Blackstar HT-5 : from Van Halen to Setzer and beyond ...

[phishman706]

very nice. love the sound with the hollowbody. definitely gotta buy one now

[FazSaber]

thanks for letting me know what i should be gettin for christmas :D

[djtrouserfunk]

@afrika18. God you're an idiot !

[afrika18]

U SUCK BItZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz!!!!!!!

[DarthG0m3zzz]

have you tried it with a 1x12 cab? I have an HT-5 head and am thinking of getting a 2x12 cab....

[scooby8782]

SOME OF THE MOST CLEAN BLUES I'VE HEARD IN AN AMP DEMO!!!! WELL DONE MAN!!!!!

[ridzirocks]

That Squire sounds good!! Awesome playing dude.. Can you help me with the tab of what you were playing??

[mattsuzo]

lol @ the critics ;)

Nice!

[jacknuts22]

The Gretsch tone actually sounds kinda crap to me. Doesn't seem like a good pairing at all.

Overall there is nothing really about the tone of this amp that is all that impressive. Sort of characterless and bland.

[fagrot]

@jacknuts22 to me it doesnt sound very well recorded, that could be part of it.

[briluster1979]

Sweet! Unchained is my fav VH song!

[svenzia]

Awesome demo - sound is top!

[Casebomb]

just cuz you play van halen doesnt mean mean its a van halen tone

[realdocloco]

@Casebomb : that's true - and you'll notice I didn't say it is - I'm talking about a "Van Halen riff", not a "Van Halen tone"

[TheStrataminor]

@realdocloco : Yeah, read the fine print!! heheh, just joking bro!

[frishdawgs]

@Casebomb you're why no one takes YouTube comments seriously. 

[m3tafunj]

@Casebomb Don't be mean mean!

[industrialkhaos]

Very nice demonstration, Thanks.

[luteplayer2525]

Very nice playing and impressive tone. Is this HT-5 an all tube amp? Cuz I know this sells for like $350. I know that this amp is in competition with orange tiny terror and Egnator rebel. From this video this amp sounds better than Orange TT and Egnater Reb 20.

[klv400]

man a nice video! i got a blackstar i love it! rock on!!!!

[Xonoxsuka]

Top notch sound great playing and very nice guitars, thanks for sharing.

[TheResnick80]

rockabilly ftw :) nice playing mate, gonna get me a combo I think.

[theShowStopper321]

Im stuck between this and the Class 5. I like this cus it has the FX loop for echo and reverb, and the clean channel, but if I keep it cranked the power section will overdrive anyways and the FX loop won't really matter. I play in a jazz combo and need a small gig amp. I have a Fender Super Champ but it has a lot of features I dont really use. I could crank the Class 5 and make it clean with the volume knob I guess.

[chymist66]

@theShowStopper321

Class 5 is a great amp but you can only get it to break up at high volume whereas the HT5 can be made to break up at any volume.

I'm a Marshall fan but the HT5 is absolutely awesome. The Class 5 would do it for small gigs. It's a matter of sound preference, both are damn good.

[ste528]

Nice sound - what cab are you using?

[realdocloco]

@ste528 : 2x12" Heritage greenbacks

[Muziekschuur01]

Beautiful Gretsch. You play beautifull.

Thank you.

[Muziekschuur01]

Beautiful Gretsch

[ubad00d]

What is that first song, please help!

[realdocloco]

@ubad00d : Unchained (Van Halen)

[JIRIC8581]

@realdocloco dude you got some funky guitars lol :)

[Schpudd]

loving the sound(s) dude, my ht-5 comes soon

[asianaxeman]

nice v and tone

[Rockendentalist]

What are you set at for Van Halen sound?

[Whyrendog]

Not crazy about the clean sound (not just you either) but this is a good demo. Seems like a nice affordable product that over delivers (and haven't heard any quality issues yet). Congrats. I'm still wondering if I should get the Tiny Terror or this because I like the dirty sound of this better after hearing dozens of vids of each. Almost a must have for me for clean sound though. Wish I had a bigger budget.

