Blackstar ht-50

longshins

What a horrible amp! Played one at rehearsal with matching cab and my Suhr, no pedals or anything just straight in. Felt very solid state, poor sustain, cut, project, balls you name it. So yeah, the little ht practice amps are great, and it's great they stuck it to Marshall and broke away but seriously don't buy this amp blind.

ecc83

That is odd since the 50 is/was AFAIK electrically identical to the HT-40 combo!

The latter might not be anything particularly special but I had not read anything that vitriolic about it!

I suspect the 50 head might have been faulty in some way, maybe someone had buggered about with the bias?

Dave.

Gassage

I have yet to find any Blackstar I like- all have decent gain but the cleans are atrocious.

Solid State comment very accurate

timmysoft

I find this with all of the channel switching blackstars, I just don't like the voicing and I find them very stiff to play. I think they impact too much amp onto the guitar, I prefer to hear my guitars core tone shining through.

not_the_dj

I love mine, although I much prefer the vintage voice on the OD channel. I would prefer a full EQ on the clean channel, but I can get a decent sound with just the EQ control so it's certainly workable (for me anyway). 

 Done just over 20 gigs with it since buying it and no regrets from me. 

Gassage

I'd point out I've not tried one over 20w

longshins

Wasn't faulty, just cack I'm sure like all things some people will dig them and maybe I've been spoiled in the past. Just would hate for someone to buy one without trying first.

ecc83

I bet it was faulty IF it was as bad as suggested.

I say this NOT to leap to the defence  of a company I no longer work for and certainly have no financial interest in but from the position of pure logic.

I, and many other people were in the presence for several hours, several days a week of amplifiers of all sorts being put through their paces. In addition to the Blackstar range there were Marshall, Vox, Mesas, Soldanos and a few others I can't remember and some I had never seen!

In all that time (andf it is ongoing) the companies products MUST have stood up pretty well against the competition otherwise surely someone would have noticed?

Then there was a steady trickle of "famous  faces" who were whisked off to the testing "studio". They all seemed quite happy?

I myself was charged with fitting a valve powered reverb tank in a 100watter for a very famous (now deceased) guitar person. HE did not send it back and call it ***T!

And lest you think reviewers and such just "wave things through" ? I recall an amp that was sent back as sounding far too bright. The guy was right. It specc'ed way out of line and was stuffed with the wrong cap.

***T'appen.

Dave.

longshins

It wasn't faulty, it's hilarious that people assume this or get defensive when someone says they don't like the sound of an amp/product they are affiliated with. I'm sure it's great for most, just warning people to try one out first before buying. Not trying to be a twat or anything. And with that I bid the fretboard forum farewell.

grungebob

Seems odd to leave just coz someone's opinion differs from yours?
I've had a HT5 and played through the HT40 for quite awhile, I didn't particularly like the tones but that's just my ears and my opinion.

not_the_dj

Blimey. No need to leave just because if this. It's just people's opinions and experiences. There's been a fair few people on here before saying they don't like the HT stuff. When I bought mine I let my ears do the testing and gave it a good trial in the demo booth at GuitarGuitar, I liked it so I bought it...but it's fine with me if people don't like it.

ecc83

longshins said:

It wasn't faulty, it's hilarious that people assume this or get defensive when someone says they don't like the sound of an amp/product they are affiliated with. I'm sure it's great for most, just warning people to try one out first before buying. Not trying to be a twat or anything. And with that I bid the fretboard forum farewell.

Ok, sad to see you go.

I am not being defensive. I do not think Blackstar make the best amp in the world (nobody does!)

I was a great pains to point out that I am no longer associated with the company in any way. My comments are those of a technician. If someone came here and said they had played say an AC15 and it was "shit" and "cack" and a horrible sound that no one could possibly want I would immediately suspect a fault in the amplifier because I, and about a million+ techs in the world know these to be very acceptable amplifiers!

I shall give one more "technical" example. We had a Series One in with bad sound on one OD channel. It was a bit subtle and I (being mutton) could not hear it. But one of the diodes in a feedback loop was OC (broke actually) and that caused a very asymmetrical waveform which did not (I was told) sound at all nice! You could also see the fault on a scope.

So, I do not care the make of the amplifier. If someone comes here and says something that I KNOW is well built and has 100s of manhours of testing behind it, sounds crap, I SHALL defend it!

