School me on Blackstar amps.

Big Flannel

Big Flannel

New member
I have a couple of questions if you'd be so kind to answer them.

I'm looking into picking up a Blackstar HT series amps. Now the 20watt "studio" and the 40watt "club" are only priced $100 apart from eachother. Clearly that makes the 40watt a good buy, (plus the 40 has two voicings for the clean/drive channels), but I'm concerned. See, I've never really used a master volume amp so I'm curious as to whether or not I'll be able to get some good tones out of it at relatively quiet volumes for when I'm playing late at night.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

I would like to know more about the Blackstar HT amps as well.

If you are looking for power tube saturation, maybe the 20watt will give you a good amount at reasonable volume. The 40 probably sounds great at stage volume.

I was looking at attenuators recently, and instead bought at amp with that feature built it. Its a Laney Ironheart 60H. It will tube saturate at any volume with the Wattage control. A pretty neat feature. If you crank the clean channel volume and put the wattage on 1W, it will sound like AC/DC at bedroom volume level.

The amp is billed as a metal amp, but it can also do clean, low, and mid crunch very well because of the variwatt feature. For high gain leads and metal, its best not to have much tube saturation.

My advice is to get what you need. Unless that particular blackstar has a low watt featurem, chances are you have to play loud to get tube saturation. That said, it may sound good at low volume. Try before buy.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

I noticed the HT series which seems to be made for metal players. I wonder how they are voiced? I would love to play one as they look interesting. I also would like to know what the difference in the Club and HT series are?
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Top-L said:
I would like to know more about the Blackstar HT amps as well.

If you are looking for power tube saturation, maybe the 20watt will give you a good amount at reasonable volume. The 40 probably sounds great at stage volume.

I was looking at attenuators recently, and instead bought at amp with that feature built it. Its a Laney Ironheart 60H. It will tube saturate at any volume with the Wattage control. A pretty neat feature. If you crank the clean channel volume and put the wattage on 1W, it will sound like AC/DC at bedroom volume level.

The amp is billed as a metal amp, but it can also do clean, low, and mid crunch very well because of the variwatt feature. For high gain leads and metal, its best not to have much tube saturation.

My advice is to get what you need. Unless that particular blackstar has a low watt featurem, chances are you have to play loud to get tube saturation. That said, it may sound good at low volume. Try before buy.
Click to expand...

I was looking hard at the laney ironheart 30.

Didn't you say it sounded pretty bad at loud volume?
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Big Flannel said:
I was looking hard at the laney ironheart 30.

Didn't you say it sounded pretty bad at loud volume?
Click to expand...

I've changed my tune on the amp, and am keeping it. But I use this mostly for home recording, I don't think the 60H would work well if you are playing with a loud drummer.

The problem is that you can't put the channel volume above about 4 and stay tight. It is loud enough through a 2x12 to play with a controlled drummer. If you are doing metal or clubbing, get teh 120 for sure. The 60h just doesnt have much clean headroom. I put the two tubes into my JSX to make sure it wasnt the tubes and the JSX run in 60watt mode had about twice as much clean headroom and even when fully cranked never got as saturated as teh Ironheart.

I put in a service request to laney to see if this is normal.

But OTH, the amp can do everything in the mild to wild breakup. Thing can do Rolling Stones and AC/DC with the power tube saturation at practice level. Its really versatile, just doesnt have as much clean headroom as I would expect.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Big Flannel said:
Thanks for the info.

Now I'll have to look back into it.
Click to expand...

Its worth checking out, but also look at the Blackstar amps. The Ironheart is a fiddly amp, and the tubes and speaker choice make a huge difference in tone. I was forced to sit with it and figure out how to make it work, if I just plugged in for 15 minutes at a music store, not sure I would appreciate it. There is a sweet spot for getting a saturated lead tone that involves a little boost, a little tube saturation, and the right combination of push/pull on the EQ knobs. The EQ is passive and doesnt seem to do much, but once you get close to your sound, minute adjustments to the mid, treble, and "tone" have a big affect on the voice. Then fill out the bottom with dynamics, bass, or shift bass, depending on whether you want, open, full, or tight voicing.

In comparison, the JSX automatically gets saturated lead tones that cut, dont even have to work for it.
 
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Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

What all have you used that's non-master? I don't think I've ever played a non-master amp come to think of it.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Definitely check out the Ironheart. I spent so much time trying to find my lead voice that I didn't even play with the cleans. The clean is godly on this. You can pull the bass and treble, max the bass and treble, and zero the mids. Dial in just the right amount of tube breakup with channel volume, and use the boost to bring the pickups up to the level where it works as a bit of dirty compression, and dial in some verb. Sounds amazing, huge, full and sparkly with lots of weight.

I know this is a Blackstar thread, and I mean to try the HT. Amps are getting better all the time!
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

As a owner of a Blackstar HT40 I can honestly say it has served me well for the past two years i've owned it. What all would you like to know about them?

If I can ill post a video showing the sounds I can get.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Rockstar216 said:
As a owner of a Blackstar HT40 I can honestly say it has served me well for the past two years i've owned it. What all would you like to know about them?

If I can ill post a video showing the sounds I can get.
Click to expand...

If the master volume is set low, can you coax usable tones at comfortable practice levels? Once the amp is turned up how well does it sit in a band mix?

Are the different voicings on the clean and drive channels useful, or do you find yourself using the normal voicings and not worrying about them?

If you were to compare it to a more "popular" amp, which would you say it reminds you of? I know that they sound fairly unique but it strikes me as a modern or boutique "marshall" type.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

I believe the HT amps came about due to the success of their HT pedals line. I use a Blackstar HT Dual pedal on my board and I love the tones I get out of it. It also has an emulated output for recording/DI.

I'd be surprised if the master volume control on the amps wasn't very usable at all volume levels.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

mantis said:
I noticed the HT series which seems to be made for metal players. I wonder how they are voiced? I would love to play one as they look interesting. I also would like to know what the difference in the Club and HT series are?
Click to expand...

They are definitely not made for metal players. I'm a metal head, and I own the 20 watt HT head. It can do some types of metal, with the right OD or fuzz.

Blackstar made a series of amps specifically made for metal, though. I haven't tried those.
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Ive owned 3 ht 5 amps. The first back in '09-'10 when they were released, the second was the model with reverb and the 12 inch speaker. I liked those amos but they weren't 'it' for me, but they were good amps, just not for me. I had a Dsl40c which for me was overkill. After a few years of amp hunting the local shop had a killer deal on the HT5 anniversary model with the 2 ten inch speakers and it was what I needed. The cleans are usable (read: Not Fender clean) the OD channel does grit and heavy. With a bigger cab and 2x10 speakers its pretty loud, I wouldn't gig with it though. If gigging go bigger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: School me on Blackstar amps.

Oh yeah these are British (some models made in Asia) Marshall flavored amps. Think JCM 800-2000. Not the same or a clone but in the same zip code.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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