Yamaha DG60-112

This amplifier was made in 2001 or 2002. I bought it used for $380 in 2005. It is a 60 watt solid state "modeling" amplifer. I say this becuase,although it has different amplifer models,it doesn't allow you to truly tweak them.

It's not bad,but not great either. The stock speaker is trash with far too much bass response and no midrange. Also,the amplifer models are somewhat sub-par. They are close but they don't capture the magic of what they are trying to emulate. The cleans and crunches are nice and I now use it as an acoustic amp for my Parker Fly Deluxe.

Again,it's not bad but not great. The speaker rattles around inside the amp and the pots are cheap. I gigged it a lot during late 2005-mid 2007 and it held up but not without replacement of a master volume pot among other things.

Yamaha makes a fine product but their customer support is somewhat lacking. I haven't used them myself but I have heard some horror stories. They don't seem to remember what products they used to make.[I emailed them for info on my prototype Yamaha RGX 1212s and it has been 6 months now.]

I am 13 and have been playing for 10 years.Overall,it makes a decent practice amp but after a while,you need to move on. It was starting to be overpowered at band practices and I needed something else. I now use it as an acoustic amp for my Parker Fly Deluxe.

60 watts, solid state, one 12" speaker, footswitchable dual channel with independent reverb. Effects loop and line out with speaker simulator. Extremely flexible EQ section: Treble, Hi Mid, Lo Mid, Bass and Presence. Mine has a Celestion G12T-100 speaker, not the OEM Eminence speaker.

The DG60 has different amp types labled "Clean", "Crunch", "Drive" and "Lead". There are two of each type, with one being brighter and more "in your face" than the other. Controls for Gain and Master Level. Nice clean tones, and everything from subtle breakup to exploding amp distortion. This is a modeling amp, not a tube amp and I dont think it's really fair to compare the two side by side. IMHO though, Yamaha DG series are the best modeling amps and come the closest to emulating the response of a real tube amp. Allan Holdsworth uses DG series amps, enough said..

It is only 60 watts so it is not extremely loud, but it does have a line out. What's great about it is that you can get killer, full sounding cranked amp tones at low volumes, and using the hi and lo mid controls you can get a ton of different variations. I love having the two totally independent channels. The reverb is very good for a digital emulation. There is no patch storage so you have to remember your settings (or write them down). I like the "analog" look, no LED readout, just knobs to twist, and it does not have motorized knobs like the DG80.

I love the sounds, although it seems to be a very bright sounding amp, most of the time I have to crank the Presence all the way down and the Treble to about 2 or 3. The previous owner put in a Celestion G12T-100 speaker, so I'm wondering if it is the speaker. I plan on trying some different speakers in it to to try to tame the high end a little. I am using guitars with single coil pickups, it may sound less bright with humbuckers but I dont own a guitar with humbuckers to test it.

Dont know, but solid state is pretty reliable.

I own several tube amps, Fender and Laney. I bought the DG60 because I like the DG Series (I own a DG Stomp also), and wanted a portable and versatile amp that wasn't built like a toy. The DG60 delivers. I've never played through a dual channel combo that had this much flexibility in sounds. I doubt I would gig with it, unless I could slave it to another amp for more volume, but for practice and recording, it kicks butt. The only thing I wish it had is built in delay and chorus.

If you can't get a good sound out of this amp then you really shouldn't be playing guitar.

Update to my previous review. Ummm... I should've read the manual. With high output pickups, use the low input jack! This came to me in a dream. I tried it and it worked. Then I found the info in the manual. Doh! I take back what I said about shrillness. If you plug you guitar into the appropriate jack, this amp sounds fantastic, even with the stock speaker. My apologies for the misinformation. What a great little amp!

Still never had a problem with it.

For the money - 10. Compared to all other decent amps I've played (Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Bassman, Mesa Mk II copy) it's still a 10!

i purchased the Yamaha DG60-112 used in a second hand shop for $290. It is one the first digital simulating amps on the market, but i guess they did not seek to actively seek to have the all too frequent amp simulation settings, but rather is an amp with the ability and flexibility to allow the used to find a sound that suits him, covering a very broad spectrum. would be a great amp for a session muso.

Seeing it in the store, i recalled that Guitar player magazine gave it rave reviews. trying it, i realised why. the amp was made in around 2000 and provides two identical channels, however each channel is able to be voiced to whatever you wish, the number of amp sounds and distortions available are huge. playing a mixture of hard 70's rock, swamp, blues and some Jazz this amp covers the pallet nicely. channel switching is obtained easily using a simple foot switch. the equalisation on the amp is its heart and its strength, enabling the player to tailor his sound perfectly depending on his style, guitar and genre. the hi and low Mid controls are the best things about the amp simply they enable the amp to sound so different with even minor changes.

