuitive. Onstage, the DG130 acts like a real guitar amp -- just twist a knob and go. No hunting through annoying "parameter banks" like so many other digital amps... It also has a whole range of MIDI features that I have just begun to explore. I'm currently using an ART X11 footswitch to change between patches, but I'm looking into getting a Control One or possibly the original Yamaha MIDI pedal. BTW, Correct use of the input trim knob is essential with the DG130. Different guitars or pickups will all react differently to the trim adjustment, so if you use more than one guitar or an effects chain in front of the amp, make sure you adjust your levels appropriately. Unlike some older analog devices that you can crank everything to 10 (or 11) and get a semi-decent sound, you will want to adjust the trim level somewhere in the middle to get the best possible tone for a specific guitar, which means you need to LISTEN... As long as you adjust it correctly, no worries, you'll find sonic bliss in one form or another. It's a bit more complicated than an old 60's tube amp, but not much more. Made in Japan.

If you can't get a good sound out of this thing, I humbly submit that it's not the amp's fault! I like to play fusion, with a tonal palette similar to Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Larry Carlton, George Benson,Phil Keaggy, Mike Stern, Bill Frisell, Steve Tibbetts, etc. In other words, I use a lot of different sounds. Most of the aforementioned players use multi-amp setups, but that's not practical for me live. I use Teles, Strats, Les Pauls, and 335s, with both passive and active pickup combinations. The DG130 also works well for acoustic-electric guitar. As I said in the features section of the review, it is crucial that you adjust the input trim when switching between guitars, that is the single most important thing I can tell you about these amps. Another big factor for tone here is, no surpise, speakers. The original cabs that Yamaha made for these came equipped with Celestion Vintage 30s, in a 4x12 cab wired at 8 ohms mono (I don't know how they did that... lol) When you use a full stack, the speakers load in series, giving you a 4 ohm load, thus allowing the amp to run at full power. That means that traditional cabs wired at 16 ohms ARE NOT the best choice for the DG130. Currently I'm using a Peavey MS412 cab with stock Peavey Sheffields. The Sheffields sounds good, but the Vintage 30's sound better, IMO. I compared them side-by-side, but I couldn't afford the V30 cab at the time... C'est la vie. One nice feature of the Peavey MS412 is that you can run it mono at 16 ohms, or stereo at 8 ohms per side. This means you can run both speaker outputs from the DG130 into the stereo inputs on the cab, and while the DG130 is not a stereo head, using both speaker outs to two spearate 8 ohm loads in series will put a 4ohm load on the DG130, again allowing it to run at full power, but in this case, into a single 4x12 cab. The DG130 sounds great, just be prepared to think a little bit outside the box, and LISTEN to it.

I've gigged without a backup and never had problems, but I recently picked up another one just in case. I've always had good luck with Yamaha's high end stuff, and while the motorized knobs give me the jitters, so far I haven't had any problems (knock on wood). My folks have an electric fan from the 1930's that still works, so the motorized knobs probably aren't anything to worry about. I was told that there is an internal lithium battery, and when that dies, you need to re-initialize the algorhythms. That's kind of a pain, especially as technology changes. For now, I can do it from my PC through the MIDI port. In ten years, I don't know if my PC will still have a MIDI port, but I suspect it won't be a big deal.

Bleh... Yamaha discontinued these amps a few years ago. Too bad. Some people say that Yamaha customer support is great, I've yet to see why. I also like Peavey gear, so I might be spoiled. Peavey supports their stuff even after it's been out of warranty for 20 years... lol Yamaha stuff generally lasts just as long as Peavey's, but the product knowledge isn't always passed down to new employees... An alternate resource for the DG130 is here: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/yamaha_dg_user_group/

I've been playing forever and have tons of gear. It's an addiction, but there are worse ways to spend money... lol I stumbled on Yamaha's DG amps by accident. A Fender Deluxe I had purchased kept dying on me, and the store where I got it took pity on me and gave me a brand new DG80 at store cost while I was waiting for the Fender to get repaired. The more I played the DG80, the more I liked it, and when I saw a DG130 on eBay for $375, I grabbed it. When the Deluxe finally came back from the repairman, I played it a couple of times, and then sold it... lol While shopping for speakers, I compared the DG130 to the Line6 Vetta and the Fender Cyber Twin. The DG130 puts the Vetta to shame, and in my opinion, the DG130 sounds as good or better than the Cyber Twin. I came across another DG130 a year later and snagged that one too. I am very pleased with my DG amps. I'm tempted to get a DG100-212, but that's basically a DG80 with an extra speaker, and the 212 version is ridiculously heavy. The DG130 has a bigger power transformer than the DG80 or DG100, so I think the DG130 is the right amp for my needs. If I had to pay $1200 for a DG130, I don't know if I would buy more than one, but I would still rant and rave about the tone. Would've been nice list: tuner, compressor, phaser, headphone jack. Once you understand how the DG130 works, you won't find anything that can compare for under $700.

