Yamaha DG60-112

Yamaha's DG series is an excellent set of digital amps simulating and modelling other amp types through careful study of electronic paths and such. When I first tried this amp, its 8 amp types blew me away. Not to mention its 2 completely independent and footswitchable channels, with reverb. There was no other amp for me. With an FX loop, and great line out to boot, I bought the DG60 within a half hour of trying it out. Only one thing wrong though (see Overall Rating)...

I use a Yamaha Pacifica and an Epiphone Les Paul Special. With either guitar, this amp produces an amazing array of sounds, from sparkling clean to gusty blues, to full on rock and metal sounds. However, it is very noisy, even when grounded and using good cables. Very hissy. And the feedback is an unnatural squeaking that makes me want to throw up. And it happens when the amp isn't even cranked. I loved this amp in my room and small practices, but when I had to crank it when my 5-piece rock band played a gig, the sound was disgusting. It was rattly and distorted and lost all of the nice harmonic content I had bought the amp for. I guess the 60watts just aren't enough to hide the fact that this is a digital amp and not a valve or solid-state amp.

Great little amp. Not too heavy, and it never failed on me. I even used it with an acoustic guitar onstange when my DI Box decided not to work.

Didn't have to deal with them, but the warranty is 3 years I believe and the guys at Buckley's Music (where I bought it) said to just bring it in if something ever went wrong.

I've been playing for 7 years and I've previously only owned a few smaller amps (10w Marshall Valvestate which actually stood up to a full band practice, a 20w Fender Bullet Reverb and a 15w DOD GrindIT). I borrowed my cousin's Peavey Bandit 112 for about year and absolutely hate anything that Peavey makes except their nice tube amps. This amp is a decent amp, but the lack of a speaker output made me have to trade it, because this amp just doesn't have the balls to stand up to a 5 piece rock band onstage with monitors, etc. At only 60w, it nearly makes it, but the sound is hideous when the volume is past 7 or so. With a speaker output, I would've added a cabinet and taht would've solved my problem. But I ended up trading it and my Fender Bullet Reverb for a beautiful new amp: a Laney Tube Fusion TF400. I got a great deal and I am not dissapointed. The Laney has 4 channels rather than just two, a great footswitch, speaker output, and it's 120w. Where it lacks in the choices for amp models like the Yamaha, it makes up for it in so many other ways.

Two channels, digital simulation of 8 different Tube-amps. Both channels offers amp-type, gain, master, bass, low mid, high mid, treble, presence, reverb. It have speaker-emulation out.
It can't remember any settings, you have to use the knobs.

It's a little bit noisy.
The 8 amp-modes are very fine, you can get all from Mesa to Fender-sounds, but not as a replica of those.
I play modern jazz and the Yamaha are very fine to do this type of music.

Topscore here - no tubes.

Here you are: 8 very good amp-simulation with a very big range of sounds. But no chorus, flanger, rotary .... And you can only have two setups a time - I need at least five.

A two-channel solid-state amp using Yamaha's digital modeling technology. There are eight amp models available per channel, each channel with its own gain, volume, EQ, and reverb. The channels and reverb are footswtichable but a switch is not supplied by Yamaha :(, I recommend the Roland FS-1 for switching channels. The reverb is selectable via foot action, however Yamaha has made it a completely separate input jack, requiring another footswitch for total operation. That's one of the weirder things I've seen lately. The amp also features an effects loop with a blend control, a headphone jack for super late (or early) night jams, and a relatively light 45 lbs. or so. It beats lugging a head and cab around. ;)

The amp is all about TONE. I tried the Line6 combos, the Johnson combos, the Marshall AVT series, smaller Fender amps, Peaveys - nothing even comes close to the overall OOMPH you get from this amp. Clean - just dial in two flavors (one more 2x12ish, the other 4x12 sounding). Crunch and dirty? Just call up the next two model types and dial in the right amount of gain. This is the first modeling amp I've heard that transmits a guitar's natural sounds. My Strat sounds like a Strat - a problem I had with the Line6 amps (second place in my small amp contest) was though it sounded great (the distortion channels especially) my Strat sounded very close to my two humbucker Carvin on any gain setting at 1 or above. This Yamaha amp will pick up pick nuances, string noise, pickup types, player quirks and good sounding bad habits ...

