Working in a music store, I have a lot older players come in all the time and scoff at our selection of modelers, digital, and solid state amps, only to walk over to a high-priced tube amp and still manage to get a crappy tone. Non-tube options these days are absolutely killer, and a lot of players are missing out on a huge variety of great tones at an affordable price point.
In old guys defense. Tube amps have always been better at edge of breakup tones. The Black Spirit and a few other solid state amps are great at it now days but for a long time it was very hard to achieve that tone with solid state amps. I have a both tube and Solid State amps and I like both. But I'm a modern player. I can understand the old guys outlook even though I don't share it with them.
Tubes it seems are no longer needed to get killer high gain tones these days. The ultra channel of the Black Spirit reminds me of my old modified Peavey 6505. It sounds killer in the mix! Fantastic job as always Jon. Keep up the great work.
You definitely don't need tubes to get great tones! This amp proves it! Also, the Ampeg VH140C is well regarded for it's tone and I also once had a Ibanez TBX150H, which was surprisingly nice!! Another fun fact is, the Gallien-Krueger 250ML lunchbox amp, was ALL OVER your favorite 80's records, anywhere from Pop to Metal (Even Iron Maiden used that amp).
@@metalinsights9664 That was actually the G&K 2000CPL! Somewhere In Time was recorded with the 250ML! The guitar tones on both those albums are some of my favorite Maiden tones too!
I used a solid-state Tech 21 Trademark 60 combo 1x12, playing out for years "Oldies & Blues". No one ever asked if it was a tube amp. A good tube amp has a "feel" to it more than a tone I could distinguish from solid state or digital. IMO.
I love the idea for the series! For recorded tones, modelers and digital amp plug-ins are amazing. I'm converted to them. But I think the live sound through a cab is still lacking with solid state. The nice edge of breakup warm sparkly organic tones with punch still don't sound quite the same to me. I think there are modelers that get close, but those still cost as much as a nice tube amp in a lot of cases.
Lots of major guitar players are using modelers through solid state power amps, on stage and studio. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Avenged Sevenfold...just to name a few. Yes, a modeler + power amp costs more than a tube amp, but with a modeler you have flexibility, more amps, no tubes to replace between gigs etc. In all honesty, a blind test will show that it's virtually impossible to tell the difference between a tube amp and a modeler :). I had many tube amps, but a year ago, when I blind tested them vs modelers I sold them all :))) Rock and Roll 🤘🤘🤘🎸🎸🎸
@@OrangeMicMusic Rock on! Yeah, with money out of the question, you can just buy a nice digital modeler and SS power amp and play through a cab like you would with a traditional tube amp. But even new tube amps are still less expensive to buy than a molder setup. I hope the tech trickles down to the mid-tier priced stuff in the next couple years. Love the idea of showing up to a gig with just a backpack and a guitar!
I bought this amp couple month ago and i have to say its a killer amp. I've never own a tube amp but from what i've heard on RUclips it sound really close . If you roll down the volume on your guitar its clean up nicely. Love your channel keep up the Good work
This amp is so sick. The fact that it doesn't need tubes makes it that much better! It would be cool to hear it mixed with the orange super crush in a "high gain harmony" sort of way like rebea massad does. Total solid state power!🤘🤘
One of my favorite ways to set the lead channel is to go straight into the amp, turn the bass knob all the way down, adjust the bass, treble, and presence to taste, engage the mid boost, and then turn up the resonance until you get a really nice low end frequency to compliment the tightness of the reduced bass on the amp.
Sounded great, but then again, digital options have been fine for a good while now. I think the concern for some is about how well such a digital amp option would hold up in a live setting when pushed on the volume front, though even that can be worked around.
For whatever reason, the two guitars of yours I like the most are the NW44 and the Phoenix Black Metal. Happy Friday to me! As far as the amp sounds, I LOVE it. When you did your massive "same song, all my amps" episode, I just loved all the H&K tones. I would love to see the blind test but I'm pretty sure from the prior episode it will be hard to pick out the SS vs the tube editions. Also, I'd like to see you shoot out the Black Spirit 200 vs the AmpMan Modern. I think the AmpMan would make sense for an amateur bedroom player like me and be a lot friendlier to my wallet at the same time.
