Great bedroom amp

This is the same amp as the regular HT-5R, but with a 12" Celestion Vintage 30 and a premium tolex finish with a nice velvety touch. Very neat and well assembled.

I would describe it overall has a woody tone with lots of beef, and while it doesn't have the DR's glassyness (possibly because of no negative feedback, lending it more midrange) it certainly has a bright and clear top end that cuts very nicely for a punchy tone. Also it doesn't seem to have as much low end power as the DR or even the JC, but I'm guessing that has to do with the Celestion Vintage 30. Nonetheless it's a pretty versatile.

Cranking the clean channel with medium/low output pickups (Super 58 Humbuckers, Alnico II) to my surprise it stays clean all the way cranked allowing for a nice small rehearsal/gig volume. If you play with hotter ceramic or Alnico V pickups the clean headroom should be a lot less, so I would not advise to buy it if one just needed loud clean tones.

The overdrive channel is a lot louder and where the amp really shines, with flexible EQ, interesting ISF knob which makes quite an impact on your sound, effectively giving a "Voxier" sound with looser bass and very nice midrange texture, or a more "Fendery" sound with tighter bass and sharper treble. Very flexible indeed. I really like the first quarter of the gain knob, it allows a very dynamic overdriven sound that I'm really enjoying, and for me the best part is that it actually sounds pretty damn good with the volume really down for "bedroom apartment levels". Cranking the gain you see that this amp is really voiced to this thick lead tone, surprisingly quiet and very modern sounding, perfect for any kind of metal or hard rock I would say. More "vintage" rock tones are also available at lower gain volumes and messing with the ISF. Anyway, it's too much gain for me, until 9 o'clock I'm perfectly fine.

Reverb sounds pretty good, especially through the headphones out (stereo), which sounds superb and actually drives my high impedance headphones pretty damn loud and defined. I must point out also that the channel switching is very smooth.

Overall it's a pretty complete amp, good edge of breakup sounds, killer lead sounds, with a very flexible tone stack. All for a very affordable price and cool styling. I just don't enjoy the cumbersome connections on the rear of the amp, not the most practical solution, but it keeps it neat looking.

Undoubtedly the best amp I owned to enjoy great valve tones at bedroom levels. Maybe a bit sterile or hard sounding for some, but unbeatable for price and features.