The gain is unreal on the lead channels but completely manageable and chords ring out through it, even in detuned (dropped D and below) situations. The bass response will make you look behind the amp and make you wonder how they get a closed back sound in an open back 1x12 combo.

What this amp won't do is perfectly replicate a tube sound. My Carvin MTS3200 100-watt head sounds completely different, and it should because that's my larger performing amp and sounds better when it's cranked. The Yamaha excels at getting you mind-boggling tones at any level, and though I haven't used this amp outside of my apartment I've been considering using it on smaller gigs. Just stick an SM57 in front of it, put the master on 4 and you're good to go.

I've had the amp for a few weeks and it has powered up every time, sounded great every time, and I don't expect any less. There's very little that could get busted on the front, the knobs are made of heavy duty plastic and the grill cloth is tightly woven and attached to the front of the cab. No chance of snags etc. from lugging it around from place to place (if you choose to).

Never dealt with Yamaha, though the DG amp website was tough to find on the web. Everything is posted on-line though, from manuals through product brochures. That's always a plus just in case you need a quick fix or tip.

This amp all about getting amazing sounds at moderate/quiet volumes without playing through an AM radio sounding piece of crap. You can gig with this amp, you can jam with this amp, you can play air Yngwie all you want with this amp. The distortion and crunch are the amp's shining moments, the EQ is pristine and very effective. A perfect small amp for the home, studio, or small gig.

made in 2000.
Extremely Versatile, From mellow blues to Hot rock to reverb drenched jazz...
2 channels, Identically voiced. has blendable fx loop, head phone jack/line out, speaker mute, footswitchable reverb and channel select
I wish it had an speaker extention jack - the unit has awesome sounds, but for big gigs, I have to go line out thru a power amp and into a quad box for the big balls.

everything is awesome except for the following - when using 'wet' effects -eg, Chorus, delay etc, the unit breaks the signal up at higher saturations of the effect. also it hasa tendanc to be real noisey when the gain is cranked up. ie, you turn down your guitar and get a huge hummmm. bit of a bummer. other than that its great!

Mine is a 2001 model. Footswitchable dual channel setup with independent controls for EQ and reverb. Has 8 usable preset amp types: 2 Lead, 2 Drive, 2 Crunch, 2 Clean; and the owner's manual includes a chart with 16 preset factory sound settings to get you started. (A variety of country, blues, Jazz and Rock sounds) It has an effects loop and a line out/headphone jack (which passes through a speaker simulator - great for recording). No chorus, no tremelo, no tape echo, no delay, no digital memory and no external speaker jack. The regular features on this amp are easy to use and versatile enough for me.

This amp sounds great! I tried both single coils and humbuckers on this baby and I have NO complaints on the sound and tone achieved by both. I play a Fender strat...and do not use any stomp boxes. The TONE I get from this amp is truly awesome.

I compared many, many amps before deciding on the Yamaha DG60-112. I looked at Fender, Marshalls, Crates, Peavey, Line 6 and found more versatility in the Johnson JM-60, the Tech 21 Trademark 60 and the Yamaha DG80-112 or 210. But all that versatility was not really what I was looking for. For the price/sound/tone, I could not find better than the Yamaha DG60-112.

This amp has a one year warranty. It is built solid and weighs 40 lbs. Used for bedroom practice and band rehearsals.

Haven't owned it long enough to rate it on reliability.

I've been playing for 25 years. Best sounding modelling amp I could find for the money.