Just got this amp, wee bit of a learning curve at first but once ya figure it out, and then stick an overdrive in front, BAM it's chuggalicious. Sounds almost as good as my Peavey Invective MH. Also the cleans on this thing? Are ..just. Wow.
Love the idea! With all the modular preamps, I would suggest Mooer preamp x with cabx2. The J800 of the preamp is really similar to a JCM800. And for the price is a great combo. Basically those two pedals and a SD1 and you are complete IMO.
I've switched back to solid state a few years ago. Tube maintenance is a huge pain in the ass for me. Especially now since you can't hardly find them. So yeah... the Orange Crush Pro and Super Crush series of amps is what's up! I don't miss tubes.
I was impressed, I came to this video thinking this was a gimmick product by H&K which normally they don't do. But that was my pre-judgement attitude coming in. But I will say I was F'kn impressed...
Even if you were a straight tubey Stan. You could always pre out into power of your tube amp and BAM, huge versatility with tube amp feeling in the room
You managed to get that amp to sound pretty dang good. I had one for a week before I returned it. The cleans were great, crunch too. When it came to high gain I couldn’t dial out this weird bloated low end. Bummer because I was super psyched to have it. Regardless I hope they keep working on it because on paper it’s a killer beast.
It was a little fizzy on the top end. A lot of that does disappear in the mix. It's the solid state power section that I think is where a lot of lower end amps fall apart. If really tight is what one is looking for, especially for faster type riffs, solid state may be the way to go. The fuzziness of the top end really does give it the older vst type sound.
Well first of all that's a really tasty riff but the Black Spirit does have a great gain structure. Not the biggest fan of the ultra channel, the lead just has everything I'd want.
I really like my Blackspirit200 amp, but whenever I go back to my Amp1 Iridium, it's crazy how much better the Amp1 is. Just different tones I guess but I prefer the Amp1
Thanks for the video! I was actually just looking into a Solid State backup, and was looking at this Black Spirit 200 vs the Super Crush 100. Any hope for a comparison in the future? :D
@@SonicDriveStudio thanks for the response! Absolutely understandable. Your demo is still extremely helpful! And also you're a huge influence on me! Your content is awesome.
I don't _need_ tubes, but I sure do _want_ them. I like tubes. However, that said, I'd like to add a nice solid state amp to add a different tone among my tube amps.
This vs AMp1 Iridium vs Voctory v4 Kraken pedal amp? Your input would be invaluable on this subject that I am currently debating on my on (tone is crucial, not the bonus features, as IR outs or onboard effects, which are nice nevertheless...)
The lines are blurring fast. Im most curious if it actually feels like a tube amp? Some of the ones ive tried recently just felt a bit sterile, maybe over under tones just not being expressed well (or predictably). Perhaps on high gain it really doesnt matter lol
To be honest, I think a lot of the reason solid state amps got a bad rep in the past is that they were often paired with cheap shitty cabs. Through a good cab these amps sound great. Though the way we make solid state amps in the modern era with tube like JFET circuits has definitely helped a lot too.
I had the BS200 and BluGuitar Amp1 for a couple of months. I kept the BluGuitar, as to my ears and playing was better than BS200. Yes, BS200 is cheaper, has more features, effects and sounds great for a solid state amp, but BluGuitar sounds better. Just my experience. You'd like to see a video about these BluGuitar amps, see what you think :) All the best
No way. However, if you want good metal tone at crazy high volumes, it is an absolute must. You will not keep up with my Mesa Dual Rec, drummer with double bass and 20 cymbals smacking the hell out of em and a bass player cracking 500-1000watts with a Line 6 Spider or a Katana. You start looking at Kempers and Axe FXs and you’re in tube amp price range. I will always fall the way of buying a tube amp when that $1.5k hits my wallet and I just need to wait another couple weeks. I’m not huge on collecting anything though. Just what I need to operate. I need multiple guitars in different tunings.
