Darker tone

[Mike]

The ht5s don't respond to tube changes as much as other amps because of all of the opamps in them. You can shape it a little, but the best bet would be to replace your speaker or get an eq for the effects loop.

Sorry, but I call BS on that. I've changed the preamp tube a couple of times on my HT-5 to experiment with tone and it most certainly has a noticeable effect on the tone, feel, and distortion. The stock ECC83 (think it was a JJ) had a darker tone, and was less compressed than the 12AX7 Tung-Sol and Sovtek tubes I tried. The Tung-Sol is what I'm currently using and I absolutely love it. It has the perfect amount of compression that really helps everything balance out nicely and not let the lows overpower the top end (and vice versa), plus it saturates a bit sooner which is nice for the bedroom player. The Sovtek for me increased headroom, but took away from the fast saturation I get with the Tung-Sol, so that's what I ended up going back to. Rant aside, changing the preamp tube on an HT-5 most certainly has an effect on it.

A tube change honestly probably won't help though. I don't think any of the 12AX7 tubes are really darker than the stock one and whenever you first put a new tube in the amp, it's always brighter than when it's broken in.

Try thicker strings. Easier/cheaper than messing with an amp.

I can't remember the last time someone charged me money to walk up to my amp and tweak a bunch of knobs Unless you mean tubes, in which case he'd only mess with swapping a preamp tube and they run about $12-$13 so you are correct, not as cheap as strings, but at the same time, I don't think it's going to break his bank.

 

[Shimme]

^Yeah I meant that as trying out different strings instead of swapping tubes/capacitors as some people are suggesting. Just saying that he should try it as he'll switch out strings somewhat regularly. I figured that he knows that twisting knobs on his amp changes his sound

But he should definitely break in that speaker first

 

[totalnewb]

Sorry, but I call BS on that. I've changed the preamp tube a couple of times on my HT-5 to experiment with tone and it most certainly has a noticeable effect on the tone, feel, and distortion. The stock ECC83 (think it was a JJ) had a darker tone, and was less compressed than the 12AX7 Tung-Sol and Sovtek tubes I tried. The Tung-Sol is what I'm currently using and I absolutely love it. It has the perfect amount of compression that really helps everything balance out nicely and not let the lows overpower the top end (and vice versa), plus it saturates a bit sooner which is nice for the bedroom player. The Sovtek for me increased headroom, but took away from the fast saturation I get with the Tung-Sol, so that's what I ended up going back to. Rant aside, changing the preamp tube on an HT-5 most certainly has an effect on it.

A tube change honestly probably won't help though. I don't think any of the 12AX7 tubes are really darker than the stock one and whenever you first put a new tube in the amp, it's always brighter than when it's broken in.



I can't remember the last time someone charged me money to walk up to my amp and tweak a bunch of knobs Unless you mean tubes, in which case he'd only mess with swapping a preamp tube and they run about $12-$13 so you are correct, not as cheap as strings, but at the same time, I don't think it's going to break his bank.

The amphead I got at xmas so it's less than a month old and the speaker I got at the beginning of Jan. So both are new. Also am using 12s on the schuldiner b.c. rich. So barring any other suggestions, I suppose I should wait a while and see how things play out? That's the vibe I am getting anyway. ( not sure how long it takes to break in either.)

 

[vick1000]

You don't roll "mids" to darken tone, you roll off highs and high mids (3khz-8khz). To get the desired effect if the amps EQ is rolling off too much low mids, use your tone knob. If that cuts to deep, add a low value cap between the hot and ground legs of your volume pot. I like a .0033uf (3300pf) to cut that fizzyness off the top, and let me bring some high mids back in on the amp. If you want it darker, just raise the cap value.

If you are looking for Chuck's tone though, you have the wrong amp. You want a Marshall 8100 or VS100. Though there are other solid state amps that get close, the Peavey XXL and original Vypyrs can get close.

 

[protest]

Here's some things to do:

-Keep the ISF above noon (free)
-See how the gain effects tone. Sometimes more gain will make the tone darker (free)
-Strings rated on the warmer side. Companies sometimes have a scale of where the strings fall on the bright to warm spectrum (~$10)
-Change out the preamp tube to a JJ (~$15)
-Buy a used Danelectro fish & chips EQ pedal. Put it in the loop and mess with the sliders (~$20)

Also if you can play with some volume, buy some ear plugs and push the amp volume up a bit. The earplugs will dampen the high end, so even though it might still be bright it won't sound like it.

 

[Mike]

Yeah play it a while and break your new gear in. Tube amps and speaker cabs are always brightest when they're new. The ISF knob is, to me the equivalent of a presence control (except it's assbackwards on the HT-5) It's essentially supposed to be a knob that switches between a more modern (USA) tone to the left, and a British tone (which is much darker on this amp) all the way to the right. What is "ISF"? - Blackstar

vick1000...I know..., but on this amp mids really bring out the presence and have a bigger effect on the tone being more upfront vs scooping them a bit to take away from the amps cutting ability.