I guess the only amp sound i cant get is the sound of a VOXAC30, but i am not complaining, since i already have one of those. most fender, marshall, boggie and hi-gain stack sounds are avaiable on the unit. AND..... it does not sound simulated at all!!!!!

it has 60 watts of power and its plenty for my needs. the only thing i wish this amp had was the ability to store settings, there are so many good sounds available that two channels is simply not enough (i am being greedy) the more expensive versions have the programmability, but hey.... its a lot of amp for $290!. the reverb is clear and smooth and not "digital sounding at all. yamaha did a great job ob this one. it has a single 12inch speaker made in the USA.

as stated previously, the amp is able to get all sorts of sounds, from clean to full on 80's saturated distotion, together with the tone controls, the sound pallet is huge. distotions are very valve like and can be set from subtle to full on grunge. this works equally well with both single coil pickups, as well as humbuckers. the amp is also very quiet. the clean channels are clear and warm reminding me of fender amps... owever these clean settings are just that clean. if you want dirty/clean then its easy to get from one of the dirty channels with the gain down low. overall a very valve sounding amp of excellent quality. i have many guitars ranging from vintage a strat, yamaha SG3000s, guild, charvel, eastwood savannah and they all sound great through it.

i have had it only some weeks now, howver my general experience with yamaha stuff has been excellent. i do not expect any problems judging from past history

in all that time i have had yamaha gear i have NEVER had to call them. this includes processors, guitars (i own 3 yamaha guitars) and amps. customer support have been most helpful when i have contacted them regarding info on older model guitars.

i have been playing since 1975 and have had many guitars and amps over the years. i tend to stick with tried and true classic models, such as vox etc...however this amp is excellent... really!. it complements my VOXAC30 very well and have used the two together on a gig....it makes for a really serious mix of sounds... especially given the variety of sounds from the yamaha. I only wish it had a speaker out just to try it with a quad box... but i guess i am being greedy here.

Not sure of the year but thinking 2000-2004. Has two channels but has 8 amp models on each channel. Each has their own reverb and 5 way EQ gain and volume. I cranked this amp up before I bought it and it sounded great loud!. Some amps seem to have a louder clean channel than the overdrive channel but not the case here. Has an effects loop and line out. The reverb can also be turned on and off with a footswitch.

I just had to write a review on this amp. I picked it up used at my local Guitar Center for...are you ready...$75 bucks!! It is in great condition with just a little dust on it. I got this for my practice amp with the band so I would not have to lug around my Line 6 Duoverb or Crate Shockwave half stack. I had a Line 6 spider II that I thought was cool till I run across this and tried it out just because of the price. The cleans will dirty up nicley and the distortions are great. The 5 way EQ is AWSOME and each channel has its own EQ and reverb. I play a Paul Reed Smith standar with it and there is some slight hiss on the drive channel with the gain up at 9-10 but who cares...its my practice amp. Man I wish they had this there when I bought the Spider II, it gets lost at rehersals. This is one of those buys that I will keep! Best $75 bucks I ever spent.

This is my first Yamaha product but my friend who plays keyboard says he has never had any problems with his yamaha gear.

Been playing for 30 years and play in a working band playing rock music. Everything from the motor city madman to godsmack. This is my new found treasure. If stolen I would try to find another one. I have tried out a fender frontman 25r and a crate gt65 and ended up with a line 6 spider II. If I would have seen this first I could have saved over $100 bucks. The only thing I wish it had would be some chorus for the clean channel but I have a pedal for that if I want it. I have to give this a 10 because for the $75 bucks I got it for it is a 10.

Made in 2002; I;d been looking for one since they were discontinued last year. I found a new DG-60 on eBay (N.O.S.). Perfect for my needs - a simple switchable 2-channel setup in a compact package. 60 watts - just enough for me. Solid state, but it has GREAT Yamaha digital amp emulations. The only reason it doesn't get a 10 is is that it doesn't have a billion presets, but I don't need them...

I like and play most classic rock (Steely Dan, Lindsey Buckingham w/ Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits) - this amp does a nice job of covering the bases.

WONDERFUL, played either quietly or loudly. Both Clean settings and the Crunch 1 setting are worth the price of this amp alone. Previous posts noted that the standard Eminence speaker was the weak link, but it sounds fine to me.

