Members t-rey Posted March 25, 2012 Members Share Posted March 25, 2012 Been wasting time this morning instead of grading papers and just saw the Blackstar HT-50 heads. I have an HT-5 that I really love, but was curious about the 50. How similar are the bigger HT amps to the 5w? Are they 'hybrid' amps like the HT-5 or is it all toob? Does it take pedals (especially boosts) better/worse than the HT-5? Basically I'm just bored, so I've been scheming on selling my amps and cabs and going with an HT-50 and an Emperor 2x12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 The HT-5 was what originally caused me to buy the HT-60. They do have the same voicing but there are a lot more options with the bigger versions. The bigger versions do use some solid state clipping but they have EL34 power sections and sound awesome at just about any volume. I run a clean boost as well as a tubescreamer clone in front of mine and and they sound great. They have a great loop as well. If you like the HT5 you will like the bigger ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t-rey Posted March 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 This is good news for me and bad news for my wallet. I like the basic voicing of my ht5 a lot, but wish it sounded bigger and had more low end - seems like the 50 does those things, plus having a decent clean channel. When you say it sounds good at any volume, are you talking sounds good at house volumes without an attenuator without being all flubby and muddy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members X-Jester Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 I was torn between a Club 50 and a Stage 60 for a while. Settled on the Stage 60 combo for separate EQ, three channels, and 2 celestions in the box. I've used all of the channels in the past week with rehearsals and performances. The OCD works great on both the clean and OD1 channels. OD2 doesn't need any help with gain. Love it all. Amp sounds great on its own, and surprisingly good using the speaker emulator to the PA. It's good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 This is good news for me and bad news for my wallet. I like the basic voicing of my ht5 a lot, but wish it sounded bigger and had more low end - seems like the 50 does those things, plus having a decent clean channel.When you say it sounds good at any volume, are you talking sounds good at house volumes without an attenuator without being all flubby and muddy? it sounds really good at bedroom volumes. I play mine a good bit at low volume and dont mind it at all. Like X-Jester said, the emulated out works great too. I use it to record guitar right to my laptop at practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3volved Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 I bought my HT-40 after having my HT-5 for a few months. Best. Decision. EVER. If you want teh br00tz, I'd recommend Blackstar's DistX pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 I bought my HT-40 after having my HT-5 for a few months. Best. Decision. EVER. If you want teh br00tz, I'd recommend Blackstar's DistX pedal. I feel the same way. I had the HT-5, bought the Stage 60 and then bought the HT-20 for smaller gigs and recording My band mate bought the HT-40 after playing my Stage 60. So between both of us we have a whole pile of Blackstars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t-rey Posted March 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 Sounds good. I don't really need the third channel, since I will most likely have it set up like my HT5 - mid gain then boost it for heavier stuff. I wish I could check one out locally so I could see if I would still want/need my JCA22h as well or just go with the Blackstar. How does the master volume work? Is it like the 'attenuator' control on the Thunderverb amps, or something different? And is the 40 or 60 significantly louder than the 20? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 Sounds good. I don't really need the third channel, since I will most likely have it set up like my HT5 - mid gain then boost it for heavier stuff. I wish I could check one out locally so I could see if I would still want/need my JCA22h as well or just go with the Blackstar.How does the master volume work? Is it like the 'attenuator' control on the Thunderverb amps, or something different?And is the 40 or 60 significantly louder than the 20? I dont care for the 3rd channel on mine to be honest, I use OD1 for everything and boost it if I need more. OD2 is just too compressed sounding to me. Not sure about the master volume on it, someone else might be able to answer that for you. The 20 watter is plenty loud enough if it is miced through the PA, it doesnt have as much bottom end as the bigger ones though and the 60 watter is a good bit louder and has more clean headroom at higher volumes, but that is to be expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members X-Jester Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 In my experience to date, master volume works like most other master volume amps. Basically, you can't really crank up the gain and channel volumes because the master volume has about 0.5 degrees of turn between fizz and egregiously loud. Also, no, I don't think it's "significantly" louder. Just more clean headroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t-rey Posted March 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 Well, that's unfortunate. I know that since I play mostly at home that low wattage amps are a much better option for me, but bigger amps just sound/feel so much better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members X-Jester Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 You can, however, run the amp on standby and use the speaker emulated out to headphones or a smallish powered speaker. Lots and lots of volume control options there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 In my experience to date, master volume works like most other master volume amps. Basically, you can't really crank up the gain and channel volumes because the master volume has about 0.5 degrees of turn between fizz and egregiously loud.Also, no, I don't think it's "significantly" louder. Just more clean headroom. How loud are you running the channel volumes? I like to run my master at 12 o clock and run the channel