Blackstar HT1R Speaker swap - Blackbird 15 =>Jensen C8R
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:25 am
Hallo Everyone!
Today I changed my internal speaker to a Jensen C8R, and I want to share my first impressions with you
First of all, i bought my used Combo about 6 Months or so, and I like it pretty much.
My Signal Path is a Hagstrom Super Swede into a few pedals (EHX Nano Overdrive, sometimes a VOX Tonelab ST, Boss RC3 Looper, Digitech Band Trio) into the Blackstar HT1R Combo.but most of the time i play just pure guitar to the amp.
Today I learned, that my Tubes are Sovtec and EHX
This afternoon I received my new speaker, and after 10 mins the swap was done everything fitted perfectly, anyone who can handle a screw driver can do the job
Long story short: An Update with two faces...
Clean Channel
Oh my god, what a difference! I'm not the best in explaining sounds, but I'll try.
Pretty good low end for that small closed cabin, if you position the combo in the corner of a small room, the bass is imo too much, and the ISF doesn't change that anyway, but more of that later. The mids and highs make the biggest difference, it sounds so much clearer, it seems that the frequency response in the high end is the major difference to the OEM Blackbird 15.
When you turn Vol to max, and the gain up to the point between leaving clean and getting crunchy, you will find your gain settings between 1 to 2 o clock(Humbuckers) and 2 to 3 o clock (Coil Split on), depending on your picking.
The volume level seems to be louder, so i would call this a plus in headroom
You can hear so much more details compared to the OEM Blackbird15, so it will definitely reveal my mistakes even more
When you turn the gain to max, it already sounds like a soft overdrive or a fuzz, you can change that with the ISF knob. US left means overdrive, UK right means fuzz.
Overdrive Channel
Oh my god, what a difference as well, but actually to the worse (imo) or my ears are still used to the stock OEM?!
The overdrive sounds fuzzy when you turn the gain more than 12 o clock. Turning it up just adds fuzz and high frequency noises, at least it sounds like that.
Actually I was wondering if my OD channel is broken, but that fuzzy sound comes with the EHX Nano Overdrive in front of the clean channel too, when you turn the gain more than 11 or 12 o clock.
In this category i actually prefer the stock speaker right now, maybe i get used to it or i'll find a good setting.
So these are my impressions on day 1 of my upgraded Combo, tomorrow it may occur different to me
Some questions came up:
So why is that?
Do I hear my tubes dying? Or do they simply don't fit to the new speaker sound?
I don't know if the preowner has ever changed them, I haven't yet. any suggestions?
Or has this rasp overdrive sound always been there, and the blackbird speaker was just hiding that??
Or is the Celestion 8-15 the better choice?
The speaker upgrade is a win in the clean channel, and "just ok" in the OD Channel, as long as the gain knob stays low.
Today I changed my internal speaker to a Jensen C8R, and I want to share my first impressions with you
First of all, i bought my used Combo about 6 Months or so, and I like it pretty much.
My Signal Path is a Hagstrom Super Swede into a few pedals (EHX Nano Overdrive, sometimes a VOX Tonelab ST, Boss RC3 Looper, Digitech Band Trio) into the Blackstar HT1R Combo.but most of the time i play just pure guitar to the amp.
Today I learned, that my Tubes are Sovtec and EHX
This afternoon I received my new speaker, and after 10 mins the swap was done everything fitted perfectly, anyone who can handle a screw driver can do the job
Long story short: An Update with two faces...
Clean Channel
Oh my god, what a difference! I'm not the best in explaining sounds, but I'll try.
Pretty good low end for that small closed cabin, if you position the combo in the corner of a small room, the bass is imo too much, and the ISF doesn't change that anyway, but more of that later. The mids and highs make the biggest difference, it sounds so much clearer, it seems that the frequency response in the high end is the major difference to the OEM Blackbird 15.
When you turn Vol to max, and the gain up to the point between leaving clean and getting crunchy, you will find your gain settings between 1 to 2 o clock(Humbuckers) and 2 to 3 o clock (Coil Split on), depending on your picking.
The volume level seems to be louder, so i would call this a plus in headroom
You can hear so much more details compared to the OEM Blackbird15, so it will definitely reveal my mistakes even more
When you turn the gain to max, it already sounds like a soft overdrive or a fuzz, you can change that with the ISF knob. US left means overdrive, UK right means fuzz.
Overdrive Channel
Oh my god, what a difference as well, but actually to the worse (imo) or my ears are still used to the stock OEM?!
The overdrive sounds fuzzy when you turn the gain more than 12 o clock. Turning it up just adds fuzz and high frequency noises, at least it sounds like that.
Actually I was wondering if my OD channel is broken, but that fuzzy sound comes with the EHX Nano Overdrive in front of the clean channel too, when you turn the gain more than 11 or 12 o clock.
In this category i actually prefer the stock speaker right now, maybe i get used to it or i'll find a good setting.
So these are my impressions on day 1 of my upgraded Combo, tomorrow it may occur different to me
Some questions came up:
So why is that?
Do I hear my tubes dying? Or do they simply don't fit to the new speaker sound?
I don't know if the preowner has ever changed them, I haven't yet. any suggestions?
Or has this rasp overdrive sound always been there, and the blackbird speaker was just hiding that??
Or is the Celestion 8-15 the better choice?
The speaker upgrade is a win in the clean channel, and "just ok" in the OD Channel, as long as the gain knob stays low.