I tried this amp in the past and just didn't get along with it and could not imagine the tones you got here. Question is there anything you were not able to get a good sound out of?
No one really needs tubes to get great guitar tones . The die hard tube guys are a small bunch who think they know something . Soon the price , un-reliability and scarcity of tubes will get them to face reality . Their heavy bulky boring and silly tube amps will not be worth anything , as no one will want them . Getting rid of my old tubed dinosaurs as quick as I can while they still may be worth a little now . This great sounding small amp in the video proves it all ! Cool vid , very cool amp bro .... as usual .
I don't approve this amplifier, I had it and sold it, I paid 800€ for it and I honestly think it's not worth it. The distortions (lead and ultra channel) are unsuitable in any configuration. both amp and cab only ,or amplifier connected to an audio interface with ir from the daw. lead and ultra channels always have that nasal sound (orrible in my personal case) I hear it in all the videos it is played in but not in yours... I think there are better amps that cost a lot less : like boss Katana mk2 head, or many mini tube amps. The series you are bringing to youtube is wonderful, but not this amp which is failing on all fronts, except for the clean channel
@@SonicDriveStudio as I wrote before, in all the videos where that amp is played it has that nasal sound, but not in your videos, I remember in an old video about this amp, another user wrote a similar thing wondering what you used for the post production audio, because this amp doesn't actually sound like it does in your videos.
If the amp sounds that way, it probably needs a distortion pedal, preferrably with EQ. I have a blackstar series 1-50, despite having super crunch channel, it can't chug on it's own so mine needed a distortion pedal and clean boost to make it rumble, sound heavy and pronounced. There are Peavy amps that pack a lot of gain, that's why they rarely need a distortion pedal or boost. Other amps, on the other hand need pedals.
@@Mark-zi6nt yes it's true, but if i bought an amp that promises a really good distorsion why i need a distortion pedal? I tried a 10 band eq by mxr in the fx loop, but I did not hear that terrible sound go away in my ears. Probably is a H&K caracteristics suonds, i hated this amp so much and finally sold it.
Working in a music store, I have a lot older players come in all the time and scoff at our selection of modelers, digital, and solid state amps, only to walk over to a high-priced tube amp and still manage to get a crappy tone. Non-tube options these days are absolutely killer, and a lot of players are missing out on a huge variety of great tones at an affordable price point.
Agree 100 % !
That was me before I learned how to dial my modeler lol
They just know that they don't need 100 crappy tones to choos from, one crappy tone is enough for those players! ;)
I won't lie about it. I like tubes, but I'd like a solid state amp to complement my tube amps; they do sound different.
In old guys defense. Tube amps have always been better at edge of breakup tones. The Black Spirit and a few other solid state amps are great at it now days but for a long time it was very hard to achieve that tone with solid state amps. I have a both tube and Solid State amps and I like both. But I'm a modern player. I can understand the old guys outlook even though I don't share it with them.
So glad I found your channel. Your content is absolutely top-notch!
Tubes it seems are no longer needed to get killer high gain tones these days. The ultra channel of the Black Spirit reminds me of my old modified Peavey 6505. It sounds killer in the mix! Fantastic job as always Jon. Keep up the great work.
You definitely don't need tubes to get great tones! This amp proves it! Also, the Ampeg VH140C is well regarded for it's tone and I also once had a Ibanez TBX150H, which was surprisingly nice!! Another fun fact is, the Gallien-Krueger 250ML lunchbox amp, was ALL OVER your favorite 80's records, anywhere from Pop to Metal (Even Iron Maiden used that amp).
The best guitar tone I have ever heard was the G&K ML250 on the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album.
@@metalinsights9664 That was actually the G&K 2000CPL! Somewhere In Time was recorded with the 250ML! The guitar tones on both those albums are some of my favorite Maiden tones too!
Incredible tones on this, great video!
