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I’m looking at where I want to go amp-wise in the near future and would welcome some input on what the best options might be.

I’ve currently got a Blackstar HT-5 with an Orange 1x12 and a diy 1x15 cab. For the purposes of good distortion tones the HT-5 is right up my street but my cabs aren’t particularly well matched with each other and the 1x12 is a bit tinny with the HT5 in the first place. The cleans never seem to do anything special for me. At times it feels a little limiting without being able to EQ both channels.

What I want is a set of gear that will give me awesome bedroom tones both distortion and clean. My main tone is always going to be a distorted one for riffage so the end set up must be able to do that. I’d consider going down the 1 watt amp route (Blackstar ht1?) to more truly get that cranked amp distortion in my home. Add to this some nice cleans that will also take pedals pretty well, for true versatility. This could be two amps (I guess) or one amp that will cover all the ground equally. I’m open to Combos but just prefer a head and cab really, just because I do.

I don’t want to pump stupid money into this. I could maybe sell my current set up for 300 quid and could potentially add a couple or three hundred more to that for the ‘right’ set up.

The other consideration then is cabs and/or speakers if the amp/s is a head.

yo check out fender mustangs

the V2s have just come out which are even better apparently

I really liked yours George. I'd deffo consider one for cleans and fun but the pseudo cork sniffer in me definitely wants valves for my distortions

ah fair enough

yeah, some pedals and onboard modelling combinations don't really work

Remind me Dave, did you open up the Orange 1x12 or is it still closed backed?
I agree with you about the set up (I think I'm right in saying that it's my old HT-5 and cab) I never got on too well with the clean sounds. I myself would quite like to look at the Orange OR-15 or Jim Root amps, though they are single channel so either pedal or volume knob/boost would be needed for clean/distortion switching. Probably sound good though the Orange cab.
And at the top end of your budget, if I were to buy a home amp right now I'd probably get the new Marshall Slash amp - switchable to 1w.

To me the HT-5 has really pronounced mids that are impossible to dial out...I've reached the conclusion that it's part of the amp's character and changing cabs won't make it go away.

TBH I'm in the same situation as you - I'm currently weighing up the Orange Terror series, or possibly the OR15. That or the equivalent Matamp, which I'm still in discussion with the company about. The recommended me their 30-50 watt head, but I think that's still a 'live' rather than a 'studio' amp with that sort of output rating! My next question to them will be about what options they offer on their 'Minimat', which last time I checked was rated at four watts or so.

I'll keep you posted.

I love my little ac-4 through a cab. It's got enough headroom in the 4 watt setting and gets dirty on the lower wattage. I'm sure you are quite familiar with those. Honestly though, i don't use it much because my Mesa breaks up at a lower volume nicely. I wanted a "bedroom" amp for unknown reasons because i live in a house and i play loud as fuck. My friend made me a cab with 1 12 and he put an attenuator or whatever with a volume control on it. Now i can bypass the combo speaker and go straight into the cab and crank it and control it there. None if this may help you..

Interested in this thread as I'm finding the bassman not to be ideal for home use even though its got a master volume on it.

George wrote:ah fair enough

yeah, some pedals and onboard modelling combinations don't really work

In all honesty i think it actually would do all i really need and for a really good price - I'm just at the stage of accepting I'll never play live again and I'd like to fully slip in to my les paul toting corksniffing middle age I think as a clean amp and with all that versatility for home recording it's an absolutely blinding little amp. Sounded fantastic and sparkly at yours when I visited.

Thom wrote:Remind me Dave, did you open up the Orange 1x12 or is it still closed backed?

Yep i opened it up (on your advice I think) and it improved things a lot - it also means it's a bit more prone to where i stick it though in how the room changes the sound - I don't really have the grace of much room or great acoustics at the moment. It may simply be that it doesn't work with the HT-5 as well as other combos might. The slash amp sounds pretty cool from the demos but I think I'd hold off for a second hand purchase (as with most things). I'm youtubing the orange and Jim Root right now...

Concretebadger wrote:To me the HT-5 has really pronounced mids that are impossible to dial out...I've reached the conclusion that it's part of the amp's character and changing cabs won't make it go away.....

I'll keep you posted.

I suspect you're right - though I'm pretty convinced that dropping an MXR 10 band EQ in the loop would render this a very versatile amp. I'm still considering that as an option but that adds another 70 quid to things and still ties me down to one EQ set for both channels. Please do keep me posted!! We can be shopping buddies

brandonwinmill wrote:None if this may help you..

All info helps Mr B!

lorez wrote:Interested in this thread as I'm finding the bassman not to be ideal for home use even though its got a master volume on it.

In my home it's ideal!!! I have a picture of the prettiest bassman ever if you want to check it out sir. GORGEOUS!

Do an orange micro.

Sorry off topic. Blonde Bassman converted into a combo

That looks lovely. Mines converted into a combo but needs retolexing

Whoa that looks super sexytime brandon! very nice work and love the colour.

