Hi Ola. The software has global EQ settings. I was about to send the pedal back when I discovered it. After messing with it I decided to keep it. The high pass filter is set too high from factory and it can sound sterile. I love mine now. Hope it helps!
@ola - I'm looking to use this as a replacement for my HT50 head, with a small poweramp. I suspect that's where a lot of folks are looking at this pedal. Any chance of getting a demo or supplement that includes using the global EQ though the amp's power stage?
@@timclark5435 I use the cabsim out into PA/FOH and the output into a clean amp. I think it's great that you can use your clean amp as your on stage monitor and change volume without messing with the FOH.
Love these kinds of videos Ola and the amount of videos you put out every week is amazing! I am a long time guitar player who obviously still havent fully mastered the ability to hear different tones/cabs/settings and how they look in the frequency band/spectrum. I would love to see a software frequency analyzer in the signal chain (Logic native plugs, Fabfilter etc) just to be able actually SEE the difference and therefor learn even more. Thanks and all love!
I just had the worst morning and as usual if I'm having a shitty day I come on to your Channel for not only all the knowledge I need get but you make me piss my pants laughing you're humor is genuine. But this morning I really needed to change my mindset because I was so angry and you managed to make me laugh still even though I was probably in my worst mood in my life. My son sent me a message it is only 6 years old saying dad Mom sold the guitar and amp you lent me all because her new boyfriend didn't want to see anything in the house that reminded her of me which is sickening in its own way but now my son feels like he let me down and I could really hurt the other guy for doing that to my son let alone my Peavey vypyr vip 2 and Ibanez GRG 121DX are gone. I have been playing for 23 yrs now but the shitty thing is, is that I'm poor and there's no way I would be able to buy a new guitar amp due to not working from covid plus having two kids and a money hungry EX. Anyways I was just wondering if you had an old guitar that you were looking to part with for an old guitar playing friend LOL I've been watching you from the start on here well pretty close so that's why I say friend hahaha. Keep up the great work that you and your wife do on your channels and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has pissed there pants literally laughing with you or at your hilarious ways lol. If there is any way you can help me out I would be indebted to you for life. And also if there's anything I can do over here in Canada to help promote all that you do just let me know Ola and I'm in.. Cheers from Northern Ontario Canada where it's -22° c. Right b1 now my tears freeze to my face this morning as my pity party rolls on LOL. And a great day to you and your wife .
As I remember Hughes & Kettner was the first with tube preamps: Tubeman in the mid 90's...I've been so stupid to sell it. By the way: ISF left is USA, right is UK, like looking at a world map as a European.
I had a HK Metal Master, half rack tube preamp, made in West Germany..1989ish..Killer stuff! ! had its own proprietary analog emulated output Cabinetulator...most probably what has became the Red Box... More than enough liquid gain IIRC..used it a lot for recording...and later on when th eIR craze was in its inception, got some great tones with it!
B.K. Butler with the Tube Driver is the first one I remember popularized by Eric Johnson in the late 80's. Not chunky like the Blackstar, but has that violin like sustain with way more gain than you would think.
Once again, I have to say, I appreciate you using C# Standard, Ola. Especially since this time, you didn’t have to, but went ahead and did it anyway! C# Standard is my favorite tuning, as it just hits that sweet spot of frequencies. So many bands use D Standard, C Standard, Drop C, or at the closest, Drop C#. There are bands that use C# Standard, but they’re so few and far between in comparison to bands that use the tunings I listed previously.
The USA side of the ISP is always on the left and the British is always on the right side of the dial. When using a Blackstar I tend to have it set in the middle with a slight bit of a lean to the USA side.
I’ve made overdrive pedals with preamp tubes in them. Obviously nothing as heavy sounding as this, more vintagey. That said, if even my chimpy self can, so you should definitely try learn pedal building if you haven’t already Ola. It’s good fun and pretty rewarding!
I got into it pretty heavily lol. It started with wanting to build a Fuzz Face because I didn't want to pay $120 for $15 worth of components and an enclosure. So I built it myself with NPN transistors. One is a 2n2222a and the other, in Q1, is a bc109c with an hfe of around 800 lol. The 2n2222a is around 200, IIRC. Then I built an Electro Harmonix LPB1 booster pedal and some other stuff after that. The last thing I tried was the "Klon buffer" using a TL072 but it hasn't worked any of the 3 times I've tried to build it so far. It's on stripboard, and it's my first time using stripboard so that might have something to do with it. I tried perfboard the first time and couldn't get the solder to stick between points on the board. Like it would need 5 holes connected with solder but I never could get the solder to stick between the holes, where there's no metal. Do I use pieces of wire to make sure the solder flows the entire length of the run?
@@JC-11111 yes it’s very addictive. I started with a PCB delay kit. Then ended up doing point to point only from there. I somehow find it more logical? Or easier to understand. I’ve done a few valvecasters, a coloursound OKF, some piezo preamps, ABYs, a 12v hybrid tube/solid state amp. All sorts of stuff. It’s insanely addictive. Never done perf. Though I would assume so yes. Just connect/bridge it
Hey Ola, love you're video's. A tip about the ISF knob. When it's on 0 is the US side and on 10 is the britisch side. I owned a couple blackstar amps. Just let you know! Keep up the good work! 🤘🏻🎸
I have the older single channel version. Called the DistX. It has so much gain. At noon it muds out and without a boost it is great for rock if I keep the gain around 10 o'clock. But to properly chug it needs a boost. Using my Boss SD1 gain at zero, tone at noon, level somewhere around 3/4 level..It kicks holy hell ass. The one problem you are having with one you are testing is the same with my DistX. Not enough treble for going into the power amp and same going direct recording. My solution is to use an EQ pedal to dial up the treble frequencies. The 2 other things I do are using eq in my DAW before adding a cab or impulse response. And for live I go through the effect loop of my multi effects with an internal boost then add an EQ in the chain after the loop. It's worth it to me because once dialed in no amp model quite matches the feel and tone of a great real tube preamp like this. Not knocking all the stuff like quad cortex, Fractal, etc. but my ears always instantly hear the difference. Not only that, but the feel is different as well.