My signal chain is a Tele clone with active EMGs (and a Fishman PowerBridge, which goes to an altogether separate output) to a Whirlwind AB box (one side goes to a Korg tuner) to an MXR DynaComp to an Ibanez Tube Screamer to a Dunlop CryBaby to an Arion Digital Delay to the Yamaha DG-60. The Tube Screamer is used simply to boost the volume slightly for leads and "tighten" my sound. The distortion is produced by the Yamaha.

I use the direct out to send my signal to the board, but I would be comfortable miking it with an SM-57. Guitarists need to learn that amps don't need to be loud onstage. I keep my stage volume comfortably low and let the FOH sound man take care of my volume out front; a nice monitor mix lets me hear what I need to hear.

No tubes to worry about. Built like a tank. I'd comfortably use it at a gig without a backup.

Yamaha is class organization that builds nice stuff, with dealers in virtually every town.

This is my ideal amp: versatile, compact, affordable, just enough features. No need for a 200 lb Marshall stack for me...

This is an amazingly versatile solid state modeling amp with a 12" speaker, all in a small and lightweight package. See earlier reviews for a complete list of features.

Features I like: The huge variety of tones you can dial up with the 8 modeled amp sounds. There are 4 basic sounds (clean, crunch, drive & lead), each with a bright and dark setting. Add to this... gain, 5 part equalization (including presence control), and a sweet digital (spring) reverb. All this can be dialed up independently on 2 foot-switchable channels - sweet! Most of the control knobs are clearly visible and accessible.

Features I dislike: The lack of extension speaker output. The stock 12" Eminence speaker does not do justice to the amp. The sensitivity of some of the controls (eg. reverb, gain) are wonky - on some amp settings, I wish I could expand the range between, say, 2 and 3 on the gain knob because that's where all the nice tones are packed. I guess this adds to the versatility of the amp but it makes it tricky to dial up some of my favourite tones. It'd be nice if the effect loop jacks were on the front of the unit, but that's a minor peeve.

All up, it's pretty darn feature-packed.

I mostly play my Steinberger GM with active EMG-60 and SA pickups through it. I play all sorts of stuff but I mostly dig cleaner tones and even my lead style tends towards smooth, thick, harmonic distortion rather than metal crunch. I started out quite frustrated by this amp in combination with my HiFi Steinberger guitar. As other reviewers have found, the amp tended to sound shrill or dry and it just couldn't handle the rich bass notes that the Steinberger produces. At even moderate volume the bass response was loose - bassically crap :) Then, out of curiosity, I hooked the DG60 up to a 12" RCF speaker in my 130W vintage Mesa Boogie copy tube amp. I was blown away by the sound of the DG60 through the RCF. The DG60 was suddenly producing beautiful, lush, warm clean tones and some excellent lead tones. The shrillness is gone, the bass is big and tight, and the amp simulations sound much more interesting. By comparison, the amp sounded like a toy played through the stock Eminence speaker.

A lot has been said in these reviews about tube amp emulation. The DG60 can give the warmth of tube sounds with the fidelity, versatility and convenience of solid state - it can deliver the best of both worlds if you run it through a decent speaker. It's a mystery to me that Yamaha would pair such a sweet amp with such a crap speaker - and then they didn't even provide and extension speaker output!

If your DG60 leaves you cold, I suggest (as some other reviewers have) that you swap the Eminence for something better. I might do that sometime, but for now I'm bypassing my tube amp and playing the DG60 through the RCF - and I'm loving it!

Rating the DG60 for sound is tricky. With the stock speaker,4. With a well-matched speaker, 10 out of 10. So overall, I'll give it a 7.

I've only had the DG60 for about 3 years. I have taken it around town a bit and I've never had any problems.

I've never had to deal with Yamaha. Given the size of the company, it shouldn't be difficult to get it serviced if need be. I bought it 2nd hand - don't know 'bout no warranty.

This is a fantastic amp paired with a crap speaker. Played through a good speaker, it comes alive. In comparison to my newly serviced tube amp, played through the same RCF speaker, the DG60 is almost as warm, but without colouring the sound. The DG60 lends more depth, expressiveness and subtlty to my playing than the tube amp. It improves the outputs of my Boss CS3 (compressor) and my Boss CE-20 (chorus/dimension). As I'm not strictly after so-called "vintage" sounds (Stop livin' in the past!), I think the DG60 is a better amp than my Mesa Boogie copy. It can provide the best of both tube and solid state worlds - and that's amazing!

