Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

[EET_FUK]

The title says it all. I've looking at the HT club 40 as of late and was wondering if anyone's tried it. I've heard awesome things about the British sound, but how's the American sound? I play a lot of Metallica stuff and was curious as to if it could pull off those tones well enough.
Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I own a 40 had it for close to a year now I love it for what I do very versatile. As far as voicing from the American to British only difference I can hear is a lil bit louder more tighter and not as much sag on the American side. From what ive read the ISF changes the midrange voicing. Great clean channel on it. As well the reverb is good for it being digital although I dont really use too much verb anyway.
As far as trying to sound like metallica with this amp

 

[CodeDante]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I've also had one for a little over a year and I like. I use it for when I practice and gig with my band. We, however, are an alt rock group. Sometimes I fool around with the heavy distortion when I'm practicing. To me, the heavy distortion would do Metallica very well. I think its a great amp for the price.

 

[Jeremiah]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

My view (based on some experience but not a massive amount, so take with a pinch of salt...) is that if you like the sound of any of the HT amps you can get pretty much the same thing with the HT-Dual pedal into a clean amp. Not identical, but close enough.

Having said that, I don't think it's a bad sound; I eventually bought the HT-dual in preference to all the other distortion pedals that I got to try, which included some boutique (& even more expensive) ones.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I did a shoot out of drive pedals a little while back and came away with the HT-Dual. I put it into the front of my JTM45 so I can get my usual vintage tones and 2 additional flavours of extra drive when I need it. The pedal does give a very amp-like response which was the main reason I chose it over other pedals...

 

[slaveunit]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

Nothing special...the HT series is a pedal they made into an amp.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

if you want to bring THE HEAVY METAL, get a closed back cabinet and a head, not a combo which is open back and metallica would never accept thatz

 

[kaipartai]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I've had aHT60 stage for almost two years, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! I've had a lot of trouble with it,(gone through a lot of tubes), the blackstar representative here in Sweden has looked at it, said that it's ok, but it's not! As far as Metallica sounds, I'd say it can do that. IMHO it's not very british sounding!

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I had an HT100 and it was awesome. I paid only $600 shipped for it new and it worked without any problems even though it took a lot of abuse. After that, I got a Series One 100 and it totally blew my mind. If you can afford to get a Series One then forget about the HT stuff. Oh man they are impressive. Beautiful cleans, incredible crunch and lead sounds, and overall extremely impressive sounding amp. The ISP control works very well, but I keep it all the way to the British side because it's my favorite sound. The FX loop sounds awesome with pedals or my M9, and it is very compatible with various overdrives in front of the amp. I highly recommend the Series One, but the HT stuff is also very good. The Celestion 70/80 speakers don't do it justice IMO - they need to be replaced with Classic Lead 80's or V30's at least.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

Try one if you can. I've gotten a lot of good tones out of my HT-20. I'd say that if you are on a strict budget it can't really be beat simply due to versatility. If you have a larger budget, their are better amps that are only a few hundred bucks more. I'm probably going to buy an EVH 5150 III 50 watt head this summer as an upgrade. But honestly if Metallica is as heavy as you go you could do really good with a HT-40 and a decent guitar with your choice of pickups. I'm playing mainly doom and death metal lately so it kinda warrants more gain than I can get without an boost pedal on my HT-20.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

They sound good on paper, but they didn't do anything for me when I was trying out the 20 and 40 watt ones last year. Not horrible...just not a lot of "personality," if that makes any sense. They didn't sound like anything that I couldn't get from a Fender, Marshall, or Ampeg, and they also didn't seem particularly well built (though neither do Marshalls IMO). Also, I always play with at least some amount of reverb, even if it's just on 2 or 3, and the digital reverb did not sound very good to me.

I wanted to like them, but I thought they were pretty underwhelming. I thought that the Egnater Tweaker 40 was a better sounding amp in every way.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

Holy mixed opinions Batman!! Looks like, for the most part at least, people dig em, which is cool. I think I am gonna go for the 50w head and cab. (Only $1000!) And with the mention of the Series One amps, does anyone know how the Series One 100 and 200 compare? Just wondering.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

Holy mixed opinions Batman!! Looks like, for the most part at least, people dig em, which is cool. I think I am gonna go for the 50w head and cab. (Only $1000!) And with the mention of the Series One amps, does anyone know how the Series One 100 and 200 compare? Just wondering.

You mean other then LOUDNESS? The 200 comes with a dynamic power switch im not sure if the 100 does but I know for sure the 200 does. But who would ever get the chance to crank 200 watts in todays time? you would probably go deff along with everybody else on stage.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I personally think there is a lot of inexperience in this thread, and this is the first time I've encountered such negative reviews. You can't just dial in a Blackstar like you dial in a Marshall. The ISF changes the way the EQ's interact, and the Series One DPR isn't a wattage reduction, it just changes the way the tubes work. You can definitely get good tone out of the 100 or 200 at very reasonable volumes because the DPR works incredibly well. The stock speaker is a Celestion 70/80 which is a cheapie speaker. Now I suppose I could understand if the HT stuff wasn't someone's thing, but to say that the Series One and Artisan models don't sound great is ridiculous.

 

[KBliss]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

As much as I love Blackstars (& own one), I would say they have a pronounced mid voice. (The ISF doesn't literally blend American tubes & British tubes, of course, its just an eq gimmick). It's great for Slayer or djent, but I wouldn't think of it for scooping mid's like Metallica.

When I think of Metallica, the heavy string, tight wind & the boosted signal gives them the signature chunk: NOT alot of preamp distortion. When power tubes are overdriven, it enhances the mids (even if theyre scooped), sustain, & VERVE!!...

(again, my links below lead to relevant demo vids: see part1 Killer Metal Tone & compare to the PAF one which uses a Blackstar)

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

As much as I love Blackstars (& own one), I would say they have a pronounced mid voice. (The ISF doesn't literally blend American tubes & British tubes, of course, its just an eq gimmick). It's great for Slayer or djent, but I wouldn't think of it for scooping mid's like Metallica.)

Was never a fan of mid-scooping. I was mostly just wondering if it ever got away from the "Marshall" sound and into more Mesa-y territory. Which is fine if it doesn't.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

Now I suppose I could understand if the HT stuff wasn't someone's thing, but to say that the Series One and Artisan models don't sound great is ridiculous.

I played an Artisan 30 in a Guitar Center when the HT stuff was just coming out, and it was just a phenomenal amp. It really needed some volume to sound good, but it sounded GREAT, even with me playing.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Anyone tried Blackstar amps??

I'm not sure if I can comment on the British vs. American. I can tell you that I really like my little HT5. By itself, it sounded really good. I juice it up a bit with an EQ in the loop, some OD in the front and a little delay and reverb. (It's the 10 inch non reverb version) Especially with the EQ pedal now, it can do Metallic chunk no problem or really anything in the rock/hard rock/metal range fairly easily. The ISF just adds another tone shaping possibility which is pretty cool. It is of course hard, and unfair, to compare my $200 HT5 to my Mesa Triaxis/2:90. However, if we're just talking voicing they are pretty far apart. I guess the Blackstar is closer to Marshallish sounding then Mesa although it has a pretty distinct tone. For a $200 amp with a 10 inch speaker I think I got my money's worth times 10. My experience with them anyway.