Yamaha DG60FX-112

See below for detailed features. There are more features than I really need, but one that I find incredible on a modeling amp: Manual operation for all amp models and effects is rapid and simple, meaning you don't need presets or the included footswitch, or even a manual, to set your sound on the fly. I had it working to my taste ten minutes out of the box. The Fender Super Champ XD has this feature, but the Yamaha's numerous effects and tone controls, power and presence are a long cut above, and it has more ins and outs on the back, plus an "output" pot that allows you to change level without changing tone. It's a DG stomp with a user-friendly interface, tailor-made power amp and a Celestion 70/80 speaker, and it all works as a system. In the two months I've had this amp, I haven't even bothered to do the presets. I agree with the reviewer below who says that Yamaha must have turned their best people loose on this. I can gig this amp with a guitar and a cable, no other gear, yet have a store full of great amp and effect sounds. Amazing.

I've used this amp with very good guitars -- Reverend Slingshot Custom (P90s) and Manta Ray HB (a 335 type), and a Washburn SS80 modded with a Dimarzio Bluesbucker in the neck. I play mainly solo, open tunings, with a slide, and I play dance music -- Motown, rockabilly, Delta, classic rock. The bass response on the amp is phenomenal (I use my thumb for bass lines), the top end sings, all the notes ring out in chords. I'm not a brutal distortion guy, I use the Drive and Crunch settings mainly, to put some hot grease under the slide, and all the settings I've tried are distinct and useable; on Hendrix's "Ezy Ryder", the Drive 2 gave me the sound I wanted but could not get from all my other amps and pedals, punchy bass and cutting lead. The Clean settings mimic Fenders, and have good warmth for rhythm or jazz. I have noticed a bit of the treble harshness a reviewer mentioned below (thanks for the warning!), but it EQ'd out with no problem using onboard controls. The onboard chorus isn't great, but it's useable; the rotary is lovely, tremolo is pretty good. I don't use much else. The reverbs and delay are excellent to my ears. The main characteristic of this amp's sound is richness. It captures all the harmonics coming off the guitar. Really, I'm knocked out, and so is everyone who's heard me play on it.

I did gig it without a backup, but the power amp in jack means I can (and will) carry my Crate Powerblock and a modeler as a backup. I've only had it two months but it seems fine.

Never called them and it's off warranty. I have seen Japanese manufacturing at work and no one's better. I've owned Yamaha gear and it was always great value. The manual is on line, read it before I bought. The basis of customer support is a well-made, well-designed product, and this is it.

I've been playing 45 years on bass and electric guitar, mainly slide, some people think I'm pretty good. I play at home every day and out regularly, but the day gig is my platform. My stance is to be an amateur who can play all night or add something on a stage with pros. I've owned no name, Ampeg (B12 and V4), Fender (Bandmaster, currently a Bassman 100 export head), Peavey (Bandit 75, excellent tranny amp, and a modded Royal 8 tube amp), Roland Microcube, Vox DA5 (better), Crate Powerblock -- different sizes for different applications, from parties to halls, all with lines out (stock or modded) to connect to systems. I am NOT a tube snob; tube amps are heavy and fragile, and tubes are costly. I travel and sit in a lot, and I do it with a Zoom G2.1u or B2 modeler (see my reviews). Modelers allow me to switch "amps" for specific styles, and to set up light and fast with few cables. I nearly bought a Super Champ XD this year, wonderful small amp, but went for a blowout Royal 8 instead. It's fine with my mods (10" speaker) and Zoom pedals, but when I saw that I could have the Yamaha by trading a guitar I wasn't playing, I went for it on the basis of the reviews below and my past experience of Yamaha gear. Best deal of my life, and I'm a deal hound. This device is light relative to its power, hugely versatile and intuitive in basic operation. My only worry is that they're very hard to find now, out of production. I'd buy another one in a shot. It's a ten at the old US blowout price of $300, and off the charts for what I paid (about $150 after trade and shipping). If you like modeling amps, this is the best by a long margin, and I've tried them ALL.