The amp is a 2000 model and was on the store floor as a demo for awhile. Amp could use preset buttons but what the heck, that's what memory is for! I noodle on everything from rock to metal to jazz (no I'm not in a band but I still like to have great equipment that sounds good). The amp is used at home in my office and as for features, check the other guys who can type better:)

I use a Larrivee solid body electric with two singles and a Fury split humbucker in the rear with a Floyd Rose (if anyone has any info on these guitars, let me know! I've never seen another one!) I was originally looking at a Crate DXJ112 and had already ordered it when I decided to try this ol' Yamaha sitting in the corner collecting dust. From the very first chord I played on this thing my mind was changed! Compared to the Yamaha, the Crate had absolutely NO TONE! I find the bottom end on this amp's single 12 unreal. It will rattle the paintings of your walls and still play clean (or dirty and hell whichever you prefer). Even the Crates DX212 was tested side by side with the Yamaha and the DG60-112 kicked its ass! The selected amp models are very versitle for any style I want to play and the tone controls can shape you into pretty much any sound you want (mind you they could be abit more responsive). I wanted tube-like sound but didn't want to spend the cash for one. I don't regret this purchase one bit because of one word.....TONE!

Comes with a 1 year warranty and the store I bought it from throws in an extra 6 months to boot! (thanks to Sheldon and the boys at St.John's Music). From the looks of it, I don't think there will be any problems. Seems to be built very solid, so for now a 7 will do.

The store has been great with follow up. Yamaha has a great website too with some extra tone settings you can try.

Overall this thing kicks! Even though it digital simulation, it has....what's the word.....'life' to it! It reacts incredibly to attack, rolls back nicely on volume settings just the way a tube would. Never regretting buying this for a second. If it were stolen....I can say out loud what I'd do (it's that good). So if your in the market for a digital amp and finish checking out the thin sound of the Line 6 Spiders and get over the flashy effects and no bottom end of the Crate DXJ112 and DX212, do yourself a favour and take this amp out for a test drive. These amps are highly underrated as far as I'm concerned and I don't know why Yamaha is not promoting them more! I would have given it a 10.....but nothing it this world is perfect :)

Two channels Modeling amp. The only problem is that there is no way to capture the sound once found. otherwise it's not bad.

Gold Top 72" large Hums. every amp sounds good

Although being digital and not having an LED screen this Amp is still the best Amp I ever owned. It is better than my 100w Marshall and my line 6. The two channels are amazing with excellent effects and Distortion. I use this amp for live gigs and never once let me down. The sound is so crisp and bright, better than that dead tone you find in Marshalls. This Amp got alot of knocks around and is still as excellent as when I got it. IT is the most versitile Amp I have ever used.

I use a Fender stratocaster and a Yamaha SVG300. Both of these guitars sound brilliant through it. I mostly play Heavy/Trash Metal and find it excellent for that. I also use a Zoom 2100 effects pedal through the amp connected to a Boston Wah pedal and a Yamaha footswitch. The actual effects on the Amp are good enough but I like Variety. This amp is not really noisy but you would know it is on.
The clean effects and the Distortions are amazing as are the Chunk and the Drive. The amp itself is full of variety and has a huge amount of lastibility compared to Marshalls. This amp will blow you away.

I have had this Amp for over 6 months and never once has it let me down. Since I got it I have always brought it to gigs without the back up of the Marshall or the Line 6. I never had to service it and I dont think i will ever have to.

Yamaha have being the best company I ever dealt with as I have bought two items off them already. It is under full guarantee even though I wont need it. Yamaha are very helpful and friendly and I hope to Buy another product off them in the future. Yamaha are the best Customer support out there.

