Convince me not to get a Blackstar HT-5

  • Thread starter Thread starter phillybhatesme
  • Start date Start date
I’ve got a buddy….absolutely will not buy a combo…..well….because they don’t look as cool as the head/cab. 😂
Honestly, that's part of the argument for me, haha.

But being less silly, in this case, the combo is a budget combo. The cabinet is likely going to be made of MDF, probably not the best construction quality, and the speaker is not very high-end. And the cab part of an amp setup is at least 50% of the amp's tone. I'd say even more. I've heard a Spider head sound KILLER through a Mesa Recto cab.

But if you think about bigger, higher-wattage amps, combo amps are HEAVY and harder to move than a sepparate head/cab setup, because on those, you can split the weight. Plus even the pro-level combos are usually smaller in internal volume than the equivalent speaker-count cab and usually open back and whatnot.

I would NEVER buy a combo amp anymore for myself. I don't find them convenient, and if they sound worse (for my taste), I don't see any benefit. But that's me trying to be as objective as I can.
 
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Jebus.
Just pulled it out of the closet to make sure my memory wasn't whacked.
Yup, KICKS ASS!
One of the few times in life where size really doesn't matter.

View attachment 207349
Which tubes are kicking ass in this model?
Alarm clock tubes?
Look, I would want to like that little bugger
if I had to…👀

I’m just not sold with “placebo amps” Donnie.
I can’t do it man.
Like some “little engine that could”
TGP BULLSHIT?
A dead give away with placebo driven amplifiers
is the player has to pull the amp out to be reminded of some.. value ??
-by surprising his ears long enough
to put the alarm clock circuitry amp back
in the dusty placebo penthouse section
of the room/closet ??
 
Which tubes are kicking ass in this model?

Well, being honest, I use the FX send thru a delay and then into a Sampson rack amp for power.
Using it like a pre-amp pedal. A good looking pre-amp pedal. (y)
 
I had an HT5. It was pretty Meh. Check out the mini Soldano. That with a few pedals and a little 1x12 is what I'm rocking for a bedroom amp. Sound really good.
Had a chance to spend quality time with all 4 mini-heads and the Soldano is the star for certain.
That little head plugged into a 1 x12 is serious business - especially with the loop!

Doesn’t look like there’s reverb on those, but the price is great. I guess I'm ok with doing head + 1x12, but now I have aesthetics to think about lol.

I had an HT-5 head for years; great sounding little amp tbh as long as distorted tones are all you're after; cleans are basically non-existent

And that's the thing - they're not. Not at all. I'll do mid-gain for some stuff, but edge of breakup is where I like to be.

Positive Grid...

Dope, thanks.

Also, I used to have a Marshall DSL1 and a Randall RD1H, and the Randall sounded much better. No reverb, though.

Why am I stuck on a reverb tank? Hmmmm. I like amps with reverb more than tossing a pedal at it for reverb. I think I'm gonna stick with reverb being a necessity.

Yamaha, THR

Dope, ty.


And , Here it is. This ^
I’m running a Soldano mini into a 112 Seismic with V30. Hit it with my mini TS. Just cuts everything. Eerily reminds me of a cross between my marshall plexi juiced and my mesa mini rectifier.

Jam with a buddy…drums and keys…and me futzing up guitar parts. But amp is really really good. Def worth a try.

Thera one in classifieds now…. :)

Ha, yeah and the price is right. No reverb though :( and for some reason, I'm kinda stuck on that. Maybe I'll go play some amps later.

Definitely think about a head and 112. I think it's more versatile as you can hook it to a 212 or 412 if you ever wanted. Or even go 110 or 108. Granted you can do that with a combo, but with a head you don't have to worry about an internal speaker.

Yeah, I guess this is really the move. The more I post on RT, the more I'm gonna get more head lol

Ok, i gotta hit post cause IDK if my draft will make it through a page change. How come there's no great way to do a multi-quote?
 
Ha, yeah and the price is right. No reverb though :( and for some reason, I'm kinda stuck on that. Maybe I'll go play some amps later.
i was the same exact way....for a long time. i wanted a smallish, portable amp, combo, built-in verb...ideal.
IMO, the older peavey classics probably do what you're talking about better than most. they're becoming older (obviously), harder to find... blah

i bought a zoom mscdr https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MS70CDR--zoom-ms-70cdr-multistomp-chorus-delay-reverb-pedal ... put it in the loop of the mini slo... and oft i go. sounds really really good for what it is (a small, multiefx pedal format). sounds better than the onboard verb you'll get with most amps. plus you can carry delay, chorus, eq's etc as part of your chain. you can program it for diff setups; carbon copy vs strymon for example.

best of luck
 
I had a one of the wee ht5 heads and tiny cab, sounded muffled and quite boxy, could be the sound of the cab though.......found an old 80s Bandit, so, so, so much better for half the price!
 
I have a buddy that has one....loves it. same buddy bought a thing off wish that looks like the old behringer vamp desktop thing....he loves it. A gave him a pv vyper-which has some decent sounds btw...he went bananas over it. Basically any pos you throw his way he loves...because to him it's a challenge to make it sound....good....but it always sounds....meh....I let him try my stereo rig and he was like "I can't do this....this is to loud!!"......As far as the Blackstar goes-solid no from me bro.
 
I had an HT5. It was pretty Meh. Check out the mini Soldano. That with a few pedals and a little 1x12 is what I'm rocking for a bedroom amp. Sound really good.
I was playing thru the SLO mini today . 1x12 w/Creamback 65 , Eq and delay in the loop , boost up front. Pretty ripping tone and loud if needed
 
the amp i have chosen for this exact task is a orange crush 35rt.. 35 watts, ss..

closed back 10" speaker, voice of the world speaker. there some thump with the closed back, its a well.made cab..

stock, the tone is ok-ish.. there a fx-loop.. i use a eq to remove what irks me..

the trick is to throw the original speaker in the trash where it belongs and replace it with the 10" celestion you prefer.. v30, greenback, gold, cream, vtype.. (8ohm is fine, the amp doesnt really lose volume)

... and while you're having the back open, drill a hole in the frame somewhere and put the new speaker on a switching jack.. voila : external speaker jack..

the best "practice" amp who can turn into a firebreather in a 4x12.

takes pedals and overdrive well. sounds somehow like a rockerverb.. not 100% like it, but you paid 10% of it for maybe 70% of the tone

imo. that's what im doing.

(tonex real sm57 capture of the amp here : https://www.tone.net/tonex/tonemodels/10816)
 
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Fuck. Thank goodness for Guitar Center's 45-day money back guarantee. This thread was made after I already brought the HT-5 home and after playing with it for 2 days, I do not like it. The only thing it does is "bedroom level" and gain - everything else about it makes me want to let the cats continue to claw the shit out of the tolex before returning it.

I made the mistake of playing some heads today and I'm not really sure why I ever strayed away from a JCM800. I had a TSL100 in the past (JCM2000) but not really sure how that compares to the JCM800s.

Anyway - I played the Studio 20 today (head) and really miss having that tone in my arsenal. Before I go out and buy a new fucking head, are there any clones worth checking out? Ceriatone? Please pardon my ignorance, I've been concentrating on the fingers and hardware for so long...
 
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