@@RyanMcQuen for the clean tones absolutely, however the gain sounds leave a bit to be desired. People overlook the most important thing about amps, THE SPEAKERS! The blackstar has a really scooped mid focused sound that suits clean/single coils, and the hiwatt overdrive sound is too much mid and fiz. Throw these amps some balanced speakers and they will likey shine!
before I heard them all, I'd say sure... those two will probably be the best ones. But to be honest, I would go for the Laney or Katana if I were to choose one of these. It heavily depends on what guitar you have, and what style you play. Car comparison?.... that's hard.. as no brand has a specific style, and models are way to hard. Instead I'm giving you a car and motorcycle style for each of them ;) Blackstar --> Pickup // Chopper Laney --> Sedan // Cafe Racer HiWatt --> Jeep Wrangler // Off-Road Boss Katana --> StationWagon // Racer
Hiwatts have always had the best clean sound of any British brand. It's the reason why guys like Townsend Gilmour and even Jimmy Page used them as far back as the late 60s . Gilmour has been using them since at least 1972 . Page preferred them to Marshalls but his Hiwatts kept blowing tubes like crazy when Zep would tour the states and most dealers in the states didn't carry Hiwatts or replacement parts that were compatible so he switched to Marshall because you could walk into a music shop and buy a replacement marshall or parts and could get them serviced easily. Years later after Page sold one of his Hiwatts a later owner took it to a shop and it was determined that Pages Hiwatts kept blowing tubes due to screen grid resistors being the wrong value . Apparently their values were too low . Pages Tone wad never as good after he made the switch to Marshall especially when he started having them modded .
Me three. I bought the smaller version for a practice amp, but it's so much more than that. Have ended up gigging it a few times and it sits really well in a full band mix.
I've got a blackstar combo it's one of their MK1 amps... It's amazing... But I hated it for so long... As soon as I ripped out the shitty celestial 70/80s and replaced with vintage 30s it was awesome!
I heard recently from Long & McQuade in Canada the Debut 100 will be available in a head version at the latest by November. You won't find it yet on the Blackstar site. I learned about it from L&M head office. If you own a cab, it solves the speaker question. Over here, the Debut 50 sells for $379C, the Debut 100 (1X12) sells for $479C. The head Debut 100 will sell for $449C.
I have the 50 watt version of that Blackstar and I can't believe how good it sounds. I literally don't see why I would ever need another amp in my life unless this one breaks (I play low tuned and extended range guitars and only use the clean channel and pedals, and it's unbelievably good).
When it comes to a band mix the Laney wins hands down. I have found that amps that sound good with just the guitar don’t always seem to translate the same in a band situation. The Laney cuts through whilst also sitting well in a mix.
I'd go with the Laney. They don't do it full justice here but to me it's the only one of the bunch that actually sounds like a tube amp. The Hiwatt also comes close but there's a brittleness in the presence range that kills it for me. The Blackstar is the least impressive tone-wise. I have not understood the Andertons guys' fascination with the Katana. To me that amp only sounds decent in higher gain settings (which I don't use). Clean or with lighter gain it sounds very "plastic" in the high end, rather like a cheap practice amp. Maybe it sounds better in the room, but via a mic it's not a natural sound to my ears. The Laney is the one amp of the bunch that covers lower gain sounds well, both through the speaker and the emulator. I like the tones better than Fender's Tonemaster amps, both clean and with gain. The Laney might be slightly less powerful than the Tonemaster Deluxe but if you watch the video Lee & Pete did on the Foundry series there's a moment when Pete cranks the smallest one (the one in this video) and it's pushing 105 on their DB meter in the room. So I doubt it would have any trouble keeping up with a band in a live setting. I'd go with the bigger box version that has the DI out & the Tremolo/Chorus for $550, which is around half of a Tonemaster Deluxe.
I would definitely agree with you that the laney is really tube like. It shows how close a non modelling solid state amp can get these days. The laney could easily be mistaken for being a tube driven amp. Also it sounds so much bigger than it is and will deliver from the bedroom rock star right through to rehearsals and small venue rock gigs.. It certainly challenges the likes of a marshall dsl 20cr...
Just in case any beginners are reading this, I've been gigging for twenty+ years all kinds of stages and I would happily play a small solid state amp like these.
This is incredibly reassuring. I’ve only been playing for about three years and a lot of the online community constantly down talks the gear that’s probably the best gear for a beginner. A lot of the music I listen to is from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and there’s no way I could justify buying any of the gear that my guitar hero’s used, especially since I’m in my early twenties and a beginner guitar player. It’s just really nice to hear something positive from a gigging musician
This is great advice. I have been gigging for 20 years but since 2017 have used solid state. The quality of SS has improved immeasurably in the last 10 years.
I thought I would add to this that I've been playing for 40 years and professionally through the 90's, I own the Hiwatt Super Leeds 150 and would use it on any stage. I haven't owned a SS amp since the 80's and I now own two, the other being the Orange CR-120. Both amps would serve me well on any stage. You younger people are so lucky these days to have things from amps that can do anything to modelers that are impossible to tell from the real thing. It's a great time for guitar players!
I can't be certain but the HiWatt Leeds 50 is named in tribute to the Who's 1970 gig at Leeds University which was immortalised on the album "Live at Leeds". Pete used HiWatt amps and 4 x 12 cabs. You mentioned Dave Gilmour but omitted Pete Townshend as one of the most famous early HiWatt users.
I have a dad rock cover band that plays out about 2 times a month. I have sold all my pedals and tube amps because I just don't need them. I have started using the Boss Katana 100 MKII a little more than a year ago and the results have been incredible. I have used tube amps for 25 years and my struggle has always been to get the tone I want I have to do stupid things to keep the volume down. In the last year and really with most of the bars closing (due to covid shut downs) that allowed loud bands to play the volume restrictions have been much worse than ever. This shifted me to the Katana 100. It was an experiment. I wanted to see how it would do in live settings. Our drummer was too loud for some of these venues so we convinced him to switch to an electric drum kit. Now when we play out the really small venues I put the amp on standby and run direct. our bassist usually does a direct box straight into the PA anyway. This amp has allowed me to go to silent stage operation with my band. We are getting offers to play in places we never thought we could get on our own, but the word of mouth has spread that were a decent cover band, but we are low enough volume that we can play any venue without being too loud. Were also a trio so we can literally fit in any hole in the wall venue. As a semi professional armature guitarist I am making more money playing in bands than I ever did with a tube amp. Just dial in a good tone or download a tone patch from Boss Katana library, you cant go wrong! Also I have saved all my presets, no more sound check and dialing in a tone at the venue. We do a mic check, and were up and going in 5 minutes, unless we have to setup our own PA. Save time and money and play more guitar!
Well you could have just ran a simple cheap Mooer pedal like the Friedman Gold 012 preamp pedal in the effects loop on its Blue channel. This would allow you to have an attenuator for about $75US. You would be shocked how good it can sound as well.
Got a Fender GTX100 and similar experience a few years ago. Just a footswitch and can click through presets organized into a set list. Also keep my tablet on a stand to monitor or jump around to whatever else I may need if we deviate from the list. It emulates dozens of pedals organized into pre or post preamp configurations and in any order you please. And it weighs nothing compared to my other tube amps. The tubes are great, but they stay at home.
@@DreidMusicalXthe Katana is perfect to me. I have all the effects I ever had plus it’s all in a nice small package. It weights 30 pounds. My tube amps were huge and weighted nearly double that. I plug direct in to a PA and if I need my speaker I have it. Once I played outdoors and we didn’t mic anything. We just turned up loud and it was perfect, every bit as loud as my AC30CH and 2x12 cab. I’m sure your recommendation was a great option but I traded in that AC30 and got the Katana for $350 plus I had some extra money to buy the foot switch that was sold separately.
