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Author Topic: Thoughts on Blackstar?  (Read 10847 times)

dheim

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #45 on: January 16, 2010, 07:37:31 PM »
i think he already went for the 6505...  :)
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MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #46 on: January 16, 2010, 07:42:18 PM »
i think he already went for the 6505...  :)

And soon the 'how do I make a 6505 sound good at bedroom levels?' thread :lol:

dheim

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #47 on: January 16, 2010, 07:55:47 PM »
i think he already went for the 6505...  :)

And soon the 'how do I make a 6505 sound good at bedroom levels?' thread :lol:

easy. you just have to put it into a wood box, set volume to half (approximately) and then cover everything with concrete. my cousin did it and i swear it works! (typical UG advice...)
« Last Edit: January 17, 2010, 01:38:56 AM by dheim »
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MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #48 on: January 16, 2010, 08:31:52 PM »
i think he already went for the 6505...  :)

And soon the 'how do I make a 6505 sound good at bedroom levels?' thread :lol:

easy. you just have to put it into a wood box, set volume to half (approximately and then cover everything with concrete. my cousin did it and i swear it works! (typical UG advice...)

:lol:

Also, you can put it in another house and listen to it through the walls and it sounds fine.

dave_mc

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #49 on: January 17, 2010, 09:54:36 PM »
i thought the 6505 sounded ok at bedroom levels :lol:

i never understood these "you can't crank it at home, buy a modeller instead". I've tried cubes etc. numerous times, and while I agree that they kick ass for the price, if you can afford a good high gain tube amp, even if you can only run it at home volumes, you might as well. Personally I think they sound better than those cheaper modellers even turned down, though of course they sound even better turned up.

BigK

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #50 on: January 17, 2010, 11:08:12 PM »
i thought the 6505 sounded ok at bedroom levels :lol:

i never understood these "you can't crank it at home, buy a modeller instead". I've tried cubes etc. numerous times, and while I agree that they kick ass for the price, if you can afford a good high gain tube amp, even if you can only run it at home volumes, you might as well. Personally I think they sound better than those cheaper modellers even turned down, though of course they sound even better turned up.

+1 I've had POD's (with and without an atomic valve combo thing), spiders (2&3), a flextone 3 (which was the best modelling amp ive used the vetta is too complicated), an HD147 and none of them could beat my engl thunder when I had it, and my Powerball and JVM blow that away.

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dheim

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #51 on: January 18, 2010, 12:26:15 AM »
at extremely low volumes a great tube amp sounds more or less like a modeler, character starts to appear over 1 of master volume... below that every amp sounds more or less the same. someone will say that 1 is an extremely low volume, but i play my engl FB100 at 1.5 and it shakes my band's rehearsal room's walls... i can't imagine when i will ever drive it at least at 4-5 even in a live situation!
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craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #52 on: January 18, 2010, 02:20:18 PM »
Well actually i haven't went for anything yet. I dont have the money just yet, not till at least the end of feb. But the way i am looking at it is i could get the 6505+ 112 (which btw is 60watts not 100 like someone said earlier) and if i dont like how it sounds at low volumes then il get my money back, no problem. So no, MDV, there will not be a "how do i get it sounding good at low volumes" thread coming from me.


You said i shouldn't listen to anyone on UG, cos all they do is talk cr@p but from what i've seen on just this and the previous page not everyone on here is giving the best advice either.

I'm not having a dig at anyone here. I know people on UG talk cr@p, but i also know there are some very helpful and knowledgeable people there too, i don't listen to every piece of advice i see there but i do listen to some and i wait till there are ALOT of opinions on the same thing before i make up my mind.

If i listen to them there is a chance i will make the wrong choice, if i listen to you guys there is still the chance i will make the wrong choice. I am just trying to get as many opinions as i can so i can make a good choice, and lets face it it's peoples opinions, not fact.

So which ever choice i make will be made from a combination of UG, you guys and youtube videos not just you or them.

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #53 on: January 18, 2010, 03:02:13 PM »
i thought the 6505 sounded ok at bedroom levels :lol:

i never understood these "you can't crank it at home, buy a modeller instead". I've tried cubes etc. numerous times, and while I agree that they kick ass for the price, if you can afford a good high gain tube amp, even if you can only run it at home volumes, you might as well. Personally I think they sound better than those cheaper modellers even turned down, though of course they sound even better turned up.

Its a relative thing, and an expectations thing.

A lot of valve amps can sound what I would call good at low volumes, but thats a "good" thats calibrated for me not expecting it to sound like

- it does loud.
- Any album tone

Its a good-for-valve-amp-at-low-volume good and a good-enough-to-play-through. Not an absolute 'good'.

Most of the time, a fuller, more aggressive, defined and thicker sound can be attained with a decent SS amp at low volumes. There are exceptions, and there are caveats, but on the whole I think thats true.

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #54 on: January 18, 2010, 03:07:22 PM »
Well actually i haven't went for anything yet. I dont have the money just yet, not till at least the end of feb. But the way i am looking at it is i could get the 6505+ 112 (which btw is 60watts not 100 like someone said earlier) and if i dont like how it sounds at low volumes then il get my money back, no problem. So no, MDV, there will not be a "how do i get it sounding good at low volumes" thread coming from me.


You said i shouldn't listen to anyone on UG, cos all they do is talk cr@p but from what i've seen on just this and the previous page not everyone on here is giving the best advice either.

I'm not having a dig at anyone here. I know people on UG talk cr@p, but i also know there are some very helpful and knowledgeable people there too, i don't listen to every piece of advice i see there but i do listen to some and i wait till there are ALOT of opinions on the same thing before i make up my mind.

