- Feb 6, 2008
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Ok, so I promised that I would give a quick review when this arrived, so I plugged it in for the first time last night.
Equipment I used with the HT-5:
- Schecter Hellraiser Avenger
- Blackstar Artisan 4x12
- Toadworks Boost
HT-5 settings were typical 'everything on 7' to begin with.
First impressions weren't that great, although the casing is about twice the size overall compared to my Tiny Terror, it weighs about half as much. Saying that, the finish is clean and pro-looking, all the knobs feel sturdy and the connections tight.
I didn't play around on the clean channel (as I know that isn't really the focus here) but I have listened to my Dad noodling around and it sounds quite nice, clear and open, smooth highs, reasonable bass response through the HT-5 1x10 cabs. Nothing spectacular though.
One thing that surprised me was the amount of gain available, even without the boost, 1 o'clock sounds fairly distorted already, definitely as much gain as the Orange. Now, what follows is an initial impression which may, or may not change over the course of the next week or two.
Unlike my first outing on a TT I wasn't bowled over by the Blackstar, it ticks the right boxes, warm-tube OD, smooth highs and present mids but the main problem is a weird low end. I think the guitar and cab didn't suit the amp at all. The amp has a pretty loose low-end, which the cab didn't succesfully clear up and the EMG's kinda fought with it, producing some decent 'djent' whilst having this rolling bloom of bass that gets a bit lost underneath it all. I wouldn't have said that the Boost was helping too much either, on the TT it does an admirable job of focusing that bass, but here it tended to thicken it instead. However, even with it on or off the biggest problem is clarity, or lack of it. Power chords, and slightly intricate fingering get lost behind a blanket that smothers the sound and washes the notes together. There is undoubtedly less fizz than the Orange (at least at low volumes) but this smoothness coupled with that low end just pushes the sound back into itself, tending to encourage you to turn up both the volume and treble to give it some presence and bite. The problem is that it is neither thick enough to offer some good old-school doom/stoner/post-metal tones, nor buzzsaw enough to pull off thrash/speed/hardcore etc. The distortion itself is too warm and wooly for my liking, theres very little 'crunch' to speak of.
Finally the biggest let-down was the ISF feature, which to my ears just repositions the mids, left-down for more low-mids and right-down for high-mids. Great if the amp generally works well, but here I had to use it as a correctional knob to achieve some presence (right-down).
Some things to bear in mind:
Although I played it reasonably loud (it wasn't neighbour friendly levels) I would guess that it sounds better being pushed harder. Considering it is a single 12ax7 design, it relies more heavily on power-tube saturation to get that 'vibe'.
The equipment I used just obviously didn't suit it. If I were to look at buying it with a budget rig in mind I'd like to try it with following:
-Les Paul heavy mahoghany type guitar with balanced pups (my Greco needs new strings badly, so I couldn't try it)
- Marshall 1960 cab in an X-pattern V30's/75's (I think this would suit the head a lot more than the darker and bigger Blackstar, which accentuated the woolliness)
- Ibanez TS7, it definitely needs that TS filtering.
- Don't buy the weedy Blackstar 1x10's for metal, they are really teeny.
I'll try and add to this review as I play around with it more. I still haven't got round to ordering cables for my Redeye, so you guys will have to wait for the Orange v. Blackstar shootout clips. To my ears though theres no contest, for metal at least. The TT is a serious Studio machine, the Blackstar just wouldn't cut it IMO. There's obviously a price disparity, the Blackstar being £215 brand new, whilst I picked up my TT used for £230.
Equipment I used with the HT-5:
- Schecter Hellraiser Avenger
- Blackstar Artisan 4x12
- Toadworks Boost
HT-5 settings were typical 'everything on 7' to begin with.
First impressions weren't that great, although the casing is about twice the size overall compared to my Tiny Terror, it weighs about half as much. Saying that, the finish is clean and pro-looking, all the knobs feel sturdy and the connections tight.
I didn't play around on the clean channel (as I know that isn't really the focus here) but I have listened to my Dad noodling around and it sounds quite nice, clear and open, smooth highs, reasonable bass response through the HT-5 1x10 cabs. Nothing spectacular though.
One thing that surprised me was the amount of gain available, even without the boost, 1 o'clock sounds fairly distorted already, definitely as much gain as the Orange. Now, what follows is an initial impression which may, or may not change over the course of the next week or two.
Unlike my first outing on a TT I wasn't bowled over by the Blackstar, it ticks the right boxes, warm-tube OD, smooth highs and present mids but the main problem is a weird low end. I think the guitar and cab didn't suit the amp at all. The amp has a pretty loose low-end, which the cab didn't succesfully clear up and the EMG's kinda fought with it, producing some decent 'djent' whilst having this rolling bloom of bass that gets a bit lost underneath it all. I wouldn't have said that the Boost was helping too much either, on the TT it does an admirable job of focusing that bass, but here it tended to thicken it instead. However, even with it on or off the biggest problem is clarity, or lack of it. Power chords, and slightly intricate fingering get lost behind a blanket that smothers the sound and washes the notes together. There is undoubtedly less fizz than the Orange (at least at low volumes) but this smoothness coupled with that low end just pushes the sound back into itself, tending to encourage you to turn up both the volume and treble to give it some presence and bite. The problem is that it is neither thick enough to offer some good old-school doom/stoner/post-metal tones, nor buzzsaw enough to pull off thrash/speed/hardcore etc. The distortion itself is too warm and wooly for my liking, theres very little 'crunch' to speak of.
Finally the biggest let-down was the ISF feature, which to my ears just repositions the mids, left-down for more low-mids and right-down for high-mids. Great if the amp generally works well, but here I had to use it as a correctional knob to achieve some presence (right-down).
Some things to bear in mind:
Although I played it reasonably loud (it wasn't neighbour friendly levels) I would guess that it sounds better being pushed harder. Considering it is a single 12ax7 design, it relies more heavily on power-tube saturation to get that 'vibe'.
The equipment I used just obviously didn't suit it. If I were to look at buying it with a budget rig in mind I'd like to try it with following:
-Les Paul heavy mahoghany type guitar with balanced pups (my Greco needs new strings badly, so I couldn't try it)
- Marshall 1960 cab in an X-pattern V30's/75's (I think this would suit the head a lot more than the darker and bigger Blackstar, which accentuated the woolliness)
- Ibanez TS7, it definitely needs that TS filtering.
- Don't buy the weedy Blackstar 1x10's for metal, they are really teeny.
I'll try and add to this review as I play around with it more. I still haven't got round to ordering cables for my Redeye, so you guys will have to wait for the Orange v. Blackstar shootout clips. To my ears though theres no contest, for metal at least. The TT is a serious Studio machine, the Blackstar just wouldn't cut it IMO. There's obviously a price disparity, the Blackstar being £215 brand new, whilst I picked up my TT used for £230.
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