I have always thought their Venue amps were very good for the prices. I have played through a few of them but never owned one. I think before the year is up, I will be getting a 100 watt one..
I just recently found your channel and am blown away by your honest positivity. I am in the market for a tube amp head to use for gigging. After watching several videos, many of them yours, I think this has made up my mind! I was all set to get an MT15; but, for $150 more, I can get this beast! I've used Blackstars before and like them. This will be a great addition to my rig. Thank you for the thorough reviews and the great riffs along the way. You've made another fan!
The OD channels on the Stage 100 reminds me of a smoother Recto with some Marshall flavor to it, pretty cool sound! The EQ also seems really flexible, which is always nice!
Great test. I love your sound and your heavy riffs. I don't know if I'm making the right choice in wanting to change my Laney Ironheart for this new Blackstar HT mkiii.
Just watched the whole thing. I used to have a Blackstar Ht Club 40 the original and loved it. Now this has come along I think I going to go with this one. By far the most good looking amp they have made too. Really loved the video as usual man. Amazing work.
Both amps were neck to neck until the metal tone demo started where the 50W decided to cover itself with a blanket. I'd assume that's the presence control doing its magic. Don't know if the 50W could be pushed into the 100W head's territory with an eq in the fx loop, but to my ears the big one takes the cake today.
Everything sounds great, but what I’m most surprised by is how much I like the crunch. I’m a metal dude, but I think boosting the crunch channel into higher gain would sound nice.
sound pretty bloody good to me. definitely a mesa flavour to my ear. especially the hot rodded and metal riff section with slightly different mids, very tight.
To be honest you sound awesome with every gear you touch so your reviews are starting to lose its purpose as I can’t make any decision about what is better and would buy it all 😂
@@SonicDriveStudioI guess he means you are so good at dialing great tones that even and old shitty amp sim would sound great. It's your riffs and skill at dialing tones that makes at least 70% of the sound.
I often find myself thinking the same thing on this channel and some others. i think the technology has gotten so good in the last few years that you really cant go too wrong with any of these newer amps. It is a great time to be a guitarist! This was a good video. I like how they mixed the sound of a Marshall with a Mesa on this amp.
Black star is always in the dark when it comes to hi gain amps. They are some of the best sounding amps out there. I use my HT 50 wat head more than my badlander or 6505
Hi John. You did a review of HT 50 mkii in the past as well as some comparisons with other amps like Orange and Laney. Maybe You could do an A/B between mkII and mkIII versions? I have HT20hr mkII and wondering how different they are in terms of tones? All these new features are cool, but you know ;) From YT reviews I 've got an impression that mkIII is more metal oriented amp then mkII. What is Your impression after playing them both?
available at thomann germany for 999€ since today..blackstar amps have so much amazing features and tweaking options, i got the series one 200 and the 104 6l6 heads and both had a kind of harshness/ high end fizz and overall very noisy that i was just never able to deal with it. maybe the new MKIII is doing better here, i have seen a review today done by cameron cooper where he said that it is "better" than his 5150, I would be very interested in your opinion on this! cheers 🎸🎸
With what speakers were you using yours? I don't know man, mine don't sound fizzy or overly noisy at all. Just gotta be careful with the presence/treble and pair them up with the right cab
@@SonicDriveStudio mesa, orange, marshall and hughes&kettner cabs, thats not the problem..i sold them long ago, the "blackstar harshness" is (or was) a known issue, maybe the stage series is doing better here 🙏
@@SonicDriveStudio the series one amps can really make your ears bleed even with presence at 0 and the feedback is also very hard to control! the new stage amps have a different sound design and maybe worth another try, 1K is a great deal for a full tube design head with that many options!
@@BigLenny. i talked to the blackstar support back then and we were able to tame the harshness down a bit by using jj preamp tubes, they sound a bit darker more "brownish", less high end fizz, no mid honk and lower noise..
I used to own a 100 watt Blackstar Venue . Not their Series One but the basic line. Not enough Balls for me, I sold it and got a Mesa Boogie Roadster head.
This looks amazing, when you plug the USB to computer to use it as an interface, can you play with it via the audio monitoring like if you were just playing with headphones on it ? it looks super interesting if that's the case, i love pluggings for that, but i'm missing the knob feeling of a real amp, if this one allows me to do that, i'll sure buy one right away.