The Blackstar dept 10 boost into a Nueral dsp or gt 1000 could be a great solution. The od pedals in this range say nothing to me, but the boost could be a gem to warm up modellers
I wonder why you needed an EQ? Maybe because the thing has the "ISF" that ruins everything? 30 year old HK tubeman and attax were amazing and rejuvenated, but HT pedals were "superstars" that need EQ after barely dialling in just 1 sound. The old HT Boost and the new Dept 10 Boost are great however, because they don´t have the "ISF" filtering the sound, just a clean boost.
for some reasons these tube pedals by Blackstar HAVE to be used in front of the preamp, not in the fx loop, which is weird but true. I just got hold of the HT Metal pedal which is as dark as the black Dept 10 in the fx loop. But in front of my Bugera T50, it really comes to life, like a phoenix from the ashes. It sounds pretty phenomenal, I have tried a lot of tube preamps over the years. BTW I also have the red Dept 10 and it's like a normal preamp, i.e. not dark at all in the fx loop. Weird. There's a demo by Andy James that also proves my point, he has the pedal at the amp's input, not the fx loop. I think if it used in this way it's pretty unbeatable
Thoughts on its potential in front of an amp to push the high gain channel? Assume the gain on the amp is pulled back, but the pedal is used as a kind of boost and tightening factor. Would this work?
I have the HT-Metal and it's incredible. Really sound huge, much more authentic than a 'normal' distortion pedal. Was very dark though. I used to use it with a parametric EQ pedal to boost the mids.
I use a blackstar tvp260 and i love the distortion i use the emulated out for recording. I really like this company and it works for me. As far as the pedal i think its trying to do too much like you said. Good stuff Ola😎
The ID260TVP has been my main amp for years. Thunderous crunchy beast of an amp. I love it. I have other amps and heads and cabs and pedals and modelers and all of that shit and I can put it all away and be perfectly happy with the 260TVP's stock tones. It's a great amp.
Two things to consider when judging the tone heard in this video: 1) He’s playing through a Mesa. Hard to sound shit when playing through a Mesa. 2) He’s Ola Fucking Englund. He can make pretty much anything sound good. That’s his super power.
Third thing to consider: Ola did not know about the global EQ settings from factory which are on “high pass only” by default and that’s why it sounds like shit. I own one, I was about to send it back and then i noticed this global EQ thing. Once you set it flat it sounds Phenomenal and full
@@adityabali1939 totally agree, I felt the same disappointment at first but then realized how good it was with the right EQ settings. I usually like Ola's reviews but this time he totally missed some features that make the pedal sound way better than that. Apart from the global EQ settings, it's also to mention that he put a mono cable into the stereo CabRig out instead of using XLR or USB to make his demo. My opinion is that one should at least read the manual and try out a product for a fair amount of time before putting out a review on a channel with hundreds of thousands subscribers.
I think I heard somewhere that the differences between tubes is so minuscule that developers have to add more difference to make users think they’re actually doing something. I guess it does add to tweakability, but I think it’s hilarious
With modern technology, tubes are a relic of the past. Saying tubes are the best today, is like saying Fender and Gibson are the best guitar brands. Once upon a time, yes. But not anymore.
If you haven’t seen it, check out Glenn Fricker’s video on the difference between tubes. He shoots them out in the most scientific way possible, and the conclusion that he came to was that the tubes all sounded 99.999% the same.
@@IllusionaryFuneral Yeah I’ve seen that one. I can’t remember where I heard/read developers create fake differences between tubes if the program allows you to select different tubes though; maybe in the same video
Take a physical amp, swap from 6l6’s to EL34’s or vice versa. Big difference. If you don’t hear one, turn it up louder, because you aren’t playing at a proper volume.
Ola, I believe you mixed the USA / UK side of the ISF feature... I remember left side being USA, and right side being UK ! EDIT : I'm right on this one. So you basically prefer the USA tone if you like it more on the left side.
I think this would probably sound good into a clean amp sim as well if you were looking for more "real" drive sounds from your sim since many sims have good clean replication even if their drive is shit, and this pedal doesn't rely on pushing the clean channel of your amp for the sound.
Blackstar market themselves as some sort of metal amp company. I bought 4 of their valve heads, tried with different cabs. The 50w EVH 5150 6L6 kicked Blackstar's butt any day of the week. In the end I sold all my blackstar heads and concluded they're still light years away from making good metal amps.
Had kind of high hopes for it... Thanks Ola for the heads up! ps: while i am sure, with more invested time in the custom cab settings, results would be better..but still, expected so much more.. direct tone should be its biggest selling point and it falls short... very useful vid
I'm rocking one of those HT-DISTX pedals and can confirm. They sound amazing in front of a clean channel (Especially with an OD boost in front), but kinda poop through an fx loop or DI the computer.
The Chandler Tube Driver was probably the 1st tube in apedal which came out in the early 80's i have the pedal and the Rack version too both are truly delicious,worth checking out
ISF counterclockwise (left) is USA, clockwise (right) is British. I dont think it matters nearly as much w/ massive gain like that though, at that point it's more like presence or a different scoop of treble ;)
I think you have a mono cable on your cab rig output: it is a stereo jack. You should use the D.I. out anyway, or just the USB for output if you already had that cable plugged in.