I used a solid-state Tech 21 Trademark 60 combo 1x12, playing out for years "Oldies & Blues". No one ever asked if it was a tube amp. A good tube amp has a "feel" to it more than a tone I could distinguish from solid state or digital. IMO.
I love the idea for the series! For recorded tones, modelers and digital amp plug-ins are amazing. I'm converted to them. But I think the live sound through a cab is still lacking with solid state. The nice edge of breakup warm sparkly organic tones with punch still don't sound quite the same to me. I think there are modelers that get close, but those still cost as much as a nice tube amp in a lot of cases.
Lots of major guitar players are using modelers through solid state power amps, on stage and studio. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Avenged Sevenfold...just to name a few. Yes, a modeler + power amp costs more than a tube amp, but with a modeler you have flexibility, more amps, no tubes to replace between gigs etc. In all honesty, a blind test will show that it's virtually impossible to tell the difference between a tube amp and a modeler :). I had many tube amps, but a year ago, when I blind tested them vs modelers I sold them all :)))
Rock and Roll 🤘🤘🤘🎸🎸🎸
@@OrangeMicMusic Rock on! Yeah, with money out of the question, you can just buy a nice digital modeler and SS power amp and play through a cab like you would with a traditional tube amp. But even new tube amps are still less expensive to buy than a molder setup. I hope the tech trickles down to the mid-tier priced stuff in the next couple years. Love the idea of showing up to a gig with just a backpack and a guitar!
I bought this amp couple month ago and i have to say its a killer amp. I've never own a tube amp but from what i've heard on RUclips it sound really close . If you roll down the volume on your guitar its clean up nicely. Love your channel keep up the Good work
Definitely like this series idea. And would like to see some blind tests with tube amps and maybe even some modelers.
The ultra channel sounds killer here, especially the chugs.
They almost sound quad tracked to me! Thick and brutal 🤘
This amp is so sick. The fact that it doesn't need tubes makes it that much better! It would be cool to hear it mixed with the orange super crush in a "high gain harmony" sort of way like rebea massad does. Total solid state power!🤘🤘
Sweet! Great idea for a series!! Hope you’re well btw. Can you cover modellers/multiFX & amp in a box please?
One of my favorite ways to set the lead channel is to go straight into the amp, turn the bass knob all the way down, adjust the bass, treble, and presence to taste, engage the mid boost, and then turn up the resonance until you get a really nice low end frequency to compliment the tightness of the reduced bass on the amp.
Keep it going. Always down to hear a variety of amps
Awesome video!!! Nice riffs and great sounding amp!
Sounded great, but then again, digital options have been fine for a good while now. I think the concern for some is about how well such a digital amp option would hold up in a live setting when pushed on the volume front, though even that can be worked around.
For whatever reason, the two guitars of yours I like the most are the NW44 and the Phoenix Black Metal. Happy Friday to me!
As far as the amp sounds, I LOVE it. When you did your massive "same song, all my amps" episode, I just loved all the H&K tones. I would love to see the blind test but I'm pretty sure from the prior episode it will be hard to pick out the SS vs the tube editions.
Also, I'd like to see you shoot out the Black Spirit 200 vs the AmpMan Modern. I think the AmpMan would make sense for an amateur bedroom player like me and be a lot friendlier to my wallet at the same time.
Just got this amp, wee bit of a learning curve at first but once ya figure it out, and then stick an overdrive in front, BAM it's chuggalicious. Sounds almost as good as my Peavey Invective MH.
Also the cleans on this thing? Are ..just. Wow.
would love to hear how it compare to your Grandmeister 40! Looks incredibly close!
Check out my comparison!
@@SonicDriveStudio Oh yeah there I go!
Love the idea! With all the modular preamps, I would suggest Mooer preamp x with cabx2. The J800 of the preamp is really similar to a JCM800. And for the price is a great combo. Basically those two pedals and a SD1 and you are complete IMO.
OMG THE ULTRA
Sounds like a tube amp and yes Plenty of gain! I never really looked at these amps before but they sound great!
pretty impressive for a solid state tbh
Great tones as always! I would really like to hear your take on the Orange Super Crush amp.