[MuffinPowerz]

I have this amp! Absolutely love it.. Sounds killer even at low low volumes as to not disturb others in the house and neighbours. Cranked it sounds gorgeous also! Cleans, niiiiice! Gain well this thing just brings it ALL to the table on it's drive channel!

[kawireios]

Fantastic playing and fantastic Guitars. Especially the Duesenberg Rocket.

[theshyguitarist]

When you brought out the Gretsch, I almost though it was Setzer himself. That guitar is so him.

[zacyboyZ]

do you think through a 2x12 cab with greenbacks that this thing would be able to be heard over a drummer wailing ?

[BarryMClark]

@zacyboyZ Having played the Marshall Class 5 through a 300w 4x12, I'd say you'd have a bit of a hard time with 2x12. If you have a controlled drummer, I can see it, but you'd really need the extra speakers with the low wattage to be heard.

[justinwiggy]

great playing and a good video

[bvanfossen01]

damn dude- you can play!

[MrRockinguitar]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEET !

[mrskint55]

Great amps I have the bigger brother of this amp the ht club 40 what a great amp !!!

[RyuBlade1980]

Really great demo! Instead of noodling around with as much distortion as possible you showed the possibilities of the ht-5. I wish every demo on youtube was as good as yours.

[Mrjones2044x]

Do you know what settings you used for the van halen riff? I just got a head last week and am struggling to get your sound. I play through a marshall cab loaded with a V30 and H30.

Thanks

[luckluc]

@Mrjones2044x Van Halen settings :

overdrive channel volume 1 ? Master vol 8

Gain 7

bass 8

mid 3 to clean up the tone

treb 6 or 7

ENJOY tweeking those knobs

[ibanezgast]

What is the first 'VH song you play?

[Wilq59r]

it's Unchained

[jacktheguitarman]

what were your settings for the 1st van halen riff?

[blackstarht5]

Right on Brother This Rocks !!!

[UltimateGuitarist17]

Is this amp all valve/tube??

[00Orbit00]

Yes.

[EMGlespaulMESA]

@00Orbit00 i just got this amp, very confused about it bieng all valve, im not saying its a hybrid, but how can an amp be all valve without a power tube (eg: el84) or something, this just has 2 12ax7 type tubes, i heard it ahs a push pull, but what does that mean even?

[xReisendenx]

it has one in the power section and one in the pre section. otherwise it won't work.

[dergenaue]

@EMGlespaulMESA somebody told me that it means they are running the signal through the power tube multiple times

[dudewhosaysarrh]

@EMGlespaulMESA push/ pull means that the 12AX7 is run in pentode mode as if it were two tubes. In push mode the tube is used in triode mode and handles only half of the signal,i.e. the current with positive polarity. In push pull mode the tube is switched to pentode mode and "split" with one handling onehalf of the sine wave and the other side handling the other. This allows for the typical tube compression.

[ElTigreNegro83]

the squire 51 is not bad! I dd not know that model, how much it costs?

[realdocloco]

It's modded, with a GFS Retrotron Liverpool pickup. The '51 is discontinued anyway.

[BrasilGuitar]

Can you play with drums using a 1x12 cab?

[jacktheguitarman]

was thinking about getting this or the fender super champ xd which one would you perfer for classic hard rock

[ArpeggiateTHIS]

Great demo, I love that Squier '51 too!

[fallingspears77]

is 5 watts tube enough to get over a drum set? if not, is there any louder versions, or ways i can make it louder

[bojjob77]

put through 4 x 12 cab?

[bonchasilark]

the isf rocks

[GiGaMoG]

How is this amp perform on low volume? I'm very interested but my neighbours don't give me the luxury of cranking anything up :(

[realdocloco]

No problem for playing it at low volume with a good tone.

[Bolation]

@realdocloco this one or the class 5?

[Whyrendog]

Yeah that's the whole "gimmick" is the same sound with less volume.

[notuern]

It sounds great at low volumes.

The only thing you might have a problem with is that you dont push the amp enough to get the speaker moving like it should.. if you can blast your amp out for a few days just to make the speakers settle in, you will have an awesome low-volume amp!