MMM ?! You would have had to look at the setting options under the master in the Blackstar Architect software, then you would have got better sound results. So, I find my blackstar dept. 10 dual distortion really cool!
Great video Ola I really agree with some of the disappointment with the half baked options they provided. The tube change sound is really fake as tubes at best can only change volume of signal, the point of when that tube breaks up the signal causing distortion, and the feel to a small degree. What they should modeled for the tube swap section is having a changing breakup characteristic for each one, then have one tube be 5-8db quieter than the others, and have one that adds a dynamic compression in the mids/highs to change the feel just touch. That would be the most realistic tube swap experience, rather then the same eq'd fake sound change for a voltage regulator too many competitors provide.
I had the Blackstar HT-Distx and it was nothing special. What was strange is that even though it had a tube in the pedal...I'm pretty sure it was for decoration. The reason I say this is because in the Instruction manual it says do not open the compartment with the tube because there is nothing there to be serviced lol. It was an ok pedal but I didn't care for it so I sold it. On the Distx the counterclockwise side of the isp knob was American and clockwise was British and it did exactly what yours does.
I have the original, it is great, and the tube is still in good condition but from what I understand when it’s dying it is almost impossible to replace. I like the new version, but I would go for a Diezel pedal instead.
I'll be honest, I usually don't like death metal VOCALS except for The Feared, but I love the guitars and drums. Ola is one of my favorite guitarists ever, along with George Lynch from Dokken, Jassy from Oversense, Johnny Marr from the Smith's, and Oz Fox of Stryper.
Like walking into the music store to test out the best new amp...and it sucks all the good and fun out of the store to the point the owner finally goes out back and dumps it into the bin. Line6 comes to mind.
I had that old HT-Dual pedal for a while. It was actually a great vocal preamp LOL. But yes, largely MONSTOUS in front of an amp, not much to write home about going direct (the old one has a direct jack as well, IIRC).
I have an HT60 combo. Great amp, emulated out sounds like sweaty donkey balls. The onboard reverb also is offensive. But the direct out is unusable. But crazy high gain awesomeness otherwise.
The speaker emulated out on the first generation HT series was a complete trash fire. I haven't had a chance to play with the new generation speaker emulated out for comparison.
Ht40 mkii here and the emulated out is pretty decent. I wouldn’t say it’s anything to write home about but I’m assuming a pretty good improvement over the first gen ht stuff
So in conclusion, it only sounds good thru a really, really expensive amp (which doesn't need a pedal and sounds killer already) and its also too expensive! Cheers Ola :-)
there's not 'a lot of noise', it runs on dc power and Blackstar's gear is probably the quietest tube based guitar gear anywhere. Of course with a mountain of gain some hiss is inevitable. Have you heard Malmsteen trying his setup without the Boss noise gate? lol...
mistery solved: these pedals MUST be used at the INPUT of the amp, it's written in the manual under 'output'. My HT Metal pedal works EXACTLY like this . These pedals should NOT be used in the fx loop, otherwise they sound too dark
Guitarrists wont understand why they used a USB-B cable (printer cable) over a modern usb-C cable. As an engineer I get it: its way more robust than a USB-C cable. Thats why they choose it, so they wont have people complaining about broken USB-C cables. But now guitarrists complain about the cable being big and bulky
Isn’t all this digital emulation type stuff just a shifting eq curve to try to emulate the eq changes that would happen if you switched cabs or tubes etc? That’s what it always sounds like to me anyway.
Yes, but I think what he's saying is the power amp tubes in this program aren't like changing the tubes in one amp. Like if you change a Mesa from 6L6 to EL84 it isn't going to be that MASSIVE shift that you hear in this program, but an EL84 Marshall will sound much different than a 6L6 Mesa if that makes sense. Basically the power amp section of this program is like "What kind of amp do you want" and not like "What kind of tubes do you want in this head" which is how most programs like these work (STL Ignite comes to mind, you can switch between like 4 tubes, but it's all one head, and the changes are very subtle). I think it's kind of misleading to have "power tubes" instead of like... "British" "American" amp types.
The physical nature of analog components change the signal in other ways too. I’m far from an expert, but things like sag are a thing. I recommend finding some non-cork sniffing expert if you are into the subject. An EQ is an important part of it though.
You all make excellent points. When I use the helix it’s like you’re given control of so many different aspects of the signal path but at the end of the day it all seems like stacking eq curves. That’s obviously a very over simplified way of putting it. When it comes to analogue parts that’s a different beast. I’m strictly talking about digital emulation. This particular pedal is a hybrid. The pedal sounded good as a pedal. Once Ola started messing with the digital part of the pedal. Mic placement and tube emulation it just sounds like eq curves being stacked on each other. The eq for the mic the eq for the cab etc. I guess in reality that is kinda what happens anyway. Greenbacks are going to have their own eq as compared to cream backs etc. a 2 x 12 will have a different eq than a 4 x 12. Different mics are going to add their color or eq to the sound as well. I wonder how products like headrush and helix emulate. Like Peter said above, could a 31 band eq or multiple eq’s stacked achieve a similar signal path emulating the different parts of a signal path. If you have knowledge of the eq’s for the various things in the signal path could it be recreated that way. Could you get that sizzle from a sm57 from boosting certain frequencies on a eq? Very interesting stuff. Do you guys remember that pedal that emulated different pickups? Like 2-3 years ago it came out. If you had a strat you could make it sound like humbuckers or p90’s filtertrons etc and vice versa.
These videos are 😎 Cool This gives people that might not have the Duckets to just go out and buy it hoping it's good.. To get an inside view of the equipment and the opinion of a professional guitar player at the same time good stuff Ola👍👍
ISF PSA: left is US voiced, right is Brit voiced. This is mistaken way too often. No idea why Blackstar doesn’t just put US on one side and UK on the other.
