Anyone opposed to my buing this?

60cycles

New to it all, so am going by what i read/can deduce..

In terms of goals, simple, i'm after something with:
- an emulated 'out' because headphones only for now
- head unit only because i'll build my own cabinet (when the time comes, see headphones only for now)
- power-down option because sooner or later she'll kill me while i sleep
- non solid state
- a relatively decent quality/feature set, because if there's one thing i hate, it's throwing money away because when i could, i was being stingy and now i gotta pay for it, literally ^^
(while i do intend [and have the knowledge] to build my own amp, i need also keep in mind am new to this. This is all about distortion in one sense or another, which is the exect opposite of what i'm after in my own field! So i need me a relatively decent build so as to snatch some ideas from, you know? Start from there design/philosophy-wise)
- goes with quality, but overall a decent sound, no "only paired with this or that" type of thing. Options are nice to have.

With my immensely limited knowledge, it's come down to this one:
https://www.thomann.de/gr/blackstar_ht_5rh_mkii.htm

If i'm being stupid with this, for whatever reason, do let me know please.
And, thanks

monquixote

Can it run without a speaker load?

Many amps go bang if you run them without.

ICBM

You're not being stupid, but there's a lot of stuff you may not be aware of yet...

If you want a design to copy or even adapt, don't start there. It's an immensely complex amp by the standards of anything you would normally be able to build, with multiple solid-state sections, some using surface-mount parts, as well as the valves - there are only two, one preamp and one power amp - and in fact, if you're using the headphones only the preamp valve is in use, the emulated speaker output is derived from the preamp via more solid-state circuitry.

(I'm not anti-solid-state at all, by the way - in fact I prefer solid-state distortion for anything above fairly low gain overdrive - but this is by any definition a hybrid amp.)

roberty

GG have the THR100 on special at the moment:

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/150902289108002--yamaha-thr100h-single-channel-head

Highly regarded around these parts

roberty

Oh do you mean 'buying' or 'building' ?  There's a typo in the thread subject :-) 

Barquentine

The THR100 at that price is a WAY better deal. Great amp. Sounds great at whisper volumes although it can go very loud when you want it to. It won't help you in terms of copying it to build your own amp but neither will the Blackstar. 

ecc83

Fork no! Don't try to build an HT-5! I think it is a very good, practically unique amplifier but as IC says, lot of it. NB the first ones were thru-hole components but tis a harsh, harsh commercial world out there.

If you just wanted a guitar amp to drive headphones you might get enough gain from an ECC83 PI driving an ECC82 as a push pull amp stage (a la HT-1) but 'k knows where you would get an OP traff!

Or, a valve pre amp, as many stages as you like driving a solid state module such as the 7W amp Maplin used to sell using the TDA2020 chip. I am not convinced a 'tooob' OP stage is of much use driving cans?

Ooo! Jusfort. Fender reverb driver traff?

Dave.

RobertW

I'm going to take an educated guess and assume he meant to type "buying" and not "building"

ecc83

RobertW said:

I'm going to take an educated guess and assume he meant to type "buying" and not "building"

Ok then, get the FIVE!

Dave.

60cycles

Thank you all for replying;

In no particular order:
- I meant building the cabinet, but (for starters) buying the head. I don't think there's a typo anywhere, but should i be in error here, due apologies.
- In regard to complexity, well, this is my job, i do believe i have it. Unless we're talking upwards of a 3-layer PCB, in which case, no, lol, i do not. Though even then, i have colleagues with the necessary equipment for that. Either way, it's more about philosophy/approach than implementation. I dove into the polar opposite (distortion), so something to base my first baby steps on would be smart i think.
- It's why i only mentioned non solid state, hybrid's fine too, i gotta start from somewhere and it needs to be within reason, financially speaking. Am old school, i like tubes, what can i say. Got loooads of them stored, original Matsushitas, original Telefunkens (W. Germany), Raytheons, etc etc. Gotta use them!
- Have come across mention of the specific Yamaha in both this and other places, but i'll admit i've a very bad view of Yamaha when it comes to audio. Be it purely electronically, or tonally. Of course, this isn't High End Audio. But i'm averse to giving money to a company i've zero respect for; again, within the Audio field. Have ridden a couple i liked and they made sounds too! But, yeah, different topic ^^
Will have a good look at it though, misgivings notwithstanding.

Should also mention here that PRS' MT15 was another candidate, until i saw there's no headphone out. Sad panda.
(don't know if it's entirely devoid of SMDs, but the few internal pics i saw showed some nice discrete components, lovingly soldered by humans, which i am very fond of)

I will once more thank you all and if you have any other alternatives, by all means share please.
* and yes, i really will look at the Yamaha.

60cycles

Here, look at this baby, it just begs to be fondled:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedias.audiofanzine.com%2Fimages%2Fnormal%2Fprs-mt-15-3008968.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1

But, no headphones, lol. Which makes perfect sense given intended usage scenarios, but when did logic stop me, lol

Jeremiah

The Laney L5 Studio is another valve amp with a headphone output.

60cycles

Thanks man, will have a look right away

Adey

Or Laney IRT Studio

60cycles

Thanks Adey

viz

I think the confusion was where you’d written “buing” in the thread title. You can edit it if you wish by clicking on the cog.