I have been playing this amp for over 6 months and is my favorite amp.
I have a Marshall and a Line6, a Fender strat, a Yamaha SVG300, a Zoom 2100 effects board and a Bosten Wah. If it was stolen I would not hesitate to sell my Marshall or line6 to buy a new one. I love the Amp itself, the sound and every other little detail about it. This Amp is Superb in every way and nothing could replace it. I compared it to many Marshalls, Johnsons, line6 and a Carlsbro. The one that came closest is my brothers 90w Lead Carlsbro Cobra which is also an Amp I would recommend. If you are looking for an excellent amp with excellent effects and sounds and a lot of personality look no further. Although maybe a bit pricey well worth it and a major investment.

The DG60 is a digital "tube modeling" amp competing with similar models from Line 6 and Johnson. Features: 12" Yamaha spkr, 2 channels each with independant controls. Channel switching, effects loop, direct line out, reverb, high and low inputs to match your guitar's output. Controls are Gain, master, treble, high mid, low mid, bass, presence, reverb and the amp "model" knob which features 8 models: 2 lead, 2 drive, 2 crunch, and 2 clean. Each of the 2 channels has its own set of these controls which is extrememly nice. I HATE 2 channel amps with shared controls and eq so this amp makes me very happy in that respect. The amp is VERY easy to use. Pick a channel, dial in your amp model from one of the 8 to chose from, do some tweaking and go. For me the amp is perfect since I like the usual 2 channel deal...one dirty which I can control with the guitar vol knob and one clean. Overall the amp is very well thought out. I give it an 8 hear beacause first, nothing's perfect, and second I'm a little annoyed that Yamaha didn't make footpedal for the reverb and channel switching...you have to go out and by your own.

I use a '73 Gibson SG currently which is stocked with Gibson 500T and 490R pickups which are high output. The combination of the mahogany body and these pickups makes for a very thick tone. I have to be really careful about what amp I use with this guitar since it can sound overly dark and muddy. The low and high mid controls coupled with the presence on this amp make it a perfect compliment for my guitar. The one thing I really like about the presence is that it isn't at all harsh or biting, even when turned all the way to 10. The amp is VERY tube sounding, and I mean VERY. Its impressive that Yamaha packed this many features AND this much tube tone into a 1X12 combo for less than $500. Unlike the Line 6 models (of which I've owned 2) and the Johnson (total synthetic sounding crap) Yamaha has chosen to go after tube tone and feel rather than trying to get close and then load up on preset banks of overrated effects. The tube feel of this amp is amazing, to my ears at least...its got me looking for a good ol' standby switch :) The amp acutally reacts to volume changes by the amp controls or by guitar vol like a real tube amp, in fact I'd say it reacts better. It sounds like Yamaha nailed tube tone but left out all the quirks in fickleness of the real thing which to me is great...CONSISTANT tone. As much as I love real tubes like Marshalls and Boogies it always seems like everytime I powered up it sounded different, somethings good, sometimes not so good. I don't care how much someone says "our tubes are tested etc etc"...its a crap shoot of sorts. With this amp you've got consistancy. I play a little of everything from punk to ambient clean and this amp does the job. Its a nice little workhorse. As one other person hear mentioned the sounds are "grown up". Its not an effects laden thrash monster but it does lay out some heavy chunk if you dial it in right. The lead and drive are very articulate and throaty for lack of a better term. I'm really dying to hear a Strat or other single coil guitar through the amp because I have a feeling single coils would really sing through it. The cleans aren't shimmering, but then again Gibson SG's aren't known for that either so I can't really judge the amp for clean until I've heard a nice set of a single coils through it. The crunch models are nice...just lower gain but really I don't need them since I can achieve the same by rolling back my volume on the SG. With the Line 6's for example you can dial in a setting which sounds good at one volume but as you turn up a Line 6 doesn't react like real tubes do, it just simply amplifies a programmed sound so it sounds like just that when loud...an amplified program. The Yamaha on the other hand reacts like real tubes. As you turn up the master it starts to add more tube like compression and sag. Yamaha have really done their homework. Despite its 1X12 size this amp puts out! I can't get it past 4 or 5. Its loud and its full. Something else really great about this amp is all of the sounds/models are consistant(there's that word again) with the others. Instead of sounding like 100 different amps Yamaha has chosen to make the amp sound more like one amp. All the models "match" I guess it what I'm trying to say...each step, from clean up to full out gain sounds like it belongs to the previous or preceeding. It sounds like one amp with progressive voicings instead of trying to emulate different amps. If you want Fender clean with a VOX chimey overdrive with a Rectifier distortion you'll need the Line 6 AX2, which will only simulate those combinations. If you want an amp that sounds like one amp with multiple yet related consistant sounds from clean to full tilt then go with Yamaha. Honestly, I can't emphasize enough how much more real this amp sounds and feels over the other modeling amps. It just has more tone and feel than the others, no competition. I give it an 8 again for the reasons above and also because I'm rea