Had original HT-dual and had same sentiment. It's nice but the sound was kinda... Bloated. I needed money so I sold it. Now I got orange stomp and I like it better Upd: could not make HT-dual work with distortion pedal because it has one built in before actual tube. But orange works fine with that and I have more control
Blackstar are really good at making pedals that suck at being amps and amps that are really good at being pedals. I joke I joke… it’s actually pretty cool.
Blacks tar is a company I WANT to like. I think in general they make good amps. But there’s just something I can’t put my finger one… but whatever that thing is, it makes me not confident in them. Idk, it’s hard to explain. I guess, basically, what I’m trying to say is; I like them, but I wouldn’t buy their gear.
There was this pedal in the 90's called the _Xtreme_ pedal, which was made by A.R.T. It's long since been discontinued but I managed to come up with one on (where _else?_ ) eBay where I have, according to my account page for 'BOUGHT'...purchased over 10 grand worth of guitars, pedals, amps, drums, and recording gear in the last 2 years Back in the late 90's I thought the _Xtreme_ pedal was the baddest ass distortion pedal ever. Now, running it into the front end of my Helix (because distortion through the effects loop is just _NASS-taaay,_ right?), I still think the Xtreme is ONE of the baddest ass distortion pedals, because of course now there are some great ones out there. Still, if you ever run across one, I'd love to see you demo it just to see what you think. *Hint. Use the Xtreme distortion setting,that's the one that murders.
Thank you Ola, pretty interesting and complete review; in the end it reminded me of the HT preamp I had many years ago... noisy, flabby and dark sounding, when used in the effects loop of an amp. How would you rate this preamp against the KSR Ceres and the Two Notes LeLead? I think it's the ones that Blackstar are planning to compete with.
It looks beautiful, and it sounds good, at least the first, awhen you plug straight into a clean channel. Then it's just disapointing, but I'm pretty sure that they can update it, since we are talking about software. But 300U$ is too much. Considering other countries, with taxes, import, shipping, it will cost at least 400,450. Too much money :|
Someone just stole my metal monster and honestly for a starved plate pedal it was great for a lead, I don’t recall loving it otherwise and that’s probably why it got stolen 😂
Thanks for all the support guys, have a great Friday and weekend!
you too swedish guitar boi
you too!
You as well thanks for the review.
czcams.com/video/7NCdNfJBLGU/video.html
Ola this would be an awesome comparison video of actual versus pedal version. Thoughts?
By the way Randall Century 200 preamp pedal, PQ3/PQ3/ FLANGER/DOUBLER PEDAL. THIS GUY ALSO MAKES RH 100 PREAMP PEDAL
Fat chunky metal distortion that's still fairly clean and not fuzzy or muddy - I dig it.
Hi Ola. The software has global EQ settings. I was about to send the pedal back when I discovered it. After messing with it I decided to keep it. The high pass filter is set too high from factory and it can sound sterile. I love mine now. Hope it helps!
How do you access them?
@@motherfuckerlimited1019 click on the faders symbol below "Master"
@ola - I'm looking to use this as a replacement for my HT50 head, with a small poweramp. I suspect that's where a lot of folks are looking at this pedal. Any chance of getting a demo or supplement that includes using the global EQ though the amp's power stage?
@@timclark5435 I use the cabsim out into PA/FOH and the output into a clean amp. I think it's great that you can use your clean amp as your on stage monitor and change volume without messing with the FOH.
Love these kinds of videos Ola and the amount of videos you put out every week is amazing! I am a long time guitar player who obviously still havent fully mastered the ability to hear different tones/cabs/settings and how they look in the frequency band/spectrum. I would love to see a software frequency analyzer in the signal chain (Logic native plugs, Fabfilter etc) just to be able actually SEE the difference and therefor learn even more. Thanks and all love!
I always love when ola plays that trespass riff trying any kind of gear
Same
nice username
There was a company back in the 80’s and 90’s called Chandler that made a distortion pedal with a preamp tube.
B.K. Butler is still building pedals today, been around since '83 or so.
I just had the worst morning and as usual if I'm having a shitty day I come on to your Channel for not only all the knowledge I need get but you make me piss my pants laughing you're humor is genuine. But this morning I really needed to change my mindset because I was so angry and you managed to make me laugh still even though I was probably in my worst mood in my life. My son sent me a message it is only 6 years old saying dad Mom sold the guitar and amp you lent me all because her new boyfriend didn't want to see anything in the house that reminded her of me which is sickening in its own way but now my son feels like he let me down and I could really hurt the other guy for doing that to my son let alone my Peavey vypyr vip 2 and Ibanez GRG 121DX are gone. I have been playing for 23 yrs now but the shitty thing is, is that I'm poor and there's no way I would be able to buy a new guitar amp due to not working from covid plus having two kids and a money hungry EX. Anyways I was just wondering if you had an old guitar that you were looking to part with for an old guitar playing friend LOL I've been watching you from the start on here well pretty close so that's why I say friend hahaha. Keep up the great work that you and your wife do on your channels and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has pissed there pants literally laughing with you or at your hilarious ways lol. If there is any way you can help me out I would be indebted to you for life. And also if there's anything I can do over here in Canada to help promote all that you do just let me know Ola and I'm in.. Cheers from Northern Ontario Canada where it's -22° c. Right b1 now my tears freeze to my face this morning as my pity party rolls on LOL. And a great day to you and your wife .
As I remember Hughes & Kettner was the first with tube preamps: Tubeman in the mid 90's...I've been so stupid to sell it. By the way: ISF left is USA, right is UK, like looking at a world map as a European.
