Off Topic Blackstar HT-5H

[fbecir]

Hello

It's a bit early for Christmas, but I finally bought a Blackstar HT-5H last Friday.
The videos of Jamie Humphries broke all my good resolutions . Especially this one :
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWnQfvvNdLI"]YouTube - Ernie Ball-Musicman Guitarist Jamie Humphries Ceremony[/ame]

The HT-5H is really nice. I plug it in a cab with 2x12" Celestion Vintage 30 (from 1986 !) and the sound is really great. The tones of my 3 Balls really shine with it and you can really hear the characteristic of each guitar.
The HT-5H is really a loud amp : with the 2x12" cab, I am sure that I can rehearse with my band or gig. The only limitation can be the clean channel where perhaps you lack some headroom (if you push the volume too hard, the sound is not clean anymore but starts to be crunchy).
Such a volume is really surprising for a 5 W amp.

My only fear was the lack of Reverb. But in fact, the sound is so good that you don't need to add reverb. It's always a good test : if an amp needs to have some reverb in order to sound good, it means that the sound is not rich enough.
Thus with the HT5, I plug directly in the amp and life is good

 

[Hakan]

Congrats! Good choice...

 

[PaoloGilberto]

Congrats

does it have enough gain for tones like Petrucci , Metallica, etc?

thanks a lot.

paul

 

[fbecir]

does it have enough gain for tones like Petrucci , Metallica, etc?

A lot of gain !!!
At 5, you are already in Heavy Metal territory (Iron Maiden). At 6, you can play some Dream Theater ... Of course, it depends on your guitar's pickups.
A lot of gain, a lot of sustain ... you cannot ask for more

 

[Phrat]

Not quite enough gain for me for Dream Theater solo tones but my HT5 works a treat on the clean channel with a Boss Metal Zone, really does sound fantastic. Love that little stack!

 

[PaoloGilberto]

A lot of gain !!!
At 5, you are already in Heavy Metal territory (Iron Maiden). At 6, you can play some Dream Theater ... Of course, it depends on your guitar's pickups.
A lot of gain, a lot of sustain ... you cannot ask for more

I have JP 6 with D sonic bridge pickup

Phrat , so you say a distortion pedal will goo along nice with this head...
I have a Rocktron Metal Planet, but I can buy a different one, just wanted to know if gain is enough and if not if a pedal is a good idea with this head

 

[Phrat]

Totally

The overdrive channel gives you the perfect british rock sound (rolling down the vol on my axis in the middle position gets the sweetest sound ever) but just not enough for me for the metal sound and the Boss Metal Zone seemed to do the trick. The clean channel takes the effect really well so would expect over heavy distortion pedals would be fine.

 

[fbecir]

With my SUB, my Morse or my homemade guitar (equipped with a DiMarzio Tone Zone) really, I don't need a distortion pedal. I play songs like Stream of Consciousness, Endless Sacrifice or Constant Motion and the gain I have with the amp is really sufficient. Of course Petrucci adds a lot of effects thus you don't have the same sound (nor the same fingers , in fact it's the most important part !). Petrucci uses a high-gain amp but his sound is really precise, thus I don't think his gain is on 10.
After that, it depends really on your taste. For instance, most of the distortion pedals give you more or less the same sound independently of the guitar you are using. If you really like the sound of the pedal, it's great otherwise it's really boring. The HT5 gives you some nice options for sculpting your sound. But of course the Clean Channel is also very good for using your beloved pedals.

 

[Raven3d]

I have an ht5 i use at rehearsals, it just about keeps up with everything on 10, stunning amp though.
I think a series 1 100 watt head will be a purchase on my next visit to the uk.

 

[ScoobySteve]

I remember when Jamie first posted that video.

Great stuff!

 

[browndog]

Nice amp, I think I want one.

 

[ScoobySteve]

I remember Jamie stating that he's using a speaker coffin, kinda like an isolation cabinet, with his HT-5 head. Is the cabby mic'd up?

I wonder how he's recording his sound.

 

[TheBassGuy]

François, I've been looking at this amp a lot lately (also seen the Jamie Humphries vid's ), but I cant find the info that I need so I was wondering if you could provide me with an answer.

I'm a huge fan of Eric Johnson and I love his tone (both clean and distortion). Is it possible to use this amp as a basis to re-create that amazing tone, or isn't this amp build for that kind of tone? (the violin, sing tone)?

 

[fbecir]

François, I've been looking at this amp a lot lately (also seen the Jamie Humphries vid's ), but I cant find the info that I need so I was wondering if you could provide me with an answer.

I'm a huge fan of Eric Johnson and I love his tone (both clean and distortion). Is it possible to use this amp as a basis to re-create that amazing tone, or isn't this amp build for that kind of tone? (the violin, sing tone)?