@@6stringcodger450yeah people just don’t get it. When you have to carry stuff in and out at a gig I want as light as possible and I want something that is going to help the overall sound of the band. Yeah modeling amps are not as romantic as a tube amp cranked but nobody wants that anymore except the guitarist. The people I’m playing for couldn’t care less what the band does as long as we don’t mess up, and they can have their conversations. We are just atmospheric noise to their night out! When you start thinking like that you tend to be more realistic about the gear you take to a gig. I’m happy the Fender is working for you!
I have the 5w tube Lionheart combo and from everything I've heard would have no problem using one of the Foundry amps if i needed to hang at drummer volume. Has that extra bite up top, means you're going to cut through the mix. Great job Laney!
I've never understood why the Katana is so raved about. It's like there's a blanket over the speaker and the disortion sounds digital, even the small Yamaha THR amps sound better.
@@TT-df9hpI have a Katana 100 MK2, I use it exclusively for doing small gigs without a drummer and it does the job very well. At home I prefer my tube amps but for those small gigs I could get it to sound good enough I don’t miss carrying my babies arround
@@TT-df9hpthat said, a peavey bandit does the same job just as well, and the Stock settings on the Katana don’t do it for me, I had to tweak the speaker settings on the software for it to start sounding good for me
I'm all in, laney clean was my favorite. And i would incorporate my pedals for dirt. I own the 1st run 2x12 katana combo (run acoustic guitars) it's very good sounding. I also have the head, 2nd generation, running that one into a 2x12 celestion vintage 30's cab, captured the wet 80's hair band tone . I will add that my vht 20 tube amp combo rules with marshall like sweetness (clean channel, "Boo" ). Have a good one. Blessings to all the rockers from tomato patch texas.
Lee - Del Boy's Reliant Robin (iconic and there's always a deal to be had if you have a word with the driver) Pete - Ciroen C6 (quirky, cool, hard to get parts for, massive boot) Blackstar - Dacia Duster (some will look down on, down but actually capable) Laney - Skoda Octavia (not exciting but very solid) Hi-watt - Mercedes B-class (often overlooked but high quality sensible car) Katana - Suzuki Katana. Only kidding, it's a Vauxhall Zafira (does everything, most of it well, will not excite car snobs) For my tuppenveworth the Hi-Watt sounded best, I quite liked the Laney, didn't really like the Katana or Blackstar.
Recently ordered a Laney Super 1x12 but received a 2x12! Nearly sent it back for the correct one I ordered but in fact, being a vertical twin, it occupies the same floor area (which I'm short of..) as the 1x12 yet is still light enough to carry around. So I kept it. Very pleased with the tone it produces as I can get it close to the sound of my 30w tube combo (old Selmer Zodiac). It will also give me driven output at volumes that don't push windows out - which the tube amp cannot, though even at 1w it's still loud for home use. The extra features offered with the Super for a few quid extra make it the model to get IMO.(which I'm short of..)
@@whatmusiciwantyeah Anderton’s never seem to give Laney much credit. The review for the earlier lionheart was pretty critical over silly things. They criticised the 1x12 cab as being too boxy for example, yet I’ve never seen them have any concerns about any other 1x12 and no mention of the option of a 2x12 if it really bothered you. Lee is well know for pushing the brands that he’s either affiliated with or a shareholder. Same thing happens with the blindfold tests….. if there’s a new Epiphone range, they sound exactly like Gibson custom shops and they struggle to tell them apart, but as soon as Gibson have a new range the price difference apparently all goes towards extra tone and we should definitely buy them. I love the videos, and the guys do genuinely come across as a bunch of mates having fun, but that just makes it so easy to forget that the whole channel is actually just a marketing campaign. There are more honest reviews out there but we come here for the banter really.
@@slashssnakepit4444 I would tend to agree with this, especially regarding the boxyness I watched the small amp.shootout and that Vox VT40 won and it sounded horribly boxy. I am so incredibly pleased with my Laney, I do come here for the tone and not the banter, and if there is prejudice and marketing like you say I probably won't watch much if they are somehow tweaking something in tye DAW to push certain amps but that seems conspiratorial. Though there was that whole debauchle with the amps they make and pushing those that they got called out on so idk.
Hiwatt and Laney were a shock, the volume produced from the Laney, from such a small cabinet, shocked both of them. Pete is a Koenigsegg, got all the tricks up its sleeve to make it one of the fastest cars in the World. Lee is a Lotus Europa, ahead of its time, a classic car, always gaining in value, with lots of history.
I just got the Laney Lionheart. It's freaking amazing. I don't know why it sounds like that in this video, cause it sounds way better to me in real life.
@@pauljohnson3686 I bought the smallest one, I can't remember now. I actually sent it back because I wound up buying an FRFR for my Fender Tonemaster Pro, which I then sent back because I felt guilty for spending that much money so now I have nothing again. But it was a wonderful amp. Laney LF60112.
@@whatmusiciwant Lol.. Then you should buy the Laney again..... We should never feel guilty about spending money because we only live once and you can't take money with you after..
@@pauljohnson3686 Kind of true, but I have 2 kids and 1 on the way and I'm the sole breadwinner for my household. When it comes to being a father and husband, sacrifices have to be made and monetary responsibility is of the utmost. I may buy the Laney again though lol. But 2k dollars for the Tonemaster and FRFR when I don't even gig, nah lol.
I bought a Katana and returned immediately last year. The package arrived with all the knobs rolling around in the box. A closer look made me feel it was cheaply made. Also, I might have 30 pedals and I don’t care for all the effects in the amp. The best amps sound very clean. NO MUD. Noe that’s tough to find. I prefer my own pedals, I don’t want junk.
HiWatt all the way. Its bigger cab lends itself to sounding good, and it has a real spring reverb. 50 solid state Watts isn't quite enough for me to be comfortable if the band has a loud drummer, and an emulated output would be helpful, although a mic straight into the PA provides a simple solution.
Honestly glad I got to hear the Leeds rendition of the Hiwatt solid state (previously they were the Crunch series). I own the Big Crunch 350 and the Bulldog 440. I've had them each for probably 3, almost 4 years now? Fantastic amps. It's my understanding that a few simple changes were made going from Crunch to Leeds; specifically (and you might struggle to believe this) bringing the gain DOWN a bit on what's now called the vintage setting. Having such high gain never bothered me because I play high gain, but running it like a tube amp that you're trying to get power tube saturation out of- master volume up, slowly bring up preamp volume, really does a solid job of mimicking what a tube amp would do and gets you where you want to be with distortion via an overdrive. Absolutely not perfectly, but at the price point of these things it is really really really difficult to find a fault here. What's even more insane is that before covid, they were even cheaper. I'm pretty sure I picked up the 350 for just under 400 USD. I'm in the market for a combo, and was worried about them shifting to the "Leeds" version, but this thing sounds great.
You can't beat the Katana, bang for value and features. Literally you need a channel switcher and you have all the Boss effects and then some. No need to lug around a pedal board, like with the other amps. Just plug into the boss software, configure your sounds for the upcoming gig, and you're ready to go. Been doing this since Katana MK1, now up to Gen 3, using the Katana 50, either with a mic in front of it or direct out. Stelar amp for the money and highly tweakable especially the Gen 3 when you deep dive into the EQ section and all that🤘🔥🔥Haters gonna hate and criticize it but they never used that amp to it's full potential To be clear i'm not dissing on Blackstar, Laney or HIghwatt, amazing amps for the money, but IMO they don't rival the Katana as a 1st gigging amp, or amp for a band on a buget, where portability is an issue.
Fantastic video as usual gentlemen. So Lee leans over the back of the Leeds 50 (32:40), looks, and says "There is an effects loop, yes". The specs on the left side of the video (32:27) and Andertons site shows no effects loop for the Leeds 50 combo or head, and I don't see them on any other listings of other sites (as well as the Hiwatt site) including photos showing the back of the amp. What gives guys? Glad you took a break for a drink, but what exactly are we drinking??? Maybe Lee saw the ext speaker and line out jacks together and thought fx loop, or is your demo amp some sort of Leeds "Especial"???🧐🧐 Inquiring minds want to know.....😁
The Leeds 50 definitely has an effects loop! The first sample batch of it arrived with no loop which we have quickly corrected - fresh photos showing loop coming soon.
