Matt
May 5th, 2010, 07:24 AM
I had been spying these for a while on YouTube. Just from those limited clips they sounded pretty good. When my local shop got a HT-20 Studio combo in, I asked to play it. I was blown away by just how good they sound in person and could not believe how cheap these things are (well not THAT cheap, the combo will still set you back £450ish).
I decided to give it a day and went back later in the week with my own guitar to make sure it wasn't just the stores guitar which made it sound good. My own strat sounded beautiful through it- I had been considering to get rid of the DiMarzios in my strat becase they sounded a tad lifeless through my Marshall JVM and especially through my Fender Blues Jr. But through the Blackstar, these pickups really sing. They sound just like a strat should, but zero noise. Anyway, I made a decision there and then to trade my JVM in for the Blackstar. I had been toying with getting rid of the JVM for a while, as the combo version I had seemed more suited for humbuckers. It was a very bright amp and got brighter when gigging and so using single coils did it no justice. It was also huge and heavy to carry around. I also had my doubts about the MIDI section staying reliable for years to come.
So, onto the review of my new amp:
For a 1x12 combo it is still fairly large- it's much larger than my Blues Jr. However, this is a good thing IMO as it doesn't sound boxy in the slightest and has large amounts of bass on tap.
It's 20 Watts, powered by 2 EL34s (Yes, 34s not 84s) and has 2 12AX7s for the preamp. It has enough clean headroom for gigging (preferably miked up though) although the clean channel will distort if you crank it.
It consists of a clean channel with volume and a tone knob, and a dirty channel which has gain and volume. It has a shared 3 band EQ and the ISF control. Master volume and reverb. Also has jacks for extension cabs and an effects loop (switchable between +4db and -10db for rack FX or pedals). It is equipped with a Celestion Rocket 50 driver.
Clean channel: I wasn't expecting much from this as the HT-5's clean channel was not its strong point. However, I was blown away by this. It is such a sweet sounding clean and the tone control is very responsive. It can go from dark and jazzy to full blown trebly tone. The 3 band EQ does not have much of an effect on this channel and nor does the ISF, but that is what the tone knob is for. This channel also takes pedals very well. My BYOC mouse sounds great, but more impressively is my Tech21 Double drive. When I first bought the pedal, it sounded great in the shop, but pretty useless in at home. But now its love again for this pedal. It can make the amp sound class A or AB using the different gain textures on the pedal. It can also do a fairly good tubescreamer sort of sound. I use now for Gilmour style semi cleans which are just lovely.
Drive Channel: This was pretty much the selling point for the amp (well so the shop I bought it from says- they weren't lying). Its a very very versitile channel. It is very high gain even when dialed back, but the sound of it is fantastic. Using the ISF control you can make it sound UK or US style. I prefer the UK side (not because I'm from the UK) but because it sounds warmer and less aggressive. You get a very convincing Marshall-esque sounds out of it and everything in between. Turn down the gain and switch to US however, and a cranked Fender style OD comes out. The EQ is very responsive on this channel and coupled with the sheer amount of gain on tap, pretty much any style can be played with this channel. I have to say that it makes my strat bridge pickup sound great which is something my other amps never did. I also borrowed a friends Les Paul, and all the heavy tones you could want are on tap. At bedroom levels as well.
I will try and borrow an SM57 soon to do some recording, but for now I will just make do with the rather large smile that crosses my face everytime I play a note :AOK
(sorry for the long ramble, but it all had to be said :P)
I decided to give it a day and went back later in the week with my own guitar to make sure it wasn't just the stores guitar which made it sound good. My own strat sounded beautiful through it- I had been considering to get rid of the DiMarzios in my strat becase they sounded a tad lifeless through my Marshall JVM and especially through my Fender Blues Jr. But through the Blackstar, these pickups really sing. They sound just like a strat should, but zero noise. Anyway, I made a decision there and then to trade my JVM in for the Blackstar. I had been toying with getting rid of the JVM for a while, as the combo version I had seemed more suited for humbuckers. It was a very bright amp and got brighter when gigging and so using single coils did it no justice. It was also huge and heavy to carry around. I also had my doubts about the MIDI section staying reliable for years to come.
So, onto the review of my new amp:
For a 1x12 combo it is still fairly large- it's much larger than my Blues Jr. However, this is a good thing IMO as it doesn't sound boxy in the slightest and has large amounts of bass on tap.
It's 20 Watts, powered by 2 EL34s (Yes, 34s not 84s) and has 2 12AX7s for the preamp. It has enough clean headroom for gigging (preferably miked up though) although the clean channel will distort if you crank it.
It consists of a clean channel with volume and a tone knob, and a dirty channel which has gain and volume. It has a shared 3 band EQ and the ISF control. Master volume and reverb. Also has jacks for extension cabs and an effects loop (switchable between +4db and -10db for rack FX or pedals). It is equipped with a Celestion Rocket 50 driver.
Clean channel: I wasn't expecting much from this as the HT-5's clean channel was not its strong point. However, I was blown away by this. It is such a sweet sounding clean and the tone control is very responsive. It can go from dark and jazzy to full blown trebly tone. The 3 band EQ does not have much of an effect on this channel and nor does the ISF, but that is what the tone knob is for. This channel also takes pedals very well. My BYOC mouse sounds great, but more impressively is my Tech21 Double drive. When I first bought the pedal, it sounded great in the shop, but pretty useless in at home. But now its love again for this pedal. It can make the amp sound class A or AB using the different gain textures on the pedal. It can also do a fairly good tubescreamer sort of sound. I use now for Gilmour style semi cleans which are just lovely.
Drive Channel: This was pretty much the selling point for the amp (well so the shop I bought it from says- they weren't lying). Its a very very versitile channel. It is very high gain even when dialed back, but the sound of it is fantastic. Using the ISF control you can make it sound UK or US style. I prefer the UK side (not because I'm from the UK) but because it sounds warmer and less aggressive. You get a very convincing Marshall-esque sounds out of it and everything in between. Turn down the gain and switch to US however, and a cranked Fender style OD comes out. The EQ is very responsive on this channel and coupled with the sheer amount of gain on tap, pretty much any style can be played with this channel. I have to say that it makes my strat bridge pickup sound great which is something my other amps never did. I also borrowed a friends Les Paul, and all the heavy tones you could want are on tap. At bedroom levels as well.
I will try and borrow an SM57 soon to do some recording, but for now I will just make do with the rather large smile that crosses my face everytime I play a note :AOK
(sorry for the long ramble, but it all had to be said :P)