I have the stage 60 212 mkii and IMO there is maybe a 2db perceived volume difference between voices within the same channel. Did they balance that more on this new version? It's a PITA.
I prefer the Clean Channel, Driven Sounds of the Clean 2 voice, and the Crunch Sounds... There's only so much Gain that sounds good to me. I'm waiting for the HT 100 MKIII HEAD to be Delivered. Going to give it a Test Drive myself.
So off topic but do you have any 6 string baritones? I'm looking into getting a Gretsch g5260 not sure if it's a good choice. Would like to hear your thoughts on baritones in general 🎸 cheers!
Jon I hope you’re doing great man! Maybe you could help me out with this. I just got a new Gibson slash les Paul the guitar plays great and is excellent. The alnico ll burstbucker is a bit too weak and spongey for me. I love your custom and am considering a 498t for mine. I want to still retain some of the les Paul vibe but be able to do heavier genres and riffs. I’m also looking at the Duncan sh-5. What would you suggest for a more rocking les Paul tone that can do classic les Paul sounds up into modern high gain territory?
Also can't go wrong with the Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and 59' in the neck. I have 2 LP's both customs and one has the stock 498t/490r pup and the other the JB/59' they are awesome.
Awesome video Jon 🤘 your my goto for amp tones 👍need your help… I keep racking my brain over getting the 50 watt MK3 head or the 100watt head. I’ve watched this video a bunch of times, the metal part, the extra resonance/presence and extra OD channel on the 100watt look enticing … I have the Marshall DSl20, Badlander 25, EVH stealth 50, peavey invective MH… love all of them and this sounds like it would be a great edition. I’m happy with the smaller lunchbox/50watt amps. I don’t even own any 100watt amps 😂 I have the Guptech PDEQ pedal to dial in the resonance/presence. I love the sound of these new Blackstar amps 👍 never tried one before Question… I love boosting the blue channel on my EVH Stealth… because the 50watt club only has the one OD channel … is it still possible to do this on the 50watt head ? You mentioned there was more gain on the sole OD channel. This is what I’m trying to decide if buying the bigger MK3 100watt is worth it 🤔 (home player)
Just want to ask, and i'm probably gonna get crucified for this, but does anyone have any opinions on potential mods for this amp? I've been gigging with it for a while and it's alright like it gets the job done but I feel like the drive channels on this amp could be a bit better. No complaints on the clean its beautiful wide open headroom and takes pedals well. I just really want to be able to have an amp where the drive channels are already absolutely amazing where I can confidently just have that and a clean boost to kick it harder for solos.
If I don't need the new features on the MK3 HT 50 is their any reason to buy the MK3 over the MK2 ? Has the tone been altered on the MK3 50 . I want to purchase a Blackstar HT 50 and my local shop carries both the MK2 and Mk3 HT 50 and the MK2 is 200 dollars cheaper . I dont need all the features on the MK2 let alone the MK3 and with either one i will be setting up for a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal/Motorhead/Master of Reality era Black Sabbath and won't be bothering with the American souding aspect . If the British tone is the same in both i will get the MK2.
Good question! It's not exactly the same. The led off voicing sounds similar to OD1 with the led off voicing and with the led on voicing it sounds similar to the OD2 with the led on voicing as you can hear in the video, but not 100% the same. The led off voicings sound much more similar
@@SonicDriveStudio Thanks for the reply. I'm deciding between 50 and 100. I like OD1 on HT 100. That's why I wanted to know more about OD1 or OD2. Thanks again.
It might be the same as the mkii difference between the stage and club amps. The OD1 voices (especially LED on) for the stage mk2 was awesome. The OD channel on the club mk2 was the same as the OD2 on the stage mk2 I believe. IMO that club mk2 would have been an awesome package with the OD1 stage mk2 channel instead of the OD2 setup.
I just have the regular ht stage 100 and I can’t get it to sound anywhere near as good as you mkll, do you think I’m just dialing in wrong or is the mkll just that much better
@@talhafatihuzun yea man this mk1 honestly doesn’t sound the best 😂 I’m working on it tho not gonna give up on the tone just yet, still wishing I woulda just bought a 5150
@@MrBurnzz. I think you already have a pretty solid tone with that Marshall amp and Crate cab. If you are not going to play blues or thrash metal, there is no need to spend too much time and money going down the rabbit hole, just spend time on making music.
