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  • What makes these deluxe then? It's not too clear from the description other than a different speaker
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    I have to admit I was expecting leopard skin tolex or sommat. The V30 is well respected but not everyone's cup of tea. It will make the Five louder though at 110dB SPL/mtr and should stay clean to 95/100dB.

    Good price I guess and the usual Blackstar "Marmite" opinions will doubtless unfold?

    Dave.
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  • NorthernStompsNorthernStomps Frets: 398
    tFB Trader
    I had a HT-5 and didn't care for it at all. Boxy as hell!

    Facebook: @northernstomps // Instagram: @northernstomps // Twitter: @northernstomps

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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    I have an HT-5 and love it for playing at home.

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    One all.

    Dave.
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  • randellarandella Frets: 4085
    @ecc83 ; 2-1 - I'm partial to a Blackstar and thought the HT-5 I played was a great little amp.

    I have an even-littler HT1-R in the dining room for a bit of noise pollution when Mrs. R. is out.
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  • I got an email saying 'The Captain's favourite small tube combo' or something, and ignored the marketing.
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8175
    I got an email saying 'The Captain's favourite small tube combo this week' or something, and ignored the marketing.
    I fixed that for you to include the Andertons' small print...
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • randellarandella Frets: 4085
    Hattigol said:
    I got an email saying 'The Captain's favourite small tube combo this week' or something, and ignored the marketing.
    I fixed that for you to include the Andertons' small print...
    They actually made him his very own custom one, didn't they?

    Canny bit of marketing that.

    It's still a good amp anyway.  I got the impression at the time he might have actually liked it too.  I understand how marketing works and he's a wealthy man who could have any amp he wanted, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.
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  • I quite liked the one I had, I meant no slight against them with my question. The one I had was a much more useful amp than the Princeton I had certainly. I just didn't want to rely on pedals for overdrive at that time and the drive channel was too classic rock for me personally. Just wondered what the "deluxe" element of it was, as to whether it might make the amp worth another look. If it's just a different speaker though, I'm not sure that's going to make much of a difference for my use case.
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    I've said this before I know, but I think the V30 is totally the wrong speaker for an already stiff, dark, middy, low-powered amp - it will be loud, but it will be even stiffer, darker and middier... and the V30 is one of the few speakers that really needs to be pushed a bit harder.

    A Greenback or a G12H-30 would be a *far* better choice if they want to upgrade it.

    "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

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    ICBM said:
    I've said this before I know, but I think the V30 is totally the wrong speaker for an already stiff, dark, middy, low-powered amp - it will be loud, but it will be even stiffer, darker and middier... and the V30 is one of the few speakers that really needs to be pushed a bit harder.

    A Greenback or a G12H-30 would be a *far* better choice if they want to upgrade it.
    How hard IC? The HT-5 can put out around 10 watts when really caned.  IMHO I think it was a mistake to change the TMB controls such that they only work on the OD channel? I too am struggling to see the "deluxe" part of the amp. V30s are not expensive speakers. Now! If they had fitted a Gold????

    Dave.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    I had a HT-5 and didn't care for it at all. Boxy as hell!
    Just wondered what the "deluxe" element of it was. If it's just a different speaker though, I'm not sure that's going to make much of a difference for my use case.

    I had a mk1 HT-5 mini stack. (No reverb. No tone control for the Clean channel.) Running the head through almost ANY other external loudspeaker cabinet revealed the inadequacies of the stock MIC Celestion. I upgraded to an Eminence Legend in the hope of extracting a more "American" sound.