Lots of pretty good basic effects built right in that are easy to use.

One thing about this amp that always bugged me was how you have to turn a knob to its original setting to put in a new setting. Just one of the trivial things that becomes tedious
Comes (new) with a foot pedal that is very handy (footy??)

I've been using this amp as my primary practice amp for about 4 years. Love the versatility in the tone production. Can get it to make a huge variety of sounds and really have fun tweaking the knobs and getting some freaky stuff going on without dealing with a bunch of pedals. It also is great for dialing up basic sounds with basic effects and it's pretty easy to save settings you like, although there was a bit of a learning curve. I agree with some of the other reviews on here that the sound is a bit on the screechy,trebly side... will investigate running it with a different speaker to warm it up a little like some suggested. Overall though I have always been very impressed with this little amp for it's tone - very gutsy and present; and it's inspirational and fun to play. I play mainly Metal, blues, rock; aggressive styles but have been very successful at getting some stuff I thought would be challenging (Sigur Ros - I play bowed instruments too). Cleans are sparkly, dirties are dirty and whats so nice about this amp is that if you play around with the knobs enough you get just about everything else in between and not lose the tone quality.

Never have had any problems with this amp. It pretty much hangs out in my den until I decide I need a little fix of rippin out some Bloodbath riffs before breakfast. Can see having issues with it on the road though especially without a case.

Never had to deal with it

For the price this is a beast of a modeling amp. I think Yamaha really put their quality people to work on this one and came out with a quality product

Yamahas modeling amp. Kind of an amplified DG Stomp. 8 pre-amps. 2 clean, 2 crunch, 2 lead, 2 drive. They are not marked ala "California Blues" "British Crunch" Elngish Top Boost", etc....but it's pretty easy to figure out what they are modeled after. Also features a plethor of effects, comp, chorus, flange, phase, rotory, reverbs, delays, etc......various speaker cabs and a butt load of over the top, unuseable pre-sets designed to thrill the kiddies at Guitar Center. Feature wise, it's a stunner.

I have yet to delve in to the tweaking aspects of this amp...but belive you me, they are mighty. Using a variety of strat, tele, 335, style guitars, the inherent tone is very tube like and highly usable. This is a very good sounding amp with a great feel.

Nice build quality and you rarely hear problems about Yamaha amps. Many of those old G series are still kicking arse around the world.

Discontinued, so good luck!

I'm not much on modeling amps truth be told, but this one is perhaps the best I've tried. While I'm much happier getting one or two basci great tones out of an amp and doing frurther tone tweaking via foot pedals, the Yamaha is a nice compromise. I like the way it responds to touch and how well it cleans up when backing off the guitars volume.

Features include just about everything you could want as a guitarist.
THe most versatile small combo i've encountered and a doddle to use!
half a dozen amp-sims and some cabinet simulation very useful for DI

Downside is that to use the speaker emulator affects the main speaker not just the DI signal. Line out level is affected by the main volume knob also.
In built tuner appears a bit dicky on my top E-string.
Supplied footswitch is a great addition but those of you who use many patches would benifit from a dedicated midi foot board.

With a handfull of preset, which initially appear limiting, the sonic Sound pallette is very wide. Jazz, country, metal, pop, you name it!
Quality wise this is the biz.

Volume-wise, ok for small gigs but if you've got a heavy handed drummer to compete with you're gonna be running this amp on the limit of its output capability, As i do. However, rolling off the 'bass' can provide a little more headroom.
That said get it mic'ed up or use the speaker-simulator output for a bit more volume and you're sorted. (see previous box)
Don't stand too far away (on a big stage) if you need to hear your amp clearly. Small bars/clubs: loud enough

Noticed that if the unit receives a bad sysex message it "Locks up" the midi-in port. You have to power down/up the unit to clear this.
CAn anyone tell me a better way to clear this?

apart from that, fine

website is good- manual downloads, not found a "user patch exchange" and not seen a DG60fx website or webring, (yet)

not had to contact yamamha with this one, though contacting the technical guys at yamaha UK was no problem on another item i have

Awesome. For the versatility can not be beat.
Remember this is only a 60 watt, 1x12" amp

You may need to spend some time to get your favourite sounds programmed, but should be ok once you get familiar with the knobs.

