Upgrading... New Guitar vs Amp

[Seanr]

Well done. I hope you are happy with the amp. They do sound good. How are you going with low volume playing? Is it up to your expectations?
All the best.

[hatamoto]

Originally Posted by Seanr

Well done. I hope you are happy with the amp. They do sound good. How are you going with low volume playing? Is it up to your expectations?
All the best.

I usually set my gain at 12 o clock on the clean channel with my master turned up to at least 12 or more and it's still comfortable for me. I don't think my neighbors mind as I have been playing at this level for quite some time now, plus it's two separate houses. If I go louder, I switch to wireless and play at the other side of the room.

Still playing around with the gain channel, but I found a good bedroom-night time tone with the gain cranked all the way, bridge pickup at around 7, and my master at around 7 o clock. I can go more during the day, but anything more than that and I have to wear ear plugs or go downstairs outside my porch (still inside the house) and turn the amp away from me. My amp is just in a room situated in a corner on the floor. It has a semi open back so the ambient noise really fills the room up.

I downloaded a decibel reading app and it's about 78-85+ decibels. It's the same level as an acoustic being strummed hard. With the gain on, it gets to about 85-90+ which is earplug territory or just go downstairs.

I'm very happy with the amp and this is just my guitar plugged in straight. I imagine I can get even better low volume gain+crunch tones once I get an overdrive pedal.

I really wanted to like the HT5 but I just can't get along with the tone. It doesn't have enough clean headroom for my guitar and almost sounds too similar to my valvetronix. I was really looking for that pure clean tone.

So yeah, after a few weeks with it, it's very much up to my expectations and very happy with the purchase. The only thing that's missing is the USB to plug into the computer but at least it has an emulated output for a DAW which I need to buy separately. That's for another time. Have you tried this? How is the experience?

I was actually expecting the clean channel to be louder before trying it, but turned out to be perfect. I play clean 95% of the time.

I never go high distortion metal level so the occasional rock sounds should be covered once I get an overdrive pedal.

[hatamoto]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Congrats! Smart move to bring your guitar with you to try out the amps. Make sure you get an overdrive pedal too. You don't have to spend a lot for a great OD, like the EHX Soul Food.

Actually looking into this now... should I get a tube screamer instead? Or what about the TC electronics Cinder? No need for metal distortion level.

[perttime]

There's many flavors in overdrive pedals. A Tube Screamer tends to boost mid frequencies. That might be good - or not. Depends on what you want/need. Many overdrive pedals look for "transparency": little change in frequency response.

Some also like to use a Boost pedals to push the amp itself to more driven sounds.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by hatamoto

Actually looking into this now... should I get a tube screamer instead? Or what about the TC electronics Cinder? No need for metal distortion level.

I have had several OD pedals. The Soul Food is the best I have used. YMMV

[Seanr]

Glad you are enjoying the amp, they are cool sounding and have a nice warmth.
I have not tried the emulated out so I can't comment. I did see a you tube review where they switched from the recorded amp tone with a mic and the emulated out to an interface and there was a difference. I preferred the mic'd amp but others may not agree.
I'm surprised you you can have gain and master at 12.00. This is what I usually have it with when jamming with a friend (who ironically uses a Vox Valvetronix - sounds pretty good). His amp is not at full power either. We usually play out back on the deck. I wouldn't play it this loud in the house - unless everyone was out.
Glad to read you have found a way to get good sound at lower levels too. I'll have to give this another go.
Regarding pedals. This is a Fender inspired amp and has a mid scoop often associated with Fender amps. Tube screamer type pedals often work well in this situation as they push the mids for lead sections, giving a little amp overdrive (or pedal overdrive as well depending on how you have dialed it in). I have a knock off TS - Joyo Vintage Overdrive, they are fairly cheap and could be a good starting point for you. Don't forget to experiment with the overdrive switch of the amp. Unfortunately you can't make tonal changes as you could with a pedal and I find the volume boost a bit too much for my taste. I found the Joyo pedal works well in this regard as I can control the amount of drive, Bass, Mid, Treb and output volume to my liking. I must say though, when I first started using the overdrive in the Blackstar I wasn't too fond of it but I have used it a bit more and it is growing on me.
I hope you keep enjoying the amp.

[hatamoto]

Originally Posted by Seanr

Glad you are enjoying the amp, they are cool sounding and have a nice warmth.
I have not tried the emulated out so I can't comment. I did see a you tube review where they switched from the recorded amp tone with a mic and the emulated out to an interface and there was a difference. I preferred the mic'd amp but others may not agree.
I'm surprised you you can have gain and master at 12.00. This is what I usually have it with when jamming with a friend (who ironically uses a Vox Valvetronix - sounds pretty good). His amp is not at full power either. We usually play out back on the deck. I wouldn't play it this loud in the house - unless everyone was out.
Glad to read you have found a way to get good sound at lower levels too. I'll have to give this another go.
Regarding pedals. This is a Fender inspired amp and has a mid scoop often associated with Fender amps. Tube screamer type pedals often work well in this situation as they push the mids for lead sections, giving a little amp overdrive (or pedal overdrive as well depending on how you have dialed it in). I have a knock off TS - Joyo Vintage Overdrive, they are fairly cheap and could be a good starting point for you. Don't forget to experiment with the overdrive switch of the amp. Unfortunately you can't make tonal changes as you could with a pedal and I find the volume boost a bit too much for my taste. I found the Joyo pedal works well in this regard as I can control the amount of drive, Bass, Mid, Treb and output volume to my liking. I must say though, when I first started using the overdrive in the Blackstar I wasn't too fond of it but I have used it a bit more and it is growing on me.
I hope you keep enjoying the amp.

Yup, I'll have to thank the thick concrete walls in the house.

I'll be sure to check out the Joyo pedal. I have a reverb and delay from the same manufacturer and I think they're really good for what you get. Another thing I'm experimenting with is cranking the amp's master volume and gain as loud as you can appropriate to the environment and controlling everything from the guitar knobs. You can get a nice boosted clean if you keep your guitar volume very very low. If you use the same method on the gain channel, you get good edge-to-breakup tones at a good volume level, but if you do the opposite (amp master low, guitar volume loud), you'll get good overdrive sounds at low level volumes.

[joebloggs]

Originally Posted by hatamoto

I live in a house so I'm not worried about annoying neighbors but I don't need an AC-30 type of amp that will shatter my windows. So mostly in the Blackstar Studio 10, to the Vox AC10 or 15 levels.

If you think an AC30 will be loud, then you most definitely do not want a Hiwatt. If an AC30 will blow out windows, a Hiwatt will blow out walls.

[Seanr]

Thanks Hatamoto - I've had this over a year and I think you have experimented more with the tone in the time you have had it. I think I have some catching up to do. Hope you are still happy with it.