J'ai trouvé deux review du HT 20
Just got this today from Hartnoll Guitars (an outstanding shopping experience - much appreciated Jamie, and Ben at the Plymouth branch) and it is bloody superb.
Basically it's what you'd expect - a louder and improved HT5. The clean channel is improved no end by the tone control, it really gives some nice extra sparkle if needed. With a Tele it's 50s rock and roll/80s ballad/jangly indie heaven and with a Les Paul it's deep and rich, some nice jazz cleans and thick blues sounds, especially with the volume up and the channel breaking up a bit.
On to the main event, the overdrive channel. You would not believe the gain this thing's got on tap! Way more than the HT5. You get the sort of crunch with gain on 2/3 you get on the HT5 with gain on half. That said, my LP has Aldrich/Air Norton pickups which are hot, but the gain is still surprising. Maxed out seems almost 5150 territory! I tend to run the gain reasonably low at the amp and boost with a TS808 clone for solos myself anyway, but high gain players will be more than happy.
The ISF works if anything better than on the HT5, as for whatever reason there seem to be more tones in the 20. On the British setting I found some really nice classic rock tones, Aerosmith/Rush/G N'R style, and on the American side some more 'metal' flavoured tones. To be honest I find the American side isn't to my taste, but it was the same on the HT5 and HT Dual. Midway between US and British gives some usable modern sounds a la Foo Fighters/Green Day/Weezer etc, nice, tight and crunchy with prominent mids, thick bass and slightly more rounded highs.
Another welcome new feature is the reverb, which is very usable and again, plentiful. Subtle or Gilmour-esque epic 'verbs can be achieved. My Hardwire reverb may be collecting dust soon enough! The head is quite a bit bigger than the HT5, looks impressive and seems to have bulletproof construction - it's very well put together. It's also bloody loud! One final improvement, and a major one at that, is the footswitch. It's the same one-button design as the HT5 but now has a handy red LED and....here it comes...lots of cable! Those of you who had/have HT5s will all have cursed the footswitch and its tiny cable, but Blackstar clearly took these complaints on board. It's a simple improvement but bloody hell, it makes a difference!
For the purposes of this review I used a Harley Benton 2x12 with Celestion V30s, Les Paul Custom with Suhr Aldrich and DiMarzio Air Norton humbuckers and a Squier Classic Vibe Tele with GFS Modern Vintage rail humbuckers in split and series modes. I'd really recommend this amp to anyone who fancies a more giggable and improved HT5 or even just great valve tone at manageable levels (and unmanageable ones!), I can't wait to gig with it.
Deuxième:
I bought a HT 20 combo two weeks ago. Man….this thing roars. I purchased on the phone without testing because I have played HT 5 combo before and I remember I like the overdrive channel. I was hoping BlackStar might improve the clean channel and I was right. Maybe 12” driver plays a good part, it’s really opening and deep but not sparkle clean like Fender or Mesa but hey look at the price tag. No complaint here, I got more than I expected.
The drive channel, that’s what this amp is about. A lot more gain than HT5. I play master volume less than half, around 10-11 o clock, gain sets at 12-1 o clock, give me 80’ rock tones instantly AC/DC, GNR, Aerosmith, Scorpions etc. Plenty of gains at 3 o clock reach from Skid Row, Ozzy, Van Halen and Metallica to modern metal territory. that’s what I have been looking for. 80’s Marshall crank tones in reasonable low volume (not bedroom level though). ISF is a nice feature that you can shape from British to US voicing and I like UK side of thing. Digital reverb is okay, nothing fantastic.
Tested with Ibanez limited edition Prestige RG2820 (Dimazio/IBZ pickups), Ibanez JEM 90th (Dimazio Evo pickups), Gibson LP Classic (stock pickups), PRS custom 22 (Dragon II pickups)
This amp sounds good with all of them but particularly very good with PRS I must admit.
Last night, I tested with BOSS Super Drive (SD1) and effectively I have created four channels. Clean, Light overdrive (clean channel + SD1), amp overdrive, over the top distortion but with liquid sustain (channel 2 + SD1). I presume you can achieve this with any other overdrive pedals too.
Overview
Absolutely brilliant, I don’t think you can find any other tube amp with this price tag and sounds/features in the market at present. I would recommend this amp to anyone who demands great tones for both practice and pub/club gigs with reasonable budget. Basically you can dial anything from classic rock to Modern Metal.
Likes
• Outstanding tone
• Overall bulit/ features
• Price
Dislikes
• Shared EQ for both channels
• Clean channel and reverb can be improved
