OK, I surrender.
Until I get my MJW I need a backup amp as my ID260 is going to go at some point. I've largely played solid state & modellers - great for home volumes and generally very reliable. I've been loaned a Blackstar HT-5RH for a week as a possible trade - going to try it on Wednesday with the band to see if I can get away with this for gigs un-mic'd. Clean might be an issue in that case, but anyway...
I tried the ID260 and the HT-5RH both through the new NL212 cab I got. Let me say, the controls on the HT-5 are very responsive - in fact I quite like how there is "less" to play with than on the ID260 - simplicity is best. So anyway... on clean you really notice the sweet "plum" quality when you hit a note on a valve amp and the general sound is just fantastic. It's good on the ID260, but it's not
as good. The valve amp just felt more
alive. On crunch and distortion, whist switching between the two amps quickly, I can see what people say now about "hiss" and "fizz" on solid-state/modellers. It's not terrible, I just never noticed it before now. The ID is still a GREAT amp but woah, the valve amp just felt so natural, responded so well - excellent string definition - I couldn't stop playing through it - lots of fun
Why did I not notice these things before? Honestly, I think it's due to environment. When you're not in your own "zone" with your own guitar it's not the same. I need to lock into my "zone" - the home environment really is the test (well, the gigging environment is the true test!).
5W *may* not be loud enough to gig (I will test this, at least in the practice room) but it's quite loud for home practice. I'm nudging it to about (maybe just below) 1 on the dial and it's about right. If the power-scaling on my 30W MJW works great then I'd seriously consider another amp like that - full whack for gigs and lower voltage for home use, extending valve life.
I'm sure there are guff valve amps but I think I'm a total convert now. The original plan was to get an ID60 head as back-up but that's totally off the cards now.
Thanks for
@ICBM for helping me out here!
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Unfortunately I dare not turn it up any more at home. I don't think I'm a fan of these amps that have a loud sweet spot. I don't know if the ht-5 is like that?
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And this isn't even an all-valve amp, as I was saying earlier! Just a clever hybrid which uses valves where they're most needed - the overdrive and tone stack stage, and the final power output. These are the bits that give most of the valve-amp harmonic response and dynamic feel respectively, as you've found.
I really wish this wasn't true in some ways - it would make life much easier if we could just get the same sound with solid-state - but it just does seem to be very hard to get that natural sound any other way.
I don't find there is a particular 'sweet spot' with the HT-5 - it sounds good and quite similar at all volumes other than super-whisper-quiet. The change when you have it cranked all the way up on the clean channel is that you can get a tiny bit of a bright crunch which is less middy and smooth than the more compressed sound on the drive channel.
If you want it quieter for the house there's always the 1x10" cab available .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I thought it was great hearing you play it but it's a different ball-game trying it at home with gear I know.
Cab... another part of the equation. I don't know how the NL212 compares to other cabs. Something I'll no doubt follow up on in future - though I must say the weight is excellent - very light for a 2x12.
I think it sounds pretty good at the low volumes I've got it at.. but will try it louder on the Wednesday and see a) how it fares in a loud practice scenario and b) how the sound changes with volume (though I know we tried that at yours).
I wish I had my MJW now Lol..
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It's also one of those things that's tough to check in a shop, I think. Like when I try guitars... I can pick up loads, and it's feel first for me. And it's no big deal to switch between guitars through one amp. And I like to try LOTS. But to try lots of different amps - I always feel like it's a bit of an ask/effort..
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Fender Pro Jr. and a decent dirt pedal?
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I think guitar amps are the sort of thing I would be comfortable buying second-hand. More so than guitars. Guitars are more feel-based for me so you have to be there to try. But amps - I think there's going to be a lot to try and it would be way more costly!
Series One 50 with DPR? Sounds good but I just checked... 19kg!? No way lol.
I was thinking about emulated out or mic'ing for gigs but it's no good if you've not good a good monitor to hear yourself back. In my mind, everybody gets mic'd and has monitors or none do - all or nothing - as I imagine it'd be very hard to hear my guitar back otherwise.
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I regularly gigged a Music Man 4x10 combo and then a Mark III Boogie with EV speaker.
And try telling that to the youth of today and they won't believe you....
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To be honest the HT5 is as much a valve amp as a Jubilee, yes there's some opamps in there but the main pre amp, power amp is all valve
Whoever designed should get an award for making the quietest amp ever, I gigg'ed a Twin last night and even on the clean channel there was a slight hiss coming from it . The HT5 is deathly quiet
But does it matter?
Would putting a boost pedal in the FX loops actually increase the power output > 5W rated?
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In practice the 'tubescreamer-like gain' section is clean until the gain control is above about 3 o'clock - which is actually much less distortion than a real TS has. The real purpose of the 'clipping' diodes in the HT amps is to prevent the valve going into blocking distortion and sounding horrible.
The phase inverter also remains clean - which is different from some valve amps, admittedly.
If you think about it, the IC gain > valve overdrive/tone stack > transistor phase inverter > valve power stage arrangement is not much different from a TS > valve amp > solid-state effects in the loop > valve power stage arrangement, and a lot of people seem perfectly happy with that!
No, almost certainly not. It does depend slightly on where in the circuit the clipping occurs when the clean channel is turned right up, but my guess - given that it sounds very different from the drive channel - is that it's the power stage clipping. So boosting in the loop would just make that happen sooner, not make the final volume higher.
The HT-5 is quite a different '5 watts' from most 5W valve amps though - most of those are single-ended, cathode-biased types and sound very compressed when driven hard, to the point of having a distinctive 'bloom' (I hate that word but it does seem to describe the effect quite well) as the notes decay. The HT-5 is a proper miniature push-pull fixed-bias amp just like most large amps - even though it appears to have only one power valve, it's a dual-triode type so it's actually a pair. It seems quite a lot louder, both in clean headroom and in the maximum distorted volume it can produce.
If anything I think that's part of why I prefer the HT-1 - the 1 is cathode-biased (although also push-pull) and so has more of that compression, so sounds 'looser' as well as not having as much clean headroom relative to maximum volume.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
He can finally nail Master of Puppets (although he fluke that with the settings he says), and the gain on tap is off the charts.
My point is that if you have a taste now for valve amps, there is still lots of room for improvements.
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