@@HiwattOfficial Thank you very much. So it was introduced in April of this year correct? And the one I just purchased that does not have an effects loop, and all the others for sale NIB right now are from a "sample batch"?
I just tried a small boutique builder from Hawaii’s 1/2 watt amp. All tube, handwired, class A, cranked it gives 1.5 watts total. The amount of clean headroom is insane for a little amp and with a mic’d cab or going direct in you can absolutely play it live. It is the nicest sounding all analog clean tone I have ever heard, and I put it up against the Greer Mini Chief, Milkman half pint, milkman the amp, toneking gremlin and audio kitchen big trees, it sounded better. It obviously requires pedals as it is a clean pedal platform and does not really break up. Called the Hagerman Half Watt and it was like $400 or so for the pedal-sized head.
Hey bro that sounds so interesting & cool I live on oahu & in the process of getting something different I've been playing a couple Peavys a " stage chorus " & bandit? Also have the fender 25w Mustang. The mustang. Is way lighter & OK for practice as well as small gigs (,mixed up) but I'm still looking for?? If possible can you txt me info on that head you scored Thanx 4 sharing..
Shout out to the Orange Crush 35. And the Roland JC22 too. I'd probably go with a JC22. Because it's a decent powered amp. Has that nice chorus. They're good for recording and home too. And you could always add in a stereo a 2x12 to gigs. If you needed it proper heavy/loud later. Because at 30W, the JC22 is very nearly as loud as the JC40. With a big 2x12, probably just as loud, and the JC40 is quite a loud amp, and sooo clean.
I'm waiting for InTheBlues to troll the comment section by saying "well actually the best new little gigging amp of 2024 is my OLD Peavey Bandit red stripe"
My car Model analogy (instead of brand), while keeping country in mind is; Blackstar - 750S (Mclaren) Laney - F-Type (Jaguar) Hiwatt - DB12 (Aston Martin) Katana - Supra (Toyota) My personal favorite was the Blackstar! Love those amps!
It’s subjective and depends very much on what you’re after. Laney for me though! To me this has the best tone for how I play and it looks cool. The HiWatt did a fantastic Fender amp sound on clean but to my ears struggles with overdrive. Super cool looking though! The Blackstar could cover a lot of sounds but just not quite my thing at least from what I was hearing. The Katana is to my mind a great jack of all trades, the most versatile so I can see why it might appeal, in the way Line6 or Positive Grid would.
Hiwatt impressed me and I'm a Katana fan. The Laney and Blackstar had moments. They are good for the money. The Boss has versatility and lots of inbuilt effects. My order would be 1 Boss 2 Hiwatt 3 Laney 4 Blackstar. But... what do you want the affordable amp to sound like and do? Versatile: Katana. Sound/Tone: Hiwatt.
I contacted Blackstar about their speakers and they said that the "Anthem" speakers are built by Celestion and voiced for this particular amp and not modeled after any existing speaker. I also heard a rumor that this is the same speaker from the St. James amps. Couldn't confirm that.
I just bought a Blackstar 20 watt practice amp. I love it!!!! 😍 Previously I had tried the Katana and had my head turned. Like damn BOSS🔥. But then I plugged into the Blackstar and I was like this is what I need!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
@@marciopaivaRS I can get a great fender clean out of it without any issue. 1w is great for bedroom practice, might be too loud if you push it past 3oclock actually.
@@flor_de_reiger Yes it is. We practice in a pretty small space with our band, other guitarist has a Katana mk2 100w, drums get pretty loud, we play alternative rock with some HC thrown into it. I have the Laney set at 6,5/10 on the clean and 6 on the drive channel. I have the boost set to 3 for when I need that little extra. It’s a great amp. If you practice in a very large room, you’ll probably have to run it at like 8/10 or something. Oh and we all wear ear protection :)
I feel like the Laney would sound good in a mix. Sounds like it cuts well. HiWatt sure sounds good too. And, of course, we all own a Katana. It's amazing how good affordable stuff is these days.
There must be something wrong with my ears because the Hiwatt gain section sounded harsh and awful to me. The cleans were decent but I much preferred the Laney.
Blackstar sounds the best to me. I’m looking for an amp right now. I’m done with digital and modeling. Just want a good sounding simple amp. I’m getting that Blackstar. Probably the 50 watt version. That’s loud enough for gigs.
The blackstar is a solid state modeler, but I've owned pretty much every one of the main 50w-100w digital modelling amps at least for a little while, and the blackstar silverline a few years back was by far my favorite. the debut feels pretty close, with less headroom.
It's always hard when you aren't using your own gear and relying on UA-cam for tone. I guess I'll go against the grain on preference. Never met a Blackstar I've wanted to keep when owning it. Had the solid state models as well as the tube amps and all were sold for far less than purchased. The fact that Lee said it's the one he would only buy for the money tells me something since he is there in person and exposed to all types of amps all the time. Both of them agreed the HIWATT sounded great on its cleans but not so much when pushed with gain (Final thoughts). I want more versatility. Therefore. I would get the Laney. Both were impressed with both tones as they went through it. One of my amps already is the Katana and it is a great amp. So is the Positive Grid Live. I wish at the end of the videos they would take a clean tone side by side by side by side with not talking and then the same with gain. As you go through them it's hard to keep the tone in your memory or go back and forth manually. Just my two cents.
The first time around I didn’t like the black star much but the second time around, I really liked the black star and the hiwatt but I would take the hiwatt over all of them.
Yes in the intros the katana sounds bass less and had a very thin sound but the best was Blackstar and the Hiwatt, you should have included the Vox Valvetronix VT40X for me that sounds great for such a small amp.
I might add that the model you are reviewing is the Leeds 50, possibly a reference to quite a famous live album... I notice it's not called the Pompei 50
Gilmour, Townsend,Gary Rossington (nails the Skynyrd at Old Grey Whistle Test tone), Martin Barre, Neal Schon, and even Hendrix (when he used Sound City)
Pete was always the amp pioneer, started with His work with Jim Marshall who was in his father's band...creating the 100 watt stack, to compete with Entwhistle's fender Bass amp, then moved on to Hywatt....
Gilmour has been using Hiwatts since at least 1972. He used the DR 103 heads and i believe he was using Sound City amps prior to 72 which was the name Hiwatt started out under .
Yes, head-on it's BRIGHT! I have the treble on the drive channel not past 9 o'clock. The Hiwatt needs to be at least at least half volume for it to sound good.
Just based off of size/looks since I don't know much about cars, I'd say the Blackstar is a Honda CR-V, the Laney is a Toyota Prius, the Hiwatt is a Ford F-150, the Boss is a Tesla Cybertruck, the Captain is a Chrysler 300 limousine, and Pete is a DeLorean. I like my Orange CR60 more than these, but my least favorite out of these was the Boss Katana. I thought it sounded the least natural - the others sounded like guitar amps while the Katana sounded more like a recording. I'd probably rank the other three as the Hiwatt, Blackstar, and then the Laney. The Laney gets last place only because it didn't really seem to have much gain, though its clean was great (quite possibly my second favorite after the Hiwatt for cleans). The Blackstar sounded good but kind of generic. I've played Blackstars in-person before including one of the smaller Debut amps, and I haven't been overly impressed with any of them. I hadn't heard of the Hiwatt before but I was very impressed with its cleans, and I thought the drive channel was pretty interesting. I might have to look into getting one of those heads for how affordable they are.
