doc-phil
I popped into Marshall Music Umhlanga this morning and tried these guys out:
1. Blackstar HT-5R combo;
2. Orange OR15 head;
3. Orange Dual Terror head.
Both Orange amps were played through an Orange 1x12 cab. I'm hoping to purchase my first tube amp in the next month or so, and need it mainly for church band. I currently have a 40W HiWatt solid state amp, which is no slouch, but just isn't giving me that tubey goodness I'm looking for.
Blackstar:
I've read good things about this amp, and I was quite impressed with the glassy clean tone and tight overdrive channel. This was the most manageable volume wise and I think could pass for playing at home at low levels. I found the overdrive channel on this one to have the most gain of the 3, but it definitely has a more modern, American flavour than the others. Can't say I was overly impressed with the built-in reverb.
Definitely the most affordable of the lot.
OR15:
I fell in love with this 8) really ballsy pure British tone. I found the cleans started to break up even at quite low levels of gain. The fact that it is switchable from 15W to 7W is a big selling point for me.
Dual Terror:
For some reason this one just didn't do it for me. Maybe I didn't put it through its paces enough, but I found that when driven, the tone was too saturated, particularly on my humbuckers, and sounded a bit floppy and boxy.
The fat channel really does do just that though, and the amp turns into a completely different animal when going from the tiny terror to fat channel.
Anybody have any thoughts/views on these amps? I would love to get the OR15, but the cons are: the price ☹, and having to lug a head and cab around with me to and from church all the time.
I have no doubt that the Blackstar gives the most bang for buck, but the Orange OR15 just screams rock n roll and tube authenticity to me!
Neil-Nitro
The OR15 is one great sounding amp but sadly it is quite expensive. You could check out the Ibanez TSA series of amps too. Not as gainy as the Orange and Blackstar amps but they do work well in a church setup. I have successfully used the first TSA5 in church. Though I kept it on the tubescreamer channel with the gain low and used pedals with it. I bought it exactly because I didn't want to lug my old Elk twin head and cab to church and back. It's quite hefty...
ezietsman
The Ibanez TSA amps doesn't have 'that tubey goodness' either. They run their power sections super clean and the dirt comes from a builtin tubescreamer pedal. I can't say much about the orange amps, I played a Tiny Terror once and it was very noisy, hummed and hissed like there's no tomorrow, wasn't that keen on that one. If you like slightly more oldschool than the blackstar there's a couple others you may like if you can find them (I don't know what these things cost anymore, I was surprised the other day to see a Blues Jr for almost R10k).
More old school but quite gainy amps I've played and liked: Vox Nighttrain 15 Watt, Mesa Boogie Transatlantic 15, Fender Blues Jr, Fender Hotrod Deluxe III (prob expensive and they are loud), Mesa Express 5:25 (prob quite expensive now though). You didn't say your budget nor what those 3 cost.
ezietsman
One more thing, a head and cab looks cool and it is nice if you have more than one head to use but they are significantly more annoying to lug around than a combo amp. Keep that in mind.
singemonkey
Don't forget the good old cub12.
Haven't tried the rest of that lot though, sorry.
doc-phil
The Orange heads were priced at around 10k... for some reason, and what frustrates me about Marshalls is they can never give me a price there and then, I always have to wait for a written quote.
I know that the heads have been sitting there for a number of months, so I hope my price is not going to be based on the current $/R rate, that wouldn't feel fair as their cost would have been based on the exchange rate a while back.
The Blackstar had a tag of R8500, but I was told that was an old price... not sure what that means and I'm waiting for a quote.
I could probably spend about 15k altogether max... but for that price, maybe I should be looking at a Vox AC15?
GuitarDoge
Orange all the way haha. But try to find one secondhand. I've had a tiny terror and currently own the thunder 30 combo. But only if you want that classic to hard rock to metal tone. For cleaner stuff a Vox or a fender(though I prefer my th30's clean to the hot rod deluxe). The cheaper blackstars seem to lack something organic. There's some solid state thing somewhere in the signal chain I think.
ezietsman
The Blackstars don't have solid state in the signal, they are just high pre-amp gain amps like Mesa Boogies, you'll find the Blackstars and MBs sound similar next to each other. The exception is the HT5, which is small enough and have a speaker inefficient enough that you can actually get some power tube drive at less than eardamage volume.
R15k, I dunno, that's an awful lot of money. There's a Blackstar Artisan 30 combo at Cape Town Bothners that is going for less than that, THAT is a MUCH better amp than any of these others. Its not a high-gainer though. For R15k you can do much better than the amps you have mentioned but you need to look at used amps.
Hasie
I have a Blackstar HT-5R Combo (limited edition). Got it new for just R6.8k. I really love it. It is quite loud on the high gain channel. I play in a 16 sq.m. room, which is quite small and don't really want to turn the volume on the high gain channel past 3.
I used to drive it with some EMG active pickups, but the tone didn't impress me then. But with some high output passives, it sounds amazing.
The price range you are looking at, you can easily get the Blackstar HT-5210, HT Studio 20 or Club 40.
Gonzo
I can ABSOLUTELY recommend the blackstar amps. We use 2 HT 40 blackstars in our band and they are supersounding amps in prac space,rooms and live. One of my friends dad whom I always speak to about gear,he is a vintage valve guy,plays a 68 super reverb. And he was like wow they are good amps,even went to the store and tested them,he played a small 15 watt blackstar,and he loved it,and this a toppie that is old school. I read it was marshall techs that went and formed their own company blackstar,I can definitaly hear marshall in that amp,but with a british overtone,they even have that knob that "selects" more british lol but overall one of the best modern amps I have heard and played on and I did live sound so I heard quite some amps,u won't go wrong with blackstar.
ezietsman
I saw a Blackstar HT-40 in red at The Music Experience in Cape Town yesterday for R15k and there was a Mesa Dual Rectifier going for R14k on the SA Music Store FB Group. I'd take those over the ones you mentioned for that money any day. My advice is to keep looking and look at second hand stuff.
Gonzo
Wonder what they were going for at marshall now with the bday sale in cpt. My friend got his ht 40 for R6500 at paul bothner clearence sale in 2013,thanks to me for spotting it,it was the only one.The retailed for 11 back then,blackstar are great amps,they can go from lekke a clean to high gain metal,they can do all sorts of sounds if u are not tuned in to one specific sound. But yeah look around for 2nd hand or even the 15w will be fine,amps are micd up whn u gig. Nowadays I say 40w is to much for live,because u want to crank it for the valves to squeel,I am much more a fan now of these tiny amp heads,because they sound great. I did a show for van coke years ago and francois brought his mesa boogi mini rectifier I believe it was,and it sounded lekke. To op,the vox ac15 is just as superb sounding,much more of a clean brighter sounding.
doc-phil
The price I was quoted was R13,000 for Orange head (R7,500) and 1x12 cab (R5,500). I'm trying to negotiate this down a little more.
The Blackstar I played was a 5W. It really did sound good, but I don't know, I just feel drawn to the Orange. It has a lot of 'cool factor' for me (I know not to make a choice based on aesthetics) and the more vintage type tone is what I'm after.
ezietsman
doc-phil wrote:
The price I was quoted was R13,000 for Orange head (R7,500) and 1x12 cab (R5,500). I'm trying to negotiate this down a little more.
The Blackstar I played was a 5W. It really did sound good, but I don't know, I just feel drawn to the Orange. It has a lot of 'cool factor' for me (I know not to make a choice based on aesthetics) and the more vintage type tone is what I'm after.
Aesthetics is important too. You will know which amp is the one you need to get when you play it.