Nice amps, but Blackstar really need to sort their cabs out. The new ones for these amps look great, they're made from MDF and have Celestion Seventy 80 speakers, however they're quite expensive considering they're made in China. They should just go for installing V30s and be constructed from birch, I don't think people will mind paying around the same or a little extra even if they're still made in China.
Amp sounds good but only $999 for a 100 watts with all those features tells me it is full of cheap components. I'm going to wait it out and see if it's going to hold up for people before I consider buying one.
LOL, you said "The NEW Blackstar HT Amps Are AWESOME! BUT....", but what? what is the but? I only ask because the "but" is never mentioned, so i would love to know what is the meaning behind "But.." as its not clarified/elaborated upon in you conclusion portion of the video.
@@SonicDriveStudio sounded like it to me, lol, i say blackstar IMO is deff shaping up and the new mk III series has some player BIAS obstacles to get past but this is deff a start for them IMO to get back out there. But in your opinion, do they rock?
Two things. Why are you saying led vs L E D? But hey whatever I guess it’s a weird way of saying it but to each their own. Ok. Next up- these amps have a cab sim. Why aren’t you showing it with that?
Clean is not so good.Crunch is very good for hard rock.And highs are not killing ears.For high gain a very good amp.There is an old model 50W.I have never like that one.THis on is cool.
Im glad they ditched the ISF thing. I always said it was a feature that really didn't serve their higher tier amps and just made them harder to dial in.
Thoughts on these new Blackstar amps?
Let me buy it as my 14th amp😂
@@Nitrav.Those are rookie numbers, gotta pump them up 😂😂😂
I have always thought their Venue amps were very good for the prices. I have played through a few of them but never owned one. I think before the year is up, I will be getting a 100 watt one..
Pretty cool iam still rocking a HT-5 and 1x12 cab from 2011 and it still sounds great at lower volumes!
Surprised how boxy the 50 sounds compared to the 100. The 100 sounds absolutely killer.
This is probably one of the best most well thought out reviews I've ever seen. Most excellent job!!
I just recently found your channel and am blown away by your honest positivity. I am in the market for a tube amp head to use for gigging. After watching several videos, many of them yours, I think this has made up my mind! I was all set to get an MT15; but, for $150 more, I can get this beast! I've used Blackstars before and like them. This will be a great addition to my rig. Thank you for the thorough reviews and the great riffs along the way. You've made another fan!
The OD channels on the Stage 100 reminds me of a smoother Recto with some Marshall flavor to it, pretty cool sound! The EQ also seems really flexible, which is always nice!
Great test. I love your sound and your heavy riffs. I don't know if I'm making the right choice in wanting to change my Laney Ironheart for this new Blackstar HT mkiii.
The amps sound awesome, but your riffs are always so so good! You should definitely think of making some full length tracks!
Whoa! That sounded really really good! I really liked those riffs you were playing too. This is the first time I have liked a black star amp
Those HT amps definitely have their own sound. I love it...I have the HT Club 40 (Mk I)
Just watched the whole thing. I used to have a Blackstar Ht Club 40 the original and loved it. Now this has come along I think I going to go with this one. By far the most good looking amp they have made too. Really loved the video as usual man. Amazing work.
Both amps were neck to neck until the metal tone demo started where the 50W decided to cover itself with a blanket. I'd assume that's the presence control doing its magic. Don't know if the 50W could be pushed into the 100W head's territory with an eq in the fx loop, but to my ears the big one takes the cake today.
Seemed like the low mids are also more present in the 50W, giving it a sort of "boxy" tone.
Everything sounds great, but what I’m most surprised by is how much I like the crunch. I’m a metal dude, but I think boosting the crunch channel into higher gain would sound nice.
Great sounding guitars and amps, all recorded to perfection. This Channel is awesome!
Thanks!
I love my HT club 40 combo!
Very nice and a great showcase for all the new LTD's.
I do not and never had a Black STar head, But I did just grab amped 3 and I love this little thing!
sound pretty bloody good to me. definitely a mesa flavour to my ear. especially the hot rodded and metal riff section with slightly different mids, very tight.
