Blackstar HT5M- Volume going very low and cutting in and out.

[conanthewarrior]

Did you spray the pins of the tube and work it in and out of the socket? That's the first thing I do when I have an issue, only I'm using a known good tube to find my culprit. Best of luck. My guess, and I have limited experience with the Dark Terror is that that amp with a V30 speaker should sound pretty awesome - but it will be more on the dark sludge doom side of metal me thinks. That's what Orange's are known for anyway. A used 5153 or DSL or Engel should blow your doors off and still sound decent at lower volumes. I play my Dual Rectifier into a 4x12 cab all the time and never wake up the wife

Yes I did, and unfortunately it changed the problem from the volume fading out slowly to cutting in and out rapidly, there was no gradual reduction in volume.

That is what tore me, I realised that the oranges were more suitable for that, when I play I mainly play Thrash, melodic death metal and also enjoy older things like Judas Priest, for example electric eye off of screaming for vengeance.

What DSL or ENGL would be good to go for? I see the ENGL ironball 20W is well within my maximum budget, is this a good amp?I know you mentioned most 15-20W amps aren't geared to metal but there are exceptions?
I can see it used for £549 from Andertons, new it is £799.

I am not very familiar with DSL's so which model would sound good at lower volumes, and give a nice or reasonable metal tone?

I can occasionally crank it to blow the windows out lol, but generally like playing and practicing at a reasonable volume.

Wow, I didn't realise you could play a dual rectifier that quiet, not waking the wife is always a bonus lol!

 

[napalmdeath]

Yes I did, and unfortunately it changed the problem from the volume fading out slowly to cutting in and out rapidly, there was no gradual reduction in volume.

That is what tore me, I realised that the oranges were more suitable for that, when I play I mainly play Thrash, melodic death metal and also enjoy older things like Judas Priest, for example electric eye off of screaming for vengeance.

What DSL or ENGL would be good to go for? I see the ENGL ironball 20W is well within my maximum budget, is this a good amp?I know you mentioned most 15-20W amps aren't geared to metal but there are exceptions?
I can see it used for £549 from Andertons, new it is £799.

I am not very familiar with DSL's so which model would sound good at lower volumes, and give a nice or reasonable metal tone?

I can occasionally crank it to blow the windows out lol, but generally like playing and practicing at a reasonable volume.

Wow, I didn't realise you could play a dual rectifier that quiet, not waking the wife is always a bonus lol!

Engl Fireball 25.

 

[311splawndude]

Yes I did, and unfortunately it changed the problem from the volume fading out slowly to cutting in and out rapidly, there was no gradual reduction in volume.

That is what tore me, I realised that the oranges were more suitable for that, when I play I mainly play Thrash, melodic death metal and also enjoy older things like Judas Priest, for example electric eye off of screaming for vengeance.

What DSL or ENGL would be good to go for? I see the ENGL ironball 20W is well within my maximum budget, is this a good amp?I know you mentioned most 15-20W amps aren't geared to metal but there are exceptions?
I can see it used for £549 from Andertons, new it is £799.

I am not very familiar with DSL's so which model would sound good at lower volumes, and give a nice or reasonable metal tone?

I can occasionally crank it to blow the windows out lol, but generally like playing and practicing at a reasonable volume.

Wow, I didn't realise you could play a dual rectifier that quiet, not waking the wife is always a bonus lol!

yeah, that signal problem you are describing sounds like a connection problem or some solid state issue. Connection could be any electrical connection in the signal, including your pickups etc. Have you tried a different amp altogether?

Yeah, most Orange amps will get you there including the solid state Supercrush. @romanianreaper has 2 of them

I honestly do not have a lot of low watt amp experience for metal etc. But in addition to what @napalmdeath said, the DSL 40 combos get a lot of love. So do the 2nd gen DSL50 and DSL100 heads, latter the better. Used Peavys including some Bandits, XXX, JSX, 5150, 6505, 5153, Invecta, 3120 - but those may be hard to find in London area.