Would be cool but I don't have one unfortunately
@orange amps get this man a Super Crush, STAT!
I gotta agree. Jon needs a Super Crush!!
I bet it would sound crushing!
Good vid, as always. I think a helpful comparison would be to use this amp against the Hughes and Kettner GM40.
Already did that on the channel!
I've switched back to solid state a few years ago. Tube maintenance is a huge pain in the ass for me. Especially now since you can't hardly find them. So yeah... the Orange Crush Pro and Super Crush series of amps is what's up! I don't miss tubes.
So now the question for me is… Black Spirit or Blug Amp1?
I was impressed, I came to this video thinking this was a gimmick product by H&K which normally they don't do. But that was my pre-judgement attitude coming in. But I will say I was F'kn impressed...
Even if you were a straight tubey Stan. You could always pre out into power of your tube amp and BAM, huge versatility with tube amp feeling in the room
You managed to get that amp to sound pretty dang good. I had one for a week before I returned it. The cleans were great, crunch too. When it came to high gain I couldn’t dial out this weird bloated low end. Bummer because I was super psyched to have it. Regardless I hope they keep working on it because on paper it’s a killer beast.
Sounds real, and good!
I’ve got this amp. Amazing amp for the price. Does everything I need at the fraction of the cost
I like these solid state amps that are unashamed solid state with no modelling etc.
Tubes Schmubes! This amp sounds amazing!
It was a little fizzy on the top end. A lot of that does disappear in the mix. It's the solid state power section that I think is where a lot of lower end amps fall apart. If really tight is what one is looking for, especially for faster type riffs, solid state may be the way to go. The fuzziness of the top end really does give it the older vst type sound.
sounds really good!
Man I woulda killed for that back in the 90's
The ultra channel would benefit from an EQ in the loop to boost the mids. But it sounds great.
Well first of all that's a really tasty riff but the Black Spirit does have a great gain structure. Not the biggest fan of the ultra channel, the lead just has everything I'd want.
I really like my Blackspirit200 amp, but whenever I go back to my Amp1 Iridium, it's crazy how much better the Amp1 is. Just different tones I guess but I prefer the Amp1
The Amp1 rocks! Demo coming next week
@@SonicDriveStudio alright awesome!
Sounds very good!
The Amp Sounds Very Good like a tube Amp !
Sounds like it could be tubes. Try a Orange Super Crush 100 or Victory Sherriff? I've had one in my shopping cart for awhile. Thanks again!
Thanks for the video! I was actually just looking into a Solid State backup, and was looking at this Black Spirit 200 vs the Super Crush 100. Any hope for a comparison in the future? :D
Would love to but I don't have one
@@SonicDriveStudio thanks for the response! Absolutely understandable. Your demo is still extremely helpful!
And also you're a huge influence on me! Your content is awesome.
I don't _need_ tubes, but I sure do _want_ them. I like tubes. However, that said, I'd like to add a nice solid state amp to add a different tone among my tube amps.
This vs AMp1 Iridium vs Voctory v4 Kraken pedal amp? Your input would be invaluable on this subject that I am currently debating on my on (tone is crucial, not the bonus features, as IR outs or onboard effects, which are nice nevertheless...)
No other amp looks kooler than a H&K amp lit up😍
Super sick riffs. So this or the blug?
I was thinking about this amp, bit would like to see more extended down tuned tones you can get with the bs200 on 7 and 8’s
i'm not a 'tube' advocate, but the sound of this amp paled in comparison to your other tube amp demonstrations....at least to my insides....
The lines are blurring fast. Im most curious if it actually feels like a tube amp? Some of the ones ive tried recently just felt a bit sterile, maybe over under tones just not being expressed well (or predictably). Perhaps on high gain it really doesnt matter lol
To be honest, I think a lot of the reason solid state amps got a bad rep in the past is that they were often paired with cheap shitty cabs. Through a good cab these amps sound great. Though the way we make solid state amps in the modern era with tube like JFET circuits has definitely helped a lot too.
