Owners of HT-1 Metal Tube Amp Opinions

[DudeistMonk]

I have been thinking about buying this amp but my concern is that the ability to dial in your own sound is limited by the lack of tradition IQ. I love my Core ID 10 but without the bass, mid and treble controls the USb cable and insider software the ability to control sound would be more limited. The ISQ is great to give me he difference between a marshall or fender feel but what are peoples thoughts on not having a traditional tone knob or EQ?

[thephantum]

The ISF is a tone control. It's just a eq sweep across specific midrange frequencies...as opposed to a traditional tone control which is just treble bleed.

To be completely honest, lunchbox tube amps like the HT-1 are not meant for "tweaking" of sound. They are meant to be dimed out and played loud to get true tube tone without shattering windows.

As an example, I have an HT-5RH. The gain channel has traditional treb/mid/bass controls, but the clean channel is mainly what I play. It only has tone and volume. I just dime out both of them and let the tubes to do the rest.

[DudeistMonk]

The ISF is a tone control. It's just a eq sweep across specific midrange frequencies...as opposed to a traditional tone control which is just treble bleed.

To be completely honest, lunchbox tube amps like the HT-1 are not meant for "tweaking" of sound. They are meant to be dimed out and played loud to get true tube tone without shattering windows.

As an example, I have an HT-5RH. The gain channel has traditional treb/mid/bass controls, but the clean channel is mainly what I play. It only has tone and volume. I just dime out both of them and let the tubes to do the rest.

so would it be something I play mainly clean with a pedal? I have never had anything but solid state amps. Maybe I am just meant to have solid state amps. I always need a real heavy distortion.

[thephantum]

It's not a matter of getting more distortion out of one over the other....I have no doubt that the Metal series will have more than enough gain for you. It's that tube amps create distortion differently than solid state amps, so it sounds different. Typically, a solid state amp will sound better at lower volumes than a tube amp will....but at gig levels a tube amp will typically outshine a solid state one. The distortion will be thicker, warmer and more natural sounding (digital vs analog).

Modeling amps like the ID series try to emulate what a tube amp sounds like. They come really close, but nothing sounds like a cranked up tube amp.

The downside to most tube amps is the care and feeding necessary. The good news with the HT-1 is that it uses inexpensive tubes AND does not require biasing on the power tube. So when you do have to re-tube, it's just a matter of plug and play.

I prefer the clean channel on tube amps because I prefer getting my overdrive from the power tubes....not from the preamp. That's just a personal preference though and the technique I use to create my OD would not work on a solid state amp....only on amps with bottles.

[Enlive]

If your into more high gain tones then what that dude is talking about, cranking it, will not get you your desired result that just mushes it up and is more for a classic rock/crunch distortion. My cousin has the HT-5 Metal and although yes it has all the eq controls when theyre all at noon and just use the isf it sounds awesome. if you wanted more control I would just get an eq pedal. They're pretty cheap like the Behringer EQ700 works great and is like $20 shipped. But in all honesty I wouldn't be worried about it the amp sounds nasty. I personally have the ID TVP amps 30 combo, 260 combo, and 60 head because I love the versatility and having the effects all in one. And it DOES get that tube sound and feel so worst case if your not happy I would say go ID TVP route. Afterall it is modeled after the Series One amps 6 channels.

[DudeistMonk]

Thank you everyone. I think I might try the ID TVP route. I probably just need to get to a dealer and play these things.

[thephantum]

If your into more high gain tones then what that dude is talking about, cranking it, will not get you your desired result that just mushes it up and is more for a classic rock/crunch distortion.

If that were the case, then guys like James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, etc, would all use solid state amps....they don't....they all use tubes. Look it up.

[Enlive]

So your saying everyone who uses a tube amp that doesnt have theyre master volume at 10 dimed out should not have a tube amp? For metal you want a tight hi gain sound. When you dime the master volume it gets mushy and looses definition with hi gain stuff. For blues or jazz... sure im sure youd cream your pants but metal... youd get raped in the mix with a flabby tone like that. Having the master below noon is plenty good enough to get the power tubes to sound good.

[thephantum]

No, it doesn't have to be dimed out. It depends on the amp, the tubes in that amp, the effects being used, the amount of power, what sound you are going for...the list goes on and on.

If you actually read what I wrote:

...lunchbox tube amps like the HT-1 are not meant for "tweaking" of sound. They are meant to be dimed out and played loud to get true tube tone without shattering windows.

He asked for an opinion of the HT-1 metal...I gave it. It's a low watt practice amp: You crank it, you practice.

That does not mean that's how you should use EVERY tube amp in EVERY situation. No where did I say that.

What I said is for blues/rock (which is what I play more of these days) I prefer to slam my power amp and make the tubes give me the growl I want. When I do play high gain metal I want the power tubes to just compress and not breakup. That's going to give me a seething, knife edge to my distortion. To get that there's no need to slam a high signal load into the power amp. So I go high on the master (around 3 o'clock) and lower on the channel volume. That's because I create most of my distortion before it even hit's the amp. I just let it get augmented by the preamp and then compressed/amplified by the power tubes...and it will absolutely slice through the muddiest of mixes.

The point is, there's more than one way to skin a cat. If your never getting the master up past noon, why bother with a tube amp? You might get a very little bit of swirl...and that has it's place. But if that's ALL your using it for, most modeling amps can emulate that...and they require a ton less care and feeding.

On the other hand, you can't get the volume up past noon because it's too loud for the mix, then you have too much power and need to step down in wattage....don't use a sledgehammer to drive a finishing nail. Right tool for the right job.

Again, all this is off topic. The original question was for opinions on the HT-1 metal...

[rumfoord]

I just recently bought an HT-1 Metal (I've had it a week), and it might be nice having a traditional tone knob as well. But I haven't found it to be too annoying.

The thing that's pretty different for me is that I'm using the volume knob and tone knob on the guitar a LOT more to dial in a sound. This can sometimes make it slightly more difficult to get the right tone at the right volume. But for me it's not something I can't learn, and it's not bothering me. But it is different than the way I've approached other amps with a traditional tone stack.