The Watering Hole

Rich is on to something regarding these amps.  I've looked into them since reading his post, and I have to say...for the price, these amps not only have a ton of versatility, but they sound pretty good. Instead of blabbing about them, check this vid (and see others folks have posted). Explains the Valve selection features (very cool), and takes it through its paces. He runs it dry up to about 5:45......so forward and start listening there. I like that he is on a Telecaster....really brings out the different tube tones as he goes through them. See what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkx0iV4PwtE

And here is one showing more of the high gain stuffs, but another good showing of how the different Valve settings sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHjLve3Adak

The 60 watt head is $499.

Whether or not my Vetta is dead or alive (which I will learn early next week), I'm grabbing this 60 watt head. Worse case, I can re-wire the Vetta 2x12 cab to push this head. Best case, I'm gonna have 2 amps to keep me in tone tweaking bliss for some time.

Sounds surprisingly nice for a non tube amp.

Does not sound like tubes to me, really at all...  The "TVP" (textured vegetable protein?) settings don't sound like tube power output sections to me either, though they do sound like EQ curves. EQ curve is really not very different between power tube topologies. Tubes are all about transfer characteristics, onset of distortion, compression--transformer core material is much more likely to change the eq of an amp.  Also the last two tube settings had weird digital glitches in them.  

On the other hand, I'm always interested when people try this. I keep hoping for the promise I first heard through my Pod 1, with headphones, before I really got finicky.  At $450, it's higher than the price of some really nice sounding, affordable tube amps.  Something like this would be a great pedal, that you then run through at tube amp, at around the $200 mark.  

We carry the Blackstar ID series amps at our store.  In person, these amps are MUCH better sounding than the clips.  Much more convincing for modeling.  The feel is very good and the Tube Power button does make a big difference in the sound and presence.  It affects things a LOT more in person, especially when you kick it on when it has not been on.  For the money, I'd take these over ANY of the other inexpensive modelers (Line6, Peavey, Fender).  In a heartbeat.  

Are the speakers in the vetta "guitar" speakers or full range speakers for use with the modeled cabs etc ?   If they are full range then I would think they will sound horrible with the ID60 head.

I seem to recall they were Celestion G12H-80's.

Dearthian: — May 13, 2014We carry the Blackstar ID series amps at our store.  In person, these amps are MUCH better sounding than the clips.  Much more convincing for modeling.  The feel is very good and the Tube Power button does make a big difference in the sound and presence.  It affects things a LOT more in person, especially when you kick it on when it has not been on.  For the money, I'd take these over ANY of the other inexpensive modelers (Line6, Peavey, Fender).  In a heartbeat.  

I hear you, but there's a nagging little voice in my head that says things that sound good, sound good recorded. For my personal use, if it sounds good in person, and not good recorded, it's worthless.  We record between 5 and 20 hours of guitar a week, and we've got amps that cost half as much (to build) that sound great recorded, and feel great when you play them.  I used to not believe in tubes--used to think you could get there with a model of the transfer characteristic, some sweet math crunching nonlinear frequency response, some modeled distortion.  Now I see what you can do with a cheap tube amp that you just can't do in a computer--yet.  I keep hoping to become a believer, because I'd rather solder inside stuff running at 15v than 500v.

And that is cool too Charger.  It is really good for what it is.  But I like tubes too and would buy that for myself.  I was only looking at it from the playing standpoint.   Plus I am fully trained in the School of Howie Coleman Silent Recording, so it would be quite perfect.   ;)

charger — May 14, 2014[quote author=Dearthian: The Gear Pimp link=1399692116/0#3 date=1399945665]We carry the Blackstar ID series amps at our store.  In person, these amps are MUCH better sounding than the clips.  Much more convincing for modeling.  The feel is very good and the Tube Power button does make a big difference in the sound and presence.  It affects things a LOT more in person, especially when you kick it on when it has not been on.  For the money, I'd take these over ANY of the other inexpensive modelers (Line6, Peavey, Fender).  In a heartbeat.  