This is my... uh... almost-four-year update on this amp. In my original review, I took the amp back to the store. A few months later, I bought a used one off the HC classifieds. I've kept that one ever since. So, manufactured circa 2000... this is a basic two-channel modeling amp, etc., features have been sufficiently covered in all the reviews below.

The thing I've always liked about this amp, as opposed to a number of other analog modeling amps in history, is that it stays true to traditional amp design. The controls are all accessible in realtime from the front panel. There is no patch memory and the only effect you get is reverb. I like that.

I'm still upset that it's a pain to kill the internal speaker for direct recording, and I'm especially peeved that there is no external speaker jack. At some point I'll probably cut this up a little to add a speaker out; for years, I've even contemplated taking it out of the cab and putting it into a homemade head box. This amp is lightweight compared to most 1x12" combos, but personally I find all combos larger than 8" to be a big pain in the butt. Then again, I am the sort of lazy / obsessive-compulsively hyper-practical individual who would happily own an inflatable couch if it wouldn't scare off the ladies.

Finally, there's really no other good place in the HC review template for this complaint: Although I don't really want patch memory per se, it should be mentioned that the knobs for all parameters (except the amp model on each channel) are way, way, WAY too easy to move. You can carry this amp with the front panel facing away from your pants leg, carry it with as little jostling as humanly possible, and somehow by the time you've moved it ten feet your settings are all gone. Thankfully, they don't drift while you're playing or anything, and the amp is not so very touchy and digital that only one exact set of settings will work. But this has annoyed me greatly over the years-- I dial in a sound I want in rehearsal, and have to dial it back in again once the band has set up on stage.

I've only ever used the amp with humbuckers. I note that most of the folks below who aren't raving about this amp seem to use single coils, so perhaps that's something to keep in mind. But personally, I still think this amp sounds absolutely fantastic for a shocking number of applications-- especially considering what it is, a second-generation modeling amp that sold for under $500 originally.

I had bad GAS some years ago. 50 amps came and went through my hands in a matter of two years-- VHTs, single-channel Soldanos, blackface and silverface Fenders, Traynors, Marshalls, old Ampegs, just about anything that was available on the used market for less than a grand... you name it, I probably had one for a month or so. Two years ago, I was down to this amp, an early silverface Bandmaster, and a '59 Gibson Skylark, the latter two of which not only sounded great but had longstanding sentimental value. I found I wasn't playing much any more, and I needed money. The Bandmaster and the Skylark went on eBay. I kept the DG60.

I'm still not playing much any more, and now I'm moving and need money again. I was contemplating getting rid of the DG60, maybe getting a ZVex NanoAmp (or whatever it's called) if I ever wanted to play again. So I got the DG60 out last night for the first time in ages-- and changed my mind. The present market value of this thing is at least four times lower than it ought to be.

I still don't care much for the sound of the Drive 2 and Lead 2 models, which I originally hypothesized might have been for single coils-- they sound way too nasal and honk-y, or at least they do with my Hamer's Duncan humbuckers. But every other model sounds great, once you've got the EQ set up right (which takes about five seconds of experimentation).

Here's my take: the amp is incredibly responsive and analog-sounding, which is still a set of adjectives that can barely be applied to the latest generation of digital modeling gear (although I'll admit I've not tinkered much lately!). Both clean models sound great, not clean as an operating room, just a hair more warm and Fendery. If I played jazz, I'd probably pick Clean 1 and get away with it just fine. Drive 1 has lots of punch and character... and Lead 1 is one of the best high-gain tones I've ever heard, period.

Once you hop up the gain on the clean models, you can even get a convincing, sweet, near-breakup overdriven / "blues-y" sound a la my old crusty Skylark-- a tone that completely eludes every other modeling device I've ever used, in that they just get brittle and nasty when they try to fake a nice mild breakup.

My only quality complaint re: sound is the incessant, steady-state hissing of the power amp, which is always there regardless of what model you're using or even what the master volume is set to. However, this is really only a nuisance if you want to record with the amp through the speaker. In a live context it's likely to go totally unnoticed. And at least it doesn't go up drastically as you increase the master level (actually, on the clean models it doesn't go up very much at all when cranked!).

Yeah. This thing just sounds way better than it has any right to. I thought I was mis-remembering or something, but apparently I'm not.

Four years on, been gigged some, sat around a lot, never a hiccup when turning on again after x number of months (or years!). It got used a lot when I first had it and did just fine, thank you very much. I think the pots are pretty cheaply (or at least weirdly) made, but I also have no reason to believe that they'll fail at any time in the near future.

