Bout to jump on the Blackstar bandwagon... Or should I?

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threemounts_1

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So I recently joined a cover band again... Fun, easy, money is much better than original stuff. But I don't need a half stack for the venues we would play so I've been looking at low wattage and non-boutique type amps. I've researched quite a bit for the last few weeks and right now the Blackstar HT-20 is the front running with the Jet City jca20 (or probably the jca22) Is a very close second. My problem is when blackstar first came out with the ht-5 am imagining this or were people calling it just a stomp box in amp form?!!
So I really liked the Jet Citys that I've heard but the Blackstar sounds pretty damn good too and that's what everyone seems to rave over..
Or should I go back to my primitive thoughts of just boosting a tiny terror or a vox AC like I initially thought of doing..
Any ideas..
I'm the only guitar player in the band so I should it through just fine. I don't necessarily needed high gain... Just hard rock at the most...
 
I have the HT-20 and the JCA20H and of the two I prefer the Jet City. I haven't heard the 22H but I would assume it sounds as good.
Nothing wrong with the Blackstar, it's just darker sounding to me, bassier. More modern I guess. I only play them in, so I don't really crank them that often, could be that it opens up at higher volumes.
 
I haven't played a jet city, and those who do seem to like them, but I really dug the HT-5, and have liked clips of their big bro. I just like the sound they put out. I haven't really loved any of the jet city clips I have heard, even though they may sound more rich in person. best to try them both out I guess, but I don't think you will be dissapointed if you go Blackstar. I really like the ISF contour control, able to get some nice very usable tones out of them
 
I like the HT-5 head so much that I just got the new combo version (HT-5r) with the reverb. It's NOT a pedal in a box imho. As with most gear, play the amps for yourself and make the call using your own ears.
 
I just recently sold my HT-100 but it was one of the best amps I have owned. Yes it does use some clipping diodes in the drive circuit but so do a lot of the most sought after amps on this forum. The HT20 is the darkest of the Blackstars but with some good Tungsol or EH pre's you should be in business. Also the stock Tad el34b-str's (same as the Ruby's) are a great tube but are a bit balanced and don't bring out the highs in this amp. For me the Blackstar is far superior to the Jet City in every way but it's personal taste. The blackstar has a really nice clean sound, can do some classic rock sounds and can do metal and is voiced a bit more modern. The Jet City has one channel (the 22 I haven't tried) and it's a good channel but it's very old school sounding. I personally hate the feel of the low end in the Jet City too but some guys swear bye them. Definitely more vintage of the two. I think for a cover band the Blackstar is perfect, the Jet City would work as long as you got the 22 but I personally don't think it would cover quite the ground the Blackstar does as long as you like the feel of the diodes, some guys can't jive with them.

_Shane
 
i really dig their stuff, have a ht-100 coming in soon, real curious to how it sounds

part-exchanged a 5150iii which was too much for home use for a ht-5 for home use, great amp, through a 2x12 or even a 4x12 , solid tones, and easy to record from thanks to the emulated out, a tung sol in the preamp position really brings it alive imo, plug and play and sounds great with some pedals, an OD out front for more brutal stuff, EQ in the loop with a mid boost doe wonders too, one of my favourite amps easily

also have a blackstar artisan 4x12 , and one of my main rigs is actually just a modded HT dual pedal into a hiwatt , sounds like this at lowish volumes:

https://soundcloud.com/paulb2/pedalboard ... nto-hiwatt
 
I have an HT-20 head and I love it. I have also played and owned the Jet City stuff. My suggestion is Blackstar because it has so many more options such as the ISF controll, a better fx loop, and reverb. I use the Blackstar into a 2x12 with V30's when we play smaller clubs.
 
I would say that the blackstar has a better build quality and reliability rate then the jc stuff. Another cool amp in that category would be the randall rm20 or 22 with the possibility for different modules makes it a cool amp. The blackstar 5watt and 20watter are both great sounding amps especially for the money they can be picked up for.
 
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