i buyed this amp 3 month ago, and i am now familiar enough with it to post a review, so here we go:
this neat thing did cost 539 Euro new, i couldnt resist to buy it after testing it at the store. It Yamahas most "grown up" Digital Amp, with 8 different Amp Sounds. I use this Amp in a Top 40 Band, we play a wide range of songs, goes from pop to metal and this amp suits that very well. The power is awesome (i play it through a 4x12 Mesa Boogie Half&Half), and it has all the features you need in live situations (but NOT a tuner, man, yamaha guys, this would be perfect :-)

i use a JEM 777 with DiMarzio PAF Pro and a Jackson DK with Seymour Duncan SH4 through this amp, and both guitars sound great. the amp is not more noisy than any other amp i had before (and i had a lot). The presets can give you some ideas, but i usually prefer to find my own sound cause presets always try to show "look what i can" and thats not very suitable for a good live sound. clean stays clean if you want, the distortion can copy classic distortion sounds very well, if you tweak a bit you can get almost every sound out of it. its also the most "tubey " digi-amp i played so far (tried Line6, Behringer, Peavey)

i used Yamaha gear since 15 years now, and none of the parts ever let me
down, no matter if it was effects, amps or even a motorcycle ;-).
i trust in their craftmanship and would gig without a backup.

never dealt with em, no need for that.

playin for 22 years now, other amps i use in other bands or at home are Laney LC 50 (sweet clean sound), a Kitty Hawk 50 Top, and a Marshall JCM 900 Top. But this is my main Amp when i need a very versatile Sound with the flick of a switch. i also recorded with the line out some songs, and they really sounded great. if someone has problems with the line out sound, than something must be blown up in his amp.

This amp was made 2001. I have had it since new.The music I play is mix of Blues to Nu-Metal. It's a Eight Channel Digital Amp. It has an Effects loop that has a Blend control knob. Built in effects such as; Chorus / Tremelo / Reverb / Tape Delay . 128 User/preset patches. 130 watts.2 speaker jacks. Trim Control. Motorized Knobs. Very easy to use. This amp covers everything I need.. I have had it for over a year and it is my main amp..It's great! I own a number of tube amps from Marshall to Fenders. Yes I love tube amps. But when I gig I can't bring all of them for the different tones I go through in a night. This amp is perfect for my needs..

I have a PRS Standard 24, 2 Les Pauls w/Seymours, A Fender Deluxe Strat.. All guitars sound wonderfull through this amp. I run it through 2 Mesa Boogie 412 Recto cabs for my Nu-Metal Band. Thick as sh*t! It screams and whoever said it's not loud must be running some bad speakers with it with high ohms. It's very Bass responsive. Each amp has it's own voice that are very usefull. For when I have a bluesy mood I run this into a Mesa 212 open back. The Sky Is Crying. Overall a great amp for gigs. I can go from Metal to Jazzy Blues in a sec. Just find your tone press store and a channel and it's there. Forget the settings? No problem, the knobs move everytime to the settings when you change the channels. I'm giving it a 10. Just an all around perfect amp for someone who digs tube sounds but needs dependability and versatility..

I have gigged with it over a 100 shows and rehearse 3 times a week and no problems. Not including just practicing with it. I just keep it clean and don't drop it. It will last.

Never had to have it fixed. I called Yamaha and left a message about effects and the warranty info when I first bought it. They called me back in less than an hour. Really Cool. The guy on the phone played the same head with his blues band and shared some of his favorate settings with me. Very Cool.

I have played guitar for 22 years. I have played with some of the best musicians in the world. And if this amp ever dies, gets stolen, I will replace it faster than a speeding bullet. What I do hate about it is the people who claim they can't get a good tone out of it. Well, if I was playing a no tone, thin sounding Carvin through it. I would hate life too. Carvins are a nicely built guitar, but for some reason they sound very thin. Even if you change the guts to it. Very weird. When I went to find a versatile digital amp. I tried Line 6's products. Great for recording,bad for live. They really don't live up to their hype. But I do think they sound great to record with. Then I played this thing and nearly crapped myself. Two hours in the store playing this thing, I couldn't stop playing it. I bought it on the spot. She's got some scuffs now but I love it. A 10 but I'll give it a 9 because I don't like turning it off.