[justinwiggy]

@GiGaMoG get an attenuator and you can work your tubes at low volume. The weber mini mass 25 is good.

[fridgeslayer94]

@justinwiggy Why would you need an attenuator at five watts?

[justinwiggy]

@fridgeslayer94 i take it you only use a solid state amp? I have neighbors and kids to think of so playing a valve amp (even 5w) at full tilt is out of the question.

[fridgeslayer94]

@justinwiggy Oh sry i didn't really read your comment I guess cus I missed that you wanted to play it at max.

[justinwiggy]

@fridgeslayer94 no worries m8...even at 5 w amps like this, the blackheart little giant and the epi valve junior sound unbelievably loud for their size. Great fun when the wifes at work and the kids are at school but way too loud for night time use.

[RNRDOLL]

@fridgeslayer94 Because even five watts tube is pretty damn loud when cranked up. This amp wouldnt need it though, it has a master volume and gain

[rickyraveon]

Great demo. I played one last week & was quite impressed. And I LOVE your '51. SWEET. I have 3 modded 51's myself. I've been checking out the liverpools online, too.

[bluebearbank247]

"and beyond" is awesome-

[weldfish]

Great demo. Love the amp. Would be great for my little home studio.

[Ibik]

i love your tone on the first clip what amp are u usng?

[realdocloco]

??????????????????????????

Let's guess ...

[Ibik]

oh lol, sorry wasnt reading the title.

[realdocloco]

;-)

[dudegreener]

This is a Amp demo !! What's wrong with you dude ?

[stratdem]

never said he did a bad job douche boy

[DuncanDonuts3]

You can use an amp like this with a drummer by running an SM57 or similiar mike on it and putting it through the PA, assuming you have a nice big kick ass PA system in your studio :)

Great playing and great tone! Thanks for sharing!

[barchetta3]

reat sounding little amp and nice chops! Can you disengage the speaker when using the emulated line out, for silent recording or headphone use, or does the speaker remain active?

[realdocloco]

The speaker is automatically disengaged when using the lineout/headphone.

[DonovanBarroso]

thank you so much fir this really good and helpful demo showing also how this amp can sound in cleaner setting and '50s style rock, which is my interest. also great nice guitars you have!

[chuckmehh]

that is one awesome sounding little amp. I really am impressed. Would like to pick one of those little things up for practice or recording!

[Grungeman1980]

Grace à tes videos j'ai pu me décider, je vais prendre plutot le blackstar que l'ac4! Merci encore! Par contre pour remplacer des p90 tu conseilles quoi?

[Hertsman50]

By the way, thanks for a brilliant demo, really enjoyed your playing. The Valen Halen riff sounded fucking amazing. What a great tune, haven't heard that riff in ages. My only fear with this amp is I'm not sure it will be loud enough to get above the drums. 5W doesn't sound like much. The Tiny Terror seems a lot louder, I'm still not sure which amp to buy. The Vox micro amps look good too, such a difficult decision. I suppose the only way to know for sure is to try them out in a shop.

[realdocloco]

5W is not enough to keep on with a drummer in my book, I wouldn't play the HT-5 with a band, only at home and for recording purpose.

[Hertsman50]

Fucking awesome, I was going to buy the Orange Tiny Terror until I heard this amp, thank goodness I held fire. Does this amp come with a foot pedal and how many channels does it have? Also does it have an effects loop and can you output directly to a digital recorder?  Thanks

[realdocloco]

- foot pedal: yes

- effect loop (with two levels): yes

- two channels (clean and drive)

- line out with emulated speaker (check my other vids)

[mKreifeldt]

Great demo and nice playing! I have the blackstar artisan 15 and love it. Love it so much my 50w plexi half stack is basically gathering dust. The amp takes every pedal I throw at it and be as clean or as mean as I want. Good times we're living (for guitar gear at least...)

[brikus]

Excuse my Van Halen ignorance, but what song is that VH riff from ? Thx in advance.

[realdocloco]

"Unchained" - a great one!

[speedysolo]

thanks for showing me the clean with the pick attack NOW I WANT THIS AMP great guitar playing mate and good demo!

