I am in love with this little amp. I small compact tube amp that gets 1 watt of power and will drive a solid tube tone from your guitar and fingers is where its at. The tone from this little thing was very impressive. It is voiced for the American and British tones. It doesn't have a tone of controls. Just gain, volume, eq, and reverb. It also has a output for headphones and a MP3 line input so you can jam along with your favorite songs. Just a great little practice amp! UTILIZATION Blackstar HT-1R Tube Combo Amp Features: * Innovative 1 Watt valve combo * 1xECC83 and 1xECC82 tube complement * Unique push-pull power amp design * Based on award-winning HT-5 * Two channels * Reverb * 8" speaker * Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF) * Perfect for studio or practice * Speaker emulated output * Stereo MP3 / Line input * External speaker output SOUNDS I love the tone of this unit. I natural tube sound and feel in an amp that will fit in your bag or purse. I like the ton you get from this amp with a Strat or even a Gibson Les Paul. You will feel more gerth with the tone of the Les Paul and the Strat will be nice and chimey. The amp really works the tubes very hard and produces a very musical tone. OVERALL OPINION What a great tool to keep in your gear arsenal. If you need a quiet rehearsal amp that can be used very quietly in a bedroom or office this is the one. If you don't like amp modelers and need that tube feel and tone than this is the amp for you. At new these units come in at around $300 which is a great price for a tube amp. I would recommend this amp to anyone who needs a solid practice amp and wants the tubes in there. You can plug you iopd in there and be ready to jam along.
Blackstar has made a huge splash on the amp world in recent years. They have made great sounding fantastically priced amps for the masses. The price is what is so amazing to me. The amp sounds so very good and to keep their prices for a multi channle combo like this under $1000 is remarkable. This amp is so versatile that is makes me wonder how they keep their prices so low. I have a theory but either way the most important thing is how does it sound. The sound and voicing of this amp is remarkable. It has a great fluid disortion tone and cleans up very nicely. It is fit for just about any guitar player. The tone from the cleans all the way through the crunch and up to the high gain sounds very usable for gigging and recording. UTILIZATION Features: Innovative 1 Watt valve combo 1xECC83 and 1xECC82 Unique push-pull power amp design Based on award winning HT-5 Two channels 8˝ speaker Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF) Perfect for studio or practice Speaker emulated output Stereo MP3 / Line input External speaker output SOUNDS The clean channel is very Fender like in that it sparkles and chimes much like an old blackface Fender would do. It has nice chimey tone when coupled with a good Fender Stratocaster or another single coil guitar. The tone is warm but very rich delivering the tone from your guitar. The reverb on the amp is another great feature as well. The amp has a full warm reverb that doesn't sound fake or digitalized in any way. The dirty channel is a stellar overdrive very reminiscent of classic rock tones from the 70's and early 80's. The dirty channel gives you a sweet tone that will get people's attention very quickly.So many times reverb is a hit or miss on amps and this one is a fantastic tone It doesn't hide anything either....it gives out exactly what is put into it. OVERALL OPINION At new these amps come in at around $260 which is an excellent price for a small tube amp combo with multiple channels. It is an all tube design that gives a great clean tone and a heavy distortion channel with a side of reverb. I highly recommend this amp for anyone on a budget who needs a great working tube amp. If you are looking for a solid practice and that is fully ready for recording then this maybe the amp for you.
