Played a few amps on lunch time: Fireball, Rebel30, 6505+, Blackstar

[BenoA]

45 minutes of pure fun...


My main goal with that store visit was to try the Blackstar pedals that everyone is raving about but they did not had the one I wanted to try (the Dist-X)... So I plugged into these instead:


ENGL Fireball 100

Super thick and rich gain. Awesome even with low gain setting. The clean wasn't bad and could be used as a crunch channel. I really digged that amp. Could do from AC/DC to chugachuga... If you can live with a simple EQ for both channels this amp rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Peavey 6505+

I used to own a 5150-II, it's not bad but when I played this one, I remembered why I got rid of mine... One trick pony and the crunch channel is bla... High gain channel is nice but a bit too dark sounding. But it ain't bad, would make a nice partner to my Marshall DSL50. But once you played the above Fireball, you are spoiled.


Egnater Rebel 30

If I was looking for a cheap, easy to carry around and versatile lil' amp, that one would be it. It's even cute. Goes from 1 to 30 watts by spinning a knob. Got tons of interesting options: FX loop, tube mixing knob, silent recording output, bright switches on all channels... Even the built-in digital reverb wasn't bad. I wonder how it would perform with a tubescreamer... Another winner here.


Blackstar HT-5

So much hype about these on the www, I was expecting too much from this 5 watts amp. Sounds good but a bit too dark. Gain knob isn't that much effective from noon to max. It's kind of a mini version of the 5150/high gain Marshall but with less the fizz. Tons of neat options on it too, even a headphones out and FX loop. And you get all that high gain sound at a normal volume. Not bad but not for me


Blackstar Series One 100

Very versatile amp. Too Marshall sounding for my taste (as I already own a DSL50). The gain features on both channels let you go from nice warm crunch to higher settings but not extreme ones. This amp must be more targeted at the regular Marshall crowd. The footswitch was neat and the amp had an interesting dampening knob that would let you go form 10 to 100 watts. Nice amp overall. Pricier than the ENGL though.


It had been a damn while (read a VERY long time!!!) since I had done that! Next time I should try to have my guitar with me. Would be even more fun as I hate grabbing a store guitar that I don't know.

Sorry as I'm no "tone" writer when it's time to describe an amp sound using "words", but I wanted to share this with all of you as I had a lot of fun going from amp to amp...

[Spivonious]

Always good to read some amp opinions. I'd like to try out a Fireball myself.

How much distortion is on tap in the Rebel?

[Grandturk]

I really dug that little blackstar. Nice sounding little amp for not a lot of cashish.

[metalone]

I will say my 6505+ really responds to pre-amp tubes, right now I have vintage RCA tubes in there and I really like them, I keep trying different amps but keep going back to this one lol!

[loose Cannon]

Well theres probably no coincedence that the Blackstar amps are similar to a marshall sound considering the company was started by ex marshall employees. Its definately more marshall sounding than say mesa or peavey. Ive played a ht stage 100w and found it to be a decent amp, definately geared for classic rock/ metal. I like the ISF dial which is good for shaping and filtering your tone as well.

[RacerX]

It's definitely more marshall sounding

Fixed

[potatohead]

I'm still waiting for these Blackstar HT-20's to show up, been waiting on that for a while. I have a Vypyr for practice now but it's too fizzy in higher gain, I want more of the smooth Marshall sound. The little Egnater Tweaker looks kind of cool, but I don't know if it'll do anything semi-heavy without an overdrive. I guess the Blackstar is probably the same way though.

[BenoA]

How much distortion is on tap in the Rebel?

Definitely not high gain like the ENGL pr 6505 but not far from my DSL50 for example. I really liked the disto on the Egnater, not extreme but very usable. You know, sometimes you try amp with not enough gain and you feel like you gotta battle with your guitar to make it sound good, well, the Egnater was not feeling like that. And I do wonder how it would have sounded with an OD in front.

I'm still waiting for these Blackstar HT-20's to show up, been waiting on that for a while. The little Egnater Tweaker looks kind of cool, but I don't know if it'll do anything semi-heavy without an overdrive. I guess the Blackstar is probably the same way though.

If the HT-20 is similar to the HT-5, the amp will be able to journey into high gain territory without any OD, except if you need extreme high gain.

[mjtripper]

I actually picked up the ht-5 combo for a small practice amp and also use it as a small jam amp. It's great, headphones sound nice with it as well. It's one of the few small amps with a loop. I tried the dist-x pedal thinking it would be a higher gain version of the gain channel of the ht-5 but it sounded just like the ht-5 to me so I returned it. If I needed a distortion pedal and didn't already have the ht-5 I would buy the dist-x in a heartbeat.