NAD...

Sassafras

How could I forget my Pignose?
A great little practice amp with a surprising range of sounds.

thomasross20

Zvex Nano, I want to try one!

I hope the 20 will be able to cope un-mic'd at gigs. I'm certain it will, actually. 

Hopefully will collect on Tuesday.

Sassafras

Every guitar player should try the ZVex Nano. I think most would be extremely surprised at how good they are and what a wide range of sounds can be got out of them.
Ideal for recording and home use.

thomasross20

I think ICBM is a fan of them, too?


Anyway, 2nd new amp day!! Just completed a trade - my ID260 + footswitch + case for the HT5RH + cab + footswitch  

ICBM let me hear how the emulated out sounded and I hate to say... it was a bit pants compared to the amp through a cab. So I think I'd rather invest in a mic... 

By the way, I read that the Blackbird speakers are "Celestion made" - what's that about? 
EDIT - I think that's for a different "HTV-112" cab which actually uses Celestions and is "better suited" to the HT20 head apparently. But woah.... HT112 weighs 10.7kg and HTV112 is 17.6kg!!

thomasross20

Anybody tried this?
https://www.blackstaramps.com/products/tonelink

EDIT... holy sh!t how cool is this? 
https://www.blackstaramps.com/products/ht-5rsw

thomasross20

Still tempted by a Victory amp - hopefully can try out @Vaiai's V30 in more detail again soon

paulmapp8306

Dont be..... not that there not good - but you have chosen your HT after testing, and that is fine as your main amp now, and backup to your MJW later when it arrives.  Anything else you get will only get moved on when your MJW arrives........

thomasross20

I might as well say now that the mjw is no longer. After trying various Marshalls at the weekend, I realised I don't actually like the Marshall sound, yet that's what I spec'd for my drive channel. Clearly I'm too new to valve amps with little experience of what drive it is I really want, so martin and I both agreed it's best if we leave off for now. A shame as every other aspect of the amp was great, but to get the wrong drive channel and be dissatisfied because of my lack of experience wouldn't have benefited either party. Hopefully in future when I have more experience...

John_A

The Marshall sound comes in a few flavours and it's certainly an acquired taste, however I think that most people who've been playing a while will acquire it.  A Les Paul through a Marshall is such an iconic sound, I bet it's on loads of your favourite songs

As for the HT-20, ages ago I did the same thing, went and tried loads of amps including the HT-20, and really didn't like it, on the day I came away with a Dual Rectifier which was much bigger and more expensive than I was looking for.   I've since had a Series One that I thought sounded lovely (very Marshally) so I'm certainly not anti Blackstar

thomasross20

UPDATE! 

So, I got one of those Tonelinks... haven't tried it yet but I've been looking for something like this for yonks! £20 - perfect!




And now - here is the setup!


The HT5RH and HT112 cab look tiny in reality - great for saving space. 

The NL212 sounds a lot bigger than the 1x12 (as you might guess - more like a "stereo" sound). I also think it pairs better with both heads. It's got some more treble to it (I think due to the Neo speakers) which balances out the "darkness" associated with Blackstar amps. The HT112 cab is cute but I don't know if I can warrant the space. 

HT5RH head is ~7.5kg.
HT20 is ~12.2kg.
So.. manageable!

I tried running drive with master low and drive volume at max - was ok but not as good as drive volume lower and master volume higher. With both at 2/3 it also sounded great. Because the Blackstar sound is more deep & compressed & dark, I think it's harder to get a "crunch" out of the amps - you can, but it's not the same as other amps. It's their own sound, like saying "why doesn't this PRS sound like a Fender or Gibson?"

Cleans sound great to me - obviously not as good as a Fender. The tone knob changes the sound drastically - far left is a more muted clean and far right is more cutting. 

ISF definitely changes the voicing but I didn't hear it as much until I cranked the volume up on the HT20. I think it was a tad more noticeable on the HT5. 

Haven't tried the FX loop on either. Emulated out I'm not keen on so I'd mic them if I ever had to. 
I want to crank both to full volume and see how much louder the HT20 is and how much more clean headroom.