I own the same Hiwatt but from the first iteration called Crunch instead of Leeds. The Leeds sounds the same to me. Perhaps the change involved Crunch resembling too much Crush (Orange). Basically, I agree with the review. It looks fantastic and it sounds "good" though I suspect a good Celestion in the same amp would greatly improve its sound. Ibid for the reviewed Blackstar. As for myself (and since I prefer an amp with as little controls as possible), The Blackstar and Hiwatt are the choice. Another factor might involve the speaker breaking period. So far, after 3 years, the Octoplus speaker didn't change enough. Another point concerns the Hiwatt's volume. It's a 50W however I've heard louder 50s out there. Try before buying especially if you play with a loud drummer. I would buy it again. If you do, think of acquiring one with plans at a later date to upgrade the speaker. It isn't that the speaker sound terrible. The review gives a good idea. In North America, the Hiwatts aren't easily available contrary to the other brands. Check online for availability. I also own 2 small Blackstars, the Debut 10 and the Debut 15. For very quiet playing, they fir the bill perfectly and sound good.
I’m so happy you made car analogies at the end because when Pete brought out the Les Paul I said “it’s like driving a Ferrari in a parking garage” (expensive guitar into cheap amp) I’d rather drive a Miata around a racetrack. Haha that’s my car comparison. HiWatt sounded the best IMO
Back in the 1980s when the Georgia Satellites were touring they had new name plates made for their HIWATT amplifiers. They read HIYALL (Hi, Y'all). They were a truly great band and had a wicked sense of humor.
You are right, the Blackstar would sound so much better with an H75 Creamback. The Laney is really surprising for its size. The Katana 50 just doesn't cut it compared to the others IMO The clean was OK but the rest... not so much. I have the (MKII) head and it sounds great in both my Revv 1x12 (H75 Creamback) and my Marshall 1960A (2 v30s and 2 H75 Creambacks in X pattern). So it's not the tech, it's just the 50 watts version. It sounds boxy yet scoopy and it's suprising since the Laney is no bigger but sounds way better. But the winner here is clearly the HiWatt.
Thank you -so- much for doing this shootout. It really completely turned me away from buying a Katana. It sounded the worst of the bunch in my ears, by far. The Hiwatt and and Blackstar sounded surprisingly good.
@@campy3888I gotta laugh because on on hand “it’s so simple! It’s just an amp with some knobs!” Turns into “you gotta get into the tone studio to really get it to sound its best” turns into “yeah, but have you tried the sneaky amps? Just look up the tutorial…” On the other hand, I have an acquaintance who has a katana 50 and he runs an old ME something or other (the blue one that runs on batteries) straight into the front. Sounds great every time I hear him. I don’t think he’s done squat in terms of tweaking the amps in the app or whatever. It’s like adjusting the color on your tv. Once you start messing with it, you’re never quite happy with it
@Newnodrogbob I get what you mean. First time I tried it I felt paralyzed by the options too but I finally came around to it. Once you got a few presets dialed in that's all you'll be using really. I don't find myself coming back to tinker all that much at all!
The Katana sounds the most compressed. It is also the one that sounds the most solid state clean. However, when it comes to the driven tones it definitely delivers a night and day better tone. I like that it has so many onboard stomp options built in but I never liked its clean tones. The Hiwatt and the Blackstar gave a more dynamic clean tone. The Laney was not bad clean either but it is like a one trick pony in that it has a decent Fenderesque tone clean but without the aid of a pedal board lacks any real luster in driven tones. I guess depending on what genre of music you play primarily will factor into which direction you want to go. I like spring tank reverb so I would be leaning more towards the Hiwatt myself but that is just me. Now take the Hiwatt clean channel and spring reverb and put it in front of the Katana digital workshop and you have a grand winner.
I can't understand why the Catalyst 60 CX wasn't included in this group. Of the amps tested my fav was the Laney. Recently sold all my Katanas after owning and using live, many variations from v1 to Gen 3. Re-visited the Catalyst after not being impressed 2 years ago when they were first released and have changed my mind completely. I now have the original Catalyst 100 combo (with v2, 12 amp models firmware) and the new 60 CX combo. Even the Gen 3 Katana doesn't get close to the organic sound and playing feel of the v2 firmware update IMO.
Blackstar's tube stuff always sounds good. I've never played one through their stock speakers. Always my own cabs. But, that amp sounded really good. Would definitely like to hear it through a different speaker.
That blackstar kicks ass. I recently got the mk 3 ht40. Amazing and versatile. If you play one style of music, there are better options for the price. Blackstar is usually compared to established sounds like Marshall and Fender, but they have their own thing and it’s awesome.
The Hiwatt clean has been a known thing for decades. Arguably as good as Fender, not sure if you get the head room with 50 watts though. Stick a decent drive in front and it's a tempting amp.
Would like to hear the higher wattage solid state Leeds HIWATTs next to their lower wattage counterparts. I'm interested if all that extra wattage translates to more dynamics and headroom. If not, then there's not much reason for all that extra power.
Blackstar and Hiwatt sound the best.
@@RyanMcQuen for the clean tones absolutely, however the gain sounds leave a bit to be desired. People overlook the most important thing about amps, THE SPEAKERS! The blackstar has a really scooped mid focused sound that suits clean/single coils, and the hiwatt overdrive sound is too much mid and fiz. Throw these amps some balanced speakers and they will likey shine!
Yep, after the first 60 seconds it was obvious.
before I heard them all, I'd say sure... those two will probably be the best ones. But to be honest, I would go for the Laney or Katana if I were to choose one of these. It heavily depends on what guitar you have, and what style you play.
Car comparison?.... that's hard.. as no brand has a specific style, and models are way to hard. Instead I'm giving you a car and motorcycle style for each of them ;)
Blackstar --> Pickup // Chopper
Laney --> Sedan // Cafe Racer
HiWatt --> Jeep Wrangler // Off-Road
Boss Katana --> StationWagon // Racer
yep.
From the intro alone, the HiWatt sounds the best.
Between the Hiwatt and the Blackstar for sure.
Agreed
Indeed
👌
The overdrive on the Hiwatt sounded dreadful!
Hands down the HiWatt for me. That clean sound was pretty much perfect.
Hiwatts have always had the best clean sound of any British brand. It's the reason why guys like Townsend Gilmour and even Jimmy Page used them as far back as the late 60s . Gilmour has been using them since at least 1972 .
Page preferred them to Marshalls but his Hiwatts kept blowing tubes like crazy when Zep would tour the states and most dealers in the states didn't carry Hiwatts or replacement parts that were compatible so he switched to Marshall because you could walk into a music shop and buy a replacement marshall or parts and could get them serviced easily.
Years later after Page sold one of his Hiwatts a later owner took it to a shop and it was determined that Pages Hiwatts kept blowing tubes due to screen grid resistors being the wrong value . Apparently their values were too low .
Pages Tone wad never as good after he made the switch to Marshall especially when he started having them modded .
The Blackstar sounds fantastic.
Gosh, I really liked liked the Blackstar. It sounded fuller to me.
Me too
Me three. I bought the smaller version for a practice amp, but it's so much more than that. Have ended up gigging it a few times and it sits really well in a full band mix.
Same
I've got a blackstar combo it's one of their MK1 amps... It's amazing... But I hated it for so long... As soon as I ripped out the shitty celestial 70/80s and replaced with vintage 30s it was awesome!
I heard recently from Long & McQuade in Canada the Debut 100 will be available in a head version at the latest by November. You won't find it yet on the Blackstar site. I learned about it from L&M head office. If you own a cab, it solves the speaker question. Over here, the Debut 50 sells for $379C, the Debut 100 (1X12) sells for $479C. The head Debut 100 will sell for $449C.
Gotta agree with the crowd, Blackstar sounded great
The Blackstar sounded better than I expected it would
I've got the Debut 50 and absolutely love it.
I know several guys that played tube amps for years using the 50 watt model now. Very lite weight also. Plenty loud enough.
I have the 50 watt version of that Blackstar and I can't believe how good it sounds. I literally don't see why I would ever need another amp in my life unless this one breaks (I play low tuned and extended range guitars and only use the clean channel and pedals, and it's unbelievably good).
