Official Blackstaramps Forum

Hi all and thanks for this forum!

I just bought a second hand - almost new, HT 5R combo. Great sounding little tube amp indeed!

However, i'm having trouble with the overdrive channel. When trying to push the gain past mid course, i have to turn down the volume knob almost to zero, and it's still too loud. I really wish i could tam down the amp on higher gain settings, like on other amps... and still have some control over the volume. At some point it's almost on or off. It is practically impossible to use high gain in a small practice room.

This does not seem right to me and i'm wondering if that's the case for all HT-5R combos out there.

One thing that may come into play though, is the previous owner got the tubes swapped right-away - at the reseller suggestion. The tubes are supposed to be TAD 7025 (RT001) and 12BH7A STR (RT043). I haven't checked. For what i understand those are exact replacement for the stock tubes, so that should not make any difference gain wise?

What do you think?

Thanks.

Bump!

Can the HT-5R users out there report how their volume control acts in OD when the gain is past mid course?
Are you almost floored at zero or do you still have room to adjust the volume?

Thanks.

I don't have the "R" version. but on my HT-5 combo, I can dime the gain keep the volume around 9 o'clock and be comfortable at bedroom levels. But the volume really picks up beyond 11 oclock and is not really usable. It's a loud 5 W amp.

I have the HT5R combo and I am having the same issue with using a distortion on the front end of the amp between the guitar and the input. I put effects through the loop, but distortion and treble boost are direct in the amp and any metal distortion or fuzz will overdrive the channel and the volume control is useless. I have mine completely off and its still very loud. I have to control the volume through the pedal and its jumpy and has gaps as its turning up. After having this amp for a while, I have come to the conclusion that the amp doesn't like distortion through its clean channel. And I have the issue where the button for the clean/distorted channel doesn't work well. You have to hold it down and wiggle it to get it to stay in the distorted mode and then only change channels with the footswitch or risk not having a distorted channel until you can get the button to hold again. Other than that, the amp sounds great, LOL!

I've got the "metal" version as a head and it's pretty much the same but I rarely get past 9 o'clock on the gain. With single coils facing it in a small room it's pretty squealy. Honestly a 1W amp is plenty without a drummer. The 5 watt'er can keep up with a moderate drummer and bassist, but gets washed out when a much bigger amp shows up. Now imagine a drummer in that same room you're noodling in and that'll tell you that it's probably bit much cranked. 5 watts is probably more fun though and our nearest neighbors are pretty far away. Power:volume is a logarithmic deal. The first time I was wowed by this was at a guitar convention in like 2006. Someone had a 1W amp called a Bümbox Lead 1. They're out of business now but we were in a room that was probably 2000 square feet or more and it could fill the room fairly well on its own through a 4x12.

All that said, try a 12au7. You're really only affecting the preamp by swapping that out but it helps a bit for mellowing out. Takes a lot out of the clean channel.