HNAD thank's to wifey

Bob Zaod

Bob Zaod

Rock Star
Messages
2,872
Been completely slammed and buried with work. Went to go grab the Blackstar HT-20 I bought last night and got "called in" for a down server. Drive back home and wifey says "give me the receipt I will go get it". She drove to ABQ to go get my amp for me. She knew I wanted to use it at a gig today so she took one for the team. Apparently there was a shooting that happened right after she drove through the area too!

Spent an hour or so with it last night and I think it's a terrific amp. The clean channel is especially luscious with single coils and the OD channel has a great range from EOB to classic metal gain. It does have a bit of boxiness to it in the low mids but that was easily remedied with post eq cuts from Helix. Set it up 4cm and using Helix to switch channels. Hopefully get some video/audio today. I have no idea if the thing was modded or anything but the clean channel especially sounds and feels so much better than the HT5 Metal I had.

It's gonna get a workout today.
348231451_1101986861188895_5490032589266822898_n.jpg
 
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The amp sounded great on the clean channel. For whatever reason even after testing Friday night, the Helix LT decided it did not want to switch amp channels. Checked everything command center settings new cable everything. I have used it on many amps to switch channels and t worked fine Friday night and I changed nothing. Ended up throwing an OCD block on for my dirt for the gig. Worked out fine but this is yet another issue I have had with my LT.
 
Bob Zaod said:
The amp sounded great on the clean channel. For whatever reason even after testing Friday night, the Helix LT decided it did not want to switch amp channels. Checked everything command center settings new cable everything. I have used it on many amps to switch channels and t worked fine Friday night and I changed nothing. Ended up throwing an OCD block on for my dirt for the gig. Worked out fine but this is yet another issue I have had with my LT.
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Are you sure it’s an issue on the LT? Some amps require you to select a specific channel on the amp before the footswitch will work. IIRC many Mesa amps are this way.

You probably already know that but was worth a mention. I’ve had a couple cases in the past where I bumped the amp’s channel selection switch (a pull knob on my Mesa Mark III) on the way to a gig and then panic for a minute during setup when my footswitch isn’t responding.
 
EOengineer said:
Are you sure it’s an issue on the LT? Some amps require you to select a specific channel on the amp before the footswitch will work. IIRC many Mesa amps are this way.

You probably already know that but was worth a mention. I’ve had a couple cases in the past where I bumped the amp’s channel selection switch (a pull knob on my Mesa Mark III) on the way to a gig and then panic for a minute during setup when my footswitch isn’t responding.
Click to expand...
Yeah I tested it the night before. Done it many times. Didn't change a thing. After everything was working perfectly I saved the patch and shut off the Helix. Went into command center and tried all settings to get it to switch channels and it would not. Amp channel switch was in and out tried both positions no change.
 
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Awesome Bob, good women you have for sure and very happy for your new amp
I'm sure you will enjoy
:beer
 
I used a HT5 head at band practice the other day. It belongs to our drummers son. I was surprised with how good it sounded!!! I had a bad impression BlackStar for some reason (not sure why) but that little amp sounded great!!
 
GuitarBilly said:
I used a HT5 head at band practice the other day. It belongs to our drummers son. I was surprised with how good it sounded!!! I had a bad impression BlackStar for some reason (not sure why) but that little amp sounded great!!
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Yeah like a lot of stuff if it's not a sexy brand so people bag on it. I got over that crap many years ago. A good amp is a good amp regardless of the badge or logo. I also have some great Crate and Peavey amps that can hang with just about anything out there. I've had many amps from the big names and also a few boutique amps. In the end I am a bang for the buck buyer. Yeah I have spent north of 3k on a single amp and it didn't bring me any more joy than my Crate Palomino. I dont care about resale value, I'm not a collector.
 
It's true, Bob.

In fairness, though, Peavey and Crate do make some crap..... soometimes a lot of it..... but then so have Marshall, Fender,
and Mesa Boogie.

Just have to try it, not give a fuck about others, leave the status-seeking social media flex behind
and get on with enjoying what we enjoy! :beer
 
Tbh I read the title as HAND ( y )

Congrats! I’ve kind of wanted a Blackstar HTR-5 forever. It was my “someday I’ll get one of these” amp back when I didn’t have any money, and I would dream up a little rig with one. I ended up going down the modeler route though.

I always enjoyed the tone I got testing them at stores, especially at the low volumes I use.

Maybe I should pick one up now that I have a decent speaker cab I can plug into…
 
la szum said:
reverb.com

Headrush MX5 Amp Modeling Guitar Effect Processor | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.
reverb.com reverb.com
Click to expand...

In all seriousness for someone looking for a great compact set up, it doesn't get much better than the MX5. Sound-wise I'd say it's biggest shortcoming is the delays but if you are like me and don't really GAF about anything other than it doing the needed amount of repeats, then it's all good. Especially now with the stacked snapshots per switch giving you the ability to do 6 of them. They aren't "true snapshots" in that you can't save different settings per snapshot but I managed to make it work and I have some pretty hefty needs to get through a gig.


The BIGGEST thing though is that the poly pitch (drop pedal) in it is really close to being as good as the one in Helix. There are no others in it's class that come close. GX100 and Core/1k poly pitch are all terrible. Nux MG doesnt have it and neither do any other MFX in it's price range. Thats huge for me because I have to play a bunch of songs at -1, -2, and +3
 
Oh what the hell, found one of the HT-5 Mk2 heads on the GC used site for $230, so pulled the trigger. I can run it into the Katana Artist cab at either 5 or 0.5 watts. And if it sucks I have a 45-day return policy.

Thanks Bob :satan
 
Jarick said:
Oh what the hell, found one of the HT-5 Mk2 heads on the GC used site for $230, so pulled the trigger. I can run it into the Katana Artist cab at either 5 or 0.5 watts. And if it sucks I have a 45-day return policy.

Thanks Bob :satan
Click to expand...

I really liked mine but it was the HT-5 Metal. Not sure on how big a difference it is. I will say this, I have owned at least 6 different 5 watt amps and the HT-5 was the loudest out of all of them. Did a couple gigs with mine and had no issues with being loud enough.
 
Bob Zaod said:
I really liked mine but it was the HT-5 Metal. Not sure on how big a difference it is. I will say this, I have owned at least 6 different 5 watt amps and the HT-5 was the loudest out of all of them. Did a couple gigs with mine and had no issues with being loud enough.
Click to expand...

I figured at the price of a nice OD pedal it's worth a shot. Like I said, I always liked plugging into them over the years and it would be a nice data point or reference against the modelers and SS amps.

I just looked up some old notes I had from many years ago, and I had put together a wishlist with something like:

Blackstar HT-5
Timmy
Line 6 M9
Timeline
 
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