S1 50 vs HT 1w

[Chalky]

Hi

I bought a little Blackstar 1w combo while working overseas recently and was so taken with rediscovering playing at the sweet spot that I bought a Series One head thinking the DPR would offer the same at any volume. I have not yet got a cabinet, I thought I would do some research on that before committing, but putting the S1 head through the two speakers in my Marshall JVM combo, I was unable to get that same sweet spot feel out of the S1 head as I can with the little 1w combo. Guitarist magazine (I think August 2009) suggests you should be able to find the sweet spot by maxing the gain and master volume while pulling back the DPR to bedroom level; I could not get this to work, and now I am not sure what I should be expecting. I went to UTube to see if there was a benchmark there but no, can anyone advise?

[PTF]

It's a little hard to advise as you're talking in very subjective terms. For one thing the 'sweet spot' is likely to mean very different things to different people.

Apart from pure Wattage, the HT-1 and S1-50 are very different amps, tonally - so if you're trying to recreate the sound you got from the HT-1, then that's going to be a struggle.

Can you advise what sort of tones you're after and maybe somebody can point you in the right direction...

[Chalky]

Hi

thanks for that PTF. Yes, quite right, I cannot just whistle up the same characteristics as the HT1. I am mainly after a classic medium to high gain tone (but not too high, say Gary Moore or Geoff Whitehorn, certainly not metal!) almost on the point of 'feeding back' but that can also pull back to a clear but 'just'clipped' clipped bluesy rythm by reducing the volume pot - it offers a great feel that you cannot get using stage gain or pedals, and that's what I meant by sweet spot but perhaps I am not technically quite on cue with that! I have achieved this in the past using an old Marshall 50 combo at high volume levels, but now need to acheive it at lower levels. I was initially influenced by a Guitarist Magazine review which indicated you can get the 50w head to achieve the sweet spot if you max the gain and master volume when reducing the DPR.

In addition I have recently seen a UTube footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5lQmijZA2o) of Freddy deMarco, one of Blackstar's guitarists displaying the S1 50w head and overdriving the clean stage and redusing the DPR to get the power amp sag effect; he demonstrates this 4 minutes into the video and gets a great SRV lead tone on his tele neck pick up on the clean channel. I tried to see the pot settings but of course you can't see them, I can hardly see mine close up without specs.

When I tried to replicate these two different situations I could hear no difference that the output stage was making when maxing the master volume against the reduced DPR; of course I was using low overall levels, but then that is why I bought it. Grateful for any advice, particularly if there is a video or some pot settings to benchmark my amp against expected sound-alike so that at least I know the amp is working properly and some component hasn't gone phut.

Thanks again.

[Bigsmudger]

Hi Chalky

Doesn't sound to me like anything's broken....I don't think a DPR will drop a maxed 50w head volume to bedroom levels on it's own.

I've got the S1-45 combo and an S1-50 head and I can't reduce the volume with DPR to be able to play home friendly volumes with, unless I'm controlling it with the master. I've gigged both on the lowest DPR with master at 12 o clock and channel volume at 11 o clock over a loud drummer. These Series Ones are very loud beasts and I doubt you'll be able to max the power stage at home without an attenuator, or at least having the pre amp at a ridiculously low setting.

If I use my combo at home, I'm rarely past 9 o clock on the master with the lowest DPR setting.
My other settings, if they are any good to you:

Warm Clean - Pre Gain 12 o clock, Ch Vol 11 o clock
Drive - Crunch 3 o clock, S/Crunch - Gain 1 o clock, Ch Vol 11 o clock

Of course, these may not give you the sound you want.
They do take a while to 'dial in' the sound you're after and mine still needs the odd tweak.
Hope this helps a bit.

Smudger

[Chalky]

Thanks Smudger, that is very helpful, I will persevere

[peterjc]

I personally think the DPR is a lot of BS and really just another volume pot!!! I can't hear any difference, in fact i never touch the DPR. I play mine 50 watt head at bedroom volumes by maxing the gain and tickle the master then use the volume pot on your guitar to clean the signal up if you want. Having said that these amps sound great loud as do all amps so i suggest leave it on full headroom it'll sound better.