[tonemeister3]

are using a marshall cab?

[L4stCaress]

The overall sound in the Van Halen riff.. just amazing.

[FingerLickinGravy67]

u think this amps loud enuff for a drummer? er wood u need a 412 cab.. er just a louder amp.

[monstermitch58]

bigger cab usually wont make it louder it will still be 5w

[mKreifeldt]

Not true, more speakers will move more air and sound fuller. I have the artisan 15 and sometimes plug it into my old marshall 412 and that measly 5w makes a wall of sound!

[rednightmare123]

Hey, is this with stock speakers and tubes?

[realdocloco]

The head is stock but as it is a head, there is no speakers ;-)

The cab is a Marshall 2x12" with Celestions Greenback Heritage.

[arminho09]

awesome toneeeeee....i think im gonna get this head cant be beat for the price

[javierdieval]

hi man, that amp sounds killer. Is it loud enough to keep it up with a band in studio situation? using a 4x12 for example

[xchump]

nice!! LOVE the sound! kickass playing too. squier sounds really good

[theguitar6]

haha look at 1:39 ... hip sway! lol

[LesPaulXXX]

On your 51' Squeir, is that a GFS Fillertron pick up?

[realdocloco]

Yes, the GFS Liverpool one.

[12AX7power]

I have a ht5 and was wondering.....

whats your settings for Unchained?

[balleygr]

Is that a stratified tele or a telefied strat? O.o

[realdocloco]

It's a modded Squier '51.

[dacuriel]

great demo, very in depth

[massamandel]

awesome playing!!!! love ur style! great amp! nice guitars! good sounding! 5/5 (Y) :D

[Stratocastermark]

Nice presentation - thanks for posting - great playing too - not too OTT widdle widdle widdle.... you know who you are! LOL

[dqami]

Your fine playing really shows off the different tones out of that amp. They should pay you a commission! Thanks and really enjoy your vids.

[Rauski12]

What's the song at 3:34? Anyways, awesome tones!

[realdocloco]

Little boogie of mine ;-)

[rockabilly12]

thanks for the info.

[angrygoldfish]

Excellent job.

[thebassman07]

Great video, great guitarist!

[rockabilly12]

what changes did you do to the 51 squire besides the pickgard. is that a tv jones in the bridge?

[realdocloco]

It's a GFS Retrotron Liverpool.

[thepez01]

Sounds GREAT!! Your playing, the amp and guitars...everything...

THANKS!

[fredericiscool]

Please could someone explain to me what the emulated output is?

Please reply!

[realdocloco]

Easy. When you have a "normal" line out, the sound on a mixer/console is awfull, because you have the sound of the amplifier ... but not of the speaker! And the speaker plays a MAJOR role in the final sound. So here, you have a line out WITH a speaker emulation - so the direct sound you get at the mixer or console is as close as possible to the same amp miked.

[fredericiscool]

Do you think i could gig with this amp and a 112 cabinet or the combo?

[realdocloco]

Don't forget it's supposed to be a 5W home/studio amp. It is loud for 5W but it is still 5W. Maybe with high-sensitivity speakers and a quiet band/drummer you'll be able to make some small gigs but even then you'll lack headroom of course (for clean tones with a band 15 to 20W is a minimum, and 30 is better).

[fredericiscool]

Can you recommend me a good amp under about £500 that i could gig with?

[hadlock]

You could "gig" a 5w tube amp in a Starbucks no problem. You're going to start to compete to keep up with the background noise of more than 10-15 people though.

[Buried3030]

can't you gig anything when its mic'd up to a PA?

[kickcableguyinnuts]

Would that ISF control work much if you had it plugged into the power amp of another amplifier, it is part of the preamp right? I'm going to have an amp made with 6L6 power tubes that is mostly going to be for clean and was thinking of using one of these for the distortion and as a practice amp. I'm sure it probably isn't going to be very marshall-like but im still curious as to how that might sound.

[Zhorellski]

Sounds Huge!! Best sounding demo I';ve heard on Youtube!