To be honest you sound awesome with every gear you touch so your reviews are starting to lose its purpose as I can’t make any decision about what is better and would buy it all 😂
Kind of like Ola's gear demos 😂
Haha! To be fair, this is just how the amps sound, I didn't do any post-processing on the guitars as usual.
@@SonicDriveStudioI guess he means you are so good at dialing great tones that even and old shitty amp sim would sound great. It's your riffs and skill at dialing tones that makes at least 70% of the sound.
I often find myself thinking the same thing on this channel and some others. i think the technology has gotten so good in the last few years that you really cant go too wrong with any of these newer amps. It is a great time to be a guitarist! This was a good video. I like how they mixed the sound of a Marshall with a Mesa on this amp.
😂😂
Sounds very good, and the feature list is nice. Interested to see what they'll sell for at Sweetwater.
Great demo on these two new beauties !
Thanks!
Another awesome amp demo video mate 👍🏽
Great video as always! Aside from the cab rig, what are the differences between the previous HT series?
I like the HT seems to have a little more focus in the high mids
When you play on the Od2 it sounds really chuggy. Is it because of the amp or did you use an overdrive?
Merry Christmas!
Black star is always in the dark when it comes to hi gain amps. They are some of the best sounding amps out there. I use my HT 50 wat head more than my badlander or 6505
Cool! It would be nice if you compared it face to face with another amp heads, with a rectifier too.
Hi John. You did a review of HT 50 mkii in the past as well as some comparisons with other amps like Orange and Laney. Maybe You could do an A/B between mkII and mkIII versions? I have HT20hr mkII and wondering how different they are in terms of tones? All these new features are cool, but you know ;) From YT reviews I 've got an impression that mkIII is more metal oriented amp then mkII. What is Your impression after playing them both?
How about a REVV Generator 120 MKIII?
Would love to!
I’m hoping we get an updated Marshall jvm with IRs and a fixed effects loop
available at thomann germany for 999€ since today..blackstar amps have so much amazing features and tweaking options, i got the series one 200 and the 104 6l6 heads and both had a kind of harshness/ high end fizz and overall very noisy that i was just never able to deal with it. maybe the new MKIII is doing better here, i have seen a review today done by cameron cooper where he said that it is "better" than his 5150, I would be very interested in your opinion on this! cheers 🎸🎸
With what speakers were you using yours? I don't know man, mine don't sound fizzy or overly noisy at all. Just gotta be careful with the presence/treble and pair them up with the right cab
@@SonicDriveStudio mesa, orange, marshall and hughes&kettner cabs, thats not the problem..i sold them long ago, the "blackstar harshness" is (or was) a known issue, maybe the stage series is doing better here 🙏
@@SonicDriveStudio the series one amps can really make your ears bleed even with presence at 0 and the feedback is also very hard to control! the new stage amps have a different sound design and maybe worth another try, 1K is a great deal for a full tube design head with that many options!
@@BigLenny. i talked to the blackstar support back then and we were able to tame the harshness down a bit by using jj preamp tubes, they sound a bit darker more "brownish", less high end fizz, no mid honk and lower noise..
I used to own a 100 watt Blackstar Venue . Not their Series One but the basic line. Not enough Balls for me, I sold it and got a Mesa Boogie Roadster head.
What tuning are you using
You’re making me want an LTD. I want to do some heavy stuff. Trying to decide baritone or 7 string. What should my first LTD be???
This looks amazing, when you plug the USB to computer to use it as an interface, can you play with it via the audio monitoring like if you were just playing with headphones on it ? it looks super interesting if that's the case, i love pluggings for that, but i'm missing the knob feeling of a real amp, if this one allows me to do that, i'll sure buy one right away.
I have the stage 60 212 mkii and IMO there is maybe a 2db perceived volume difference between voices within the same channel. Did they balance that more on this new version? It's a PITA.
Great video! Would love to see your opinions on a Strandberg guitar. 👍
I prefer the Clean Channel, Driven Sounds of the Clean 2 voice, and the Crunch Sounds... There's only so much Gain that sounds good to me. I'm waiting for the HT 100 MKIII HEAD to be Delivered. Going to give it a Test Drive myself.
