hi guys

if you could give me your thoughts please.

so i've just found out im having a baby! I'm a busy gigging musician and I need to get an amp. i've always played through a cheap old peavey 75w and its on its last legs now. the government in the uk do a take it home scheme 0% finance over 10 months so i've decided to get on and get one now so i'ts just about paid up when my baby arrives. i've already done a lot of research and i'm probably going to go and get it this afternoon, a blackstar ht club 50.

I play in an experimental punk band and we mix a lot of reggae and dub in and also drum and bass and edm sounds. we are a 3 piece so obviously I have alot of pedals. normally I get a very slight bit of dirt on a clean setting on my amp and then everything else I do with my pedals.. when I recorded my album I used a jcm 800 and loved it so really I want this but its way way out of my budget. really i'm after a jcm sound, i'm probably only going to use one channel but maybe 2, i want to be able to play hard and get some valve break up into dirt and play soft and be able to skank clean reggae on one channel and then use my pedals for playing the real heavy stuff. i also want an effects loop. not after a combo as i play so many gigs and i have a cab that i can use anyway. i'm also not interested at all in any amp modelling or overly digital effects laden amps i just really want a nice simple valve amp which i can make break up when i'm on a clean setting if i dig in on some power chords or general riffage.

most of the gigs i play are in small venues when not mic'd but i also play a lot of festivals which are always mic'd and also squat gigs and warehouse partys which could be any kind of stage set up. eg. i played through a 12v rig un mic'd in a squat the other week and the next day in a rugby club hall mic'd. because of this i'm very wary of these mini 15w vox/orange ect valve amps not being loud enough.

second hand isn't really an option cos i'm an old punk and the banks don't really like lending my kind money ;-) but fortunately my friend has offered to do the government take it home scheme for me in her name. sound friend!

my budget is £600 but ideally £500. my research all points to the blackstar ht club 50. i thought it be silly not to ask you lot on this forum before i go and buy my first valve amp as i owe 90% of my musician ship to this website pretty much!

so yeah any thoughts would be greatly appreciated please

First of all congrats on Your "brand new" baby Blackstar is a descent company even though my experience with them is too small to say something more but what I hear by far was nothing but a good opinions and good tones

50W combo is a good choice. It will be less expensive in case of exploitation (at least while replacing power amp tubes). In small places where the room itself gives a lot of boost of low frewuencies, playing on a combo could save Your life...and a comfort of listening ofr the audience. You can always buy additional cabinet to plug it to, on a bigger stages, where open air conditions can cause some lack of bottom end. Additional cabinet could be very usefull. Sound engeneer could still use mic for thecombo built-in speaker to get less lows comapring to a bigger cabinet under the combo.

cheers darius!

I didn't go get the amp today in the end i've decided to wait another week or so s I make the right choice.

I was actually talking about just getting a head as I have cab I can use already and 90% gigs I play in other cities a cab is provided by the promoter so it will save me a lot of space when travelling. do you mean I should get a combo rather than a head mate?

You could always use the combo AS a head since the Blackstar has speaker outputs. That way, you have a combo to take around with you and practice with etc. and even for gigs in the event a cab is not there. It's a very pragmatic choice.

thanks todd :-) I been thinking with a combo its just a hell of a lot more space in the car I guess and I don't see a cab not being available evey likely to be a problem... maybe famous last words though ha ha..

does anybody have any thoughts on the blackstar ht club 50 as to being suitable for my requirements or any suggestions of something else I should be looking at or that they'd recommend please?

I hear ya For a gigging musician, a combo can be a thing of beauty. If you get the right one, it can be your practice amp, stage amp, Head, Power Amp, etc. Just waaaay more versatile than just a plain old Head.

But hey, if you want a head, get a head The Blackstar Tube Heads are quite nice as was mentioned. The CLUB 50 is a fine head Plenty of tone and plenty loud.

As another option, you might look at the RANDALL tube heads

http://www.thomann.de/gb/randall_rd_45_head.htm



Of course, you could always get something more modern like a rack mount power amp and processor E.G. Eleven Rack, Pod Pro HD, Axe Fx, etc. But whatever works for ya!





This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jan 3 2015, 06:03 AM

Thanks Todd :-) I've not seen that one before. the sound demos sound good so i'm gonna see if my local shop has onne I can try out

Great idea! Try every time You can because all the demos in the world won't show You how eaxclty does the amp sounds in Your hands

Thanks guys. I ordered today a Blackstar stage ht 100 all valve head. its the bigger brother of the one I was talking about before but it was only £50 more, twice as powerful and came with a free blackstar pedal which I didn't need but its worth £80 so I can sell it and put it towards paying it all back.

It's gonna be monster loud at band practice but im definitely not gonna have any issues with cutting through when our bass player is doing his sub bass or synth wah thing :-)

I also ordered myself some other new kit :-) gonna be spending a lot more time grounded now what with being a dad so kind of excited to take a more serious approach to my music and ive now got a pretty good home studio in the post.

I quit drinking the morning of nye as I've been a wreck head my whole life and its gotta stop. my crew -carnival punks in Bristol put on a 12 hour nye party, i did a few hours on the desk, 12 bands and my band played and I didn't drink a drop :-) first sober gig in my life! probably gonna be on here a lot more now ha ha

on that note who would be the best instructor to talk to about getting a practice regime going. not sure im ready to right now but I will be looking to soon. I like punk/metal reggae/dub and making electronic music (drum n bass and jungle ect) sounds with my guitar and trying to mix all those sounds.

thanks again people!

Starting a family has a way of focusing the mind for sure! Congrats on going sober!

Sounds like you have a very broad style of play, you may want to contact KRIS DAHL as he has the most breadth that I've heard so far here @ GMC

First of all congrats on quitting drinking, that is a major life step and it will be so worth it!

That Blackstar head sounds like a very good choice. I have been reading the thread and wanted to chime in on my perspective on combo vs head/cab setup. I think combo is a great solution for gigging overall as you have everything in one place and it doesn't need to be too big since in venues which require more "power", you get your amp mic'ed anyway so the amp on stage is in that case used just for monitoring and you might be actually turning it down. On the other hand, cab and head offer more versatility and sometimes it can be easier to pack/transport due to dimensions. Since you already have a cab which you can use with your head, I don't think it would make sense to get a combo version of the amp. I must share my experience that you can not count on venue/organizer providing a cab for the gig or that you can guarantee its quality/working order. But in those cases, you can just grab your own cab and bring it along so you are covered.

I'd suggest getting in touch with instructor Gabriel Leopardi about getting your practice regime setup, here is the link to his profile - just send him a private message: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...forum-profile=1

Please let me know if you need any help getting started with a mentoring instructor.

See you around the forum