What other options have I got? here's some random thoughts:

There's that Vox Tony bruno that Honeyiscool got.

I could get an MXR EQ for the HT-5 and second small amp for sparkly cleans and pedals, like a fender champ clone (no idea if they do sparkly cleans...). the switch between the two.

Get a solid state amp for cleans and pedals, and a switch between that and the HT5.

i could get an HT1 instead and combiine that with a clean amp..

'
I could but NickDs Epi Valve Jr for 65 quid and do 'I don't know what' with it.

Wait for a second hand SLUSH amp

IMPORTANT QUESTION!: I just thought something - what ARE sparkly cleans? Aside from dirt appearing due to driving the valves not actually happening surely it's just a matter of EQ? Therefore could the MXR EQ resolve both the Dirt AND the clean issue in one swoop? Dunno. Throwing ideas out there.

My friend keeps finding these ridiculous deals on amps on craigslist and ebay. He just got a fender champ clone called an alamo. I think it's all handwired and probably 20 years old in immaculate condition and gave this old lady 50 bucks for it. He sent it off to be modded and now it's like 15 watts or something and it's a monster. He just got another one...I texted him for info and pics to see if he wants to sell it. I think he said one was a blackface champ clone and the other a silverface champ clone. Ok..it's a univox from the 70's and it screams. He gave the dude 45 bucks for it. It has something called uni-drive and the guy thought it was an overdrive channel and he thought it was broken. Julian told me the uni-drive is like a recording out and the guy thought it was an input. Unreal. Nothing is wrong with it at all. He won't sell it, damnitt.

I have a tube pignose called g40v and i love that one. I think if you can find them they are relatively inexpensive. It's 40 watts but for the price it's hard to beat. Mine is modded and it gets real dirty without any pedals. It might be overkill but it is a master volume. The only problem is it's a small enclosure for the wattage and it has 1 x 10. If i run it through a big cabinet it kills.

I've never been happy with a solid state. I love tubes and besides that jazz chorus amp, i haven't found a solid state that gets there for me...My opinion.

Please keep the ideas coming HOWEVER .....The more I think about it the more I'm thinking of the following:

Keep the HT5. Essentially I really like it. I've been reading up on the newer HT5R to see if I need to be jealous of it (ha!) and frankly the 'improvements' sound like negatives to me. The added reverb is outgunned by my Behringer reverb machine. The supposed 'tone control' added for the clean channel sounds like it's just another ISP knob and you then LOSE the actual 3 band eq effect on that clean channel. Sounds like bullshit to me. I'll stick the Behringer in the effects loop along with an MXR 10 band so that means I have an amp that does great distortions that i really like (more than any fuzz or distortion pedal I've tried with it), and it will be pimped out to the max with EQ, reverb, and those handy emulator out/headphone features that come stock for recording.

I'll then look to buy or build a 15" speaker cab to go with the 12". I found that the DIY 15" I had went some way to balancing out the middy-clangclang from the 12". The only issue is that the 15" isn't matched in volume unless I put it on top of the 12". SO I want a matching stack of two cabs, one 12" (maybe a 2x12??) and one 15" that will work great with each other and the Blackstar. I may need to look into changing actual spoeakers of course so SPEAKER SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. I like Sebadoh, Shellac, Husker Du, Neil Young, Jesus Lizard guitar tones. I do also like massive stoner sounds as a secondary tone passion.

I would also throw a little money at some alternative tubes to try in the HT5. I've read good things about the TungSol gold pin.

Now i don't know if this will get m,e some sparkly cleans or not (or rather it might but not in a practical channelswitching capacity) so i could look at a second amp and AB/Y switch I guess if need be.

Thoughts?

I was just thinking, have you tried one of the Harley Benton/ Joyo clones of the Tech21 character pedals?
Wonder if the Fender/American one might give you a bit more of what you're looking for in the HT-5 clean channel?

Thom wrote:I was just thinking, have you tried one of the Harley Benton/ Joyo clones of the Tech21 character pedals?
Wonder if the Fender/American one might give you a bit more of what you're looking for in the HT-5 clean channel?

Good idea - would there be a simple way of having that pedal only come into effect on the clean channel maybe or would i need both switchs stomped at the same time?

Dave wrote:

Thom wrote:I was just thinking, have you tried one of the Harley Benton/ Joyo clones of the Tech21 character pedals?
Wonder if the Fender/American one might give you a bit more of what you're looking for in the HT-5 clean channel?

Good idea - would there be a simple way of having that pedal only come into effect on the clean channel maybe or would i need both switchs stomped at the same time?

Yeah think it would be a both switches at once job, unless you get someone to build you a custom channel switcher/ bypass loop in one.

Thom wrote:I was just thinking, have you tried one of the Harley Benton/ Joyo clones of the Tech21 character pedals?
Wonder if the Fender/American one might give you a bit more of what you're looking for in the HT-5 clean channel?

That is a great idea..