Presets just show off everything including those "wow what a great/whacky sound, but will i ever need that one"
We need a patch exchange website...

This is an update to my earlier review. I have since added the DS60-112 powered speaker to my DG60FX-112. I had todo some searching for one but it was well worth it. In stereo mode it will make a 60 plus 60 watt stereo amp. Or, it can be run mono for 120 watts combined. It has a Celestion in it as well in addition to some rudimentary sound shaping controls on the back panel. This amp is so versatile, I can't imagine parting with it (them)!

I like this amp more and more all the time. I do miss my old Trace Velocette--but it was more of a one trick pony. But that one trick was like buttah! I haven't found that sound it there yet, but I'll bet I can get pretty close.

Yamaha builds great stuff. I have had other Yamaha products and found them to be robust and reliable

Sorry--haven't needed them for anything.

Been playing a long time, have had a lot of amps, tube and solid state so I do know both sides--both have merits.

Made 2002. I bought mine in Jan 2003. It versatile enough for most situations, whether live, practise, or recording. The features/channels/etc have already been covered ad nauseum. I use mine live, usually miked up through the PA for reinforcement. It's certainly loud enough, especially for a solid state amp.

I'm using it with a Maton Mastersound 2000 electic guitar (wine red sunburst, original Maton PAF - style pickups - absolute dream of a guitar) and an Ibanez Ragtime Special, fitted with a Fishman pickup and using an LR Baggs external preamp. These combination suit anything I want to do, which is basically everything except shredding.
The Yamaha has a beautiful sound - with one exception. With some house lights on, I get some moderate hum on one particular setting. Other than that, it's faultless. Clean - great, distortion - very good.

Yes - dependable. Yes - I gig without a backup, but I look after it, like anything I use.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 30 years. I would certainly buy another, were this stolen. In response to "befuddled" (below), if you don't have the necessary neurons to master a fairly simple piece of technology, like a VCR, clock radio, a toaster, or an amp like this, then stay away from electronics and don't write reviews (which really reflect on your own ability, not the amplifier). I use the Yamaha live at least every month, and have had no problems. I compared this amp to Behringers, Marshalls, Crates, Fenders & Voxes. The Yamaha was the best package for 'bang for buck', and I even got the wah pedal included in the price.
If you buy an amplifier for features, then you have to be prepared to master the technology which offers these features. The DG112-FX is not hard to use - just experiment for longer than two days. Program a few of the pre-sets into the footpedal, and off you go. Easy.

brand new--blow out from the musician's friend--you can read the features online--it has features out the wazoo----but----to use it in a live situation---the switching between sounds could be a total nightmare--even with the footswitch---which is way too hard to use, effectively in a live setting---if you just leave it set on one sound all night--then it would be an ok amp---it has good echo---pretty good reverb---lots of distortions----the flange and tremelo is weak---if i used it live--i would just set it up on the clean channel and use a overdrive pedal----but then whats the point of all the other features---you could just use a basic solid state amp and be in the same place--its does have a good 12 inch celection speaker--its very loud but i didnt hear anything close to "tube tone" coming out--its a pretty harsh amp--i think

this has a million sounds---and i couldn't find one that i really liked---it does sound pretty good when you use the direct out for recording or headphones-----but for live sound, this amp is way too complicated to be any use---unless you play with a bunch of other guys who don't know how to use their gear either---i mean..truthfully---i could get a few standard sounds ok...but they didnt sound very good--the amp is very loud(on certain settings)---loud enough to get you hollered at and then some---i tried this amp for 2 days and sent it back---otherwise i would have put it in a closet--i'm too old for this shit..

