Blackstar HT 5R – the blend of great reverb, good tone and affordability. It seems like it could be the perfect choice for people who play guitar at home or in a studio. But is it as good as it looks?
In this article, we’re going to take a close look at the Blackstar HT 5R amp. Eguitarmania will discover pros and cons, and provide an in-depth understanding of Blackstar HT 5R. We’ll talk about everything from the sounds it can make to how easy it is to use. You’ll get to hear what other people think about it and what the experts say, too.
Specification of Blackstar HT 5R
The HT-5R has always been a top seller for Blackstar. It is the classic low-watt practice amp, with only five watts of power. And the MkII version takes things to the next level with revoiced channels and a lot of player-friendly features that come from its higher-watt sibling. The improved clean channel on the HT-5R MkII is the perfect example of a modern boutique tone, and the drive channel offers a wide range of warped sounds.
| Number of Channels | 2 |
| EQ | 3-band EQ, ISF control |
| Footswitch I/O | 1 x 1/4″ (channel, voice) |
| Speaker Size | 1 x 12″ |
| W – H – D | 17.36″ – 16.16″- 9.80″ |
| Weight | 27.33 lbs |
This Blackstar pedal also has a special feature called “Infinite Shape” that lets you pick from a huge selection of sounds, ranging from exciting British edge-of-breakup grit to tight and snappy American high gain. A speaker-emulated output, a USB output, an effects loop, and more are also built in. For any purpose, the HT-5R MkII provides excellent tube tone, making it a superb selection for your workshop or practice area.
Blackstar HT 5R Reviews
Let’s look at all the things that make the Blackstar HT 5R a great choice:
Build and Design
The first thing we notice about this amplifier when we take it out of the box is its elegant design, which makes it better than its more workmanlike preceding generations. The elephant-hide-textured tolex, the cream chicken-head knobs, and the well-known Blackstar weave cloth all give the impression that the price is much higher.
From an aesthetic point of view, the amplifier has a nice, simple design. Black material that looks like leather, with black corner guards and a black leather handle. The way it looks and feels makes me think it can handle being dragged around. The metal knobs are the only really bad thing about it. The marker is also chrome, making it hard to see what your dial is set to.
Price
Priced at $549.9, the HT-5R is a high-performance speaker with a full, dark sound that loves old rock riffs.
Both amps have speaker outputs and voice and channel settings that can be switched with your foot. However, only the HT-5 comes with a foot switch built in.
When you plug it in, you can choose between two channels, each with its own gain and volume controls. Both channels take a tone from the Marshall Class 5 that made us “ear-gasm.”
Sound and Tone
The clear channel will be the starting point. Even when turned down, it sounds clear and full. It might not seem like there is much to the single tone knob, but it actually has a beautiful range of tones, from warm and punchy to bright and clear. A wonderful range of sounds lies between those two extremes.
This channel’s “voices” can be changed to go one step further. If you plug the switch in, the “British” setting has a less tight bass response and a warmer mid-range. It also responds very differently depending on how loud the guitar is and how dynamic the player is. The “American” setting is very clean and bright when the switch is off, and the low end is strong and tight. It sounds great for a solo or for letting the chord notes ring out.
The clean channel gets a little dirty when the volume is turned up, which really brings the amp to life. It works great for songs that start out soft and build up to an intense chorus before going back to being soft. It’s really cool to hear how the rhythms of your playing change the amount of reverb you get when you use the “British” sound.
The bass response is full and strong, and the new reverb adds to the detailed, unique trebles without overpowering them.
Blackstar tube amps
But let’s not fool ourselves. The real party starts on the distorted channel. With the famous ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) knob and a three-band equalizer, you can turn up sounds from AC/DC to Metallica. This channel’s Tone knob lets you set a more standard British gain at one end and an American-style gain at the other. The same is true for this channel’s ISF knob. To say it again, I love the range of tones that are in the middle.
There is also a voice switch on the distortion channel, which gives your sound even more clarity. You get what Blackstar calls a ‘classic’ but ‘hot-rodded’ overdrive” when the switch is off. Toggle the switch in to make the overdrive sound better. It has a strong mid-emphasised pre-overdrive boost as well as a looser, more aggressive sound. It’s hard to put into words, but you can hear the difference. With one click of the foot switch, it’s kind of like going from a Marshall to a Mesa-Boogie. It is really amazing.
The built-in echo makes the whole thing look really nice, and it can make the classic all-tube guitar sound in almost any style you want.
Selection of outputs
The Blackstar HT-5R Mk II has a huge number of outlets on the back of the amp.
You can choose from three different sound outputs. The first is a single 16-ohm output for the 12-inch (16-ohm) Blackstar-designed speaker that is built in. I like the built-in speaker. I think it was made to fit the HT-5R’s size and materials, but you could use something else.
With the second choice, you could send the sound to a single 8-ohm speaker or cabinet if you wanted to. If you want to move a little more air, the third choice lets you power two 16-ohm speakers or cabinets.
Overall, it’s great that you have these choices and that the HT-5R can drive a lot of different speaker setups. Just make sure that the output of the amp and the voltage level of the speakers are a good match. If they aren’t, you could damage the amp. To learn more about how to match resistance values, click here.
Cabinet Emulation
The HT-5R MkII has cabinet simulation built in, so you can send a balanced, mono XLR input to a board for mixing and recording without any noise. It’s nice that there is a switch that lets you choose between simulating a 1×12 or 4×12 box.
The headphone jack is also back here. You can also change the way the cabinet sounds, and it sounds great, but a bit compressed, like their digital modeling amps. When it comes to heavy metal, I really love the way those speakers sound. Just keep in mind that if you use the cabinet simulation, you might need to make some more sound changes.
Thanks for bringing back the effects .Plus, they added a switch that lets you connect to a lot of different effects gear. It feels like the amp is giving me another great treat.
Various Player-friendly additions
A lot of people buy the HT-5R MkII because of its tone. However, Blackstar knows what gamers need. This all-tube combo amp already sounds great, and they added enough features to make it your go-to amp right away.
There is more depth and clarity in the revoiced echo than ever before. The built-in power reduction circuit makes it easy to get cranked tones to the right noise levels. The copied line-out and USB audio output will also be very helpful for your sound engineer.
Choosing the OD route makes people more likely to do bad things because there is a lot to gain. When we play louder tones, they sound full-bodied and only sometimes fizzy. But it’s when we play blues and other styles on the HT-1R MkII’s truly amazing lower/medium gain settings that it really shines.
We hear some great tones that remind us of Gary Moore, Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, and others, though they aren’t as big. Of course, you could add a cab to your setup using the handy speaker out.
Things I Like And Don’t Like
Even though the foot switch feels a little plasticky and light, I glad we don’t have to pay an extra $59.95 to be able to use our feet to click the clickies.
It’s hard to see the control buttons because they are set back in a recess. As you learn, you might want to keep this amp on the ground below you so you can read the labels on the knobs.
The only thing this amp is missing is a three-band EQ for the clean channel. We knew this, though. If we’re lucky, the Mk III will somehow make it possible for the clean channel to use the three-band EQ from the distortion channel.
This little guy costs about $450, which may be too much for the average picker to spend on an amp that isn’t strong enough for many gigs. But this little Blackstar does a lot for the price for home pickers who care a lot about tone.
Final Thought
To sum up, the Blackstar HT-5 is a great amp that doesn’t cost a lot of money. It has huge tones, and the effects loop, gain levels, and speaker mimic really set it apart from other low-wattage small tube amps. If you play music that mostly uses a dirty channel, the HT-5 will work well for performances, the studio, and practice if you pair it with the right speakers.
