I used to Gig years ago (ie: 30 years ago!) and in those days I had a 40 watt Solid Stae Amp - Plenty for the rooms we played.
For years now I have been a bedroom player and my current amp is a Blackstar Ht-5 combo.
I'm playing again more seriously in a band and we rehearse in proper practice rooms.
My amp stands up pretty well against everyone else in the room. Admittedly the drums are electric but they are turned up pretty loud ( a loud as I remember acoustic drums).
I know that in a pub or hall full of people the noise gets swallowed up.
My question is this. Anyone here gigging ok with a HT-5?
I know that's not what they are designed for but I chatted with one of the guys on the Blackstar stand at a recent guitar show and all he uses is his Ht-5 plugged through the PA.
Just wanted to hear from other HT-5 players.
Cheers
Mike
Comments
I was pushing a 20w valve head pretty hard last week just to cover the sound of one table of drunken screeching slappers. I am primarily a clean player though, so I need a little headroom.
To me, the problem with very small amps is that good monitoring is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity, and we all know how variable that can be.
Well that's true. I was thinking monitored; I would normally expect monitoring as part of backline but now I think about it we have played through plenty of hokey-pokey PAs that look like part of Uncle Dave's Matsui Hifi, and sound like it.
The Five is remarkably loud into a 4x12xV30s (but that rather defeats the "lugging " object!)
Being FB, push-pull they actually put out about 10 dirty watts, 110dB SPL at a mtr, not quiet! But yes, has to be horses for courses else why would B's make a 200watter!
Don't forget the 5 has an emulated output (as does most of the range) for jacking out to a PA/mixer.
Dave.
Hmm? Amp's been around some 6 years and yours is the first critique of the EM out I have heard of.
Not sure if the response spec was changed from the MK1 (10") to the MK2 (12") but I could check.
If it really bothered anyone it is possible I suppose that a cap was stuffed wrongly or missed. If you dropped it off at B's they should be able to tell you.
For heads, MK2's have verb of course!
Dave.
I had thought of upgrading to the HT20 but as someone said above, a bigger amp sort of kills the "it's not a pain to lug around" argument!
"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
Mike,
Do the gig and see for yourself how it goes. Afterwards you will know if you can do a few more with it.
After maybe three gigs get a bigger amp. At least then you will know you want to gig again, that the band is stable and what is important to you in a live setting.
Cheers,
Phil
Thanks Phil. It's all slowly coming back to me. I used to gig as a teenager. Now I'm 51, so it's been a while. I also have to wear earplugs now and getting used to trying to hear through those is fun.
All part of the fun learning process
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