lloyd38 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Hello all, I Have the chance to get a used HD147 with no pedal for around 4 bills or a blackstar 100 watt ID head for around 6 bills new with the pedal. I have only heard both amps on the net and cant hear them any other way. does anyone have any ideas or input on witch one to buy? The HD147 is a little out dated next to the blackstar and that's why I find myself leaning towards the ID head. I play with tons of gain and I play hard stuff if that helps any. I will in most cases be using the head below 50% of its volume most of the time. Also if someone knows? How do the HD147s hold up? Do they have a lot of bugs or do they run good or do they break down a lot or blow up a lot? Any ideas on what you think would be better to buy would be awesome to hear. Thank U, Lloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arislaf Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I don't have any, I have a flextone 3 XL...As far for the 147, it is trustworthy, it will not blow up, but the technology is outdated...Have the same sounds of the pod 2nd gen. (that my XL also has the same) that are good and well processed, and plenty of good amps.But not the tube feeling. From the other side the blackstar sounds really promising... I don't know, since I have a flextone, I would go for the Blackstar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombieslayer5P Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I would suggest the Blackstar. My brother recently acquired one of the ID heads (ID60 TVP-H), and I had a chance to put it through it's paces. It's very easy to dial in a tone suitable for just about anything your heart desires (assuming you also had every cab you'd want to shape it's tone with as well :P). Plus, they will have firmware updates for it from time to time. I would get the latest update that will allow you to use the amp's emulated output and extra input on the rear as an fx loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrishlp Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi, I recently got a Blackstar ID60 1x12 combo for use as home. I was looking for an amp to run my HD500 though for those times when I can let it rip! The ID60 tones are really good and the MIDI input allows you to use the POD HD500 as a patch selector. I tried the 4 cable method (5 cables if you include MIDI) but the ID60 lost some of its dynamic response when the giutar was plugged into the HD500, so a reverted to plugging my guitar direct into the amp. I also tried running the ID60 Emulated Ouptut back into the POD and using the speaker sims to improve the tone through my headphones and when recording. After a week of playing around with the ID60 I decided to take it back and changed it for a Line 6 DT25. Why? 1. The background noise levels were too high for close playing at low volumes. Fine for live gigging but when you are sitting 2 to 3 ft away from the amp you hear everything! 2. The output signal from the Emulated Output is really low. Even with the gain and channel volume at full I still had to add about 30dB gain from a mixer to bring the signal to unit gain. This just added noise to the signal. 3. Getting equal volume between patched was not easy especially if you want to use the channel volume to get power amp daming and sag as Blackstar suggest. Those are the main negatives on the ID60; however there are a lot of positives to using the DT25 and HD500 combo. These being: a. Broader amp tone options b. reduced noise on amp and through HD500 for headphones and recording c. Balancng patch volumes is easier. d. Using full HD amp models with cab off, allows you to warm the tone up using the sag, bias, resonance and thump controls whilst at low vonlumes (IMO a better solution to using the DT25 low volume switch). e. pick dynamics are maintained. f. The full HD500 suite of comp, boost, vol, wah, distortion, O/D modules can be used so no need to buy additonal pedals. IMO the DT25 may be several £100 more than the ID60 but that is money well spent if like me you already have an HD500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radatats Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 surprisingly, the ID series look a lot like Spider amps... including graphics for FX knobs! Maybe Line 6 is licencing their old tech to other companies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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