The blackstar sounds amazing
When it comes to a band mix the Laney wins hands down. I have found that amps that sound good with just the guitar don’t always seem to translate the same in a band situation. The Laney cuts through whilst also sitting well in a mix.
Had the Blackstar Debut 100R for about a month now, absolutely love it highly recommend!
I'd go with the Laney. They don't do it full justice here but to me it's the only one of the bunch that actually sounds like a tube amp. The Hiwatt also comes close but there's a brittleness in the presence range that kills it for me. The Blackstar is the least impressive tone-wise. I have not understood the Andertons guys' fascination with the Katana. To me that amp only sounds decent in higher gain settings (which I don't use). Clean or with lighter gain it sounds very "plastic" in the high end, rather like a cheap practice amp. Maybe it sounds better in the room, but via a mic it's not a natural sound to my ears. The Laney is the one amp of the bunch that covers lower gain sounds well, both through the speaker and the emulator. I like the tones better than Fender's Tonemaster amps, both clean and with gain. The Laney might be slightly less powerful than the Tonemaster Deluxe but if you watch the video Lee & Pete did on the Foundry series there's a moment when Pete cranks the smallest one (the one in this video) and it's pushing 105 on their DB meter in the room. So I doubt it would have any trouble keeping up with a band in a live setting. I'd go with the bigger box version that has the DI out & the Tremolo/Chorus for $550, which is around half of a Tonemaster Deluxe.
I would definitely agree with you that the laney is really tube like. It shows how close a non modelling solid state amp can get these days. The laney could easily be mistaken for being a tube driven amp. Also it sounds so much bigger than it is and will deliver from the bedroom rock star right through to rehearsals and small venue rock gigs.. It certainly challenges the likes of a marshall dsl 20cr...
Just in case any beginners are reading this, I've been gigging for twenty+ years all kinds of stages and I would happily play a small solid state amp like these.
This is incredibly reassuring. I’ve only been playing for about three years and a lot of the online community constantly down talks the gear that’s probably the best gear for a beginner. A lot of the music I listen to is from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and there’s no way I could justify buying any of the gear that my guitar hero’s used, especially since I’m in my early twenties and a beginner guitar player. It’s just really nice to hear something positive from a gigging musician
This is great advice. I have been gigging for 20 years but since 2017 have used solid state. The quality of SS has improved immeasurably in the last 10 years.
I thought I would add to this that I've been playing for 40 years and professionally through the 90's, I own the Hiwatt Super Leeds 150 and would use it on any stage. I haven't owned a SS amp since the 80's and I now own two, the other being the Orange CR-120. Both amps would serve me well on any stage. You younger people are so lucky these days to have things from amps that can do anything to modelers that are impossible to tell from the real thing. It's a great time for guitar players!
I can't be certain but the HiWatt Leeds 50 is named in tribute to the Who's 1970 gig at Leeds University which was immortalised on the album "Live at Leeds". Pete used HiWatt amps and 4 x 12 cabs. You mentioned Dave Gilmour but omitted Pete Townshend as one of the most famous early HiWatt users.
positively
I have a dad rock cover band that plays out about 2 times a month. I have sold all my pedals and tube amps because I just don't need them. I have started using the Boss Katana 100 MKII a little more than a year ago and the results have been incredible. I have used tube amps for 25 years and my struggle has always been to get the tone I want I have to do stupid things to keep the volume down. In the last year and really with most of the bars closing (due to covid shut downs) that allowed loud bands to play the volume restrictions have been much worse than ever. This shifted me to the Katana 100. It was an experiment. I wanted to see how it would do in live settings. Our drummer was too loud for some of these venues so we convinced him to switch to an electric drum kit. Now when we play out the really small venues I put the amp on standby and run direct. our bassist usually does a direct box straight into the PA anyway. This amp has allowed me to go to silent stage operation with my band. We are getting offers to play in places we never thought we could get on our own, but the word of mouth has spread that were a decent cover band, but we are low enough volume that we can play any venue without being too loud. Were also a trio so we can literally fit in any hole in the wall venue. As a semi professional armature guitarist I am making more money playing in bands than I ever did with a tube amp. Just dial in a good tone or download a tone patch from Boss Katana library, you cant go wrong! Also I have saved all my presets, no more sound check and dialing in a tone at the venue. We do a mic check, and were up and going in 5 minutes, unless we have to setup our own PA. Save time and money and play more guitar!
Well you could have just ran a simple cheap Mooer pedal like the Friedman Gold 012 preamp pedal in the effects loop on its Blue channel. This would allow you to have an attenuator for about $75US. You would be shocked how good it can sound as well.
Got a Fender GTX100 and similar experience a few years ago. Just a footswitch and can click through presets organized into a set list. Also keep my tablet on a stand to monitor or jump around to whatever else I may need if we deviate from the list. It emulates dozens of pedals organized into pre or post preamp configurations and in any order you please. And it weighs nothing compared to my other tube amps. The tubes are great, but they stay at home.
@@DreidMusicalXthe Katana is perfect to me. I have all the effects I ever had plus it’s all in a nice small package. It weights 30 pounds. My tube amps were huge and weighted nearly double that. I plug direct in to a PA and if I need my speaker I have it. Once I played outdoors and we didn’t mic anything. We just turned up loud and it was perfect, every bit as loud as my AC30CH and 2x12 cab. I’m sure your recommendation was a great option but I traded in that AC30 and got the Katana for $350 plus I had some extra money to buy the foot switch that was sold separately.
@@6stringcodger450yeah people just don’t get it. When you have to carry stuff in and out at a gig I want as light as possible and I want something that is going to help the overall sound of the band. Yeah modeling amps are not as romantic as a tube amp cranked but nobody wants that anymore except the guitarist. The people I’m playing for couldn’t care less what the band does as long as we don’t mess up, and they can have their conversations. We are just atmospheric noise to their night out! When you start thinking like that you tend to be more realistic about the gear you take to a gig. I’m happy the Fender is working for you!
Boss Katana Gen 3 headphone out for silent stage and direct has stereo effects.
That Hiwatt sounds pretty good! Better than the other 3 in my opinion 👍🏼
always loved Blackstar, happy to see // hear it kicking ass. The Hiwatt sounded great too.
I have the 5w tube Lionheart combo and from everything I've heard would have no problem using one of the Foundry amps if i needed to hang at drummer volume. Has that extra bite up top, means you're going to cut through the mix. Great job Laney!
Wow the katana sounds horrible in the intro.
Definitely wasn’t doing it any favors at all, wonder how it was dialed in?
I've never understood why the Katana is so raved about. It's like there's a blanket over the speaker and the disortion sounds digital, even the small Yamaha THR amps sound better.
Katana’s stock drive presets are sooooo bad. One of the reason I sold mine.
@@TT-df9hpI have a Katana 100 MK2, I use it exclusively for doing small gigs without a drummer and it does the job very well. At home I prefer my tube amps but for those small gigs I could get it to sound good enough I don’t miss carrying my babies arround
@@TT-df9hpthat said, a peavey bandit does the same job just as well, and the Stock settings on the Katana don’t do it for me, I had to tweak the speaker settings on the software for it to start sounding good for me
Blackstar all day for me.. Also the Hiwatt. Like both of them..
I'm all in, laney clean was my favorite. And i would incorporate my pedals for dirt. I own the 1st run 2x12 katana combo (run acoustic guitars) it's very good sounding. I also have the head, 2nd generation, running that one into a 2x12 celestion vintage 30's cab, captured the wet 80's hair band tone . I will add that my vht 20 tube amp combo rules with marshall like sweetness (clean channel, "Boo" ). Have a good one. Blessings to all the rockers from tomato patch texas.
Definitely Blackstar.
But we know, from a previous video, that there's an VOX that's even better, in the same league.
Which one ?
@@AstralBayo the hybrid 40watts.
@@scherzo0o yeah, I just saw the video. Still prefer the Laney and Hiwatt.