[jsw807]

Is that amp loud enough to play with in a band? Because i have an open back 2x12 and i'm looking for a great head for it and so far this looks like the one. but i need to know if its loud enough for band practice.

[oldGNRfan23]

My jar dropped at the first riff. FUCK that sounds good. Is this gig-worthy? Thanks in advance man. That is one bitchin amp :D

[nathanguitarguru]

i tried ones of these and the build quality is of a high standard and it should be loud enough, so yes!!

[CAPT4INSL0W]

my goodness that amp is more amazing than I expected.

and you do it good justice with your playing.

[Dimitriyus]

Bien joue. Pas mal l'ampli. J'ai un ampli 18W a lampes et, malheureusement a la maison je ne peux pas utiliser le volume a fond - les voisins - et je pense a un ampli moins puissant et apparemment le Blackstar avec ses 5W a un son tres sympa.

Tu as beaucoup de matos, toi!!!

Bon courage!

[ugforthewin]

Ah really? Cool, I think the combo comes with a Celestion speaker.

Thanks for your help and the video!

[ugforthewin]

Just realised this is the head, I was looking at the 5 watt combo. Whoops.

[realdocloco]

Anyway, the combo is the same, only differenc eis the speaker.

[ugforthewin]

Good stuff! Any ideas where this is made (not that important as such in my opinion) and how it responds to pedals like a multifx for example? I'm not sure it has an effects loop

[bluesbird75]

This thing is sweet!! Nice playing too!! Very tasteful!!

[dumbass256]

would this amp be better that a marshall hdfx100 ?

[ColorSeepage]

Definitely. A tube amp would sound better than almost any solid state amp.

[CandBvids]

Great demo. What's the bridge pickup on the 51?

[realdocloco]

Thx - GFS Retrotron Liverpool

[videosenders]

Oops sorry i found the answer ( about the speaker )

[videosenders]

Oh and by the way what are your cab's speakers?

[videosenders]

What is the name of the Van Halen riff please doc :)

I've bought mine today thanks to your videos ! Keep it up !

[realdocloco]

"Unchained" from the "Fair warning" album :-)

[videosenders]

Thank you

[PorpoiseMuffins]

Sounds beautiful. Absolutely incredible tone for the price--even price notwithstanding! I love how the clean channel sounds with the power tube distortion. Mine is on the way! Can't wait to use it in the studio.

[curt1lp]

Thanks for letting me know about the mics that's a big 'heads up' and I am going to try to get a ribbon microphone. Cheers, Don

[realdocloco]

Ribbon mics were usually expensive but now you can find affordable (but decent) ones, like this T-Bone RB500.

[curt1lp]

How did you get that wonderful reverb/room ambience. ? vst effect? Most awesome video - THE best on the 5-Ht

[realdocloco]

Thx - I recorded with two mics, one SM-57 for close-miking and a RB500 (ribbon mic - you see it just behind me at the start, the huge silver mic) for room ambiance. There's just a little bit of reverb added to the mix.

[KRoegiest]

Great demo. I was going to get a Rocker 30, but this demo is the final push to doubting that decision ... I want 1 of these!

Terrific playing as well, I loved the La Grange-ish theme at the end.

[Debgodley]

what were your settings for the van halen song

[realdocloco]

Let's see if I remember: ISF 6-7, treble 6, mids 3, bass 7 and gain 7. Speaker is a V30 and of course the guitar is in drop D.

[AlaMaKac]

Great demos, really helpful. Did have a chance to compare the HT-5S mini stack with the marshall cab? I'm wondering which one would work better for the high gain bedroom playing.

[realdocloco]

Don't know, I only have the head.

[attilin]

Very nice video!! Can you tell me which kind of speaker are you using (Celestion , Jensen....) ?

[realdocloco]

Celestion V30 in a Marshall 1933 1x12 closed back cab

[EpsteinBarr01]

Impressive!

[Rockab33]

Toujours aussi impressionante cette 51'. Bien vu pour la palette de sons Doc.

[xtpeetersx]

Excellent ! Cet ampli est aussi sur ma wish list.

[fenschlive]

Jolie contraste !! !Il me plait bien cette ampli...