Sound really, really good 😮
How do those ltds compare to your les paul?
Can it do a metallica / tremonti / wall of sound type tone ?
How do these compare to the MK2 series in terms of
Sound ?
Sounding nice. What was the "but.." though?
''Do they rock?'' It's in the thumbnail haha
So off topic but do you have any 6 string baritones? I'm looking into getting a Gretsch g5260 not sure if it's a good choice. Would like to hear your thoughts on baritones in general 🎸 cheers!
Yes, I love baritones! Video on a cool baritone coming up next week!
Great amp, but that Metallica Load shirt is just as great too haha
Would be awesome to see you compare the Iconic to 6505 and 5150
Iconic is bad amplie and no polyvalent. Go black star
Jon I hope you’re doing great man! Maybe you could help me out with this. I just got a new Gibson slash les Paul the guitar plays great and is excellent. The alnico ll burstbucker is a bit too weak and spongey for me. I love your custom and am considering a 498t for mine. I want to still retain some of the les Paul vibe but be able to do heavier genres and riffs. I’m also looking at the Duncan sh-5. What would you suggest for a more rocking les Paul tone that can do classic les Paul sounds up into modern high gain territory?
Can't go wrong with the ones that are in the Customs
Also can't go wrong with the Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and 59' in the neck. I have 2 LP's both customs and one has the stock 498t/490r pup and the other the JB/59' they are awesome.
Awesome video Jon 🤘 your my goto for amp tones 👍need your help… I keep racking my brain over getting the 50 watt MK3 head or the 100watt head. I’ve watched this video a bunch of times, the metal part, the extra resonance/presence and extra OD channel on the 100watt look enticing … I have the Marshall DSl20, Badlander 25, EVH stealth 50, peavey invective MH… love all of them and this sounds like it would be a great edition. I’m happy with the smaller lunchbox/50watt amps. I don’t even own any 100watt amps 😂 I have the Guptech PDEQ pedal to dial in the resonance/presence.
I love the sound of these new Blackstar amps 👍 never tried one before
Question… I love boosting the blue channel on my EVH Stealth… because the 50watt club only has the one OD channel … is it still possible to do this on the 50watt head ? You mentioned there was more gain on the sole OD channel. This is what I’m trying to decide if buying the bigger MK3 100watt is worth it 🤔 (home player)
Highly recommend the 100 watt! It's hard to beat and just more flexible
@@SonicDriveStudioThanks ! The part you have at 25:09 dialing in the OD channels … pure gold !!! Thanks dude
Just want to ask, and i'm probably gonna get crucified for this, but does anyone have any opinions on potential mods for this amp? I've been gigging with it for a while and it's alright like it gets the job done but I feel like the drive channels on this amp could be a bit better. No complaints on the clean its beautiful wide open headroom and takes pedals well. I just really want to be able to have an amp where the drive channels are already absolutely amazing where I can confidently just have that and a clean boost to kick it harder for solos.
If I don't need the new features on the MK3 HT 50 is their any reason to buy the MK3 over the MK2 ? Has the tone been altered on the MK3 50 . I want to purchase a Blackstar HT 50 and my local shop carries both the MK2 and Mk3 HT 50 and the MK2 is 200 dollars cheaper . I dont need all the features on the MK2 let alone the MK3 and with either one i will be setting up for a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal/Motorhead/Master of Reality era Black Sabbath and won't be bothering with the American souding aspect . If the British tone is the same in both i will get the MK2.
Hi, there is no Krank amplifier on the channel. I would like a comparison with EnGL if possible
Wish I had one... but I don't
I like lead channels and lead pencils. I also like Korn's album Follow the Letter.
It's how we say L.E.D. here in my country
@@SonicDriveStudio I gotcha I was only joking just being an annoying American great review by the way
hello, what is the OD on the HT 50 please? Is it like OD1 or like OD2 on HT 100? 25:06 Dialing In The Overdrive Channels is only on HT 100. Thank you
Good question! It's not exactly the same. The led off voicing sounds similar to OD1 with the led off voicing and with the led on voicing it sounds similar to the OD2 with the led on voicing as you can hear in the video, but not 100% the same. The led off voicings sound much more similar
@@SonicDriveStudio Thanks for the reply. I'm deciding between 50 and 100. I like OD1 on HT 100. That's why I wanted to know more about OD1 or OD2. Thanks again.
