Cool new gear: Blackstar HT-1 amplifiers

Blackstar HT-1 combo - 1watt of valve goodness.

I love low wattage valve amplifiers, and my Blackstar HT-5 head has been kicking my ass for a bit over a year now. When I saw the announcement of the Blackstar HT-1 1watt heads and combos I got very excited. Like the HT-5 series the HT-1 is a two channel amplifier, but with a simplified control panel and no effects loop. Two of the models add a reverb, which the HT-5 lacks.

I’m hoping I can review one of these real soon, and I’d also love to add one to my studio arsenal.

Here’s what Blackstar have to say about the HT-1 series:


The HT-1 is the perfect studio and practice amp, packing all the great tone and innovative features of the award-winning HT-5 valve amp into a 1 Watt format.

The patent-applied-for ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) circuit gives you infinite adjustment over the characteristics of the tone control network and takes you from the USA to the UK and anywhere in between. So now you can effectively design your own tone and finally find ‘the sound in your head’. In making the HT-1 ideally suited to home and studio use, the aim was to develop a valve amp which sounded full and toneful even at the lowest volume level.

With this in mind the Blackstar design team designed a brand new valve power amplifier topology. The HT-1 power amplifier is a low powered push-pull design which produces the crunch and break-up characteristics of a traditional 100W output stage but at a much lower volume. This is achieved by the use of an ECC82 dual triode in push-pull configuration producing 1 Watt output, which is rich in valve harmonics and compression.

The HT-1 also has a fully specified speaker emulated output which further enhances the studio credentialsand allows any guitarist to get amazing valve tone straight to tape or disk, or through headphones. Add to this an MP3 / Line Input, along with an 8Ωspeaker output which allows you to run the amp into an external speaker cabinet of your choice, and you have everything you need for recording or practicing.

HT-1 Combo

Innovative 1 Watt valve combo; 1xECC83 and 1xECC82; Unique push-pull power amp design; Based on award winning HT-5; Two channels; 8˝ speaker; Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF); Perfect for studio or practice; Speaker emulated output; Stereo MP3 / Line input; External speaker output; Cool vintage styling

HT-1R Combo

Innovative 1 Watt valve combo; 1xECC83 and 1xECC82; Unique push-pull power amp design; Based on award winning HT-5; Two channels; 8˝ speaker; Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF); Perfect for studio or practice; Speaker emulated output; Stereo MP3 / Line input; Stereo digital reverb; External speaker output; Cool vintage styling

HT-1RH Head

Innovative 1 Watt valve head; 1xECC83 and 1xECC82; Unique push-pull power amp design; Based on award winning HT-5; Two channels; Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF); Perfect for studio or practice; Speaker emulated output; Stereo MP3 / Line input; Stereo digital reverb; External speaker output; Cool vintage styling


These look to be some seriously cool little tone machines. Here are some videos from Blackstar.

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