I had a HK Metal Master, half rack tube preamp, made in West Germany..1989ish..Killer stuff! ! had its own proprietary analog emulated output Cabinetulator...most probably what has became the Red Box... More than enough liquid gain IIRC..used it a lot for recording...and later on when th eIR craze was in its inception, got some great tones with it!
H&K Tubeman sounds great
B.K. Butler with the Tube Driver is the first one I remember popularized by Eric Johnson in the late 80's. Not chunky like the Blackstar, but has that violin like sustain with way more gain than you would think.
Have a Blackstar HT-Dual. Replaced the tube and use it all the time. Great clean tube boost and gain can go mental.
hey man, which tube you replaced to? Can I get a bit harder sound from it replacing tube (like fro metalcore?)
Once again, I have to say, I appreciate you using C# Standard, Ola. Especially since this time, you didn’t have to, but went ahead and did it anyway! C# Standard is my favorite tuning, as it just hits that sweet spot of frequencies. So many bands use D Standard, C Standard, Drop C, or at the closest, Drop C#. There are bands that use C# Standard, but they’re so few and far between in comparison to bands that use the tunings I listed previously.
Behemoth and BTBAM and baybeeee. Do wish more used it too but those bands are so prolific that they make up for the lack of bands.
Sabbath was the pioneer of that tuning, that was back in 1972!!
It took a while before everyone else caught up!😎
The USA side of the ISP is always on the left and the British is always on the right side of the dial. When using a Blackstar I tend to have it set in the middle with a slight bit of a lean to the USA side.
You mean in the Atlantic Ocean nearer to the USA shore. 😂
@@MikeCarvin Yes> The make people feel like they are lost a sea setting. LOL!
I’ve made overdrive pedals with preamp tubes in them. Obviously nothing as heavy sounding as this, more vintagey.
That said, if even my chimpy self can, so you should definitely try learn pedal building if you haven’t already Ola. It’s good fun and pretty rewarding!
I got into it pretty heavily lol. It started with wanting to build a Fuzz Face because I didn't want to pay $120 for $15 worth of components and an enclosure. So I built it myself with NPN transistors. One is a 2n2222a and the other, in Q1, is a bc109c with an hfe of around 800 lol. The 2n2222a is around 200, IIRC.
Then I built an Electro Harmonix LPB1 booster pedal and some other stuff after that. The last thing I tried was the "Klon buffer" using a TL072 but it hasn't worked any of the 3 times I've tried to build it so far.
It's on stripboard, and it's my first time using stripboard so that might have something to do with it. I tried perfboard the first time and couldn't get the solder to stick between points on the board. Like it would need 5 holes connected with solder but I never could get the solder to stick between the holes, where there's no metal. Do I use pieces of wire to make sure the solder flows the entire length of the run?
@@JC-11111 Try saving the leads from resistors/other stuff since that is quite handy for bridging different holes on perfboard.
@@JC-11111 yes it’s very addictive. I started with a PCB delay kit. Then ended up doing point to point only from there. I somehow find it more logical? Or easier to understand.
I’ve done a few valvecasters, a coloursound OKF, some piezo preamps, ABYs, a 12v hybrid tube/solid state amp. All sorts of stuff. It’s insanely addictive.
Never done perf. Though I would assume so yes. Just connect/bridge it
Why not build a whole amp? :D
@@Yxzjvc I have!
Hey Ola, love you're video's. A tip about the ISF knob. When it's on 0 is the US side and on 10 is the britisch side. I owned a couple blackstar amps. Just let you know! Keep up the good work! 🤘🏻🎸
I have a black star HT metal with a tube and I love it. Never tried it in the fx loop but it sounds great on the clean channel.
I have the older single channel version. Called the DistX. It has so much gain. At noon it muds out and without a boost it is great for rock if I keep the gain around 10 o'clock. But to properly chug it needs a boost. Using my Boss SD1 gain at zero, tone at noon, level somewhere around 3/4 level..It kicks holy hell ass. The one problem you are having with one you are testing is the same with my DistX. Not enough treble for going into the power amp and same going direct recording. My solution is to use an EQ pedal to dial up the treble frequencies. The 2 other things I do are using eq in my DAW before adding a cab or impulse response. And for live I go through the effect loop of my multi effects with an internal boost then add an EQ in the chain after the loop. It's worth it to me because once dialed in no amp model quite matches the feel and tone of a great real tube preamp like this. Not knocking all the stuff like quad cortex, Fractal, etc. but my ears always instantly hear the difference. Not only that, but the feel is different as well.
The Blackstar dept 10 boost into a Nueral dsp or gt 1000 could be a great solution. The od pedals in this range say nothing to me, but the boost could be a gem to warm up modellers
I used a HT-Distx for years. One of the best distortion pedals and especially at the time they came out. Always with a Eq pedal to cut the fizz.
I wonder why you needed an EQ? Maybe because the thing has the "ISF" that ruins everything? 30 year old HK tubeman and attax were amazing and rejuvenated, but HT pedals were "superstars" that need EQ after barely dialling in just 1 sound. The old HT Boost and the new Dept 10 Boost are great however, because they don´t have the "ISF" filtering the sound, just a clean boost.
for some reasons these tube pedals by Blackstar HAVE to be used in front of the preamp, not in the fx loop, which is weird but true. I just got hold of the HT Metal pedal which is as dark as the black Dept 10 in the fx loop. But in front of my Bugera T50, it really comes to life, like a phoenix from the ashes. It sounds pretty phenomenal, I have tried a lot of tube preamps over the years. BTW I also have the red Dept 10 and it's like a normal preamp, i.e. not dark at all in the fx loop. Weird. There's a demo by Andy James that also proves my point, he has the pedal at the amp's input, not the fx loop. I think if it used in this way it's pretty unbeatable
Thoughts on its potential in front of an amp to push the high gain channel? Assume the gain on the amp is pulled back, but the pedal is used as a kind of boost and tightening factor. Would this work?
