Blackstar HT-20
- Thread starter tman
- Start date
HeftyMetalGuitar
New member
Re: Blackstar HT-20
I beg to differ because as highly as I regard Soldano stuff the HT20 is a step above the JCA20. There pretty much isn't anything the HT20 cannot do as it excels at everything and does so without splitting the walls or shattering glass. I dare say not only is there no amplifier at its price that can match its tone, most twice as expensive don't sound as good. Such statements are always subjective to a degree but anyone who cannot get a great tone out of it has a lot more to worry about than learning how to use a tube amp. Specifically the HT20 has superb cleans, definition, warmth, and borders close to hi-fi but still classic in most of its voicings. With the ISF and other tone shaping features it yields a range of sounds from classic British rock to tight, brutal riffs. There are a lot of in between tones in the clean range. You would not be comparing apples to apples since the JCA20 uses EL84s and the HT20 uses EL34s. The way the HT20 uses a full EL34 duet power section at 20 watts makes it sound incredibly rich and full bodied.
I beg to differ because as highly as I regard Soldano stuff the HT20 is a step above the JCA20. There pretty much isn't anything the HT20 cannot do as it excels at everything and does so without splitting the walls or shattering glass. I dare say not only is there no amplifier at its price that can match its tone, most twice as expensive don't sound as good. Such statements are always subjective to a degree but anyone who cannot get a great tone out of it has a lot more to worry about than learning how to use a tube amp. Specifically the HT20 has superb cleans, definition, warmth, and borders close to hi-fi but still classic in most of its voicings. With the ISF and other tone shaping features it yields a range of sounds from classic British rock to tight, brutal riffs. There are a lot of in between tones in the clean range. You would not be comparing apples to apples since the JCA20 uses EL84s and the HT20 uses EL34s. The way the HT20 uses a full EL34 duet power section at 20 watts makes it sound incredibly rich and full bodied.
vivanchenko
New member
Re: Blackstar HT-20
Disagree. HT-20 won't do one of the best things a tube amp can do and that is crunch. It sounds more or less well on the clean channel and distorted but everything in between is a POS. When you decrease gain the amp sounds distorted and then at some point it just almost suddenly gets clean - solid state clipping for you. I had an HT-5 and hated it for that. 90% of what I am playing requires crunch.
Disagree. HT-20 won't do one of the best things a tube amp can do and that is crunch. It sounds more or less well on the clean channel and distorted but everything in between is a POS. When you decrease gain the amp sounds distorted and then at some point it just almost suddenly gets clean - solid state clipping for you. I had an HT-5 and hated it for that. 90% of what I am playing requires crunch.
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Sleepy
New member
Re: Blackstar HT-20
dead on, described it better than i did
goes from very dark saturated gain to almost clean without much warning, i had a hard time dialing in a lively crunch tone
mind you i've heard other people sound AWESOME on blackstars and i got compliments on my tone when i had mine
it just didn't feel right, to me the feel matters as much as the tone
dead on, described it better than i did
goes from very dark saturated gain to almost clean without much warning, i had a hard time dialing in a lively crunch tone
mind you i've heard other people sound AWESOME on blackstars and i got compliments on my tone when i had mine
it just didn't feel right, to me the feel matters as much as the tone
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IM4Tone
New member
Re: Blackstar HT-20
Have to agree to a point, but when I swapped the V1 to a 5751, I was able to get the crunch at lower gain settings. It lowered the acceptable distortion range to my liking and it still has far more on the upper scale than I'd ever use.