I hear you, but there's a nagging little voice in my head that says things that sound good, sound good recorded. For my personal use, if it sounds good in person, and not good recorded, it's worthless.  We record between 5 and 20 hours of guitar a week, and we've got amps that cost half as much (to build) that sound great recorded, and feel great when you play them.  I used to not believe in tubes--used to think you could get there with a model of the transfer characteristic, some sweet math crunching nonlinear frequency response, some modeled distortion.  Now I see what you can do with a cheap tube amp that you just can't do in a computer--yet.  I keep hoping to become a believer, because I'd rather solder inside stuff running at 15v than 500v.

The speakers in the Vetta cab are Celestion G12H-90's.

http://www.amazon.com/Celestion-G12H-Guitar-Speaker-Ohm/dp/B000X3LAR6

Should be decent with other rigs. Lots of low end, smooth in the middle with distortion, and punchy highs on twangy stuff.

What I like about these Blackstar amps is that they aren't modeling other specific amps, but taking a different route in modeling pre-amp and power amp types. So while the 6L6 power amp coupled with the OD1 might have the gain and some characteristics of a Dual Rec, the tone isn't 'colored' to sound just like a Dual Rec.

That is where I get annoyed by most modeling amps...the coloration of whatever modeled amp is almost always taken to the extreme.

I will say, however, the Fender Mustang V head does an incredible job of replicating...guess what...Fender amps. Not so great with other brands. But I will probably grab another one in the future just to have a good arsenal of decent Fender tones at my disposal. That amp shines if you want Fender tone, especially for the price ($299 for a new one).

And again, here is hoping my Vetta can be revived. The shop is still waiting on that specialized internal battery to arrive to try to get it going. Yeah I attempted to replace it, but apparently a generic battery without the specific solder(sp?) points on the battery doesn't suffice for these things. What makes this amp work so well is the ability to run 2 amps at once, along side with the cab mix and match.  I had it running all of one week, but had some KILLER combos already dialed in.

Like I said, I'm going to grab the Blackstar head regardless of the Vetta. If the Vetta comes to life, then I'll grab a cab for the BS. I admit it...I have a boner for the ability to tweak between different power amp Tube-types. Might not sound like real tubes, but from what I've heard and read, it's not far off. And at that price...why not?

Johnny — May 19, 2014The speakers in the Vetta cab are Celestion G12H-90's.

http://www.amazon.com/Celestion-G12H-Guitar-Speaker-Ohm/dp/B000X3LAR6

Should be decent with other rigs. Lots of low end, smooth in the middle with distortion, and punchy highs on twangy stuff.

What I like about these Blackstar amps is that they aren't modeling other specific amps, but taking a different route in modeling pre-amp and power amp types. So while the 6L6 power amp coupled with the OD1 might have the gain and some characteristics of a Dual Rec, the tone isn't 'colored' to sound just like a Dual Rec.

That is where I get annoyed by most modeling amps...the coloration of whatever modeled amp is almost always taken to the extreme.

I will say, however, the Fender Mustang V head does an incredible job of replicating...guess what...Fender amps. Not so great with other brands. But I will probably grab another one in the future just to have a good arsenal of decent Fender tones at my disposal. That amp shines if you want Fender tone, especially for the price ($299 for a new one).

And again, here is hoping my Vetta can be revived. The shop is still waiting on that specialized internal battery to arrive to try to get it going. Yeah I attempted to replace it, but apparently a generic battery without the specific solder(sp?) points on the battery doesn't suffice for these things. What makes this amp work so well is the ability to run 2 amps at once, along side with the cab mix and match.  I had it running all of one week, but had some KILLER combos already dialed in.

Like I said, I'm going to grab the Blackstar head regardless of the Vetta. If the Vetta comes to life, then I'll grab a cab for the BS. I admit it...I have a boner for the ability to tweak between different power amp Tube-types. Might not sound like real tubes, but from what I've heard and read, it's not far off. And at that price...why not?

If that's what you want, and it's worth it to you, go for it.  But I just have to note here that there are *23* tube heads listed on guitarcenter.com, at $499 or below.  What can I say--I like tubes.

I put a G12H in the peavey that I had (since sold it).  That was the worst decision I made on that amp.  The original blue marvel speaker had a nasty honky mid top end that I didn't like, but it had a nice load of bottom end. However, the G12H just didn't seem to have any bottom end at all, or maybe it needed a closed back cab ?