@@ordohereticus3427yes! Just maybe dial down the gain. The BS has lots of gain.
I have the HT-Metal and it's incredible. Really sound huge, much more authentic than a 'normal' distortion pedal. Was very dark though. I used to use it with a parametric EQ pedal to boost the mids.
I use a blackstar tvp260 and i love the distortion i use the emulated out for recording. I really like this company and it works for me. As far as the pedal i think its trying to do too much like you said. Good stuff Ola😎
The ID260TVP has been my main amp for years. Thunderous crunchy beast of an amp. I love it. I have other amps and heads and cabs and pedals and modelers and all of that shit and I can put it all away and be perfectly happy with the 260TVP's stock tones. It's a great amp.
I've never been a super fan of Blackstar, and thanks to your demo, this hasn't changed.
Two things to consider when judging the tone heard in this video:
1) He’s playing through a Mesa. Hard to sound shit when playing through a Mesa.
2) He’s Ola Fucking Englund. He can make pretty much anything sound good. That’s his super power.
Third thing to consider: Ola did not know about the global EQ settings from factory which are on “high pass only” by default and that’s why it sounds like shit. I own one, I was about to send it back and then i noticed this global EQ thing. Once you set it flat it sounds Phenomenal and full
@@adityabali1939 totally agree, I felt the same disappointment at first but then realized how good it was with the right EQ settings. I usually like Ola's reviews but this time he totally missed some features that make the pedal sound way better than that. Apart from the global EQ settings, it's also to mention that he put a mono cable into the stereo CabRig out instead of using XLR or USB to make his demo. My opinion is that one should at least read the manual and try out a product for a fair amount of time before putting out a review on a channel with hundreds of thousands subscribers.
“Toan is in the printer cable.” -SRV
LOL
Yes but nobody plays srv in 2021
My the tones coming out of my Hx stomp instantly became noticeably warmer when I picked up a vintage 96’ in aged white
I think I heard somewhere that the differences between tubes is so minuscule that developers have to add more difference to make users think they’re actually doing something. I guess it does add to tweakability, but I think it’s hilarious
Its like hindu gurus who use deception (magic, levitation, etc) to keep their adherents faithful 🤣
With modern technology, tubes are a relic of the past. Saying tubes are the best today, is like saying Fender and Gibson are the best guitar brands. Once upon a time, yes. But not anymore.
If you haven’t seen it, check out Glenn Fricker’s video on the difference between tubes. He shoots them out in the most scientific way possible, and the conclusion that he came to was that the tubes all sounded 99.999% the same.
@@IllusionaryFuneral Yeah I’ve seen that one. I can’t remember where I heard/read developers create fake differences between tubes if the program allows you to select different tubes though; maybe in the same video
Take a physical amp, swap from 6l6’s to EL34’s or vice versa. Big difference. If you don’t hear one, turn it up louder, because you aren’t playing at a proper volume.
Ola, I believe you mixed the USA / UK side of the ISF feature... I remember left side being USA, and right side being UK !
EDIT : I'm right on this one. So you basically prefer the USA tone if you like it more on the left side.
Yep, you are correct. He's made this mistake in other Blackstar reviews too though.
Man, I have the old version HT-Metal, works very good on the FX loop of amps, greetings from Chile!
At the start I thought: "How can this suck in any way, this sounds awesome!"
At 6:14 I thought: "How can this suck that much?!?!"
That's when it started to sounds like the HT100 mkii I sold..... Horrible head and a waste of money.
I think this would probably sound good into a clean amp sim as well if you were looking for more "real" drive sounds from your sim since many sims have good clean replication even if their drive is shit, and this pedal doesn't rely on pushing the clean channel of your amp for the sound.
Yes. This is what I do. Blackstar - Zoom MS Fender Amp Sim - Mooer Radar IR loader.
Blackstar market themselves as some sort of metal amp company. I bought 4 of their valve heads, tried with different cabs. The 50w EVH 5150 6L6 kicked Blackstar's butt any day of the week. In the end I sold all my blackstar heads and concluded they're still light years away from making good metal amps.
Had kind of high hopes for it... Thanks Ola for the heads up! ps: while i am sure, with more invested time in the custom cab settings, results would be better..but still, expected so much more.. direct tone should be its biggest selling point and it falls short... very useful vid
ISF- you stated the sides wrong.
Straight to the amp's input- crazy good tones!
I have it and love it :)
I'm rocking one of those HT-DISTX pedals and can confirm. They sound amazing in front of a clean channel (Especially with an OD boost in front), but kinda poop through an fx loop or DI the computer.
The Chandler Tube Driver was probably the 1st tube in apedal which came out in the early 80's i have the pedal and the Rack version too both are truly delicious,worth checking out
ISF counterclockwise (left) is USA, clockwise (right) is British. I dont think it matters nearly as much w/ massive gain like that though, at that point it's more like presence or a different scoop of treble ;)
I just so happened to be awake when Ola posted.
Love how ur upload schedule is right when I get up. About 7a.m here in FLA. literally brush my teeth to that s**t haha
I think you have a mono cable on your cab rig output: it is a stereo jack. You should use the D.I. out anyway, or just the USB for output if you already had that cable plugged in.
agree
I was just reading about this pedal and now a demo by Ola an hour later lol! Sounds pretty heavy and all the bells and whistles make it seem worth it.
