Blackstar info please

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I don't know if you have any experience with Blackstar but to me a Blackstar amp in general is pretty trebly & somewhat thin sounding. More of modern sound. That's not different for the HT-5 imo.
 
I haven't tried them, but as far as i'm aware the ht series (or at least the ht5) is hybrid and not all-valve. there's a reverse-engineered schematic floating around if you do a google search (HC, I think).
 
Word floats around its the same preamp as HT Dual pedal(which you can buy cheap used) + power amp that is not all tube
If I needed small amp head Id go with these
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/2009/09/19/jca-20h/
There are also some mods avalible to make it even better(Dave Friedman)
 
As far as I'm aware, it's a valve amp with a solid state preamp stage, the same principle as running a tubescreamer (which has no tubes in it) into a valve amp.

Anyway, semantics aside, I've got a HT-5 combo, and I think it's great. It's an older model, made before the availability of reverb and an MP3 line-in option. As a bedroom amp it's superb, got an fx loop and three band EQ, as well as clean and dirty channels, controlled by a footswitch. The much vaunted ISF is useful, but not all that important to me. It you want teh brootalz sounds, it needs pushing with a dirt pedal of your choice through the dirty channel. This is not a sound I seek, so my opinion on this is worth just as much as you paid for it.

It takes distortion pedals well, and sounds superb. I was playing a P90 LP special through it last night with lots of gain on the neck pickup and I think it's nearly the best guitar sound I've heard at low volume.

When these first came out, people raved about them, now they're more commonplace, it seems to be fashionable to knock them... Fashion, huh?

I haven't played a better bedroom amp.
 
All I was saying is(if you already have a small combo of some sort),you can get the same sound(for less money) if you buy used HT Dual pedal(which go for cheap).

The HT5 offers the same sound as HT-Dual pedal.
The HT series pedals dont hold the value.They are very cheap used.
 
^ what type of tones are you after? most of the 5 watters are aimed at vintage tones, and are (generally) pretty nice for the money if that's what you're after and you can crank them a bit. But if you're after more modern tones, there are better options normally (apart from the ht5, i think it's aimed at more modern tones- oh, and the jet city picovalve might be too, though i haven't tried it either :lol: ).

Griff said:
As far as I'm aware, it's a valve amp with a solid state preamp stage, the same principle as running a tubescreamer (which has no tubes in it) into a valve amp.

I don't think so, from what I can remember anyway. Or at least, you're right up to a point, but I'd say there's more SS stuff happening in it than there is when you merely run a TS into an all-valve amp.

IIRC, the phase inverter is transistor-based (if you were running a TS pedal into a valve amp the PI would be valve), plus from what I can remember there were several op-amp gain stages in the preamp (the tubescreamer has one dual op-amp, i think, so two op-amp gain stages? i think the other transistors in a tubescreamer are just the input and output buffers, though I could be wrong), plus the clipping diodes (which a ts also has).

Don't get me wrong, I haven't tried one and it may sound great, and may be the best way to get "those" tones at low volumes. I'm just not much keen on their marketing. :)
 
Dave_Mc said:
Don't get me wrong, I haven't tried one and it may sound great, and may be the best way to get "those" tones at low volumes. I'm just not much keen on their marketing. :)

I agree their marketing line is pretty dubious. Probably because I'm a jaded cynic, I tend to expect marketing blurb to steer wide of the mark where truth is concerned, so I tend to discount the advertising and listen to the opinions of my ears.

I look forward to finding a better bedroom amp for vintage tones, but I haven't found it yet!
 
^ oh yeah i mean i assume the worst when i see any ads too, but some are worse than others at the same time. :lol:

^^ :lol:

The vht special 6 is pretty nice for vintage fender-type tones, though it has no master volume so it's loud to crank up at home (plus mine was faulty- i think mine's the only one i've heard of as being faulty though :cry: ). there's a new ultra version which has a switchable extra gain stage and master volume (plus i think you can set it up to sound like the bog standard special 6 if you plug into the normal inputs), but i haven't tried it.

you have all the other options like the valve junior, peavey valveking royal 8, fender champion 600, blackheart, vox ac4 etc. (only tried the first 3 of those, if you ask me the vht is superior to those 3).

if you can stretch a bit you could maybe even consider something like the valvepower 18 watt clone... it has VVR so you can crank it up at lower volumes.
 
You want vintage?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-RARE-1966-Gibson-Skylark-Guitar-Tube-Amp-15-wat-/230641865245?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D1131937226232869088#ht_2207wt_905

Around 5W and not 15W as this Ebay ad says.
6EU7 ≈ ECC83, 6BQ5 ≈ EL84, 6X4 rectifier, great sound!!
 
Totally disagree about Blackstar amps sounding thin and bright I have a Series one 45 2x12 combo that sounds amazing. haven't tried any of the others though
 
These look interesting Pete

The new Minimat Range from Matamp

http://www.matamp.co.uk/amplification/minimats.aspx
 
chrisheyes said:
These look interesting Pete

The new Minimat Range from Matamp

http://www.matamp.co.uk/amplification/minimats.aspx

This looks wicked(mini-rock)
Anyone played it yet?
 
chrisheyes said:
These look interesting Pete

The new Minimat Range from Matamp

http://www.matamp.co.uk/amplification/minimats.aspx

oh wow, they look nice. haven't tried them, though (and no prices).
 
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