Thoughts on Blackstar?

[Dmoney]

Attenuator for a solid state amp, indeed.

About as much good as mens tits.

kind of have to agree with this.
I also think if you want to play metal you might want to forget power stage breakup, and concentrate getting a hi gain tone from the preamp, and using a pretty clean power stage to push it.

I'm sure most people don't push their power tubes into break up.

I use a various head, all roughly around 100watt, and I know that even with an attenuator, im not pushing my amp hard enough to get power stage break up I don't think. There is the problem where you HAVE and attenuator and deliberately try to get power tube break up, and that can be dangerous because you can end up thrashing your tubes really quickly, shortening tube life, in some cases red plating your tubes.

just thought id mention that.

[MDV]

And aside from anything else, I think (just me, at this stage, disagree if you will) that the most pleasing aspect of high volume distortion is *speaker* distortion. Not power amp.

[Dmoney]

And aside from anything else, I think (just me, at this stage, disagree if you will) that the most pleasing aspect of high volume distortion is *speaker* distortion. Not power amp.

i don't know if ive ever pushed speakers into distortion. ive only ever really use 4x12's with either V30's, T-75s or a Mix of the two. I wouldn't imagine id be getting them to break up.

your definitely not going to get those tones at bedroom levels

[Keven]

power tube distortion is kind of like the diamond that turns out to be zircon when you're a metal player.

i have to agree with you guys about this, i guess the only thing the squeezer on the cube does is make the volume pot have a more manageable taper :D

[MDV]

And aside from anything else, I think (just me, at this stage, disagree if you will) that the most pleasing aspect of high volume distortion is *speaker* distortion. Not power amp.

i don't know if ive ever pushed speakers into distortion. ive only ever really use 4x12's with either V30's, T-75s or a Mix of the two. I wouldn't imagine id be getting them to break up.

your definitely not going to get those tones at bedroom levels

Not unless youre loud as $%&#, no.

You can tell. Speakers begin to distort when they excurse. If you can see your speakers (with a torch if need be, through the grill) then when they LOOK like they're moving, they WILL be distorting.

I've seen (and heard it) with my PB and ubercab with V30s and t75s. The power amp distortion on my setup starts to get really noticable only after the speaker distortion.

Keven, quite right, the taper of the master will probably be better, and that is something that can often be improved on amps, valve or SS.

[mikey5]

So you suggest something marshall-ish? can you recommend something then please? I'd rather not go above 500 GBP though and i'm limited to bedroom playing too so nothing like 50watt tubes or anything.

Im sorry brother craig I should have mentioned I have been on the same search as you for some time now. I guess the amps that I have found that I really liked are Ceriatones and Orange TTs. I own a TT and I recently had an opportunity to play a matchless ceriatone clone. I can only imagine the marshall clones are awesome. There are some options that you will see that have lower wattage like 20 watts and such from ceriatone. But if you really cant make any noise at all, as not to upset neighbors, you might want to get something solid state. I was looking at the Marshall Class 5 because it had a headphone option, and it was a tube amp, but unfortunately the volume and the gain knob were the same so its not designed so well for headphones. I got a line 6 because I want to save my money and get myself something really good, but until then I will play this little piece of garbage. So my suggestions would be the TT or even better the Ceriatone.

Good luck

[tomjackson]

I think the Super Champ XD is a really nice amp, I'm sure the cleans would be nicer than the Blackstar.  Dont know about the high gain stuff though...

[craig_mccann]

Alrigh thanks guys, I'm hopefully gonna get my pups at the end of january, n il see how it sounds after that with my cube. Cheers.

[dheim]

i've got an HT5 combo as a fun amp, and it sounds pretty good. i tried it at more-than-bedroom volume and it still sounds good. if it's not enough you can spice up things with an overdrive/booster, but it should work almost for every metal application. just use a couple of effects in the fx loop, it's too dry without.
if you want to use it in a band you should mic it, but i think it should cut the mix better than solid state amps of its class. never tried but i suspect so.

[craig_mccann]

cool, think il get my pickups installed then try my cube, n i could then take my guitar to the shop n try it with my own guitar instead of 1 of theres, n see how that comes out. I dunno i liked it, bit it seemed like it was kinda missing something. so do u think if i was to get that i would most likely have to buy pedals too? like overdrive/boost and reverb type stuff? i dont have any pedals atm cos if i need effects my cube can do them (not great i know lol)

[dheim]

cool, think il get my pickups installed then try my cube, n i could then take my guitar to the shop n try it with my own guitar instead of 1 of theres, n see how that comes out. I dunno i liked it, bit it seemed like it was kinda missing something. so do u think if i was to get that i would most likely have to buy pedals too? like overdrive/boost and reverb type stuff? i dont have any pedals atm cos if i need effects my cube can do them (not great i know lol)

try it, but if i were you i'd stick to my cube and spare money for a serious amp. you can get good amps for reasonable prices (i've got an engl firebal 100 and i love it, a fireball 60 is much cheaper and it's definitely a great metal amp)... an HT5 is good if you use it for what's worth... and yes, you'll need effects. a little DSP and a booster or OD, i think. but ypu'll need them anyway unless you buy a digital/hybrid amp.
if you can try a bugera, they're extremely cheap, not much dependable but they sound GREAT. mine blew after a year and a half - i got it repaired for 150€... i think it's a problem with 333xl alimentation lines, as long as i know the 6262s are reliable. and they bury peaveys!

[craig_mccann]

See I'd love an amp like the 6262 or Fireball or something but they are far to much for just bedroom are they not? plus they are bloody expensive lol I was thinking something bout 40 or 50 watts could probably come down to bedroom volumes n still sound good but Id rather not have to spend like a grande to get it. Since there is no view to me that im going to be gigging.

Please excuse me if it seems like im being ignorant about tube amps being too loud or anything, i really dont know a massive amount about them so just picking up what other people are saying as i go.

[Dmoney]

50watts is still really loud in a bedroom.

[CaptainDesslock]

Attenuator for a solid state amp, indeed.

About as much good as mens tits.

you'd be surprised what a proper woman can do to a dude's man nipple  :P

[dheim]

50W are already damn loud. of course a 120W bugera could tear your walls down - honestly i never played mine over 3.5 of master volume, and i'm talking about gigs with mic'd drums! BUT i found the 333xl to sound very nicely at abysmal volumes too, even if tone is not directly comparable. sound at bedroom levels is completely different and, for what matters, better than a digital bedroom amp but not enough to justify the expense and the huge and the huge bulk of the head+cab themselves.
my 100W fireball sounds pretty good below "1", and since i haven't gigged yet with it at rehearsals i play it between 1.5 and 2. and it's crushing...
an HT5 combo is a much more logical choice if you play at home, but what if you're gonna need it to play live or with a drummer?