MMM ?! You would have had to look at the setting options under the master in the Blackstar Architect software, then you would have got better sound results. So, I find my blackstar dept. 10 dual distortion really cool!
Great video Ola I really agree with some of the disappointment with the half baked options they provided. The tube change sound is really fake as tubes at best can only change volume of signal, the point of when that tube breaks up the signal causing distortion, and the feel to a small degree.
What they should modeled for the tube swap section is having a changing breakup characteristic for each one, then have one tube be 5-8db quieter than the others, and have one that adds a dynamic compression in the mids/highs to change the feel just touch. That would be the most realistic tube swap experience, rather then the same eq'd fake sound change for a voltage regulator too many competitors provide.
Anyone remember the Rocktron Silver Dragon pedal? Kind of reminds me of that.
I had the Blackstar HT-Distx and it was nothing special. What was strange is that even though it had a tube in the pedal...I'm pretty sure it was for decoration. The reason I say this is because in the Instruction manual it says do not open the compartment with the tube because there is nothing there to be serviced lol. It was an ok pedal but I didn't care for it so I sold it. On the Distx the counterclockwise side of the isp knob was American and clockwise was British and it did exactly what yours does.
I love you ola I wish I could afford a solar 7 string to support you and your business been a fan for years love the content
The Chandler Tube driver was around waaaaaaaaaay before Blackstar.
I have the original, it is great, and the tube is still in good condition but from what I understand when it’s dying it is almost impossible to replace. I like the new version, but I would go for a Diezel pedal instead.
I'll be honest, I usually don't like death metal VOCALS except for The Feared, but I love the guitars and drums. Ola is one of my favorite guitarists ever, along with George Lynch from Dokken, Jassy from Oversense, Johnny Marr from the Smith's, and Oz Fox of Stryper.
These were my top guitarists from different genres each. There are other great players in each genre.
Didn't know about this pedal! Blackstar is nice, will definitely check it out! The design is very cool!
Like walking into the music store to test out the best new amp...and it sucks all the good and fun out of the store to the point the owner finally goes out back and dumps it into the bin. Line6 comes to mind.
I'm only early because my son has to get on the school bus, this was a nice way to contrast the morning.
I can hear Glenn screaming at his monitor from here during the 'different tube options' demo. 😆
Beautiful Guitar
Fluff is gonna love it!
I had that old HT-Dual pedal for a while. It was actually a great vocal preamp LOL. But yes, largely MONSTOUS in front of an amp, not much to write home about going direct (the old one has a direct jack as well, IIRC).
it's written in the manual. Connect to the INPUT OF AMP.
Got one of these last year, don’t need much else than this into a Marshall origin (or any amp for that matter)
I have an HT60 combo. Great amp, emulated out sounds like sweaty donkey balls. The onboard reverb also is offensive. But the direct out is unusable. But crazy high gain awesomeness otherwise.
The speaker emulated out on the first generation HT series was a complete trash fire. I haven't had a chance to play with the new generation speaker emulated out for comparison.
Ht40 mkii here and the emulated out is pretty decent. I wouldn’t say it’s anything to write home about but I’m assuming a pretty good improvement over the first gen ht stuff
I wish I could play as good as Ola
Funny how the tube changer is just an eq charger un disguise co considering tubes barely change anything let alone that much
Sounds awesome to my ears, sounds like it would need zero postprocessing
So in conclusion, it only sounds good thru a really, really expensive amp (which doesn't need a pedal and sounds killer already) and its also too expensive! Cheers Ola :-)
there's not 'a lot of noise', it runs on dc power and Blackstar's gear is probably the quietest tube based guitar gear anywhere. Of course with a mountain of gain some hiss is inevitable. Have you heard Malmsteen trying his setup without the Boss noise gate? lol...
Back in the day the orginal version looked so futuristic and badass.
mistery solved: these pedals MUST be used at the INPUT of the amp, it's written in the manual under 'output'. My HT Metal pedal works EXACTLY like this . These pedals should NOT be used in the fx loop, otherwise they sound too dark
Guitarrists wont understand why they used a USB-B cable (printer cable) over a modern usb-C cable. As an engineer I get it: its way more robust than a USB-C cable. Thats why they choose it, so they wont have people complaining about broken USB-C cables.
But now guitarrists complain about the cable being big and bulky
Isn’t all this digital emulation type stuff just a shifting eq curve to try to emulate the eq changes that would happen if you switched cabs or tubes etc? That’s what it always sounds like to me anyway.
Sometimes I think a programmable 31 band eq and an ambience device would be just as effective and more than a multitude of IRs
Yes, but I think what he's saying is the power amp tubes in this program aren't like changing the tubes in one amp. Like if you change a Mesa from 6L6 to EL84 it isn't going to be that MASSIVE shift that you hear in this program, but an EL84 Marshall will sound much different than a 6L6 Mesa if that makes sense.
Basically the power amp section of this program is like "What kind of amp do you want" and not like "What kind of tubes do you want in this head" which is how most programs like these work (STL Ignite comes to mind, you can switch between like 4 tubes, but it's all one head, and the changes are very subtle). I think it's kind of misleading to have "power tubes" instead of like... "British" "American" amp types.
The physical nature of analog components change the signal in other ways too. I’m far from an expert, but things like sag are a thing. I recommend finding some non-cork sniffing expert if you are into the subject.
An EQ is an important part of it though.
