Tube Swap in Blackstar HT Dual.

Discussion - HT Pedals. Heavenly Boxes.
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majikmojo
Posts: 1329
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:00 am
Location: hollywood florida

Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:50 pm

glad to hear someone is in agreement about the control tweaking on these amps...
i've been preaching that for a while - for people to be patient and keep messing with the eq/isf/pres
they all work in conjunction with one another and it does take quite a while to figure out the exact
combination you need to get the tones...and that doesnt include pedals or guitars

plug and play is great for the bedroom but in a live situation you have to KNOW what the controls
do and how to change them and not affect the overall sound ;)

Jono
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:00 am

Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:45 am

Yep. And the at home sound won't work at the rehearsal and the rehearsal sound won't work at the gig. Fun ain't it? You get a clue though once you get one of them right. Funny thing is although you can't describe the tone you want - not even to yourself - when you find it you just know. THis stuff will drive you nuts if you let it.

Which leads to a long held theory I have that the people who are really up there in terms of talent all have something in common - they have the ears. Once you get 'your' tone you can play so much better. I suspect that the really good guys got their tone quickly and then went on to shine. Not like me who has spent decades and owned a boatload of amps that didn't give me what I wanted. Also what works for <insert the name of your fave hot dog guitarist> just might not work for you. Sorry....

Like I say - stay sane. Image

IM4Tone
Posts: 505
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:00 am
Location: Emporium, PA

Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:31 pm

Jono wrote:Yep. And the at home sound won't work at the rehearsal and the rehearsal sound won't work at the gig. Fun ain't it? You get a clue though once you get one of them right. Funny thing is although you can't describe the tone you want - not even to yourself - when you find it you just know. THis stuff will drive you nuts if you let it.

Which leads to a long held theory I have that the people who are really up there in terms of talent all have something in common - they have the ears. Once you get 'your' tone you can play so much better. I suspect that the really good guys got their tone quickly and then went on to shine. Not like me who has spent decades and owned a boatload of amps that didn't give me what I wanted. Also what works for <insert the name of your fave hot dog guitarist> just might not work for you. Sorry....

Like I say - stay sane. Image
^^^+100% (all except "stay sane" and it's too late for that :shock: )

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majikmojo
Posts: 1329
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:00 am
Location: hollywood florida

Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:19 pm

^^^ agree...my sane ship sailed a while back :lol:

sd_kirk
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:00 am

Wed Feb 19, 2014 3:07 pm

HammyHamFist wrote:
Just replaced the sovtek with a mullard ecc83 nos (new old stock) in my HT-drive and its like having a new pedal. First thing i noted about the mullard was it was less harsh than the sovtek really smooth sounding. There was more of everything with a balanced detailed sound across the bass, mid-range and top end and when you raise the gain knob the notes really sing and sustain effortlessly, the whole sound sounds so much bigger almost 3d.
Bit late to the party but wanted to echo the above re Mullard tube. Was about to ditch my HT-Dual for a new pedal as I just couldn’t get the sound I wanted from it – channel 1 was fine, but I just couldn’t get a decent drive from channel 2 – but decided on a tube swap as a (cheaper) last resort. Swapped the Sovtek for a Mullard Groove Tubes ECC83/5751 from Watford Valves and the difference is immeasurable! Channel 1 is so much fuller sounding, with more brightness and clarity that I didn’t realise I was missing, and channel 2 has gone from being (IMHO) muddy, almost grainy, to a lovely warm, smooth overdrive. I don’t play high gain stuff, mainly modern country pop / rock, so may not work for everyone, but changing the tube has really opened up my sound, and would highly recommend it.

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