If i listen to them there is a chance i will make the wrong choice, if i listen to you guys there is still the chance i will make the wrong choice. I am just trying to get as many opinions as i can so i can make a good choice, and lets face it it's peoples opinions, not fact.

So which ever choice i make will be made from a combination of UG, you guys and youtube videos not just you or them.

The advice on the last couple of pages is perfectly good, within the bounds of each contributors taste and experiences.

I suspect you would prefer to be told what you want to hear, or already believe ;)

Fun fact - 60W of valves is face meltingly loud. It has less headroom than 120 (but is not actually very much queiter at all) but will still have to be at a volume thats easily audiable down the street to be getting anything like the full tonal capability of the amp.

The 5150/6505 volume issue doesnt stem from the wattage - its in the use of 6l6s (hard to overdrive) and the voicing of the amp.

craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #55 on: January 18, 2010, 03:24:01 PM »
Actually no i don't just like advice that tells me what i apparently want to hear. The posts i was talking about were the 1s just laughing at the fact of listening to people on UG, that is in no way helpful. There was a few posts with decent advice, but the rest started to go to spam, much like what happens on UG funnily enough.

You said a minute ago that "good" sound is relative to what you expect, i don't expect it to sound as good at low volumes, i don't expect to be able to get the full tone from the amp thats possible at high volumes. But i have had alot of people tell me it will sound alot better at low volumes than my Cube does so I'm willing to try it at least. I watched a video of a guy playing it at volume 1 and it to me sounded great.

So please tell me something, (without meaning to sound like a d1ck and i apologise if i do) why is your advice better than anyone on UGs if i'm not supposed to listen to them?

And for the record i havven't decided whether this is the amp for me or not, but it's top on my list of thought anyway.

Twinfan

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #56 on: January 18, 2010, 03:36:00 PM »
MDV is being a bit of an arse here for some reason, he’s usually a bit more mild mannered  :lol:

For what it’s worth, I use any of my valve amps for home practice at TV volumes.  They’re 35w/60w/90w and each sound ‘good’, and I mean that in an ‘absolute good’ way.  I prefer the sound of a larger amp played quieter than I do a 5w amp (say), and my favourite home rig at the moment is a 35w JTM45 with a pedal.

If you like the specs of the 6505 or whatever, and have access to a pedal or two to juice it up a bit a lower volumes, go for it  :)

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #57 on: January 18, 2010, 03:40:20 PM »
Fair enough. We tend to lark about a bit here. Perhaps our humour is a little different from yours. I thought that you thought that posts on the topic, actually pertaining to amps, not UG or banter were in some way misleading or untrue - bad advice. I see now that you meant that some of the posts in this thread contian *no* advice. Thats to be expected, in all fairness. (we dont, and arent forced to rigidly stick to a topic for a thread, as UG is ;))

And its a general assessment of the two places. UG does have some reasonably well informed members, and a handfull of very well informed people have at least passed through its doors. Ive said that already in this thread. The problem is that so many arent. I consider the forum something of a n00b school. We all were once. The rules and regs that the inexperienced and overenthusiastic teens there are hearded with reflect this, as do things like the 'who to listen to lists' (which I'm on, in the 'honorary' parts :lol:), since they wouldnt be needed if so many people that visit werent a neophyte in need of guidance on who to believe, being that they lack the experience to determine that for themselves and if the place in general wasnt populated in large part by people that dont give very well informed advice (often the same above neophytes).

Bottom line though is buy the amp you like the sound of, with your guitar and your playing.

Dave! Mild mannered...never! :lol:

I am being a bit of an arse though. I have no idea why.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2010, 03:41:56 PM by MDV »

Dmoney

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #58 on: January 18, 2010, 03:43:00 PM »
I think people hear are trying to help you find something thats fit for purpose and something that you'll get your money's worth using.

I read that UG thread and there where a lot of people suggesting stuff that I would personally avoid, but I know some people hear would use it happily. Im talking specifically about the Line 6 stuff. Every Line 6 amp ive played is nowhere near as good as a nice valve amp.

If it was me... I might look for an old Marshall VS100 head. I think those are under rated, but the dont make them any more. the AVT range replaced them, and I don't like the AVT's.

I also don't like thing like Vox modeling amps, i can't remember which ones in particular.


Right now I have gigging amps that I run real quiet at home. The Uberschall I have doens't sound that good at low volume. Maybe better than a cube, but you need it loud to get the power stage character and to get the speakers driven fully. Its not like is passable either. Im forever trying to EQ it so it sounds better, but really i know it just need to be louder for the EQ and everything to work.
 I had the same issue when playing a dual rec at low volume (that was worse) and like I said, I had a 6505 head I gigged with and used at home and it might be better than some budget low wattage SS or hybrids, but its still overkill, and like MDV says, 60watts isn't really much quieter than 120watts.


On the PLUS side, if you did get that amp, then at least if you start a band you won't need to buy a new amp. You can also pop something like an EQ pedal with a level control in the loop, and use that to keep your volume down and add some boost/cut to certain frequencies.

see if you can find HTH's thread on here. He had a modded epiphone had that sounded pretty mean, and im sure he could tweak it for what you want.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2010, 03:47:11 PM by Dmoney »

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #59 on: January 18, 2010, 03:56:05 PM »
+1 to a VS100R.

They were pretty good amps.

Yeah, its 100W, but they sounded pretty good quiet (to me at least).

Oh and, unless you stick an OD infront of the Uber, I'll take a cube 30 over it for low vol practice any day ;)

Start to push it though, and the uber destroys, obviously.