I had the BS200 and BluGuitar Amp1 for a couple of months. I kept the BluGuitar, as to my ears and playing was better than BS200. Yes, BS200 is cheaper, has more features, effects and sounds great for a solid state amp, but BluGuitar sounds better. Just my experience.
You'd like to see a video about these BluGuitar amps, see what you think :) All the best
How would you compare this to an Ampman?
i think the Blug guitar amp1 iridium sound better it has this hottroded jcm800 thing on classic channel
Is there such a thing as high gain Rock?
But is it worth $989?
Can you do a demo of your Mosaic Pedal? I bought one and it came defective. ☹️
Could be fun
valve is a luxury item for guitarists and audio enthusiasts only
but need? no
...and i still prefere my grandmeister 40 🎸
That's a great amp!
Now i know why I'm sticking with tubes !
No way. However, if you want good metal tone at crazy high volumes, it is an absolute must. You will not keep up with my Mesa Dual Rec, drummer with double bass and 20 cymbals smacking the hell out of em and a bass player cracking 500-1000watts with a Line 6 Spider or a Katana. You start looking at Kempers and Axe FXs and you’re in tube amp price range. I will always fall the way of buying a tube amp when that $1.5k hits my wallet and I just need to wait another couple weeks. I’m not huge on collecting anything though. Just what I need to operate. I need multiple guitars in different tunings.
I tried this amp in the past and just didn't get along with it and could not imagine the tones you got here.
Question is there anything you were not able to get a good sound out of?
Sure! Marshall Origin for example
@@SonicDriveStudio yeah on paper the origin seems like it could be so good but not so much. 😋
No one really needs tubes to get great guitar tones . The die hard tube guys are a small bunch who think they know something . Soon the price , un-reliability and scarcity of tubes will get them to face reality . Their heavy bulky boring and silly tube amps will not be worth anything , as no one will want them . Getting rid of my old tubed dinosaurs as quick as I can while they still may be worth a little now . This great sounding small amp in the video proves it all ! Cool vid , very cool amp bro .... as usual .
You won't know until you play this same amp for a few weeks, then switch back to your tube amp and then you will see why tubes will always rule.
Can you make a sound like that with a Boss Katana 100?
I mean you have it sounded really good. But you are a professional studio and you should do some real world recordings not polished studio recordings
The guitars are NOT polished at all! Raw tones!
Absolutely you need tubes, because the black spirit 200 uses NANO-TUBE.
No it doesn't
I don't approve this amplifier, I had it and sold it, I paid 800€ for it and I honestly think it's not worth it. The distortions (lead and ultra channel) are unsuitable in any configuration. both amp and cab only ,or amplifier connected to an audio interface with ir from the daw. lead and ultra channels always have that nasal sound (orrible in my personal case) I hear it in all the videos it is played in but not in yours... I think there are better amps that cost a lot less : like boss Katana mk2 head, or many mini tube amps.
The series you are bringing to youtube is wonderful, but not this amp which is failing on all fronts, except for the clean channel
Maybe the one you had was broken?
@@SonicDriveStudio as I wrote before, in all the videos where that amp is played it has that nasal sound, but not in your videos, I remember in an old video about this amp, another user wrote a similar thing wondering what you used for the post production audio, because this amp doesn't actually sound like it does in your videos.
Lol. There is NO post processing!
If the amp sounds that way, it probably needs a distortion pedal, preferrably with EQ.
I have a blackstar series 1-50, despite having super crunch channel, it can't chug on it's own so mine needed a distortion pedal and clean boost to make it rumble, sound heavy and pronounced.
There are Peavy amps that pack a lot of gain, that's why they rarely need a distortion pedal or boost. Other amps, on the other hand need pedals.
@@Mark-zi6nt yes it's true, but if i bought an amp that promises a really good distorsion why i need a distortion pedal?
I tried a 10 band eq by mxr in the fx loop, but I did not hear that terrible sound go away in my ears. Probably is a H&K caracteristics suonds, i hated this amp so much and finally sold it.
Tubes aren't absolutely necessary, but they are better