    I just didn't want to rely on pedals for overdrive at that time
    Ironically, the overdrive in the HT-5 is created by using IC chips rather than by torturing valves. I dare say that, if he chose to, ecc83 could enlighten us as to which Blackstar standalone overdrive pedal most closely resembles the HT-5 pre-amp circuitry. ;)
    Be seeing you.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    ecc83 said:

    How hard IC? The HT-5 can put out around 10 watts when really caned.
    10W is enough, but I doubt most people are going to crank it that far - and that would prevent getting a clean sound. Under about 5W doesn’t seem to be enough really.

    ecc83 said:

    IMHO I think it was a mistake to change the TMB controls such that they only work on the OD channel?
    I much prefer the second version - I think both channels sound better, but especially the clean.

    ecc83 said:

    I too am struggling to see the "deluxe" part of the amp. V30s are not expensive speakers. Now! If they had fitted a Gold????
    Although not as stiff, the Gold still sounds too much like an ‘alnico V30’ really. If you’re going for a speaker that price, the Blue would be much better - or an alnico Fane or Jensen.

    Funkfingers said:

    Ironically, the overdrive in the HT-5 is created by using IC chips rather than by torturing valves.
    Not true, despite what you can see in the schematic - the distortion does come from torturing the valve. Although there is an IC ‘Tube Screamer’ circuit in front of it, it acts as a clean boost and pushes the valve into distortion. The diodes in the ‘TS’ circuit don’t start to conduct until the gain control is almost all the way up and the valve is already far into clipping - their purpose is just to stop it being pushed so hard that it goes into ‘blocking distortion’, which sounds nasty. Any additional clipping generated by the diodes is totally masked by the distortion from the valve at that point.

    I’ve spent some time investigating this with an oscilloscope, out of curiosity... I was annoyed by the early marketing claim about them being ‘all valve’, and having seen the schematic I also assumed the ‘TS’ circuit was doing the clipping. But the claim that the distortion is from the valve is correct - it’s actually almost exactly like running a Tube Screamer with the level up full and the gain at zero to push a valve amp into overdrive.

    Funkfingers said:

    I dare say that, if he chose to, ecc83 could enlighten us as to which Blackstar standalone overdrive pedal most closely resembles the HT-5 pre-amp circuitry. ;)
    The HT-Dual is identical to the first version. It was a broken HT-Dual I’d been given that provided me with the opportunity to analyse it, in fact.

    "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

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • I just didn't want to rely on pedals for overdrive at that time
    Ironically, the overdrive in the HT-5 is created by using IC chips rather than by torturing valves. I dare say that, if he chose to, ecc83 could enlighten us as to which Blackstar standalone overdrive pedal most closely resembles the HT-5 pre-amp circuitry. ;)
    I could only use the clean channel to be honest as the drive channel was too classic rock for me. Sounded good for classic rock though, whether based on a pedal or not. Hence I needed differentdpedals into the clean channel which defeated the object for me really
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    edited December 2018
    It was pure serendipity IC that you found a pedal "identical" to the 5 preamp circuit! There have been small tweaks and mods throughout the life of both amps and pedals. But yes, your analysis is essentially correct. In all the Blackstar circuits the chips just do what they do best. High gain, low noise, no microphony, never wear out and the valves do the "tone".

    My son was also in the "clean is good, OD channel is ***t" camp when I brough a Five home.  Oddly though he DOES like some of the sounds out of a Dual pedal! (Bloody geetarists!!)

    Dave.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    ecc83 said:
    It was pure serendipity IC that you found a pedal "identical" to the 5 preamp circuit!
    You could say I had a little help with that ;).

    (Thanks :).)

    ecc83 said:

    My son was also in the "clean is good, OD channel is ***t" camp when I brough a Five home.  Oddly though he DOES like some of the sounds out of a Dual pedal! (Bloody geetarists!!)
    It probably depends what he's running it through - I think what I don't like about the typical 'Blackstar sound' is more in the power amp - the preamp voicing is very dark, but it's the stiff dynamics I really can't get on with, and I think that's almost certainly the power amp and power supply. I don't think it's a coincidence that the one I like best overall is the little HT-1 - although I still prefer the clean channel cranked up to the overdrive channel.

    I do *almost* like some of the bigger ones, and I've sometimes wondered if a more drastic change of speaker would be enough...

    "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

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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