volumes lower. It sounds much better to my ears this way and the volume is easier to control. Also, an EQ in the loop helps get the volume down to bedroom levels while keeping good tone. I never touch the volume controls on my amp, I use the EQ for that. Works awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members X-Jester Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 How loud are you running the channel volumes? I like to run my master at 12 o clock and run the channel volumes lower. It sounds much better to my ears this way and the volume is easier to control. Also, an EQ in the loop helps get the volume down to bedroom levels while keeping good tone. I never touch the volume controls on my amp, I use the EQ for that. Works awesome! Because I'm using the speaker emulated outs, I had to set the clean channel volume to an appropriate amount of gain and calibrate the PA level to match. Then I tweaked OD1 and OD2 to match it in terms of volume. As you mentioned, I do minor overall volume tweaking and tone refinement with my MXR 10-band in the loop. I run the amp on standby when playing with the band. But at these levels (I'd say the clean channel is at about 11 o'clock, with OD1 volume around 10 o'clock and OD2 volume around 8:45 if memory serves), you don't get much room with the master volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boonestunes Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 after stumbling onto this and checking out the youtube vids...... blackstar looks to be on my want list. As publicized in other threads, I've been on the search for the perfect combo something Marshall-ish on the drive channels and fender-ish on the clean. Looks like the HT60 would be cool as it's got the two drive channels for mid and higher gains... or would the HT40 with an overdrive pedal on the clean channel work just as well? I've got a bunch of overdrive pedals...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jshaffer20 Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 after stumbling onto this and checking out the youtube vids...... blackstar looks to be on my want list. As publicized in other threads, I've been on the search for the perfect combo something Marshall-ish on the drive channels and fender-ish on the clean. Looks like the HT60 would be cool as it's got the two drive channels for mid and higher gains... or would the HT40 with an overdrive pedal on the clean channel work just as well? I've got a bunch of overdrive pedals...... The HT-40 can do everything the 60 can do. If you have OD pedals you will be able to cover everything from clean to high gain no problem. My bandmate has the 40 and I have played through it a good bit. I almost wish I would have bought it instead of the 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3volved Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 I found I prefer to use the gain channel for crunch and a distx on the clean for higher gain stuff on my HT40. Just my personal preference...I wasn't a fan of using a drive pedal on the gain channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boonestunes Posted March 26, 2012 Members Share Posted March 26, 2012 probably wouldn't use the drive channel w/pedals. I'd use a couple of different overdrives for those hard to find 'mid gain' sounds, on the clean channel, save the drive channel for heavier marshall-ish leads... wonder about the extra headroom and spread of two speakers vs one speaker (ht60 vs ht40).... wish my local GC would stock these...all they have is a HT5 head that doesn't work (it's been there for a couple of years I think) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boonestunes Posted March 27, 2012 Members Share Posted March 27, 2012 so do any GC's have these amps in stock? everything i'm seeing is "ship to store"... would really love to try these side by side (40 & 60) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members X-Jester Posted March 27, 2012 Members Share Posted March 27, 2012 None of the Denver or Colorado Springs-area GCs have them in stock. I went to an indie store that price matches to get mine. Got a decent deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Razsan Posted April 26, 2012 Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hey guys...I own the HT-40 and unless it's my imagination the HT60 has a better clean channel. Seems much bouncier.....could've been the guitar though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gt_jumper Posted April 26, 2012 Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 HT-50 is awesome, its not as loud (noticeably) as its 100watt brother but sounds like it has the same voicing. A mate of mine bought the ENGL FB100 and the HT-50 eats it alive on stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Razsan Posted April 26, 2012 Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 HT-50 is awesome, its not as loud (noticeably) as its 100watt brother but sounds like it has the same voicing. A mate of mine bought the ENGL FB100 and the HT-50 eats it alive on stage. How are the cleans on the 50? I noticed it only has one tone control like the HT40. I think the 60 and 100 have Bass/Treble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AXEL276 Posted April 26, 2012 Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 The HT-40 can do everything the 60 can do. If you have OD pedals you will be able to cover everything from clean to high gain no problem. My bandmate has the 40 and I have played through it a good bit. I almost wish I would have bought it instead of the 60. I almost wish I would have bought it instead of the 60 Why would you say that??? I'm thinking about the Solist 60. I don't care about the 3rd channel, I do care about the weight. The Solist actually weighs a few pounds less than the HT40 combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elemenope Posted April 26, 2012 Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 HT-50 is awesome, its not as loud (noticeably) as its 100watt brother but sounds like it has the same voicing. A mate of mine bought the ENGL FB100 and the HT-50 eats it alive on stage. Does he use a boost? Just wondering..I don't really care for the HT-20 bootz. And its basically the same amp..Just higher wattage right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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