NAD! ht-5rh, class 5, handsome devil, tweaker

[smoke eater]

Well actually it's more like new amp month.

A few weeks ago I purchased a Marshall 1965b 4X10 cab to go with the Marshall Class 5 I had on order from L&M and also the Blackstar ht-5rh that had just arrived at my local dealer. When I went to pick up the Blackstar head I had some spare time so I plugged into the Blackheart handsome devil head with zero expectations....holy ****, killer crunch with my 1965 cab. I told him I would be back in a few months to buy it but......I only lasted 2 days before I went back to buy the handsome devil. I had decided that I was done buying amps for a while but yesterday I had some gas again & came home with an Egnater tweaker 15 head & 112 cab. Ok, NOW I'm done buying gear for a while.

 

[rjwilson37]

HNAD-Totally sweet my man, I am totally jealous and would die to have just one of those right now.

I got the Mustang III about 8 months ago, because I wasn't sure what I wanted and wanted something very versitile. I do love the Mustang III and get a lot of good sound, but miss that sweet harmonic tone you get from a tube. I am on the search for the perfect tube amp, so when I get some money in February, I will hopefully have reached a decision. But... I am no further in resolving my amp search dilema even after trying quite a few for the past 3-4 months. I have been practicing a lot and my playing is improving, but I don't know what the hell I want.

 

[soberdave09]

that's killer.i have a marshall haze 15 half stack coming my way.i hope i like it.lol

 

[smoke eater]

Thanks guys! I didn't have much time yesterday about to write about each amp, I'm also currently playing them with a 2006 Les Paul R7.


Blackstar Ht-5rh- I previously had the ht-5 combo which was a great little amp but I didn't like the boxy sound of the single 10' speaker. The isf knob is a great feature but I found myself leaving it the middle most of the time or a little to the left. turning the knob clockwise too much made it too muffled sounding. Not a great clean channel but the dirty side was pretty good with endless amounts of gain on tap.


Blackheart Handsome Devil- This amp had's some raunchy crunch! I think it sounds amazing with the 4x10 cab that I use and it nails the dirty old school ac/dc sound and then some. It has really nice clean's but then again I'm not much of a clean player. The only problem I have found with this amp is it can get a little flubby hitting a low E. I'm going to change out the cheap tube's tomorrow but I may end up trying a few mods to correct this issue. I think this amp has alot of potentail and is worth spending a little money on.


Marshall Class 5- great little amp but like everyone say's, it's gonna be LOUD before you start to get some good dirty tones. For me with a 5 month old baby in the house this one won't get much use. I've tried it with my modded sd-1 pedal at lower volume but the headphone jack trick sounded better. I've owned a Marshall jcm 800 & 900 in the past but were very loud by the time they started to sound really good, same thing with the class 5....just not nearly as good. The class 5 if I decide to keep it will going through Lyle's mods forsure. like the Blackheart, this amp also has some great potentail with a few changes.


Egnater tweaker 15 & 112 cab- I picked this one up used and thats how I ended up with the 112 cab. This amp is retubed with JJ 6V6's and sounds great! When I played it through the 1x12 it sounded quite boxy but through a larger cab it sounds waayyyy better. The cleans are really nice on this amp and the dirty side is quite impresive too. I'm finding a ton of great tones in this little head but like many others I find myself constantly turning knobs and flippling switches. I'm really curious about the change in tone with this one if I swap out the JJ6V6 for some el34's.


I really have no need for this many heads, I only bought this many so that I could compare them in my home, with my guitar, side by side, at my own pace. I will use them all for a while and probably only end up keeping 2 of them that work the best for me.

 

[Olds442]

NOW I'm done buying gear for a while.

you go ahead and try to convince yourself of that.


congrats on the new amps.

 

[rjwilson37]

Thanks guys! I didn't have much time yesterday about to write about each amp, I'm also currently playing them with a 2006 Les Paul R7.

I really have no need for this many heads, I only bought this many so that I could compare them in my home, with my guitar, side by side, at my own pace. I will use them all for a while and probably only end up keeping 2 of them that work the best for me.

Sounds awesome smoke eater, I wish I could do that since I am getting more confused about what I want the more amps I play through. I would love to get a couple amps and bring them home and try them out for a while until I figure out what I want. My Mustang III is very versitile and get's some really nice tones for a SS amp, but I am really starting to miss the characteristic tube harmonics that you can't get from an SS amp.

 

[colchar]

Ok, NOW I'm done buying gear for a while.

We all say that but never stick to it.

Happy New Amp Month!

 

[smoke eater]

You guys are right, I don't how much longer I'm going to last before I break down and order a Phaez. I can't do it right now, but maybe in a couple of months when I decide to let go of a few that amps I have now.


rjwilson37- I've never played a Mustang III but I seen one the other day at the shop & it looked like it was a very versitile amp. If your having a hard time deciding which tube amp you want you can always buy one from a shop with a 30 day return/refund policy or find one used. If you don't like it for some reason you could return it & if you bought one used, you could sell it for pretty much what you paid for it.

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

Hey man im glad im not the only one. I just went thru ht-5, haze15, epi valve jr, and class 5. I dont think a perfect amp exist, unless u have someone custom build it for you.

 

[rjwilson37]

Hey man im glad im not the only one. I just went thru ht-5, haze15, epi valve jr, and class 5. I dont think a perfect amp exist, unless u have someone custom build it for you.

Which one of those are you keeping, or are you still searching?

I would possibly be interested in a custom built Ceratone or Phaez, but I still don't know what I want, so it is like custom build what?

I am still trying to find my own sound. I know I play a lot of Van Halen, ACDC, Ted Nudget and such because I like playing it, but I also have my own stuff which is not as gainy.

