Blackstar HT1 Series Guitar Combo Amplifier

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $319.99
Sale Price: $269.99
Today's Bonus: 16% Off

• 1 Watt, all-tube, 1 x 8-Inch Combo amp
• Tube Complement: 1 x ECC83 (12AX7), 1 x ECC82 (12AU7) Power Tube
• Volume, Gain, and ISF Tone control; Overdrive switch
• Emulated Speaker/Headphone Output; 8 Ohm speaker output
• MP3/Line input

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

Been playing on one of these now off an on (I've got a couple other amps) for a few months now, and figured it deserved to have at least one review. I've been pretty impressed by the range of sounds it can crank out. Mainly picked it up because I wanted something that was both versatile and able to produce its entire sound range at volumes appropriate for my apartment. This thing works perfectly.

This can do anything from clean, bluesy tones all the way up to metal-worthy chugging. Separate gain and volume knobs let you play at full distortion at pretty much any output volume. The ISF knob gives you pretty decent control over your tone, though it doesn't (for me) completely replace full tone controls. It works well enough...I'm just not necessarily buying the marketing hype on it. Given that the HT-5 (and other Blackstar amps) have both the ISF and separate tone controls, I guess this is more meant to emulate different speaker configurations. But it...doesn't really do that either?

The speaker-emulated/headphone output works pretty well for recording (I ran it into a decent ASIO card), though it can be just a bit noisy. Works great in headphones, though. The MP3 input I have not used, but I imagine it does what it claims? You'll need a cable that can go from 3.5mm to 1/4" to hook that up, or the proper adapter(s).

The 8" speaker gets a bit underwhelming at higher volumes, and can sound a bit boxy at times. This is kinda par for the course for an amp this size, so I wouldn't really ding it for that, and the external speaker output gives you the option to run it into something a bit beefier. I ran it into a 12" external speaker and was definitely impressed at the difference it made. I still don't know that it would ever cut it practicing with a band...1W is still 1W. But when you don't need the portability of the built-in 8", it's worthwhile.

The lack of reverb is...annoying at times. I figured I could just make up for it with a pedal, but then your reverb is going through the pre-amp and it just doesn't work out all that well (you can reduce the level of reverb on the pedal to compensate, I guess). I'd assume that the HT-1R (and RH) has the reverb between the pre-amp and power amp stages, which will probably give you a better result...probably worth the extra $50.

Overall this seems like a solid amp, and a good value for the money (if you insist on tubes, that is). What it lacks in volume it makes up for in range, letting it stack up nicely against a lot of other low-wattage amps that may go a bit louder. It may not wind up cutting it as an "only" amp (you'll probably eventually want something larger to complement it), but at the same time it shouldn't wind up gathering dust, either.

EDIT: Bumped up from 4 stars to 5 stars. Given what it is (a 1W amp with an 8" speaker), it's pretty great. I think before I was judging it based on what I wanted it to be. But as it is, I keep coming back to this amp.

Buy Blackstar HT1 Series Guitar Combo Amplifier Now

Man am I impressed! This amazing little amp is perfect for my home studio. Spoiled from playing my friends' Orange equipment, I was looking for that high-output tube sound. The ht-1 delivers exactly what I was looking for.

I'd been planning to lean heavily on the Guitar Rig (tube emulation) plugin in Pro Tools, but the HT-1 will be far superior with its line out.

After running it through my Carvin 2x12 speakers, I'm convinced the HT-1 would serve for loud, full-band jam sessions and shows, if you're comfortable with using your guitar's volume control instead of a footswitch.

Playing my custom Carvin CT6 through this thing makes me feel like a teenager driving a Ferrari--the sound is worthy of a much better guitarist (I've always been primarily a bassist).

My only concern is if I should've gone ahead and dished out the extra 50 bucks for reverb, even though I prefer to handle all of this in Pro Tools. When I'm just playing around, I'll run clean through my Carvin sx300, picking up its effects and reverb as desired, then into the Blackstar, then back out into the carvin's 12's.

If you have a laptop recording rig, you could use the HT-1 as a mobile monitor (via the unaffected line-in) if you wanted to.

It is a truly versatile, portable, and absolutely satisfying amp.

If you're using a solid state amp, do yourself a favor. Pick up an HT-1 when MusiciansFriend emails you one of those 20% off codes, like I did. Combined with the rebate promo, it amounted to a sweet 75 dollars off, but it's worth the full price.

Read Best Reviews of Blackstar HT1 Series Guitar Combo Amplifier Here

For the price you can't beat the quality. It sounds great. You can get crunch, sustain and use it to record with into a mixer or multitrack recorder. The headphones works pretty good. (I have nice headphones, maybe cheesey ones would sound bad) Great practice amp and, very loud for one watt! You can also hook it up to an external cabinet with an ohm rating between 4 to 16. Just for the way it looks alone it should get high ratings. I saw a demo of it that wound up on my email and, I decided to get rid of my noisey Epiphone Valve Junior and, get the HT-1. I'm totally glad I did. All my guitars I have played through it sound pretty good as well. I view the ISF almost like a tone control. It works alright enough for what this amp is. I wish this would have been my first amp when I was a teen learning to play. It is a fun practice amp. I bet the HT-1R is even more cool with the reverb. I'm glad I got it.

Want Blackstar HT1 Series Guitar Combo Amplifier Discount?

At first I hated this amp. It was so noisy I thought it was broken. Turns out I'm just an idiot & had the gain too high on the OD channel. I also didn't love the ISF gimmickit's supposed to sound like a fender when turned down & Marshall on the other end, but basically acts like a guitar tone pot to my ears. There are decent even great tones , but no one will mistake either extreme for the real things. I also thought it was pretty limited since clean at max volume is really weak. I also regretted not getting reverb ( the HT1R). I was all set to sell it for a $100 loss & move on. My friend who was interested went on vacay for a month. During that time 2 things happened. I realized that my Mustang direct out does not record the backing tracks inserted from my iPhoneonly my guitar signal & thats a dealbreaker for mecon that smo. The Blackstar records both very well and it's direct out sounds as good as me mic'ing w/ a sm58. I also realized I have pedals! With a compressor, analog delay & OD I get every tone Ive ever wanted on this amp & just continue to be blown away every day by how great it sounds. Run it through a PA and its very giggable. Overall I would say this is good for anyone unless you play clean only with no boost because the clean channel has the exact amount of volume you'd expect from 1 watt, which is not quite enough to even practice in a quite room.