You all make excellent points. When I use the helix it’s like you’re given control of so many different aspects of the signal path but at the end of the day it all seems like stacking eq curves. That’s obviously a very over simplified way of putting it. When it comes to analogue parts that’s a different beast. I’m strictly talking about digital emulation. This particular pedal is a hybrid. The pedal sounded good as a pedal. Once Ola started messing with the digital part of the pedal. Mic placement and tube emulation it just sounds like eq curves being stacked on each other. The eq for the mic the eq for the cab etc. I guess in reality that is kinda what happens anyway. Greenbacks are going to have their own eq as compared to cream backs etc. a 2 x 12 will have a different eq than a 4 x 12. Different mics are going to add their color or eq to the sound as well. I wonder how products like headrush and helix emulate.
Like Peter said above, could a 31 band eq or multiple eq’s stacked achieve a similar signal path emulating the different parts of a signal path. If you have knowledge of the eq’s for the various things in the signal path could it be recreated that way. Could you get that sizzle from a sm57 from boosting certain frequencies on a eq?
Very interesting stuff.
Do you guys remember that pedal that emulated different pickups? Like 2-3 years ago it came out. If you had a strat you could make it sound like humbuckers or p90’s filtertrons etc and vice versa.
@@guyfromnj all those different emulations you speak of are all just variable filters really.
These videos are 😎 Cool
This gives people that might not have the Duckets to just go out and buy it hoping it's good..
To get an inside view of the equipment and the opinion of a professional guitar player at the same time good stuff Ola👍👍
The Candler / Butler Tube Driver from the ancient 80's
2:40 Ola plays Gematria (the Killing name) by Slipknot but then plays something different, because of Copyrights
This pedal is great in front of a clean amp sim or a real amp.
ISF PSA: left is US voiced, right is Brit voiced. This is mistaken way too often. No idea why Blackstar doesn’t just put US on one side and UK on the other.
Sounds good on my 21inch monitor built-in speakers.
I wanted this before. I really want it now. I don’t play through my PC anyway.
Had original HT-dual and had same sentiment. It's nice but the sound was kinda... Bloated.
I needed money so I sold it.
Now I got orange stomp and I like it better
Upd: could not make HT-dual work with distortion pedal because it has one built in before actual tube. But orange works fine with that and I have more control
Love THE HAUNTEDRIFFAGE RIGHT THERE!
it reminds me of the vox valvetronics multi fx crappy pedal..but seems like there are some useable tones on this one....
Blackstar are really good at making pedals that suck at being amps and amps that are really good at being pedals. I joke I joke… it’s actually pretty cool.
Hey here's a wild idea.
Use a tube amp which already uses tubes in the pre-amp 👍
Duh - but, you’re missing the entire point of why this pedal was made. Enjoy carrying a jcm800 and 4x12 on a plane.
@@KalaEsso 😂
Is only only twenty years old? There were tonnes of pedals with preamp tubes before black star....
Maybe a new toy for me! Hope you and the wife have a great Friday and weekend! Cheers Ola
That has a helluva lot more gain than my Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor that I paid $300 for...
Blacks tar is a company I WANT to like. I think in general they make good amps. But there’s just something I can’t put my finger one… but whatever that thing is, it makes me not confident in them. Idk, it’s hard to explain. I guess, basically, what I’m trying to say is; I like them, but I wouldn’t buy their gear.
Great video! But for you, is it better this Blackstar or mt2w? Added in a pedalboard with other pedals
There was this pedal in the 90's called the _Xtreme_ pedal, which was made by A.R.T. It's long since been discontinued but I managed to come up with one on (where _else?_ ) eBay where I have, according to my account page for 'BOUGHT'...purchased over 10 grand worth of guitars, pedals, amps, drums, and recording gear in the last 2 years
Back in the late 90's I thought the _Xtreme_
pedal was the baddest ass distortion pedal ever. Now, running it into the front end of my Helix (because distortion through the effects loop is just _NASS-taaay,_ right?), I still think the Xtreme is ONE of the baddest ass distortion pedals, because of course now there are some great ones out there. Still, if you ever run across one, I'd love to see you demo it just to see what you think.
*Hint. Use the Xtreme distortion setting,that's the one that murders.
The ISF is the other way around, American counterclockwise - British Clockwise
Thank you Ola, pretty interesting and complete review; in the end it reminded me of the HT preamp I had many years ago... noisy, flabby and dark sounding, when used in the effects loop of an amp. How would you rate this preamp against the KSR Ceres and the Two Notes LeLead? I think it's the ones that Blackstar are planning to compete with.
Hey Ola, Yes the left side of the ISF is the American mode and the right side is the UK mode 😂 sounds pretty killer though
Dude this shit sounds good to my ears.
through the amp… xd
It looks beautiful, and it sounds good, at least the first, awhen you plug straight into a clean channel. Then it's just disapointing, but I'm pretty sure that they can update it, since we are talking about software. But 300U$ is too much. Considering other countries, with taxes, import, shipping, it will cost at least 400,450. Too much money :|
I remember buying a used Dual HT and reselling it right away cause I hated it so much.
that gitfiddle is siiiiiiiick...
1:11 Bandladder ??? Lol
😋
Cheers from Brazil, Ola!!
🤘...that is all
Works better than Rocksmith I bet it's got more than just the thing with all that and beyond what can even be that in which it is.
Hi ola, Anychance you can get your hands on Mesa Triple Crown TripleCrown 50 or TC100 to test out? Would appreciate your input? Thanks
Yes.
Sounded good through front of the amp, and like hot garbage through the audio interface and the FX loop.
I feel that you're underestimating the
sneakiness, or something like that 🤘
I hate distortion pedals....except for this one. Its killer!!!
Metal Monster from Guyatone had a pre-amp tube back in the 90's.
Someone just stole my metal monster and honestly for a starved plate pedal it was great for a lead, I don’t recall loving it otherwise and that’s probably why it got stolen 😂
Sounds good on the Badlander.
I have the old HT overdrive pedal. So damn loud and fairly dark.