Jamie's videos are really nice. This guy can really play !
For Eric Johnson tone, it's hard to say because Eric uses quite a lot effects and he is a Strat Player.
With my ASS P90 or with my Morse, I can have a nice violin sound using the neck pickup (a P90 for the ASS or a humbucker for the Morse) with a lot of sustain. At home, I play mainly straight to the amp. I still have to try the HT5 with effects. There is a serial loop on the HT5 so it's perfect if I want to put a delay and a chorus.
The HT5 is a versatile amp, I believe you can find more or less the sound you want (perhaps if you play extreme music like Black Metal, it will not be good enough, but you are Dutch not Norwegian, so normally you don't play Black Metal ).
Try to find a shop where you can try the HT5. The ratio quality / price is really good.

 

[TheBassGuy]

Jamie's videos are really nice. This guy can really play !
For Eric Johnson tone, it's hard to say because Eric uses quite a lot effects and he is a Strat Player.
With my ASS P90 or with my Morse, I can have a nice violin sound using the neck pickup (a P90 for the ASS or a humbucker for the Morse) with a lot of sustain. At home, I play mainly straight to the amp. I still have to try the HT5 with effects. There is a serial loop on the HT5 so it's perfect if I want to put a delay and a chorus.
The HT5 is a versatile amp, I believe you can find more or less the sound you want (perhaps if you play extreme music like Black Metal, it will not be good enough, but you are Dutch not Norwegian, so normally you don't play Black Metal ).
Try to find a shop where you can try the HT5. The ratio quality / price is really good.

Thanks for the reply! I'm gonna try the combo version soon, but I was kinda hoping you tried hooking some effects up.

Haha, no, no black metal for me!

 

[ScoobySteve]

François, I've been looking at this amp a lot lately (also seen the Jamie Humphries vid's ), but I cant find the info that I need so I was wondering if you could provide me with an answer.

I'm a huge fan of Eric Johnson and I love his tone (both clean and distortion). Is it possible to use this amp as a basis to re-create that amazing tone, or isn't this amp build for that kind of tone? (the violin, sing tone)?

Eric Johnson's tone has a lot more to do with set up as opposed to amps per se. On top of that EJ has been using Strat's almost exclusively for a while now. I've played the HT-5 numerous times, with both bucker's and single coils, and unfortunately the Clean setting in particular is simply too sterile to recreate EJ's almost legendary clean tone.

All of EJ's gear and set up is set up on his website, but in general his set up goes:

2x Late 60's Marshall Plexi's
2x Late 60's Fender Twin Reverbs

He uses A/B boxes to switch from his Clean, Rhythm (Dirty) and Lead sound. His pedals include, TC Chorus, Comp, BK Butler Tube Driver, VOX Wah, and DA Fuzz Face, and I think he's still using his Echoplex's, not too sure about that one.

He uses the two heads w/ 4x12's for a W/D set up, and more often times than not mic's his W cab into a mixer to add another W layer.

Complicated, makes my head hurt, but a very very hard tone to recreate. Unfortunately, the HT-5 won't get you there. Just my 2 cents.

 

[fbecir]

I've played the HT-5 numerous times, with both bucker's and single coils, and unfortunately the Clean setting in particular is simply too sterile to recreate EJ's almost legendary clean tone.

I would not say that the HT5 clean sound is sterile. With 2x12" speakers you have a nice clean sound. The lack of Reverb can be the reason why you feel that the sound is sterile.

Complicated, makes my head hurt, but a very very hard tone to recreate. Unfortunately, the HT-5 won't get you there. Just my 2 cents.

Well, if you are not Eric Johnson, you will never sound like him, even if you have the same rig as him. That's true with every great guitarist (I try for more than 20 years to sound like Steve Morse ... ).
You will never have the same sound but you can achieve a sound in the same "spirit". Besides EJ plays with such a high volume (I believe he has some audition problems now). Hard to emulate when you play at home ...

 

[ScoobySteve]

I would not say that the HT5 clean sound is sterile. With 2x12" speakers you have a nice clean sound. The lack of Reverb can be the reason why you feel that the sound is sterile.


Well, if you are not Eric Johnson, you will never sound like him, even if you have the same rig as him. That's true with every great guitarist (I try for more than 20 years to sound like Steve Morse ... ).
You will never have the same sound but you can achieve a sound in the same "spirit". Besides EJ plays with such a high volume (I believe he has some audition problems now). Hard to emulate when you play at home ...

When I say sterile, I don't mean it in a bad way. At all. I think sterile cleans respond the best to pedals and effects, but that's not how EJ engineers his clean tone at all. His clean tone is definitely Strat Single Coil Twang + Bright Fendery Sparkle Twin Reverb. It's just a strong accentuation of the gear that he uses. It's very hard to emulate. (So are his fingers, haha )

And yes, the volume is also a huge issue. He plays his Plexi's fully cranked. That's blistering loud for a 100w Stereo W/D/W combination.

EJ's tone is all in the clarity and the small details. But to cover the "base" needs I think you can get close to EJ's Rhythm and Lead tones.

For Rhythm you'll need some slight OD (he does use a D.A. Fuzz Face) and for lead some compression and some warm tape delay or not so harsh digital delay.

I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but the clean tone will be the hardest to emulate. I've been trying. For a long time. LOL

 

[fbecir]

I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but the clean tone will be the hardest to emulate. I've been trying. For a long time. LOL

If you show me how to sound like Steve Morse, I will show you how to sound like Eric Johnson