Which one and did you check other reviews ?i
For me and over 500+ walk in clients, who purchased one in our shop, the Marshall Code 50 is the #1 choice. Thanks always for the great vids!
Lee - Del Boy's Reliant Robin (iconic and there's always a deal to be had if you have a word with the driver)
Pete - Ciroen C6 (quirky, cool, hard to get parts for, massive boot)
Blackstar - Dacia Duster (some will look down on, down but actually capable)
Laney - Skoda Octavia (not exciting but very solid)
Hi-watt - Mercedes B-class (often overlooked but high quality sensible car)
Katana - Suzuki Katana. Only kidding, it's a Vauxhall Zafira (does everything, most of it well, will not excite car snobs)
For my tuppenveworth the Hi-Watt sounded best, I quite liked the Laney, didn't really like the Katana or Blackstar.
Damn, that HiWatt damn near runs away with this thing
The Laney has that special taste that few other have. Very spunky. Others sounded “sweeter”, but that small box has character
Recently ordered a Laney Super 1x12 but received a 2x12! Nearly sent it back for the correct one I ordered but in fact, being a vertical twin, it occupies the same floor area (which I'm short of..) as the 1x12 yet is still light enough to carry around. So I kept it. Very pleased with the tone it produces as I can get it close to the sound of my 30w tube combo (old Selmer Zodiac). It will also give me driven output at volumes that don't push windows out - which the tube amp cannot, though even at 1w it's still loud for home use. The extra features offered with the Super for a few quid extra make it the model to get IMO.(which I'm short of..)
Lottery win on that one...same price as the 1x12 ?
@@tonray9395 Open box 'B' stock, so £319. Slightly tatty box but otherwise looks new to me.
I like the Laney. I use a Supro Thunderbolt and love that thing
I own the Laney, this for some reason does it no justice, it's an incredible amp.
@@whatmusiciwantyeah Anderton’s never seem to give Laney much credit. The review for the earlier lionheart was pretty critical over silly things. They criticised the 1x12 cab as being too boxy for example, yet I’ve never seen them have any concerns about any other 1x12 and no mention of the option of a 2x12 if it really bothered you.
Lee is well know for pushing the brands that he’s either affiliated with or a shareholder.
Same thing happens with the blindfold tests….. if there’s a new Epiphone range, they sound exactly like Gibson custom shops and they struggle to tell them apart, but as soon as Gibson have a new range the price difference apparently all goes towards extra tone and we should definitely buy them.
I love the videos, and the guys do genuinely come across as a bunch of mates having fun, but that just makes it so easy to forget that the whole channel is actually just a marketing campaign. There are more honest reviews out there but we come here for the banter really.
@@slashssnakepit4444 I would tend to agree with this, especially regarding the boxyness I watched the small amp.shootout and that Vox VT40 won and it sounded horribly boxy.
I am so incredibly pleased with my Laney, I do come here for the tone and not the banter, and if there is prejudice and marketing like you say I probably won't watch much if they are somehow tweaking something in tye DAW to push certain amps but that seems conspiratorial. Though there was that whole debauchle with the amps they make and pushing those that they got called out on so idk.
holy shit the buzz from that hansen strat
In the intro I thought the guitar needed a setup. Assumed it was "affordable". It _is,_ if you've got over £3k to drop on a Strat copy.
The Hi Watt sounds best here to me
Like, far and away better
The Hiwatt gain sound sounds like a swarm of bees through a metal zone lol the clean is nice though. I liked the Laney!
Hiwatt and Laney were a shock, the volume produced from the Laney, from such a small cabinet, shocked both of them.
Pete is a Koenigsegg, got all the tricks up its sleeve to make it one of the fastest cars in the World. Lee is a Lotus Europa, ahead of its time, a classic car, always gaining in value, with lots of history.
Nice reference!
I just got the Laney Lionheart. It's freaking amazing. I don't know why it sounds like that in this video, cause it sounds way better to me in real life.
It sounded fine by me in this video. Does the tone knob interact well w/ the bass mid & treb control? Thinking of scoring one myself.
Which of the lionheart foundry range did you buy and would you recommend it?
@@pauljohnson3686 I bought the smallest one, I can't remember now. I actually sent it back because I wound up buying an FRFR for my Fender Tonemaster Pro, which I then sent back because I felt guilty for spending that much money so now I have nothing again.
But it was a wonderful amp. Laney LF60112.
@@whatmusiciwant Lol.. Then you should buy the Laney again..... We should never feel guilty about spending money because we only live once and you can't take money with you after..
@@pauljohnson3686 Kind of true, but I have 2 kids and 1 on the way and I'm the sole breadwinner for my household. When it comes to being a father and husband, sacrifices have to be made and monetary responsibility is of the utmost.
I may buy the Laney again though lol. But 2k dollars for the Tonemaster and FRFR when I don't even gig, nah lol.
Wonderful to see Laney in an Andertons test.
I bought a Katana and returned immediately last year. The package arrived with all the knobs rolling around in the box. A closer look made me feel it was cheaply made. Also, I might have 30 pedals and I don’t care for all the effects in the amp. The best amps sound very clean. NO MUD. Noe that’s tough to find. I prefer my own pedals, I don’t want junk.
To much Reverb on all of them.
HiWatt all the way. Its bigger cab lends itself to sounding good, and it has a real spring reverb. 50 solid state Watts isn't quite enough for me to be comfortable if the band has a loud drummer, and an emulated output would be helpful, although a mic straight into the PA provides a simple solution.
Choose the 150 or 300 Watt version. They will be band proof.
Honestly glad I got to hear the Leeds rendition of the Hiwatt solid state (previously they were the Crunch series). I own the Big Crunch 350 and the Bulldog 440. I've had them each for probably 3, almost 4 years now? Fantastic amps. It's my understanding that a few simple changes were made going from Crunch to Leeds; specifically (and you might struggle to believe this) bringing the gain DOWN a bit on what's now called the vintage setting. Having such high gain never bothered me because I play high gain, but running it like a tube amp that you're trying to get power tube saturation out of- master volume up, slowly bring up preamp volume, really does a solid job of mimicking what a tube amp would do and gets you where you want to be with distortion via an overdrive. Absolutely not perfectly, but at the price point of these things it is really really really difficult to find a fault here. What's even more insane is that before covid, they were even cheaper. I'm pretty sure I picked up the 350 for just under 400 USD. I'm in the market for a combo, and was worried about them shifting to the "Leeds" version, but this thing sounds great.
Talking solid state amps, I still own an H|H IC100S which I bought in 1976 and it's still running. Phil Campbell once asked me how I got my sound lol
You can't beat the Katana, bang for value and features. Literally you need a channel switcher and you have all the Boss effects and then some. No need to lug around a pedal board, like with the other amps. Just plug into the boss software, configure your sounds for the upcoming gig, and you're ready to go. Been doing this since Katana MK1, now up to Gen 3, using the Katana 50, either with a mic in front of it or direct out. Stelar amp for the money and highly tweakable especially the Gen 3 when you deep dive into the EQ section and all that🤘🔥🔥Haters gonna hate and criticize it but they never used that amp to it's full potential
To be clear i'm not dissing on Blackstar, Laney or HIghwatt, amazing amps for the money, but IMO they don't rival the Katana as a 1st gigging amp, or amp for a band on a buget, where portability is an issue.
What are the weights of each amp? If I have to drag it along to a gig myself would be nice to know the weights
Fantastic video as usual gentlemen. So Lee leans over the back of the Leeds 50 (32:40), looks, and says "There is an effects loop, yes". The specs on the left side of the video (32:27) and Andertons site shows no effects loop for the Leeds 50 combo or head, and I don't see them on any other listings of other sites (as well as the Hiwatt site) including photos showing the back of the amp. What gives guys? Glad you took a break for a drink, but what exactly are we drinking??? Maybe Lee saw the ext speaker and line out jacks together and thought fx loop, or is your demo amp some sort of Leeds "Especial"???🧐🧐 Inquiring minds want to know.....😁
The Leeds 50 definitely has an effects loop! The first sample batch of it arrived with no loop which we have quickly corrected - fresh photos showing loop coming soon.