Yeah, I can play it that softly. Won't sound its best. Will sound better than a low volume Plexi, Splawn, Deluxe Reverb, etc. I tube amp with a Master Volume (not gain or channel volume) will help in this regard). Somewhat like a volume pedal in the fx loop.

I really would start a new thread on "What Amp" and give your budget/location/genre etc and you will probably get more hits

Good Luck

 

[Erock]

Also its strange you mention rust- everything in my studio is showing layers of rust, such as the tommy bar on my Mic stands, my guitar strings if I leave them too long, and even the screws to remove the back cover of my amp head were rusty. I have no idea what is going on with the humidity/climate to make everything rust as this is only a recent thing.

I would figure out a way to remedy that problem, sounds like it's really high humidity mixed with salty air. If you are seeing surface rust on everything, it's inside stuff too. It's going to play havoc with your electronics over time IMO, ie. like the switch on your guitar you mentioned. If you haven't already, I would use some deoxit in all the pots as well, they are likely seeing corrosion as well. Digital temp/humidity gauges are cheap, under 10 bucks, just to see what's going on with your RH. You generally don't want to go over 50-55% relative humidity for extended periods with electronics.

 

[311splawndude]

I would figure out a way to remedy that problem, sounds like it's really high humidity mixed with salty air. If you are seeing surface rust on everything, it's inside stuff too. It's going to play havoc with your electronics over time IMO, ie. like the switch on your guitar you mentioned. If you haven't already, I would use some deoxit in all the pots as well, they are likely seeing corrosion as well. Digital temp/humidity gauges are cheap, under 10 bucks, just to see what's going on with your RH. You generally don't want to go over 50-55% relative humidity for extended periods with electronics.

Great point my friend. Forgot about the rust. I DO believe it is a fairly old amp though but still. So yeah, even a high humid salty environment can hurt a tube amp just as much. Actually, tubes will be more resilient I would think over solid state.

For fun, I'm going to look for your thread at UG @conanthewarrior . I used to hand out there quite a bit starting out and I remember the Blackstars being recommended quite a bit. They have all tube version too right? Artist or something line?

 

[Erock]

Great point my friend. Forgot about the rust. I DO believe it is a fairly old amp though but still. So yeah, even a high humid salty environment can hurt a tube amp just as much. Actually, tubes will be more resilient I would think over solid state.

For fun, I'm going to look for your thread at UG @conanthewarrior . I used to hand out there quite a bit starting out and I remember the Blackstars being recommended quite a bit. They have all tube version too right? Artist or something line?

Yeah, he mentioned it being a relatively new thing, so figured I would point it out. I'm a bit OCD about that though. I live in the northeast US, so the temp/humidity swings wildly throughout the year. It's a constant battle to keep my music/gear room at 70-75 F and 40-50% RH. Summer it's trying to keep it under 75 and 50RH, winter it's trying to keep it over 70 and 40RH.

 

[conanthewarrior]

Engl Fireball 25.

That seems like a sick amplifier! That would be a big upgrade over my Blackstar yes and is a proper valve/tube amp and not SS with valves like mine?

I would figure out a way to remedy that problem, sounds like it's really high humidity mixed with salty air. If you are seeing surface rust on everything, it's inside stuff too. It's going to play havoc with your electronics over time IMO, ie. like the switch on your guitar you mentioned. If you haven't already, I would use some deoxit in all the pots as well, they are likely seeing corrosion as well. Digital temp/humidity gauges are cheap, under 10 bucks, just to see what's going on with your RH. You generally don't want to go over 50-55% relative humidity for extended periods with electronics.

I think you have hit the nail on the head there, I live somewhere called Canvey Island which is a seaside town so guess it could be the sea air.
Yes, under the plastic cap of my switch you can see that the blade of the switch is rusted.
I will use some electrical contact cleaner as you recommended on my guitar, do I need to take the pots out of the guitar to do this or do I just spray it in from the front and twist the knobs a bit?
I see, I didn't know they was that cheap. I will pick one up to see what my humidity is.