Dave. NB! Once again! R.E.T.I.R.E.D!

hubobulous

longshins said:

It wasn't faulty, it's hilarious that people assume this or get defensive when someone says they don't like the sound of an amp/product they are affiliated with. I'm sure it's great for most, just warning people to try one out first before buying. Not trying to be a twat or anything. And with that I bid the fretboard forum farewell.

Huh? Hubobulous = confused

guitarfishbay

Poor sustain just doesn't make sense.  These things have an overkill amount of gain on tap IIRC from playing through the 40 watt combo the  50 head is based on.

The HT series doesn't stack up to expensive gear, it is entry level valve stuff at the end of the day.  When they first came out I remember people saying (vs the HT100) 'I prefer the JVM' or 'I prefer a Dual Rec'... well, not surprising and they're not even near the same price bracket.

Try before you buy is always good advice regardless of how objectively good (or not good) an item might be.  I know there are several posters who could find the gear I like to use unsuitable, so if they wanted to try something I'd still tell them the potential areas that might not work for them and try to encourage them to try it first.

I really see no point in leaving over this.  Look at it objectively.  You've posted a strong opinion on something, someone has challenged your opinion - that is all.

Nobody will hold anything against you if you just come back.  

ThePrettyDamned

They are a bit marmite - I quite like them, it's very easy to get a good hard rock tone and the cleans are usable, though not exactly a wonderful fender twin. It's functional and pleasant enough, though.

It's all about the drive for me - it's really easy to dial in a heavy tone.

siraxeman

You have to have thick skin to be a forumite! If not then best you leave all forums forever. People are different..have different ideas of what is good and what isn't...y'know "ones mans meat.." n all that.

Anyway....I really love the sounds I've heard on the HT Stage 60 in that range, not really heard any bad sounds on any Blackstar amp so far. So I now lust after a HT Stage and Artisan 15. The Artisan 15 for pure toanz to the boanz is definitely the mostest bestest favouritist for me tho.

EricTheWeary

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ThePrettyDamned

siraxeman;356172" said:

You have to have thick skin to be a forumite! If not then best you leave all forums forever. People are different..have different ideas of what is good and what isn't...y'know "ones mans meat.." n all that.

Anyway....I really love the sounds I've heard on the HT Stage 60 in that range, not really heard any bad sounds on any Blackstar amp so far. So I now lust after a HT Stage and Artisan 15. The Artisan 15 for pure toanz to the boanz is definitely the mostest bestest favouritist for me tho.

One man's meat?

I'm a vegetarian. Do I need to leave?

I really liked the artisan 100 I tried. Wouldn't mind knowing what sort of circuit it is, it sounded magnificent.

monquixote

I had a 20W one and played in a band with a bloke who had a 40W one and a 100W one. 

Overall I'd say the clean tones were better than the average modern Marshall, but the drive tones are more compressed and not really usable for me. The amp has quite a dark character. I liked it for what it was, but I wouldn't buy another one. They aren't especially loud for their stated wattage either. 

ecc83

"I really liked the artisan 100 I tried. Wouldn't mind knowing what sort of circuit it is, it sounded magnificent."

Sorry, no can do! I CAN tell you that there is no magic circuitry in there, just solid, tried and tested amp ideas that have been around since the Dawn of Amp Time.

EL34s of course, fixed bias (25mA per valve*, CAN tell you that!)  Then a gaggle of 83s in a very comprehensive filter/tone circuit and a presence control in the feedback loop.

Solid state rect rated at 1700V 25A iirc.

Very big traffs and a general BSH build. The amps are pretty indestructible, never known anything to fail save a valve even when some folks that should have known better drove the bllx off one with no load they just forked a couple of op valves and a fuse.

*Later down the line I found that some new valves were out of bias range and could not be quite pulled down to a 100mA total. Those qualified to work on amps will know how to deal with this.

Peeps say it  takes pedals very well? Well you really would not want to run one at OP valve distortion in the pub? Not for long anyway!

Dave.

siraxeman

...running one of those things in a pub up full would empty the place fast...if the power doesn't trip out in the surrounding neighbourhood. People will flee thinking there is an earthquake...and also realise that with their face melting off it could actually be a nuclear bomb that has gone off! )