Blackstar Amps.

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ShanPeyton

ShanPeyton

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I was in Edmonton on the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see a local shop selling Blackstar Amps. I have been curious about these for a while now and i demoed the HT5 head and 2-1x12 stack. I have to say i was really kind of surprised by what this little thing could do. I wanted to actually work my way up to the other higher wattage heads they had therebut i was having so much fun getting my mind blown by this little 5 watt head that i didn't even make it to the other guys.

It isn't a rig you'd haul around to arena gigs but for the backyard guy or home recording kind of guy i think this is a great little amp.

Does anyone on these boards have any recordings they have made using these bad boys?
 
It's a good little amp. There's a few dudes that use them. I think minerman has one and has gotten some great sounds with it. But I say buy a big ol Marshall. :)
 
Greg_L said:
It's a good little amp. There's a few dudes that use them. I think minerman has one and has gotten some great sounds with it. But I say buy a big ol Marshall. :)
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True True. A nice Marshall is seldom ever beat. Just a classic amp there ain't no 2 ways around it. I do remember the sales guy telling me about the history of Blackstar which was kind of interesting and doubles up on what you are saying, and that was that the company was founded by 4 ex-Marshall employees. Truthfully after playing with that little 5 watt i can see where the similarities lie, sort of.

I am thinking when I go back to Edmonton in a few weeks I may stop in and try out the 50W head and a nice Marshall cab. See what comes of that.
 
Since Long and McQuade bought out Mother's there's a high chance that was where you shopped....
 
ido1957 said:
Since Long and McQuade bought out Mother's there's a high chance that was where you shopped....
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I heard they bought Mothers!!!! I am sort of sad that Mothers got bought by L&M. Sometimes it is good to have a little friendly competition.

But you were close-ish. It was at Axe Music! Nice little shop. Great Sales team, I am surprised I hadn't been in there before. (I don't get into Edmonton much) The guy that helped me out was pretty jovial. He also didn't poke fun at my lefthanded-ness as so often happens to me. They did have a few HT5 heads, a 50W a 100W and maybe a few combo amps too i do beleive. I didn't see any other cabs there besides the one stacked 1x12's.

If you are in Edmonton it is well worth the trip in to check them out!
 
I have the HT-5 combo, & it's a good little amp. If you can get the stack, with the 1x12 cabs, go for it. I wish I'd gotten it now myself. The stock speaker in the HT-5 isn't much, it's ok, but a better speaker would make a huge difference in my amp, IMHO.....I'm planning on getting a 1x12 cab, or upgrading the speaker in my combo before too long.......

SoundClick artist: Minerman's Mix Check Page - page with MP3 music downloads

All the clips on this page were done with the HT-5 & a Shure SM 57 mic, with the exception of the Pod Farm tone.....Remember, I'm still pretty new at the amp/mic thing too, but it kinda shows what the Blackstar is capable of........

Good luck!!!!!
 
minerman said:
I have the HT-5 combo, & it's a good little amp. If you can get the stack, with the 1x12 cabs, go for it. I wish I'd gotten it now myself. The stock speaker in the HT-5 isn't much, it's ok, but a better speaker would make a huge difference in my amp, IMHO.....I'm planning on getting a 1x12 cab, or upgrading the speaker in my combo before too long.......

SoundClick artist: Minerman's Mix Check Page - page with MP3 music downloads

All the clips on this page were done with the HT-5 & a Shure SM 57 mic, with the exception of the Pod Farm tone.....Remember, I'm still pretty new at the amp/mic thing too, but it kinda shows what the Blackstar is capable of........

Good luck!!!!!
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Micing an amp is a science i still have yet to master, but those tracks sound really good man. I i can't wait to get back to Edmonton and try out another amp. Maybe even pick one up. But i say that every time i walk into those stores and come out with a bag of picks and strings instead HA!!. Keep at it man.

Oh! one other thing, the one i looked at buddy showed me that there is Direct Out on the back of the HT5 head (not sure about your combo), and normally he claims he doesn't like the direct out but when he recorded he recorded a pretty wailin solo using the direct out and some DAW based reverb and even that sounded pretty cool. You should play around with that as well and see what happens? I would be if i had it.

What would you put in it for a different speaker? Like a Celestion 30 or something like that ?
 
Thanks for the listen & compliments, but I haven't mastered anything except pissing the wife off pretty regularly....:laughings:

My combo has the direct out too man, & I have recorded some clips with it, just haven't uploaded 'em anywhere. It does sound pretty good for direct, but IMO, the mic still sounds better......I've only been mic'ing the amp for about 3 months now (but I've been doing the home recording thing almost 4 years now.....), but I fiddle with it a little bit every day, even if it's just for 15-20 minutes, every day. Lots of trial/error, but I learn something every time I do it. I'd recommend the HT-5, but again, I'd go for the head/cab thing if I had it to do over.......

I've been doing some research on my combo, a V30/Greenback will fit, but it would be really, really close to one of the tubes (the magnet on the celestions are pretty big, a lot bigger than the stock speaker), so I'm just gonna buy a cab with a Celestion, as I plan on buying a couple more tube heads anyway. If everything goes as planned, I'll have the new cab in a couple weeks, just in time for my week's vacation.....The plan is to get a couple cabs (Greenback & V30), then buy a couple different tube heads, possibly even combos, eventually. They'll only be used here at home for recording, as I don't have time to play gigs anymore with my work schedule......

Keep us posted dude, & again, the HT-5 is a good little amp, but if I had it to do over, I'd would have bought the head/cab.......
 
Greg_L said:
But I say buy a big ol Marshall. :)
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YUP! Toadly! The little swiss army screwdrivers are fun to have in your pocket, but in the end there is nothing like a good sledge hammer to clear the slate and make you rethink everything you thought you knew about playing guitar!
 
Thanks soundchaser, for the listen & compliments!!!!!

While I'd love to have another Marshall 100 watt head & 4x12 cab (I used to have a Jubilee 100 w & 2 4x12's.....), it would be just too much for what I need now....I'm really considering one of the JCM 800 1 watters, but I'd have to actually try one out before I'd spend that much on a 1 watt amp......from the clips I've heard, they sound great, but again, I'd have to hear it "in person" myself.....
 
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