Again, I have yet to have a problem with any Yamaha gear I've ever owned (and this is not the only Yamaha piece I've kept around), so...

If you see one of these for $150 like the guy below me (and you mostly use humbucker, perhaps?), well, I'll back him up on this one: you can't go wrong. I don't really think you could go wrong for $500. If you're looking for a portable, reliable, low-risk, low-liability amp that can just about do it all, you should seek this secret weapon out.

By the way, don't bother trying to "steal this preamp" with the now-very-cheap DG Stomp... the Stomp sounds nowhere near as good as thing does.

Pretty well covered. I love having a full set of tone controls for each channel, and having the "1" and "2" settings for each setting to me they seem like a Gibson and a Fender setting for each one (e.g. one is darker and one is more treble which works well for switching between guitar types.) Love the split mids too.

The weakness is the speaker. I replaced mine with a Celestion and it brought the amp alive. Gobs more bass and a light tighter sound. Less "boxy" too. I wouldn't have given this amp the time of day being a gear snob, but a couple years ago I was at a Guitar Center and in the closed room with all the spendy axes they had one of these sitting atop a Bogner Shiva. I was tinkering with the Shiva and plugged in this thing for a lark. I was shocked. It was a hoot. Where was this amp when I was 15? Two completely independent channels, some groovy distortion and overdrive, independent reverb for each channel, lot's of settings and no BS digital interface to fool with - knobs baby, knobs! I twist a knob and get what I want - I don't want to program the bloody thing. Anyhow, it's been a great utility amp, and not a bad acoustic guitar amp. Pre-speaker it's a 6.5, post speaker change a solid, proud 8.

Once the speaker is gone a trooper. Oddly enough the speaker wasn't even cranked down, you could almost take the nuts off by finger torque. Solid state, one would imagine it's similar to Peavey reliability.

Jimminy X-mas, for the price of a decent pedal, here is a heckuva good sounding amp. These really deserve a look. If you stumble into a used one grab it and throw a newer speaker in there. For value it's a 10, nothing could touch the flexibility and tone of this thing at the price I got it. I have a gaggle of Fenders, a Vox, etc and still am pretty impressed by this one.

2 Channels with 8 different amp settings. Each channel having a master, trebble, bass, mid high, mid low and reverb. Doesnt have a foot switch to change between channels, but you can buy one. Has effects loop with blend nob, line out/headphone jack. Speaker mute switch. I think it should have come with a foot switch.

The first thing I thought when the guy showed me the amp, "60 watts!!! I am not buying this tini amp". But little did I know...

OK, play with a Hohner Les Paul with Seymore Duncan high output bridge and medium/high neck. My music style is Metal and it fits my style well.

I was originally wanting to buy a Marshall MG250DFX. I also considered a Crate GTX212 and a Fender 212. I tryed this Yamaha by chance, I never even considered it. But when I played on it! WOW!!! It was really something. It felt like I was playing on a tube amp. Tone was awsome. Then, I plugged into the Marhslall 250. Um... what a let down. Really. Then tryed the Fender, then the Crate. And believe me, the yamaha amp sounds really good. For Metal/Hard Rock, this amp kicks some serious ass.

Then, I though to myselft, well, the amp sounds good but its just a 60watt. So, I compared it to the 100watt Marshall. I played both on 9/10. I could not believe my ears!!! The Marshall Struggled while the Yamaha still sounded clear. Believe me! The thing with the Marshall, it starts sounding struggling when it is on high volume, while the yamaha still sounds strong on high. This amp is seriously loud (And clear when loud).

The amp can make all sorts of different sounds. You really have alot of power to cusomize your sound. It has a hummm but now nearly as much as the Marhsall has.

The clean channel is still perfect on high volumes. As I said above, this amp handles high volume well. Really well.

The distortion is really good. Still trying to decide whether I prefer the MT-2 on it.

I have only had it for 3 days. I will submit another review in 6 months or so.

Have not used it yet.

I have been playing for 5 years. I have a Hohner Les Paul, Boss ME-30, Boss Metal Zone, J/Dunlop Cry Baby, Heath 60watt 212 and of cource the Yamaha DG60 112. If it were stolen or lost, I would have to buy it again. Because the amps that I compared it too (Crate GTX212, Crate GTX112, Marshall MG250DFX, Marshall MG100DFX, Fender 212) this amp is better.

All I have to say is, try this thing. Personally, I think that this Yamaha is under rated, and the Marshall is over rated. The crate is quite nice but lacks alot of features and doesnt have as nice tone as the yamaha.

I will submit another review when I have had it for 6 months.