HT-5R MkII : Blackstar HT-5R MkII

Excellent tones at low volumes. I have been using a quality 15 watt tube amp at home which I struggled to get good tones out of at low volumes. I found the Blackstar HT5 MKII combo to be exactly what I had been looking for.

It has beautiful, rich distortion, with the classic mode being better for my tastes. The clean channel is really impressive, especially when coupled with the onboard digital reverb. I did find the higher gain, modern gain mode to be a little too gritty and not as authentic as the classic mode. The classic gain coupled with a TC Mojo Mojo overdrive sounds amazing, really rich and dynamic and it reacts amazingly with my guitar (Gibson Les Paul) at relatively low volumes.

I use the Ext MP3 connection for backing tracks etc (I would rate this feature as adequate, but not having anything to compare it to I can only say that it's fine for me personally) and I found that my DSP unit works perfectly in the effects loop for time-based effects and looper.

I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for classic rock, hard rock and classic metal tones at low volumes at home.