i imagine its very dependable

i opted for another solid state amp with simple to use controls for echo, flange and chorus--no build in distortions-----this yamaha might be great for a bedroom wnaker or a guy with time to kill in a studio--but for live sound--its too goofy---you can accidentally dial in some very loud terrible sounds with the footswitch , if you dont know what youre doing----thats the key---you have to really really know what you're doing to use this amp----or else--why buy one with all these modeling things and features---just get a straight amp and a pedal--

I like the footswitch when used as a 3 channel amp switcher, with delay tap tempo and quick tuner access. When used as a 3 channel amp I am very happy with it. No minor bugs like I have had with my behringer and rocktron digital gear.Headphone jack sounds outstanding when speaker sim is on thru cheap pair of walkman style cans. For practice jamming and recording really like this amp. I have had a lot of modeling stuff and this really sounds good. Celestion speaker was nice to have included, not top of line speaker but still sound ok with celestion sound feel and vibe.

I use a dearmond humbucker equiped guitar with after market dimarzio pick ups. (virtual pafs)Excellent preamp sounds with some great feel. No tight metals sounds but it does everything from great cleans to fluid satch like leads excellent. Effects are very nice except the flanger and phasor not my cup of tea. I also prefer delay over reverb, Reverb is not bad sounding but I like the delays so much I never use reverb.

No problems or glitches yet.

never needed it.

I like it for a all in one unit and the great price, I am not complaining one bit. Very happy with quality of sound and not having any hassles with amp operation. A good guitar player can do a lot with this amp. Minor quirk I think for high volume playing all the time I would use something else. But modeling can get great sounds at low and resonable volumes. But if you play on 11 all the time you would want something else. Yamaha has some very sophisicated preamp distortions with some great effects and OK tuner. You will have to read manual it could be a little easier to use. Oh and high gains sounds are little noisey but no problem when you are actually playing.Great sound and feel make up for that. High gain tube amps are not quiet either.If you wana play some classic rock, Jazz, country or blues for 300$ it is money well spent.You got every thing here to make some great music. Cord, guitar and amp very simple set up.

I can't think of anything this thing doesn't have that I would want. I had a DG Stomp so when I saw that these were being blown out, I had to have one. No regrets whatsoever.

This suits my music style to a "T" since I like so many styles anyway. Since I had the DG Stomp already, I pretty much knew what to expect. It does clean very nicely, does the crunch really well and the built in effects have good parameters and sound as good as my stomp boxes. The 12 inch Celestion is a nice touch too. As good as a tube amp? Not quite but very close. I don't find any of that digital distortion decay on so many modelers these days. Sounds really natural. I have owned a number of tube amps and I know there is something magical about a great amp. This one comes so close, I don't miss the glowing bottles and it is so versatile.

Yamaha gear is typically overbuilt and robust. I have never had a Yamaha product give me any problems. None.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing a long time now--a couple of decades plus. I have a bunch of gits and stomps but I am liking this for the simplicity of its size and function. The DG Stomp sold me on this. Now I have a powered cabinet for it on its way. Definitely worth more than what I paid.

Treated myself to this birthday present as the price plummeted. Lots of features as described below: eight amp models and oodles of effects. 90 presets and 90 user patches. Compared to my Fender Deluxe Reverb RI, it's got all the features in the world. BTW, the website where I bought it said it came with an Eminence speaker, but it came with Celestion Seventy 80.

It's like this. In a week of experimentation I haven't found a single sound I like as much as my DRRI, but I've found dozens of sounds I like very much. I play a G&L ASAT Classic and a late 70s Fender Strat. I've also used it with my son's G&L Legacy. Lots and lots of fun in the family room, but if I was going to go play with other people, I'd probably take the Fender. This may just be because I know it's abilities and quirks thoroughly, and I'm just getting to know the Yamaha.

Hard to know. One week old and I expect no problems.

N/A

I think it's a gas, and I would buy another. In fact, my son has a DG Stomp and I might get him one of these as well. I don't know squat about gigging, but I've been playing for 20 years and this makes me experiment and leave my comfort zone. Fun, fun Fun!