Blackstar HT-5 Series Combo Amp

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• 5 Watt, all-tube, 1 x 10" Combo amp
• Tube Complement: 1 x ECC83 (12AX7), 1 x 12BH7 Power Tube; 10" Celestion Speaker
• 2 Channels: Clean (Volume); Overdrive (Gain, Volume,); 3-Band EQ
• Exclusive ISF control; Emulated Speaker /Headphone Output (1 x 12" or 4 x 12"); Series Effects Loop
• Footswitch controller for switching channels

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I walked into a music store to buy a strap, saw some guitars that I wanted to test so the shop owner let me use this amp. The sounds that came out of this little amp was unbelievable. I came back the next day with my own guitar and I walked out with this baby.

Pros:

-Tube amp, nothing like the warm sound of a well driven tube amp.

-10in Celestion speakers, the do make a difference.

-Two channels (Clean and Overdrive), footswitch included.

-Great sounding overdrive channel.

-ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) adjusts your tone for that good old British or American tone.

Cons:

-No reverb

-Don't expect to gig with it

-Pricey for a practice amp at 500 smackaroos

I've never owned a tube amp in my years of playing guitar. The other amp that I own is a 75W Line 6 Spider II modeling amp and I like the Blackstar more than the Line 6. If you are looking for something cheap then look elsewhere, however if you want the best practice amp money can buy then you've got to try this amp. If you have the chance of testing one out then do it, hearing is believing!

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To preface this review, I've owned two other tube amps both of which I loved certain things and disliked others. I owned a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410, 60w, and I still own a peavey Delta Blues 115, 30w amp. For starters, I play music in Church which is extremely demanding for sound and versatility in musical equipment. The problems I would almost always have with the more powerful amps were that they were ALWAYS too loud when I turned them up past 3. The problem with this? Tube amps don't sound good at all if they are only on 1 or 2. I played smaller blues gigs before I played in church and let me say that even for those blues gigs, even a 30w amp was too much.

This is where the beauty of this Blackstar amp started for me. (I've owned this amp for over a year). It delivers EXCEPTIONAL sound for only 5w of output and it is PERFECT for smaller gigs, or even bigger gigs (except it'd probably be wise to invest in the ht 112 cab and you'll likely need to mic the amp). But in today's day and age, the loud, melt your face, style of stage sound has gone sorely out of style (unless you're playing huge venues and amphitheaters). So this amp is a very good solution for the hobby/church playing musician. It has great features, there isn't one lame thing about this amp as far as the included features. It's a little bit of a bummer that there's no included reverb in this amp but stompboxes or modelers in front of the amp solve this issue wonderfully anyway. So I don't really consider this a con. The onboard overdrive sounds great and is as good as many of the stompboxes out there. Its more of a rock sound than a blues or ambient sound. But you can't find a better amp for the price and its also great for home practice. Its also fairly lightweight (compared to a big tube amp like the Fender 410!) and is easy to transport. I personally think this thing sounds better than my old Fender 410 and is MUCH more well rounded.

Let me also note that even though its only 5w of output, this amp gets very loud. You won't be turning it up to 8 or 9 trying to squeeze every decibel out of it, it keeps a great volume and tone at 5 or 6 and is plenty loud for any smaller gig (which is most of us musicians that play around town or at church). I would recommend this amp to any musician looking for a great straightforward rock sound with versatility in ambiance and blues sounds. Just a great amp. Bravo Blackstar!