Originally Posted by
Simon Barden
But you'd also need to use it with a cabinet simulator (as they state) with headphones, otherwise you'll get all that HF fizz that sounds awful once you start adding any drive to the sound.
Valve amp headphone outputs use a very simple low pass filter affair, a couple of capacitors and resistors and that's it, to remove most of the frequencies above 6kHz (well I definitely know that's all that Blackstar use). Yes, they'll also use an op-amp to drive the headphone output, but it's just cleanly representing the signal coming from your pre-amp, and not taking anything away. But most valve amps don't have headphone outputs.
If you are going to spend almost all your time on headphones, then either get a solid state modelling amp (they really are very good now), or maybe a valve/tube amp for playing without headphones and some form of stomp or desktop modeller for when you are. But get one of the latest models, as they have all improved considerably since they first came out. For instance, don't get a 10 year-old Line 6 combo. But the Mk 1 and Mk 2 (current) Boss Katana models are certainly worth considering and sound excellent on their own and through headphones.
The Blackstar HT5R is one of the few valve mps that do have a headphone output, and although the speaker emulation is basic, it is useable, and the amp does sound good on its own. But it's only 5W, and although that's more than enough for home use, it's not really enough to gig with unless miked up, and it's never going to sound as nice clean as say a Fender Princeton, Blues Jr or Deluxe.
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