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Author Topic: Thoughts on Blackstar?  (Read 10850 times)

craig_mccann

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Thoughts on Blackstar?
« on: December 28, 2009, 01:53:18 PM »
What are your thoughts on the Blackstar HT 5 for metal? I was thinking of getting the head and a seperate 1x12 cab or maybe a 2x12 i dunno yet.

Out of all the practise amps i've recently tried i think i liked it the most but i'm not sure if it has enough gain for most of what i play.

So what's your thoughts/experiences then? And could anyone suggest a good cab to look at too? I've no idea when it comes to heads and cabs.

Matt77

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2009, 02:31:19 PM »
Bought mine for £249 and sold for £220 9 months later.
So if you don't like it, they hold their price well in the 1st year.
Clean tone was bad . Plenty of gain I thought.
MJW will do a good 1 x 12 or 2 x 12 if you go brand new and want good quality at a low price

As a 2nd option get something with a better clean tone and then use a good pedal for the gain

craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2009, 02:33:41 PM »
i dont play clean a huge amount so thats not a major issue for me. How did you find it playing heavier stuff?

Supernaught

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2009, 03:49:59 PM »
I got an HT 5 about 6 months ago looking to replace my Marshal Vintage Modern as I needed some cash.   Turned out I didnt need the cash after all so I dont use the HT5 a lot which is a shame as its a nice amp.  Not a patch on the VM though, but thats understandable.   

It has a good amount of gain and probably the most responsive eq Ive ever seen on an amp, very flexable. 

To get an idea how much gain is available check out this video I made.   Sound quality isnt the best but its a good judge for metal/gain tones.

Click to about 2:20 to get to the heavier stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqJ5VCktdg0

Hope it helps.

Matt77

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2009, 04:05:34 PM »
i dont play clean a huge amount so thats not a major issue for me. How did you find it playing heavier stuff?

pretty good I thought. I'm not sure there's anything valve driven at that price range with as much gain

mikey5

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2009, 05:30:03 PM »
played pne yesterday i thought it sucked. Get yourself something better. Something Marshallish

craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2009, 11:34:59 PM »
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.

Dmoney

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2009, 11:45:54 PM »

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2009, 11:49:38 PM »
Its alright. It doesnt really have an aggressive voicing on any setting though.

I personally wouldnt bother getting drawn in by the OOOHHH LOOK ITS GOT VALVES IN!!!!111!!11! people and if youre in the bedroom then anything valve isnt really optimal unless its capable of sounding good at low volume (engl and diezel for example, but thats gonna cost you). There are workarounds, but the cost adds up.

Your best options are
- Practice amp and to hell with valves. Look at Cubes, Vypyrs, vox advt-XLs, spider *IV*s. Avoid - All other spiders, non-xl vox VTs (because they sound great for everything BUT metal). This will be your cheapest and easiest answer.

- Modeller -> PC -> Speakers

- Valve amp of some sort WITH - low wattage speaker (still more than the amp, though) and/or an overdrive or boost or other distortion pedal. Or, an attenuator.

Personally I'd just get an ADVT30XL or a Vypyr 15 or 30 and have done with it.

Oh,

Wait,

I DO have an ADVT30XL and a vypyr 30 as practice amps! Take that however you will :) (i'm not biassed, honest (no pun))

craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2009, 12:57:51 AM »
I heard that Jet City are good but I dont think anywhere in UK stock them, not from what i've seen on my searching anyway.

The amp I'm using the now is a Cube60, I like it but everytime i've asked on a forum (here and UG) what pickups i should get or how much will it help my sound I've always been told to upgrade my amp. So i thought i should look into some. Figured if changing my amp will help then il save for 1. I've tried alot of SS practise amps (Vyper, Spider 3, Cubes, Vox Vt50, Blackheart BH15) and none of them really blew me away or even made me consider  thinking they were better than a Cube. So i figured that tube was the way to go, just trying to fin a good 1 for bedroom practise was a bit hard.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 01:00:21 AM by craig_mccann »

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2009, 01:14:52 AM »
Keep the cube, theres really $%&# all wrong with it.

As I said in what I now realise is your other thread, the cubes are prefectly decent practice and small rehersal metal amps, from which good tones can be had and that do show the benefits of better pickups.

Trying to find a good tube amp for bedroom practice thats geared toward metal is hard because they dont exist.

Not to a high standard anyway.

For the record I consider the HT5 a rock amp that can do metal if you push it with something or know your recording onions and stick a mic infront of it.

HTH has a few tricks up his sleeve to remedy this, but I may have said too much on that already!

craig_mccann

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2009, 01:45:06 AM »
Right ok i think just 1 more question about this then, Is it worth considering getting an HT5 head and seperate cab then throwing something infront to boost it? or consider something like the Krank Rev jnr pro? or would you guys just recommend sticking with the Cube?

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2009, 01:51:49 AM »
Perhaps. Its not a bad plan, but from memory of each I dont think a boosted HT5 is going to sound much better/heavier than a cube, if at all.

The cube is a good amp, great value for money.

Keven

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2009, 01:53:54 AM »
this may or may not be useful but i've had good happenings with a marshallized valve junior head with a bitmo simple L-Pad attentuator. of course, i use a modded CS-3, BD-2, and SD-1 to get a proper metal tone at low volume, but the valves do their bidding. the CS-3 prevents loud clean peaks for going too loud, and give a good volume boost. the BD-2 is there for tone coloring. a cheap EQ i guess, and the SD-1 provides the bite when i need it. but the attenuator makes the whole thing usable at appartment volumes.

but, unless you want to work on your soldering skills, keep the cube. maybe get a trade-in for a cube-30x with that power squeezer. it's the same amp, with an onboard fixed attenuator, can be good especially for practice purposes.

keep in mind that if you boost something, you're gonna have to turn it down somewhere. and if you turn it down, you lose that power tube drive, making tubes useless. unless you turn down the actual signal going to the speaker, and that's an attenuator. but an attenuator can make you lose some bite to the signal, especially for bedroom uses.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 01:55:34 AM by Keven »
My BK's:
Black Dog8-Riff Raff8 / Black Dog7-Mule7
C-Bomb Set / Blackhawk Bridge
Holydiver Set/ BG50 Set

MDV

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Re: Thoughts on Blackstar?
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2009, 02:01:28 AM »
Attenuator for a solid state amp, indeed.

About as much good as mens tits.