I've only owned the amp a week and I only do home recording so I can't vouch for live gigging stamina for it. It seems very sturdy and Yamaha isn't a company that is known for making shotty stuff, I'm pretty confident the amp won't have any reliability problems.

Again, no experience here. Haven't owned it long enough

I give it a 10 here beause it is truly an amazing little amp for the money. I've paid more than I paid for this for real tube amps that didn't sound this good and this model is the bottom of the barrel of the line I can only imagine that the DG80 and DG100 kick ass even harder. Eventually I'd like to check out those models as well but for the money and tone this amp is just damn great. Cheers to Yamaha on this one.

No need to restate what's been mentioned in other reviews.

OK, here's what I want to talk about. I've been playing for 33 years, Berklee College alumnus, play a wide variety of styles. I was looking for an amp that was a)LIGHTWEIGHT!!!! b)versatile, and C)relatively inexpensive. The DG60 seemed to meet all these criteria. It sounded great at the store and in my house. The Yamaha digital amps are far superior to all the others out there, especially the much-ballyhooed Line6 (if you want to try a truly bad amp, check out the Spider, which, as another reviewer mentioned, is like a cheap toy by comparison). I like the simplicity of this amp: no effects-drenched, unusable presets, just great basic guitar amp tones. While the clean tones will never compare to my Rivera Jake, I actually prefer the crunch, drive, and lead sounds on this amp -- in the store, anyway. You've probably figured out by now what I'm going to say next, so here goes: Live, this amp just doesn't cut it. I mean that literally; the amp just didn't cut through at all, like a good old tube amp. Not only that; I had the eerie feeling that I was interacting with a zombie: it looks alive, but it's really not. I guess I had to play one onstage to finally hear for myself the difference between digital amps and tube amps. Digital amps simply don't sound like "real" amps, just as virtual reality is not the same as "real" reality. It's an impressive demonstration of technology's ability to mimic something, but it in no way equates to the real thing. Maybe someday they'll get it right, but for now, the real world still rules. By the way, don't blame my guitar; if my Tom Anderson Hollow T Classic can't bring this amp to life, nothing can (I will say, though, that the amp is more partial to my Anderson, with its Tele and Strat tones, than to my Godin LGXT with Duncan humbuckers). I'm giving the amp's sounds a 4 using the following logic: as a practice amp (and maybe for recording) I give it a 10; as a stage amp, I give it a 1. Average those two and you get 5; however, since amps are meant to be played live, I feel I have to rate the amp below the halfway point.

I noticed some other reviewers were very impressed with this amp live, so maybe this amp will work for you as well. Personally, though, I find it hard to believe that a player would not notice and be bothered by the artificial quality of digital modeling amps. So I'm back to my Jake. It's about 20 lbs. heavier and it doesn't have enough gain for heavy rock and fusion solos, so I have to use my ratty Rat pedal, but it's a real amp, and it has the sweetest clean channel on the planet.

Don't know; returned the amp. I've owned other Yamaha gear, though, and never had a problem with it.

N/A

Overall, I give it a 4. Read my explanation under "sounds."