Just fixed a problem with my HT-1R head...

[hark]

...And I'm so relieved because I loved, I mean absolutely loved this little head through the blackheart 1X 12 cab I bought for it.
Here's the deal - do not, and I repeat - DO NOT audition this amp with cheap guitar cables. Don't love it in the store for a 20 minute glowfest
and then bring it home and try to sit near it and do anything high-gain after plugging in your strat with the super-thin, probably not sheilded at ALL mickey mouse guitar cable that it came with. All is just fine, I mean you're noticing that your usually not too bad single coil buzz is somewhat more pronounced and buzzy, especially at the bridge (Brand new Squier classic Vibe 60's strat - buy one for under 400 bucks & revel in the brilliance of this guitar line...!!!), but any venturing into high gain territory, say as soon as you get past one or two o'clock on the gain, (volume full up, gain channel engaged) produced the harshest, buzziest, crappiest solid state sounding, tone killing whine and buzz and static white noise cutting raspy ear assault. The decaying notes of a struck and held power chord actually just farted out into a dead stop with a grindingly final chhhschffffuutthhh**** and then just raspy interference and static, but the still to decay notes actually farted out of existence as if you'd just destroyed your speaker (Whatever Eminence driver is in the Blackheart BH112) or blown a power tube, or maybe spilled a full Bloody Mary into the amp's guts. I was sure a tube was microphonic (no, I do not know what a microphonic tube sounds like, but if it's awful, this was awful.) or there was something amiss with the high end of my gain channel. Amongst the maelstrom of white spitty, sputtering death-throes sounds, was a constant, high high pitched, very very thin, glassy whine, and it wasn't the sound of a disappointed first time tube amp buyer.

Hah, hah, so I'm an idiot, and when the proper guy to talk to at my local music store wasn't available to whine to until tomorrow, I went out and spent forty bucks on a 10 and a twenty foot quality Warwick cable, and all of the unpleasantness described above, every last little hiss and raspy, grating fun-killing sputter and protest, just disappeared like some sort of happy ending for an after-school special, replaced with warm, fuzzy, once-again exhilarated feelings as the high gain side of the amp demonstrated just what the Blackstar team have managed to do here. It's brilliant and awesomely farking innovative, and the response, the feel of a pushed into submission tube amp at low volumes, UK side or all fender-like, is just what I've been hoping for. (Hey, I might just be the winner of the run-on sentence of the week!)

Alrighty then, now that, once again I'm such a happy new tube amp owner, I will say with confidence that I'm glad I bought into the hype and gave it a go, it really is brilliant and satisfying, especially at the price point for the head.

Quality cables = a properly responding and performing little monster of a brilliant, innovative guitar head.
Shitty toy cables like you get with your low-end guitar may turn your Blackstar experience into a disappointing mess, when the amp is truly a killer.

Will be happy to write up a full, proper review of my beautiful new gear very soon, right now I'm just so happy that the gear I bought is performing, for real, waaaay better than I had hoped for.

[KKND]

The most entertaining thing I read since morning. Thanks

I agree, that little thing like cables, pre amp tubes and even speaker wires make the biggest of changes in tone. Actually I want ahead and ordered a quality speaker cable for my amp.

Enjoy your little beast. I am still gassing for an HT1 and 4x8