Blackstar HT5 head or Orange Tiny Terror head

bloodandtears

Really would like your input on this before I pull the trigger...

I like the flexibility of the HT5 but am concerned it wont be loud enough to compete with a rock drummer.
The TT seems loud enough but a bit limiting in tones.

My use cases include:

1) home use with and without pedals.
2) live use as Angus Young in my ACDC tribute band
3) Possible generic live use in rock covers band

This is my first real foray into Valve amps and I can't really see a need for a 50watt plus head just yet.. My main rig currently is a Flextone II HD into Marshall 2x12 1966a

not_the_dj

The future's bright, the future's Orange.

gubble

There's a much better answer to this.

 

Jet City JCA22H.

 

Ticks all of the boxes & is much friendlier on the wallet

not_the_dj

gubble said:

There's a much better answer to this.

 

Jet City JCA22H.

 

Ticks all of the boxes & is much friendlier on the wallet

The JCA20HV might be better for the Marshall/Angus tones

ICBM

gubble said:

There's a much better answer to this.

Jet City JCA22H.

Ticks all of the boxes & is much friendlier on the wallet

What he said.

All of the Jet Citys are quite Marshally, it just depends what features you want.

(Marshally as in 'will cover the same musical ground as a Marshall' rather than 'sounds exactly the same to a purist', but I doubt your audience will care.)

bloodandtears

confuse things why dont ya...

will check out some reviews of the Jet City.. might be a tad too loud for home??

Gassage

Genuinely, I don't like either.

if you could stretch to it, a Cornell Plexi 7 2nd hand...£450 ish

ICBM

bloodandtears said:

will check out some reviews of the Jet City.. might be a tad too loud for home??

No more so than the Blackstar or the Orange. They all have volume controls .

I actually found the Orange harder to get a decent tone out of at low volume. Although to be fair, that may be because I found it hard to get a decent tone out of at all…

underdog

I like the ht5 head and it does good Marshall type sounds (plus others) but I'm not sure the volume you require is going to be there, I can see it being too distorted at full volume to be AC/DC like.

Grunfeld

bloodandtears said:

The TT seems loud enough but a bit limiting in tones.

A bloke I know started using one of these for a while in his (mostly) classic rock covers band.  The sound got lost... it was loud enough but not distinct enough.  The bloke knows his way around an amp and I don't think it was user error, because his other amps have sounded just fine (other notable exception being a Hayden, can't remember which one but it had the same indistinctness as the TT).

Not a detailed review but just an observation from someone listening front of house.

Mkjackary

I would stear clear of ht series myself, some like, some hate. As for the orange TT they are great amps, but I couldn't shape it enough using just the single tone. 

I sold my dual terror and got an OR15, could not be happier. It can do several genres very very well, and it isn't "floppy" like some other oranges are. In the shop I compared this to a ht, dsl, other oranges, jc22h, and maybe fender combo. obviously the fender was completely different, but out of the rest the OR15 is the best by far if you ask me, doesn't have the features of say the ht or jc22h, but the tone is just stellar.

Always recomend these amps, get down to a store and try one out!

Also worth noting the orange dark terror #4 has a very similar build IIRC, just didn't do the vintage stuff as well. I use the OR15 at maybe a smigen less than acdc, and use volume and boost for the rest.

--

EDIT: Just read that you are in acdc cover band, then that is same kind of stuff that I play (atleast the guitar tone is very similar) and the OR excells in that area.

Jet citys are always great amps too, but harder to try out, and not as good at the low gain area; between pushed cleans and crunch, ala ACDC

Fortheloveofguitar

Marshall SL-5 and mic it up. Will do the Angus thing easily plus the usual rock stuff

Beexter

I read a comment from Ade Emsley, the designer of the Tiny Terror, and he specifically designed the Tiny Terror to sound like the "guitar sound on the first three AC/DC albums" so should do the job. Link here: http://orangeampsblog.com/?p=409 Having said that, the OR15 can get into even higher gain territory than the TT and gives you more control over tone and an effects loop. Mind you, I've just picked up an Orange Rocker 30 head which has no tone control on the Natural channel, just a single volume control, and that is voiced perfectly. I'm really enjoying the simple approach!

samzadgan

In low watt oranges i would say OR15 aswell...but for the money and tones, jet city kills it.

Danny1969

The HT5 does a reasonable job of the Marshall type rock tone, I find it easy to get a sound out of mine. I use one in my Thin Lizzy tribute and in 2 other bands that do everything from Van Halen to Kings of Leon. I don't like the HT5 combos though, they sound small and boxy. The HT5 head sounds much better through a larger stiffer cab. Mine came from an old Proamps combo and it suits the head really well. 

bloodandtears

@danny1969 in your experience is the ht5 loud enough to hear above the drummer?

Danny1969

bloodandtears said:

@danny1969 in your experience is the ht5 loud enough to hear above the drummer?

It depends on the drummer and how loud you want to hear yourself I spose  but in my experience yes with the cab I use it's fine. In 4 out of the 5 band I play in though I'm using IEM's so it wouldn't matter if it wasn't  .... but in the Lizzy tribute they use an analog desk so it's ol skool no IEM's and I can still hear it fine

Nerine

I can't ever imagine a 5 watt amp being loud enough to be heard over a good rock drummer.

That ain't happening. No way.

I've tried gigging a TT before. Didn't work.

The only time these low wattage amps work is when you go by the assumption that you'll ALWAYS have a GOOD PA to use/can ALWAYS be arsed to mic it up/ALWAYS have good monitoring so you can actually hear it properly...


And for that reason, I'd have a 50-100w amp.

underdog

Nerine;497050" said:

I can't ever imagine a 5 watt amp being loud enough to be heard over a good rock drummer.

That ain't happening. No way.

I've tried gigging a TT before. Didn't work.

The only time these low wattage amps work is when you go by the assumption that you'll ALWAYS have a GOOD PA to use/can ALWAYS be arsed to mic it up/ALWAYS have good monitoring so you can actually hear it properly...


And for that reason, I'd have a 50-100w amp.

As long as you don't need crystal cleans I can see it working. A 5watt valve amp is around 30watt solid state (at best guess) if it's a head you're able to plug in to a good cab then it'd work for most.

riffpowers

The tiny terror is my favourite amp, and nails the malcolm young sound,

Adrian Elmsley said he designed it around the rythmn guitar sound on powerage.

bloodandtears

@riffpowers  ; I'm the angus role lol