If I were to eq spectrum guess what the ht-5 mid range covers, I'd say its between 800hz-2500k a rather large portion of that is those upper mids that tend to be so popular for cutting, but can get rather nasally and annoying if overdone.

edit: It'll definitely take you longer than the return policy to break it in unfortunately. I don't really have any idea of the time frame or "hours of playing" people have a consensus on for breaking in an amp. I think after a few months you'll notice a difference, or your ears could just be adjusting.

 

[totalnewb]

You don't roll "mids" to darken tone, you roll off highs and high mids (3khz-8khz). To get the desired effect if the amps EQ is rolling off too much low mids, use your tone knob. If that cuts to deep, add a low value cap between the hot and ground legs of your volume pot. I like a .0033uf (3300pf) to cut that fizzyness off the top, and let me bring some high mids back in on the amp. If you want it darker, just raise the cap value.

If you are looking for Chuck's tone though, you have the wrong amp. You want a Marshall 8100 or VS100. Though there are other solid state amps that get close, the Peavey XXL and original Vypyrs can get close.

A lot of this seems like a foreign language to me. Could you elaborate for the layman? Sorry, I'm pretty new to all t his terminology, and I'm not really looking for a chuck tone so much as just a metal tone in general. I love the feel of the stealth, it's amazing, but I want to focus on all around metal playing and learning that way before i box myself in too much. Seeing as I am new to playing and not even an advanced player yet ( imo) I need to focus more on other things than just one specific bands tone. I got this because I felt that I could learn a little bit by trying to learn songs from a lot of different metal bands I like. I was operating off a 60$ crate for the longest time, so you can imagine the improvement

Also, this amphead/cab seemed to be the best that I could get within my families xmas budget for me ( along with a little i paid myself). So I can't really afford a bangin' cab or a high end amphead. I listened to a couple other amphead recommendations to others in the pricerange I had that I have found on this forum but they all sounded like crap comp to the Blackstar ( Imo) in general. Atleast for the type of sound I was looking for. However it seems hearing things others have gotten and then finding those types of tones myself are two different things. Also the blackstar cab I got was pretty much one of two or so cabs that I could really afford.


I guess it might help if I give some sound refrence points for the sort of tone I am looking for. You guys know I like Death, but I like a lot of power metal type things: Blind Guardian, Edguy, Demons and Wizards, etc, general metal/rock: Dio, Iron Maiden, etc. Black Metal : Venom, Enslavement of Beauty, etc. Grind such as Carcass. Some viking metal and such. Pretty much a little all over the metal spectrum. So I am not sure what the best avenue is. ( again new to this)

 

[newamerikangospel]

Sorry, but I call BS on that. I've changed the preamp tube a couple of times on my HT-5 to experiment with tone and it most certainly has a noticeable effect on the tone, feel, and distortion. The stock ECC83 (think it was a JJ) had a darker tone, and was less compressed than the 12AX7 Tung-Sol and Sovtek tubes I tried. The Tung-Sol is what I'm currently using and I absolutely love it. It has the perfect amount of compression that really helps everything balance out nicely and not let the lows overpower the top end (and vice versa), plus it saturates a bit sooner which is nice for the bedroom player. The Sovtek for me increased headroom, but took away from the fast saturation I get with the Tung-Sol, so that's what I ended up going back to. Rant aside, changing the preamp tube on an HT-5 most certainly has an effect on it.

A tube change honestly probably won't help though. I don't think any of the 12AX7 tubes are really darker than the stock one and whenever you first put a new tube in the amp, it's always brighter than when it's broken in.

My key words were "as much as other amps" and "you can shape it a little". He didn't ask about feel (compression, gain structure, etc). My stock tube was a sovtek, and the tung-sols generally have more gain than most tubes so they can settle high end down a bit. However, you said what I said, the tube isn't the issue.

 

[vick1000]

A lot of this seems like a foreign language to me. Could you elaborate for the layman? ...

I was talking about frequencies that the amp's EQ controls effect. Some amps may be bright, and the mid sweep of the mid control does not cut the higher mids that make the brightness.

If you can't cut the brightness out that you want with the mid and high pots on the amp, you can roll your tone knob on your guitar down. If that takes too much mid range out, or makes it too dark, or you just don't like having your tone knob in a middle position, you can solder a low value capacitor between the hot and ground leg of your guitar's volume pot, and it will bleed off some of those highs, while still allowing full sweep of the tone pot.

It will darken the guitar, not the amp, but the same goal can be acheived. Another thing you can do, is add a OD pedal out front with a good dark tone sweep on it's tone knob, or one with EQ capability that can cut highs.