I bought this amp new in 2002 from Musician's "Fiend" and sent it back about 30 days later, then I bought a used DG130H (the model without Chorus and Tremolo which seemed to have more volume) for a much lower price. I play mostly rock music, blues, funk, and oldies. This amp is relatively versatile for these styles. I did find that all the distortions were too alike. I have used this amp live and it did not seem to have enough power. I had to boost the individual gain and volume settings on my user programs. When I did that I found that the amp still was not as loud as a tube amp. The manual is minimalist.

I use a Carvin DC135C with a neck single coil, middle single coil, and bridge humbucker. I was able to get a decent sound out of the amp that was close to a tube amp. It seems that the more you crank this amp up, the more it sounds like a tube amp. The amp is very quiet compared to tube amps. I found that the amp has too much treble. For instance, a clean sound was only desirable with the treble control set to zero. The presence control adds a lot of treble also. This amp also has a lot of bass. Having high mid and low mid controls is a nice feature also. As I mentioned before, all the distortions are very similar so there is not much variety there. I found that the Lead 1 and 2 settings are the best. They seem to give the best response and pinch harmonics. I was not very impressed with the factory presets. There is one preset that sounds like the rhythm guitar on Badfinger's "No Matter What" which is #4 ZZ Blue. I found that clean channel 2 is better than clean channel 1, it seems to be less harsh. The cleans remain clean even at high volumes. The distortion can be very brutal. This amp can definitely handle heavy metal. The effects have a quality sound but there are not many parameters. When switching from distortion to clean I noticed a slight step up in volume between programs. It is short and not very noticable but should not be happening at all. This hasn't happened on my DG130H yet for some reason.

Don't know, haven't had the amp long enough.

The DG130H that I bought was missing 2 knobs so I called the Yamaha parts and service number. I was easily able to order 2 replacement knobs with my credit card. They were $13 each which seemed steep.

I've been playing guitar for 9 years. I own a Digitech VGS2120 that was in the DG130HA's effects loop. I was able to get good results with that combination. I also controlled the amp with a Digital Music Ground Control MIDI pedal. I would say that this amp is a good basic amp that comes close to a tube amp. The amp still has a solid state quality to it. I love that it is lightweight, sounds good, is simplistic, and is relatively powerful. It would be nice if it had more variety in the distortions. I think that the test of any amp is that it has to sound good dry, with no effects, and this amp passes. Overall I was impressed with this amp, I would recommend it for someone who likes basic sounds and is not hooked on pure tube amps.

This amp is absolutely perfect as far as the size, the weight and the power are concerned. I'm still exploring the factory presets in different configurations and I regret that there's no pedal board included to change the presets

I'm using this amp with a Gibson Les Paul Custom and a H&K 200watt cabinet. All the sounds that I've used until now are the factory presets and they all sound great and not too "japanese"...

The amp is still new and until now it had no problem

I've never tried to get in touch with them

I play mostly Rickenbacker guitars through a Mesa Boogie MarkIII, I must admit that the Yamaha DG is the first non-tube amp that I use with the same pleasure as my valve amps.

Eight Preset Amp Types
Chorus and Tremolo effects along with Hall and Plate Reverb, simulated Spring Reverb and Tape Echo effects
Tone Controls and Motor Driven Knobs
Eight Preset Amp Types
"128" User Memory and MIDI
The Only thing a would like to have is a simple tuner and a compressor...

I use it with a Marshall 4x12 Vintage cabinet.
I have a Gibson LP Custom and a Fender Strat Ultra Plus (Lace)
The clean sound does not compare to the Peavey Classic 50 2x12 i already have. It's impossible to get that real "tube" sound.
The distorted sounds are better, and you can get that crunchy sound
with the strat... The lead sound is good... The Drive sound is also good.
But there is one major problem! The Line Out sucks!
My major purpose was to get a rig that suites my purpose in a studio and live. I own a POD and it sounds much better with a line signal than the DG130. This is a real dissapointment...
I thougth that I had found the ultimate rig:-) and I just could give the live crew a cable and a fantastic sound.
I called Yamaha and the dealer, they sad that the amp should sound great if you line out. Of Course the "amp sim" is on. I tried the line out with a H&K redboxpro but the sound is still 5 years back...
This is so totally annoying that i will buy a Flextone HD instead.
Please give me some of your impressions in the line out matter...!
Sound with ext cabinet: 8
Sound with line out: 2

You can depende on this one, the physics is stable.