It might be the same as the mkii difference between the stage and club amps. The OD1 voices (especially LED on) for the stage mk2 was awesome. The OD channel on the club mk2 was the same as the OD2 on the stage mk2 I believe. IMO that club mk2 would have been an awesome package with the OD1 stage mk2 channel instead of the OD2 setup.
This vs the Marshall DSL100HR??
😂 black star win
100 watter all day. But they both sound great for the money
I just have the regular ht stage 100 and I can’t get it to sound anywhere near as good as you mkll, do you think I’m just dialing in wrong or is the mkll just that much better
I used to own the Mk1. Mk3 sounds better.
@@talhafatihuzun yea man this mk1 honestly doesn’t sound the best 😂 I’m working on it tho not gonna give up on the tone just yet, still wishing I woulda just bought a 5150
@@MrBurnzz. I think you already have a pretty solid tone with that Marshall amp and Crate cab. If you are not going to play blues or thrash metal, there is no need to spend too much time and money going down the rabbit hole, just spend time on making music.
What was the but ?
Do they rock?
@@SonicDriveStudio ha ok )) i thought you meant some cons
Okay, is this one also cheaply built and probably break after 6 months of owning it?
that green on the LTD is sexy as hell
It's awesome!
The guy from Rascal Flatts plays the 100 head.
Front of that amp looking clean tho
Sick.
Nice amps, but Blackstar really need to sort their cabs out. The new ones for these amps look great, they're made from MDF and have Celestion Seventy 80 speakers, however they're quite expensive considering they're made in China. They should just go for installing V30s and be constructed from birch, I don't think people will mind paying around the same or a little extra even if they're still made in China.
These Are allways Be "poor man's marshalls" but i have HT-5Mk2 combo and IT IS AWSOME👍🤟🔥i prefer it over a DSL series 1w or 5w marshalls eny given day
what's the "but?"
Amp sounds good but only $999 for a 100 watts with all those features tells me it is full of cheap components. I'm going to wait it out and see if it's going to hold up for people before I consider buying one.
My ht50 mk1 still holding up... replaced some fuses and 2 tubes since 2014
LOL, you said "The NEW Blackstar HT Amps Are AWESOME! BUT....", but what? what is the but? I only ask because the "but" is never mentioned, so i would love to know what is the meaning behind "But.." as its not clarified/elaborated upon in you conclusion portion of the video.
But, do they rock?
@@SonicDriveStudio sounded like it to me, lol, i say blackstar IMO is deff shaping up and the new mk III series has some player BIAS obstacles to get past but this is deff a start for them IMO to get back out there. But in your opinion, do they rock?
@@Deckardkane420 they do! :)
Ah yes fluff fav amp
Do you think if Bach and Beethoven were in this age they would be heavy metal guys
I'm not sure from with planet someone comes thinking he needs a tube amp for that kind of sound.
Two things. Why are you saying led vs L E D? But hey whatever I guess it’s a weird way of saying it but to each their own. Ok. Next up- these amps have a cab sim. Why aren’t you showing it with that?
Clean is not so good.Crunch is very good for hard rock.And highs are not killing ears.For high gain a very good amp.There is an old model 50W.I have never like that one.THis on is cool.
What don't you like about the cleans?
@@SonicDriveStudio ruclips.net/video/a5l-61Hp-J0/видео.html
fuck the amp im here for the riffs.......
All tube path or hybrid solid state ? U never said
I haven't looked inside. I personally don't care as long as it sounds good
@@SonicDriveStudio I knew u wouldn't using digital instead of speakers and mics.
But what does Fluff have to say about it? 🤷♂️
I bet you he'd like it if he tried it
Im glad they ditched the ISF thing. I always said it was a feature that really didn't serve their higher tier amps and just made them harder to dial in.
They didn't ditch it
@@SonicDriveStudio My bad, when you did the close-up, I was looking for it and didn't see it because the writing was so small.
''All tube'' XD
They are... What's so funny?
@@x-Gingerbeard-x they're pretty hybrid
Go buy a Peavy
All I know is 15 years ago their stuff was total garbage.... probably is now too
I have one from 15 years ago and it still plays fine.