NAD - Blackstar HT-5RH + Acoustic GS412A

[BobF_]

I have finally found rich, warm tube tone at home studio volume levels. It's the Blackstar HT-5RH into, get this, an Acoustic 4x12 cab (the cheap one).

 

((I plan to futz with this cab later and see if I can make it easily configurable for 1, 2, or 4x12))

 

The clean channel stays clean all the way to "OMG turn it down my ears are bleeding!" while the drive channel produces mild crunch through death metal, with nice creamy distortion that totally lacks harshness. The clean tone is not Fender clean character. It's more Marshall like, but lush with a touch of reverb.

 

I won't go into a full feature review, but:

 

- the emulated speaker out feeds either the PA or powered monitors VERY well - no need to mic up for recording.

 

- It sounds REALLY great from a moderate volume all the way through the top. It can easily get too loud, but doesn't need to.

 

- the effect loop marries with my RP1000 quite well for those must have effects like chorus, delay, etc. (amp & cab modeling OFF).

 

My studio area is a complete wreck, so no pics for now.

Subjective as these things are, you may not like as much as I do, but do yourself a favor if you're looking for a low-watt amp - check these things out!

[CoreyT]

Nice!

I posted some pics of mine in the other Blackstar thread and the "Pictures of your main amps" thread.

I am really liking mine.

Still to loud for my apartment if I have it up to much.

[BobF_]

It is sweet. My "studio" is 20x24 so I'm able to get the amp into the sweet spot without bleeding ears and there are no neighbors closer than 1/4 mile :-)

 

I did an experiment yesterday. I rewired the cab to give me 2x12 vertical @ 16 instead of 4x12 @ 8. Definitely a different tone - I like it!

 

I hope to eventually set it up so I can easily configure 1, 2, or 4x12 ... no hurry though. I'm liking this amp a little more every day - I swear its tone is sweetening over time.