 

[smoke eater]

Hey man im glad im not the only one. I just went thru ht-5, haze15, epi valve jr, and class 5. I dont think a perfect amp exist, unless u have someone custom build it for you.

Did you keep them all or narrow it down to one?

Which one of those are you keeping, or are you still searching?

I would possibly be interested in a custom built Ceratone or Phaez, but I still don't know what I want, so it is like custom build what?

I am still trying to find my own sound. I know I play a lot of Van Halen, ACDC, Ted Nudget and such because I like playing it, but I also have my own stuff which is not as gainy.

Yes, the Phaez would be a custom build.

I play alot of ACDC, Led Zep, Van halen as well. For me the Blackheart or C5 would be the best for that type of music but for VH you would probably need to use an OD pedal.

Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the Blackheart handsome devil and the Egnater tweaker. I really like the old school sound of the Blackheart and the versitility of the tweaker. I haven't had much time with the C5 though as it went into the shop for repair a week after I bought it. The Blackstar is a good amp & is well built with lots of features but it just isn't the sound I'm looking for.

Keep in mind if you try these amps out at your local dealer at low volume they definately won't sound nearly as good as when you can open them up and start pushing those power tubes.

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

I play the same music.. My favorite band is acdc, even before i started playin guitar. I love classic rock/blues/blues rock/hard rock all that good stuff anyway.. I played all the amps at home because i ordered from guitar center used (dont reccomend it but you can get lucky) the ht-5 was an all around good amp, lots of features.. Dont listen to people complain about "clean headroom" on a 5 watt amp.. Its 5 watts what do you expect? You dont buy a 5 watt to gig with, if you get clean channel breakup on a 5watter your playin louder than most people can get away with at home.

Ht5 comes with footswitch.. Thats good, you can plug it up to a cab. Effects loop, and some other stuff.. I think some people get weirded out about the "SS parts" but if nobody told them i dont think they would notice.

Haze 15, good amp for price but i thought the speakers in the 2 cabs sucked, if i kept the amp i would have replaced them. I bet a haze15 head would get more respect if it had better cabs. Its loud.. Ive heard people say it sounds muddy but that was only when at low volumes.. 15 watts tube amp is too much for strictly home use. But still i think the speakers have alot to do with it, and i think the cabs are made of a cheaper wood than most marshall cabs but thats only if your really picky. Growing up i would have considered all of these amps amazing cause i am not a spolied brat! But now i can buy my own, plus the haze is 6v6 .. I learned that i prefer el84

Epi valve jr. Is good for what it is but i wanted something different, if your strapped for cash, get one, play it then decide what u want, mod it or go for somethin different.

Class 5 head with avatar 1x12 cab is on the wY and should be here this week, i am gonna try to give a good review, play at bedroom levels and crank it


So with all this being said ( i would have never typed this much 6 beers ago)
I liked ALL the amps but there was somethin i didnt like about them all so for somebody looking for their favorite tube amp i would highly reccomend have (phaez) or someone else build whatever you want, instead of spending and wasting money on 4 or 5 amps.

If the class 5 had a 15/5 watt watt switch with a 2 channel footswitch that would be my favorite amp.

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

Oh and i heard the blackheart amp is good too i just never played one

 

[rjwilson37]

Thanks for the info. I would love to have a 3 channel amp, something that does the Fender Deluxe Reverb on the clean channel, then the Rockstah Mod 5 type of sound on the 2nd channel and some nice hard core Blackstar ht-60 on the 3rd channel. I think that would do really nice for me if that could be done. I just wonder how much something like that in the 20w range would cost, especially if it was switchable between 10w/20w.

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

I think you might like the egnater rebel 30. You can dial in about how many watts you want and it was 2 channels. You could probly use a pedal for any other sounds

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

You can get an idea of price range from phaezamp.com but i guess you want really know until give them an email

 

[smoke eater]

So with all this being said ( i would have never typed this much 6 beers ago)
I liked ALL the amps but there was somethin i didnt like about them all so for somebody looking for their favorite tube amp i would highly reccomend have (phaez) or someone else build whatever you want, instead of spending and wasting money on 4 or 5 amps.

If the class 5 had a 15/5 watt watt switch with a 2 channel footswitch that would be my favorite amp.[/QUOTE]

I grew up on AC/DC and I'm still a huge fan, you really should try to demo a Blackheart handsome devil with a decent cab sometime if you can. Every time I plug into that amp I can't help but start playing a AC/DC tune & every song just get's progressively louder. The class 5 can get some angus tone too but it's a loud 5 watts forsure, hopefully you have good neighbours too! I hope to pick up my C5 from the repair shop tomorrow & play it a bit more, my time using that amp has been very limited.

You're right about the phaez, at some point in time I'll have to pull the trigger on something like the jtm18.

Ok, that took me about three beer's to type....either you type slower or you can drink faster.

 

[Coltsbleedblue]

Well you cant see our house from the road and luckily we cant see our neighbors so ive never had to worry about it.. Did u have C5 combo? I ordered the head.. Jtm18 looks awesome man.. Oh yea i had the 6 budlights way before gettin online lol

 

[smoke eater]

I have the Class 5 head as well running into a Marshall 4x10 cab. I picked up the head up from repair shop today.....the headphone switch in the back wasn't disconnecting the speaker.

When you get your C5 let me know if you find a good dirt pedal for it. I have a SD-1 that's not working so well with this head. I'm thinking of maybe picking up a fulltone OCD pedal or something similar soon.

 

[rjwilson37]

I think you might like the egnater rebel 30. You can dial in about how many watts you want and it was 2 channels. You could probly use a pedal for any other sounds

I do like the Rebel 30, that one near the top of my list. I will have to give Phaez a shout and see what something like that would cost.