Reverb is great - I don't know why I'd need a "better" reverb. It's just to create some "space."

Unfortunately the handles are those nice faux-leather ones meaning I can't stack the heads on top of each other (to save space). However I love those handles compared to the flat plastic ones. 

It's hard to get a bad sound out of it and is more than adequate for gigging. I'm not doing a world tour here lol...

Cleans up very well with the volume control on the guitar like the HT5 does.

It does feel somewhat redundant to have two similar heads (like two PRS!) however the HT20 will be the one I use for gigs with the HT5 being the perfect backup. HT5, being smaller and lighter, is the one I'd take to practice, too (if I decide to start taking an amp head to practice instead of my pedal-board into the rehearsal room amps). 

There's not really anything to complain about, especially given the price point. In fact I was singing these amps' praises all last night. I can see where folk come from regarding the sound being dark & compressed and if the gain is whacked to max with drive volume max and master low, you can almost hear the "non-valve" in it, but who cares! As was pointed out to me, a lot of old recordings used sh!tty transistor pedals into valve amps so this actually gets to those sounds pretty accurately. 

Oh, I like the big red jewel light! 

thomasross20

John_A said:

The Marshall sound comes in a few flavours and it's certainly an acquired taste, however I think that most people who've been playing a while will acquire it.  A Les Paul through a Marshall is such an iconic sound, I bet it's on loads of your favourite songs

As for the HT-20, ages ago I did the same thing, went and tried loads of amps including the HT-20, and really didn't like it, on the day I came away with a Dual Rectifier which was much bigger and more expensive than I was looking for.   I've since had a Series One that I thought sounded lovely (very Marshally) so I'm certainly not anti Blackstar

It might just be that my ears will attune in time, who knows. Because I play mostly at home, I can't afford to have these amps that need to be cranked to sound ok. Great thing about these is they sound fantastic at home volumes. 


FYI the HT20 and HT5 do sound very similar! I'm not confident enough to describe those differences and think I'd have to run both amps at higher volume to highlight them. 

thomasross20

Oof, my orange PRS in particular squeals when the gain and volume are (really) high and on bridge humbucker! Purple one squeals at a lower freq - think it's just feedback and how resonant the guitar is. 

Anyway I wanted to say.. the HT20, believe it or not, is much more home friendly due to the master volume. MUCH more! The HT5 is still great at home volume, though - and very fun to play. HT20 definitely heats up a bit more. Still loving 'em!

Deijavoo

HNAD!

stratman3142

I'm a bit confused. I thought you'd found your amp but your posts indicate you're still looking for another amp.

We all look for different things in an amp. I've used a whole load of stuff over the years and own quite a few sets ups, which mostly contain valves. Right now, based on home use and a couple of gigs, the amp I'm most happy is my new 1x12 Blues Cube Artist.

I'm surprised your PRS squeals. I rarely have that problem, but just notch back the guitar volume pot a smidgen when you're not playing and it should kill it. Unless there's a pickup problem, it should stop once you start playing and you can pull the volume pot up again. It should be just case of riding the volume pot.

thomasross20

Yeah it goes away when guitar volume is rolled down. Never experienced that before. 
Mind you it's loud and I'm two feet away.

I got my amps - no more looking, I hope!

impmann

Glad you found what you are looking for.

To pick up on something you said earlier about the Blackstar guys being ex-Marshall so how do they do it "better" than Marshall... well, that speaks more about where Marshall are at right now than Blackstar. Perhaps if things hadn't got the way they did in Bletchley, Blackstar wouldn't have happened.

TBH, I'm not a fan of the HT range - but I can see why they are popular, and why they will work for certain playing styles. I'd echo what @ICBM says about the speakers - modern amp manufacturers seem to skimp on this most critical of components and the fashion for fitting V30s to every amp is crazy. It suits some applications but not all - and sounds dreadful in some. I have heard an HT60 playing through an old Orange cab from the early 70s and that sounded *epic* for what the guys were playing - big old school original Metal (think early Maiden mixed with early Sabbs).

thomasross20

I think they're darker sounding amps so sound better through more "trebly" speakers which is more where the NL212 sits, I think - sounds epic through them!