Tried the HT5RH at practice

thomasross20

I don't understand...., (?)
How about 2 HT5s going into one speaker each of my cab for max power!

Danny1969

Just take a couple of 4 x 12" cabs to the gig



I did build a 50 watt SS amp for my HT5 as reinforcement, got a pic somewhere I'll try and find it. I never needed it though and I've played Portsmouth's 2000 capacity Guildhall with my HT5

Danny1969

Here it is, I connected via the line out on the front , one half of the stereo 4 x 12 is powered by the Blackstar's own amp, the other by the home made 50 watt power amp. 

Never used it though, and now use a 1 x 12"  ............. small is good when your doing 100+ gigs a year 

Catthan

I found the mini recto too dark and squishy.. 

thomasross20

That's awesome!
I see the new Fryette power station can also increase output power (as well as attenuate higher power amps) which is handy.

I'll try the Recto, see how it goes..

DanR

Judging by what you say you want sound wise I can't see the recto doing it for you.

Make sure you try with similar speakers to your cab as that will make a difference when you get home.

guitarfishbay

Just take your own cab. It is a good point actually, also it'd be worth it to take your own guitar too.

ICBM

Catthan said:

I found the mini recto too dark and squishy.. 

I found it too harsh and tight .

But then I like *really* dark and loose amps. Hence why I love the Trem-o-verb.

timmysoft

thomasross20 said:

How big are the venues you play!?

We don't play out yet, but 10 years touring experience says 5w won't cut it for me. I've tried using the 7w mode on a few oranges and there's nowhere near enough to get over a loud drummist! 

Most of the venues we used to play were 200-500cap in the uk and 800-1000 in Europe, plenty of big fests too, where you need a bit more volume from your backline 

thomasross20

I'll be taking my own cab.

So how many watts do you go for

thomasross20

Again, great pics Danny

By the way, the EQ on the HT5 dirty channel is priceless - makes a big difference. 

And despite clean having only one tone control, it works really well. 

Can't say enough good things about it!

ecc83

The HT-5 and the HT-20 have very different power stages (tho' from the PI back they are deff' the same "family"!) . The 5 is totally fixed biased and will, if pushed put out some 10 watts. The 20 is part cathode biased and will deliver a fairly clean 20watts but not a lot more. In decibel terms the two amps are not that far apart. The 20 will stay clean for a bit louder than the 5 but under heavy, distorted drive they will both produce about the same SPL.

In fact if you fitted a V30* into a Five I bet it would hiss all over the Rocket 50 in the stock HT-20!

*The magnet might preclude this, cannot check.

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

In fact if you fitted a V30* into a Five I bet it would hiss all over the Rocket 50 in the stock HT-20!

*The magnet might preclude this, cannot check.

It will definitely fit in the HT-112 cab though .

You may be surprised to hear that I compared the HT-112 with the stock Blackstar Blackbird 50 to the V30s in my Mesa cab, and there was very little in it tone or volume-wise! If anything I think I marginally preferred the Blackbird.

The Rocket 50 is a tin frisbee though, I can't actually think of a worse Celestion, or many other speakers for that matter...

thomasross20

So really, what's the point in getting an HT20?

welshboyo

I genuinely can't see why you would need anymore than the HT5 - most gigs it will cope OK - our singer uses one - OK, we mic up at every gig, but the thing is unbelievably loud for its size - its not all about wattage, its about the amps voicing as well and its ability to cut through - we play everything from pubs, clubs through to big capacity venues (500+)

We have both the 1x12 and the 2x10 in the band (he has both, and I use either of them sometimes when space doesn't allow the Shiva and 2x12) and they are plenty loud  - if it struggles, then either your placement of said amp is wrong, or as a band you need to think a bit more about on stage volumes.

5-10 valve watts IMO is plenty for most venues/situations..

Says he who uses a 85 watt Bogner.....

Danny1969

thomasross20 said:

So really, what's the point in getting an HT20?

I don't think there is a point, it's not any louder than the 5 .... just more money and heavier. People buy it because they don't believe a 5 watt valve amp is loud enough to gig with so it's got it's place in the market.

As I've said for me the points well proven, 300 odd gigs over the last 3 years with mine have proved to me that's all I need. But then I'm not a fussy person when it comes to sound, I normally just plugin and start playing, the only control I fiddle with is the gain control. When you do a lot of gigs you care less about the gear and more about the playing, where as people who only do one  gig a week see it as more of an event and care more about the gear. 

If it don't work out you can always flog it on and you probably won't lose much.

monquixote

I had an HT-20 combo and it got totally obliterated by a loud band. 

I suspect it would be a different story had it been going through a decent cab. 

If I were in your shoes I'd try a Jet City Custom 22. 

I have the JCA22H which I use as a power amp for my Amplifire and it's very light and very loud.

ecc83

thomasross20 said:

So really, what's the point in getting an HT20?

The HT-5 was a one-off and rather special and, in truth I suspect a bit of a gamble.

The HT-20 and up range were designed by a different chap and one of the briefs was to use EL34s throughout the range. They are very unlikely to ever go out of production, are good value and, if you get the right ones, very reliable* . In the 20 they run at about 17/18watts apiece and will probably last a decade, maybe two! The HT-20 also of course has reverb which has garnered quite a good name for itself I understand? (yes! I KNOW the mkll Five has verb but my chronology is a bit different from that of the customer!) .

The Five is also a bit of a misnamed amp. Yes, it does clip at jeeeust 5W but, as I said before it will get louder and dirtier. In fact one of the biggest moans about the amp when first released was "not enough clean power" ....ItS' a FIVE watt AMP FCS!

*No one really knew how the little 12BH7 would hold up! In the event there were very few PA valve failures.

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

The Five is also a bit of a misnamed amp. Yes, it does clip at jeeeust 5W but, as I said before it will get louder and dirtier.

Not misnamed at all - that's the only correct way of rating a guitar amp by output power. Modern amp companies with Class D amps claiming output power higher than the power consumption please take note...

ThePrettyDamned

Get a ht20 if you liked the ht5.  Decent sounding thing. 

I've heard an atma - didn't get the fuss really. Decent sounding, bright bugger. Expensive for what it is, but it does do a lot - and it did sound good, just didn't blow me away. 

Ht20 and wait for an mjw. Or consider a jpf amp.