Blackstar Ht-5 Guitar Combo

For a small amp, the HT-5 doesn't lack ambition. The channel switching arrangement of one clean and one overdrive channel isn't unusual, but the four-function EQ with its conventional tone-stack is augmented by a control marked ISF that awoke our inner tonehound. Its effect is to shift the overall contour between an American-style ‘U' and a more British mid-accented sound, but it doesn't work like the Mid control - instead it seems to shift the centre-frequency of the tone stack, and you can hear a phaser-like effect as you sweep it manually. There's also a phone jack with a selection of cabinet types.
The rear panel offers a level-switchable effects loop, series-wired upstream of the tone stack, which can thus be used to filter the post-effect sound. A small quirk is that the loop is wired between the Gain and Volume controls when the amp is in overdrive mode, so that the effects are included in the saturation chain. This could be difficult to deal with or an opportunity for creativity, according to your temperament. Results would vary according to the individual effects in use.

Sounds
Switch on, and nothing is audible but a very low level buzz from the transformer. The preamp is gated off, but there's no need because even with a guitar connected there's no noise to concern even the pickiest recording engineer. The Clean channel volume needs to be advanced to around half to get room level with a Strat, so we're not dealing with Fender Deluxe early saturation, and at full volume the level is lively and recordable but wouldn't upset a drummer. The sound is clean, open and bright, and Fender users may well want to fill in with the Bass control.
The tone bands are nicely tuned without much overlap or interaction, and the ISF control sweeps the contour from twangy and riff-friendly through neutral to bluesy and woody. We had fun using it to emphasise a guitar's tonal peaks rather than squashing them - the SG with full Brit on the ISF becomes a smooth George Benson-style jazzer, while the Strat with minimum (US) settings does a mean Robbie Robertson clank, morphing into a woody mid-pickup warmth on British - think Toe Tapper by the Shads.
Stealthily switching to Overdrive gives us the full range of the well-received HT overdrive pedal, with its drive smoothly adjustable from clean but aggressive to legato super-sustain. One standout HT-5 trick is the SG/overdrive/maximum ISF sound - it drives like a fuzz through a wah stuck on its low range. A quick check of the phone socket confirms clear and pleasingly unfizzy lo-fi performance, with a perceptible drop in bass when selecting 2x12 cab contour after listening on 4x12.

Some Strat users may want a little more gain and bottom end on the Clean channel, although it's easy to set the Overdrive gain low and use the Volume at higher settings to get as loud as you could want in a recording situation, and there's no shortage with an SG. We love the ISF feature - it's subtly useful for clean work, and livens up the drive sounds. We'd agree with the makers' description of the push-pull output - it sounds authentic, and better than the real thing through an attenuator. It's hard to fault this amp's suitability for the job in hand.