 

[totalnewb]

I was talking about frequencies that the amp's EQ controls effect. Some amps may be bright, and the mid sweep of the mid control does not cut the higher mids that make the brightness.

If you can't cut the brightness out that you want with the mid and high pots on the amp, you can roll your tone knob on your guitar down. If that takes too much mid range out, or makes it too dark, or you just don't like having your tone knob in a middle position, you can solder a low value capacitor between the hot and ground leg of your guitar's volume pot, and it will bleed off some of those highs, while still allowing full sweep of the tone pot.

It will darken the guitar, not the amp, but the same goal can be acheived. Another thing you can do, is add a OD pedal out front with a good dark tone sweep on it's tone knob, or one with EQ capability that can cut highs.

There isn't a tone knob on the schuldiner, but there is on the amp-head. I can turn it up, but at the time of writing the initial post the tone knob was at zero. I don't really want to alter the guitar in any way 1 for lack of experience and 2 to keep it as is. A pedal might be a good remedy, I have a Korg one somewhere with different presets and the ability to set custom settings and whatnot. Might try that. It has a tendancy to up or lower the volume unpredictably depending on the preset though and that's a little scary.

 

[Pav]

Rather than trying desperately to coax a different tone out of the amp, I think the easiest and most direct remedy would be to replace the pickup. The Schuldiner Stealth is maple neck through with an alder body and ebony fretboard, correct? The X2N is going to want to pierce and scream like hell in that context, it's the nature of the pickup. If the OP isn't getting along with that sound, I would replace it with a D Activator-X for a warmer tone without much change in output. Boom. Problem solved. Then again, that also requires money to obtain a new pickup and effort to install it.

 

[totalnewb]

Rather than trying desperately to coax a different tone out of the amp, I think the easiest and most direct remedy would be to replace the pickup. The Schuldiner Stealth is maple neck through with an alder body and ebony fretboard, correct? The X2N is going to want to pierce and scream like hell in that context, it's the nature of the pickup. If the OP isn't getting along with that sound, I would replace it with a D Activator-X for a warmer tone without much change in output. Boom. Problem solved. Then again, that also requires money to obtain a new pickup and effort to install it.

Yeah, not sure what i'll do here. I do have a fernandes with the EMG's 60/85 and the JRv with the b.c rich pups. May just use those for my darker tones and then the schuldiner for other things. Can't really afford to swap a pup atm. If that's the case. Or try running it through the pedal. Not sure how to amke the pedal sound uniform between settings though. Not rreally trying to bust my cab, but then again that may be more difficult than I assume since it's an 80watt, not really sure. It can suddenly get pretty loud on some presets.

 

[totalnewb]

Rather than trying desperately to coax a different tone out of the amp, I think the easiest and most direct remedy would be to replace the pickup. The Schuldiner Stealth is maple neck through with an alder body and ebony fretboard, correct? The X2N is going to want to pierce and scream like hell in that context, it's the nature of the pickup. If the OP isn't getting along with that sound, I would replace it with a D Activator-X for a warmer tone without much change in output. Boom. Problem solved. Then again, that also requires money to obtain a new pickup and effort to install it.

Funnily enough, and I didn't expect it, but the x2n actually does a pretty damn good job on more poppy type songs. Not so much for the darker heavier stuff though.

 

[totalnewb]

I've seen some people get a decently heavy tone out of it on youtube, but i'm not sure how they've done it.

 

[Shimme]

context

A lot of metal tones aren't actually "RAWR BROOOTAL I AM TEH BRINGER OF DEATH!!" on their own, but mix it in with bass and drums, and start playing music that's heavy and it's a whole other story. That's why when people play as a band the guitarist is going to bring down their gain, get rid of some lows, and *gasp* bring back the mids. Hope this helps

 

[newamerikangospel]

Don't forget, a lot of the amp "demos" and camera mics randomly placed in a room. A lot of modes and frequenting bunching happen when one or the other is in a corner. For what it's worth, through my framus cobra cab (greenbacks), my ht5 sounded awesome with all eq on 10, and with the isf knob to used to sculpt those settings. If I remember correctly, when I was playing with a drummer, the isf knob was somewhere around 1-2 o'clock, and I had the bass rolled back a little.

The great thing about these little heads are that the bass doesn't become really become boomy or overbearing; however, they also don't have enough headroom for the bass to really mature into deep low mid tones.

 

[totalnewb]

My Fernandes with the EMG 60/85 standard C tuning both pickups active with the ISF all the way to the right, gain about noon and mid and treble almost zero and bass up about noon with my tone nob almost all the way up sounds pretty beefy thick and heavy in comparison to the schuldiner/x2n in D. standard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWG_iJ8Ic5M this is kind of the sound I was talking about trying to achieve with the stealth.