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I waited about a month after I got this amp from zZounds before I wrote this review. I have traditionally been a Fender and Peavey amp guy. I have owned Hot Rod Deville's Classic 30's and Valve Kings. Was looking for a small amp primarily for practice yet something that had enough umph to do practice sessions and small gigs. I was very interested in the .5 watt setting for bedroom practice. I play primarily country, classic rock and blues, cleans on any amp are the most important thing to me and the ability to take pedals well is a very close second. This amp excels at both, the .5 watt setting is amazing for at home/ bedroom practice, you don't seem to loose any of the rich tone and detail coming out of the amp. The sound is exactly what I hoped it would be. I have a G&L Tele, a G&L Strat and a LP, I want to hear the sparkle out of my tele and the growl out of the LP and you do. The amp really does deliver in the differences in sound that each guitar provides. The cleans are really good and the crunch channel is pretty good as well. I use pedals for my overdrive, primarily a BOSS Blues Driver and it works fantastic with this amp. The one thing I would recommend that you put in front of this amp and every other amp is the MXR 11 band EQ pedal. The MXR gives every amp I have owned just that little extra boost of clarity and this Blackstar is no different, turn that pedal on and that little extra just sounds amazing. My pedal board is pretty simple the Blues Driver, the EQ, a chorus, a Trem and a delay pedal, I keep it simple.For me and my uses the feature set on the Blackstar was the most comprehensive, I haven't tried the DI features yet I have been mic'ing the cabinet for recording and it records very well. I have the head paired with the Blackstar 112 cabinet and the combo sounds fantastic. The size is much small than I thought it was going to be, sitting next to my Peavey Bandit 112 the Blackstar is slightly taller by about 2 inches but also about 2 inches narrower. So transporting will be very easy even in a small vehicle. Construction seems to be on par with the Fender's and Peavey's I have owned, the tolex is done well, the front face is cool as sh#t looking, overall a nice looking rig that will be my main practice and small gig amp for years to come I hope.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

Whether you're a beginner-intermediate player looking to invest in your first reasonably priced tube amp or a seasoned pro needing a small lightweight rig this head will not let you down. Great saturated tube tones in a small package. Very versatile from the cleans to high gain. I can get lost in some clean blues or "edge of breakup" tones with my Strat and then plug in my Ibanez and crank out good heavy chugs all day long. It does great with pedals as well both in front of the amp and through the effects loop so if for some reason you can't quite find the tone you're looking for from the knobs or you need particular effects, it makes a great platform for your favorite pedals. The included foot switch is another great feature and it functions awesome, only further increasing the versatility of this amp. The 0.5w setting is a must-have making this thing incredible for home use. It will push a big cab so on 5 watts and with the right cab it packs plenty enough punch for band rehearsals and small venues. And its lightweight and smaller size means it's very portable and won't take up much space in your vehicle or in your home studio/practice space. I weighed my options and compared different amps for weeks before pulling the trigger on this one and I am very satisfied with my choice.

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1. A 5 watt half tube amp(yes it's a push pull tube circuit that relies on a lot of solid state tech) that will go down to .5 watts for super quiet practice volumes.2. Two channels for clean and overdrive with a full EQ section for the overdrive.3. Has the IFS feature that changes your tone from American to British to anything in-between.4. Has dual voicing. The second adds additional gain.5. The clean channel is a simple volume and tone control. To some this could be a con, but it seems to work well for me.6. It has a USB out for computer recording. 7. It has a stereo digital reverb that some people may find useful.8. It has an emulated line out/headphone jack that will act as a 112 or 412 cab.9. It has an XLR emulated out to go into a mixing board or a DAW device.10. It has the option of one 16ohz cab, two 16ohz cabs or one 8ohz cab.11. Since the tubes used are a 12ax7 and a 12bh7 maintenance would be cheaper to replace tube if they go bad.12. It has a line in for playing along with an MP3 player.13. Has an FX loop with a 4db boost and a 10db cut.14. Most important as for sound it can do most genres of music and has a good bit of gain on tap.Cons,1. 5 watts isn't going to practical for a lot of people want to gig with this amp. It's possible in smaller venues and maybe to practice with on lower volumes, but beyond that it's not really a gigging amp.2. Though this amp has a lot of gain it's not really voiced for modern metal. However modern metal can easily be achieved a Tube Screamer in front of the amp and an EQ in the FX loop. So please don't listen Glenn Fricker from Spector Sound Studios when he says it's not ideal for metal because he never used it in the way it was meant to used which as a recording interface. 3. This amp has a lot of low end, but unlike the HT-1 you can cut the level of bass, use a Tube Screamer to tighten the bass and an EQ to fine tune your sound. This amp takes work, but it sounds great and is worth it once finished.4. This doesn't come with a cab which a pro or a con to some. I already had 112 V30 cab so it was convenient for me personally because I didn't want to pay extra for an inferior built in speaker.5. To be honest this amp head at MSRP isn't that a good value at all. I only got it because I wanted a warranty on what I buy. If you trust the used market you can find these amps at a much better price.

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Nise sound just like it says! "the sound in your head!"

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