@@HiwattOfficial Thank you very much. So it was introduced in April of this year correct? And the one I just purchased that does not have an effects loop, and all the others for sale NIB right now are from a "sample batch"?
Bueller?................ Bueller?............. Bueller?.............
I just tried a small boutique builder from Hawaii’s 1/2 watt amp. All tube, handwired, class A, cranked it gives 1.5 watts total. The amount of clean headroom is insane for a little amp and with a mic’d cab or going direct in you can absolutely play it live. It is the nicest sounding all analog clean tone I have ever heard, and I put it up against the Greer Mini Chief, Milkman half pint, milkman the amp, toneking gremlin and audio kitchen big trees, it sounded better. It obviously requires pedals as it is a clean pedal platform and does not really break up. Called the Hagerman Half Watt and it was like $400 or so for the pedal-sized head.
Hey bro that sounds so interesting & cool I live on oahu & in the process of getting something different I've been playing a couple Peavys a " stage chorus " & bandit? Also have the fender 25w Mustang. The mustang. Is way lighter & OK for practice as well as small gigs (,mixed up) but I'm still looking for?? If possible can you txt me info on that head you scored Thanx 4 sharing..
I just found a Roland Blues Cube Hot for $400… like new. It sounds great with pedals and is very loud! It is my new solid state favorite.
I like my Blackstar (I have the 50w), but man that Hiwatt sounds awesome. If it had a lower power setting for home use, I’d probably go for it.
They have the 25 watt version, but Hiwatt needs to be played LOUD
Shout out to the Orange Crush 35. And the Roland JC22 too. I'd probably go with a JC22. Because it's a decent powered amp. Has that nice chorus. They're good for recording and home too. And you could always add in a stereo a 2x12 to gigs. If you needed it proper heavy/loud later. Because at 30W, the JC22 is very nearly as loud as the JC40. With a big 2x12, probably just as loud, and the JC40 is quite a loud amp, and sooo clean.
I'm waiting for InTheBlues to troll the comment section by saying "well actually the best new little gigging amp of 2024 is my OLD Peavey Bandit red stripe"
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 True!
Naturally we'll need a full rundown of all of the Hiwatt amps. The Leeds 50 sounds amazing!
Playing Run To You a whole step down is my current guilty pleasure. Awesome to hear exactly that in the intro!
Laney and Hiwatt from the first chords Pete played.
My car Model analogy (instead of brand), while keeping country in mind is;
Blackstar - 750S (Mclaren)
Laney - F-Type (Jaguar)
Hiwatt - DB12 (Aston Martin)
Katana - Supra (Toyota)
My personal favorite was the Blackstar! Love those amps!
I liked the Blackstar...
Though I know I could dial in better tones
on most of the other options.
Was this a 'promotional' video?
Nothing like a clean Strat in positions two and four
It’s subjective and depends very much on what you’re after. Laney for me though! To me this has the best tone for how I play and it looks cool. The HiWatt did a fantastic Fender amp sound on clean but to my ears struggles with overdrive. Super cool looking though! The Blackstar could cover a lot of sounds but just not quite my thing at least from what I was hearing. The Katana is to my mind a great jack of all trades, the most versatile so I can see why it might appeal, in the way Line6 or Positive Grid would.
I'm surprised at how good that solid state Blackstar sounds.
I would have like for them to include the Quilter Aviator Cub Uk in this.
Hiwatt impressed me and I'm a Katana fan. The Laney and Blackstar had moments. They are good for the money. The Boss has versatility and lots of inbuilt effects. My order would be 1 Boss 2 Hiwatt 3 Laney 4 Blackstar.
But... what do you want the affordable amp to sound like and do? Versatile: Katana. Sound/Tone: Hiwatt.
I contacted Blackstar about their speakers and they said that the "Anthem" speakers are built by Celestion and voiced for this particular amp and not modeled after any existing speaker. I also heard a rumor that this is the same speaker from the St. James amps. Couldn't confirm that.
I just bought a Blackstar 20 watt practice amp. I love it!!!! 😍
Previously I had tried the Katana and had my head turned.
Like damn BOSS🔥.
But then I plugged into the Blackstar and I was like this is what I need!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hiwatt and Blackstar outstanding.
I have that Laney amp, it’s fantastic. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
How the clean sounds? the 1w option works well for practice?
@@marciopaivaRS I can get a great fender clean out of it without any issue. 1w is great for bedroom practice, might be too loud if you push it past 3oclock actually.
@@cogsincogs Thank you!
Is it loud enough to play in a band, with a loud drummer? Not metal loud but rock, blues. No mic's. And lead, does it cut trough the mix?
@@flor_de_reiger Yes it is. We practice in a pretty small space with our band, other guitarist has a Katana mk2 100w, drums get pretty loud, we play alternative rock with some HC thrown into it. I have the Laney set at 6,5/10 on the clean and 6 on the drive channel. I have the boost set to 3 for when I need that little extra. It’s a great amp. If you practice in a very large room, you’ll probably have to run it at like 8/10 or something. Oh and we all wear ear protection :)
I feel like the Laney would sound good in a mix. Sounds like it cuts well. HiWatt sure sounds good too. And, of course, we all own a Katana. It's amazing how good affordable stuff is these days.
I don’t own a Katana and don’t want one. Deluxe Reverb Tone Master all day every day.
There must be something wrong with my ears because the Hiwatt gain section sounded harsh and awful to me. The cleans were decent but I much preferred the Laney.
Blackstar sounds the best to me. I’m looking for an amp right now. I’m done with digital and modeling. Just want a good sounding simple amp. I’m getting that Blackstar. Probably the 50 watt version. That’s loud enough for gigs.
The blackstar is a solid state modeler, but I've owned pretty much every one of the main 50w-100w digital modelling amps at least for a little while, and the blackstar silverline a few years back was by far my favorite. the debut feels pretty close, with less headroom.
I liked the blackstar.
Actually own the predecessor of the Blackstar one, the 50r, which is the same, except it’s cheaper and 50w, but this one also comes in 2x12
It's always hard when you aren't using your own gear and relying on UA-cam for tone. I guess I'll go against the grain on preference. Never met a Blackstar I've wanted to keep when owning it. Had the solid state models as well as the tube amps and all were sold for far less than purchased. The fact that Lee said it's the one he would only buy for the money tells me something since he is there in person and exposed to all types of amps all the time. Both of them agreed the HIWATT sounded great on its cleans but not so much when pushed with gain (Final thoughts). I want more versatility. Therefore. I would get the Laney. Both were impressed with both tones as they went through it. One of my amps already is the Katana and it is a great amp. So is the Positive Grid Live. I wish at the end of the videos they would take a clean tone side by side by side by side with not talking and then the same with gain. As you go through them it's hard to keep the tone in your memory or go back and forth manually. Just my two cents.
The first time around I didn’t like the black star much but the second time around, I really liked the black star and the hiwatt but I would take the hiwatt over all of them.
Yes in the intros the katana sounds bass less and had a very thin sound but the best was Blackstar and the Hiwatt, you should have included the Vox Valvetronix VT40X for me that sounds great for such a small amp.
Just swopped out a Fender 100w Champion for the Blackstar mainly for its simplicity. Happy Bunny.
I would have had Pete Townshend as the most famous HiWatt user personally
I might add that the model you are reviewing is the Leeds 50, possibly a reference to quite a famous live album... I notice it's not called the Pompei 50
Gilmour, Townsend,Gary Rossington (nails the Skynyrd at Old Grey Whistle Test tone), Martin Barre, Neal Schon, and even Hendrix (when he used Sound City)
@@dingushussey4100 Made the same comment.