Great point my friend. Forgot about the rust. I DO believe it is a fairly old amp though but still. So yeah, even a high humid salty environment can hurt a tube amp just as much. Actually, tubes will be more resilient I would think over solid state.

For fun, I'm going to look for your thread at UG @conanthewarrior . I used to hand out there quite a bit starting out and I remember the Blackstars being recommended quite a bit. They have all tube version too right? Artist or something line?

I think its about 10 years old if I remember correctly, I bought it from new as an upgrade to a line 6 spider IV 75W amp based on online reviews, and yes ultimate guitar really recommended them along with youtube reviewers. Thats good to hear tubes will be more resilient to the issue.

Did you find it? I think I pretty much wrote exactly the same thing as I did here. I believe the artist line is all tube yes, unfortunately when I bought the Ht5M I believed it was all tube too, I didn't know much about amps and where the reviews were great I went with it after demoing it at PMT guitar store near to where I live.

Yeah, he mentioned it being a relatively new thing, so figured I would point it out. I'm a bit OCD about that though. I live in the northeast US, so the temp/humidity swings wildly throughout the year. It's a constant battle to keep my music/gear room at 70-75 F and 40-50% RH. Summer it's trying to keep it under 75 and 50RH, winter it's trying to keep it over 70 and 40RH.

You have just mentioned something that made me think, something that has possibly caused the rust problem to appear. You didn't just mention humidity, you mentioned temperature.
We are pretty poor now, and for the past 2 years have not really been able to use our central heating so it is a lot colder than it was before. Could the combination of a salty air area and the cold temps have made the rust appear faster?
Also one strange thing, the humidity and temp must change from summer to winter, but I haven't had to adjust my guitars truss rods in a while, they seem to have the correct amount of relief and have not been effected by the cold and weather changes.

 

[conanthewarrior]

yeah, that signal problem you are describing sounds like a connection problem or some solid state issue. Connection could be any electrical connection in the signal, including your pickups etc. Have you tried a different amp altogether?

Yeah, most Orange amps will get you there including the solid state Supercrush. @romanianreaper has 2 of them

I honestly do not have a lot of low watt amp experience for metal etc. But in addition to what @napalmdeath said, the DSL 40 combos get a lot of love. So do the 2nd gen DSL50 and DSL100 heads, latter the better. Used Peavys including some Bandits, XXX, JSX, 5150, 6505, 5153, Invecta, 3120 - but those may be hard to find in London area.

Yeah, I can play it that softly. Won't sound its best. Will sound better than a low volume Plexi, Splawn, Deluxe Reverb, etc. I tube amp with a Master Volume (not gain or channel volume) will help in this regard). Somewhat like a volume pedal in the fx loop.

I really would start a new thread on "What Amp" and give your budget/location/genre etc and you will probably get more hits

Good Luck

I see, thank you for your help! No I don't have access to a different amp but have used amp sims in Logic, and the connection from my guitar to interface is fine, there are no dropouts or anything and I can play for as long as I want so that must mean it is the amp and not the pickups, electronics in the guitar or all of my cables.

I like the look of the supercrush, but feel a bit torn spending that money on a solid state amp. For some reason it just feels that for a "proper" amp upgrade I need to go tube. However if the Orange offers a great tone at around half the price of the ENGL fireball 25 I may be tempted.

I gather I need an amp with a master volume to obviously control how loud it gets? I can find used Peavey's easily in the area, although someone said you do need to crank them to get rid of preamp fizz. I live in a detached house so volume isn't actually an issue- I just like playing at bedroom volumes when I practice.

Well I imagine it will sound much better than the other amps you describe for metal at low volumes, I couldn't even imagine trying to play metal through a Deluxe reverb lol (correct me if I am wrong, for all I know it could secretly be great for metal).

OK, I will start a new thread soon as I really do need an amp. I was potentially thinking about the amplitube tonex pedal. From what I have read it is similar to a quad cortex but without the really high price tag? Or is it a piece of garbage and a waste of money?

Thank you