Pete was always the amp pioneer, started with His work with Jim Marshall who was in his father's band...creating the 100 watt stack, to compete with Entwhistle's fender Bass amp, then moved on to Hywatt....
You are forgetting Phoebe Buffay, Central Perk's artist in residence
That Hiwatt is damn impressive.
Gilmour has been using Hiwatts since at least 1972. He used the DR 103 heads and i believe he was using Sound City amps prior to 72 which was the name Hiwatt started out under .
I'm 30 seconds in and the Captain has me cracking up already.
That Hiwatt has the microphone placed right over the dust cap. No wonder it sounds so trebly. Wouldn't hurt to hear a bit of that cone too.
Yes, head-on it's BRIGHT! I have the treble on the drive channel not past 9 o'clock. The Hiwatt needs to be at least at least half volume for it to sound good.
Katana was the clear winner for me. You can shape the sound to whatever you want and save 4 presets. The Hiwatt looks cool and the clean sounded nice.
Hmmmm this Hiwatt is sounding nice!
Just based off of size/looks since I don't know much about cars, I'd say the Blackstar is a Honda CR-V, the Laney is a Toyota Prius, the Hiwatt is a Ford F-150, the Boss is a Tesla Cybertruck, the Captain is a Chrysler 300 limousine, and Pete is a DeLorean.
I like my Orange CR60 more than these, but my least favorite out of these was the Boss Katana. I thought it sounded the least natural - the others sounded like guitar amps while the Katana sounded more like a recording. I'd probably rank the other three as the Hiwatt, Blackstar, and then the Laney. The Laney gets last place only because it didn't really seem to have much gain, though its clean was great (quite possibly my second favorite after the Hiwatt for cleans). The Blackstar sounded good but kind of generic. I've played Blackstars in-person before including one of the smaller Debut amps, and I haven't been overly impressed with any of them. I hadn't heard of the Hiwatt before but I was very impressed with its cleans, and I thought the drive channel was pretty interesting. I might have to look into getting one of those heads for how affordable they are.
EEEk! Blackstar was lovely but that "thing in the mids" of the hiwatt is hard to resist
I own the same Hiwatt but from the first iteration called Crunch instead of Leeds. The Leeds sounds the same to me. Perhaps the change involved Crunch resembling too much Crush (Orange). Basically, I agree with the review. It looks fantastic and it sounds "good" though I suspect a good Celestion in the same amp would greatly improve its sound. Ibid for the reviewed Blackstar. As for myself (and since I prefer an amp with as little controls as possible), The Blackstar and Hiwatt are the choice. Another factor might involve the speaker breaking period. So far, after 3 years, the Octoplus speaker didn't change enough. Another point concerns the Hiwatt's volume. It's a 50W however I've heard louder 50s out there. Try before buying especially if you play with a loud drummer. I would buy it again. If you do, think of acquiring one with plans at a later date to upgrade the speaker. It isn't that the speaker sound terrible. The review gives a good idea. In North America, the Hiwatts aren't easily available contrary to the other brands. Check online for availability. I also own 2 small Blackstars, the Debut 10 and the Debut 15. For very quiet playing, they fir the bill perfectly and sound good.
I’m so happy you made car analogies at the end because when Pete brought out the Les Paul I said “it’s like driving a Ferrari in a parking garage” (expensive guitar into cheap amp) I’d rather drive a Miata around a racetrack. Haha that’s my car comparison. HiWatt sounded the best IMO
As an ardent Blackstar fan, it irks me to say I preferred the Hiwatt.
Back in the 1980s when the Georgia Satellites were touring they had new name plates made for their HIWATT amplifiers. They read HIYALL (Hi, Y'all). They were a truly great band and had a wicked sense of humor.
Catalyst 100 cx for me atm.
You are right, the Blackstar would sound so much better with an H75 Creamback. The Laney is really surprising for its size. The Katana 50 just doesn't cut it compared to the others IMO The clean was OK but the rest... not so much. I have the (MKII) head and it sounds great in both my Revv 1x12 (H75 Creamback) and my Marshall 1960A (2 v30s and 2 H75 Creambacks in X pattern). So it's not the tech, it's just the 50 watts version. It sounds boxy yet scoopy and it's suprising since the Laney is no bigger but sounds way better.
But the winner here is clearly the HiWatt.
The Hiwatt sounds better than the other 3 for classic rock and rock in general.57 classics in a les paul or SG and you are rockin.
All of them sounds good to me..
1 - Hiwatt
2 - Blackstar
3 - Laney
4 - Boss
Surprised at the boss
Totally agree. ! and 2 are close. However, Hiwatt is built more solidly. You'll find it isn't light at all.
The first one sounded best. The 100 watt Blackstar.
Thank you -so- much for doing this shootout. It really completely turned me away from buying a Katana. It sounded the worst of the bunch in my ears, by far. The Hiwatt and and Blackstar sounded surprisingly good.
You gotta try the Boss Tone Studio... There's A LOT of ways you can sculpt the tone
@@campy3888I gotta laugh because on on hand “it’s so simple! It’s just an amp with some knobs!” Turns into “you gotta get into the tone studio to really get it to sound its best” turns into “yeah, but have you tried the sneaky amps? Just look up the tutorial…”
On the other hand, I have an acquaintance who has a katana 50 and he runs an old ME something or other (the blue one that runs on batteries) straight into the front. Sounds great every time I hear him. I don’t think he’s done squat in terms of tweaking the amps in the app or whatever.
It’s like adjusting the color on your tv. Once you start messing with it, you’re never quite happy with it
@Newnodrogbob I get what you mean. First time I tried it I felt paralyzed by the options too but I finally came around to it. Once you got a few presets dialed in that's all you'll be using really. I don't find myself coming back to tinker all that much at all!
The Katana sounds the most compressed. It is also the one that sounds the most solid state clean. However, when it comes to the driven tones it definitely delivers a night and day better tone. I like that it has so many onboard stomp options built in but I never liked its clean tones. The Hiwatt and the Blackstar gave a more dynamic clean tone. The Laney was not bad clean either but it is like a one trick pony in that it has a decent Fenderesque tone clean but without the aid of a pedal board lacks any real luster in driven tones. I guess depending on what genre of music you play primarily will factor into which direction you want to go. I like spring tank reverb so I would be leaning more towards the Hiwatt myself but that is just me. Now take the Hiwatt clean channel and spring reverb and put it in front of the Katana digital workshop and you have a grand winner.
The Blackstar..
I can't understand why the Catalyst 60 CX wasn't included in this group. Of the amps tested my fav was the Laney.
Recently sold all my Katanas after owning and using live, many variations from v1 to Gen 3. Re-visited the Catalyst after not being impressed 2 years ago when they were first released and have changed my mind completely. I now have the original Catalyst 100 combo (with v2, 12 amp models firmware) and the new 60 CX combo. Even the Gen 3 Katana doesn't get close to the organic sound and playing feel of the v2 firmware update IMO.
The blackstar for me, i actually wasn't keen on the hiwatt, thought the overdrive sounded to thin
Blackstar's tube stuff always sounds good. I've never played one through their stock speakers. Always my own cabs. But, that amp sounded really good. Would definitely like to hear it through a different speaker.
That blackstar kicks ass. I recently got the mk 3 ht40. Amazing and versatile. If you play one style of music, there are better options for the price. Blackstar is usually compared to established sounds like Marshall and Fender, but they have their own thing and it’s awesome.
Lee the faces you're making as you're pointing to the amps in the intro is cracking me up 🤣
Laney, all day.
At this price point you can get a pretty minty used Blues Jr.
The Hiwatt clean has been a known thing for decades. Arguably as good as Fender, not sure if you get the head room with 50 watts though. Stick a decent drive in front and it's a tempting amp.
Would like to hear the higher wattage solid state Leeds HIWATTs next to their lower wattage counterparts. I'm interested if all that extra wattage translates to more dynamics and headroom. If not, then there's not much reason for all that extra power.