HT-Dual DS-2 | musicradar.com

Blackstar HT-Dual DS-2 £139

Blackstar is a new British company boasting an R&D, engineering and marketing team that cut its teeth with perhaps the biggest amp name of all time: Marshall. Breaking out on their own in this new venture, Blackstar offers a range of amps and valve-driven pedals, all devoted to that most satisfying of pursuits: distortion and drive.

The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct 2007, 12:11 pm UTC

We rate the HT-Dual as Blackstar's most versatile pedal.

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Manufacturer's description

The HT-DUAL offers the ultimate in high voltage valve distortion flexibility. Channel 1 has either Clean or Crunch modes so it can be used clean, as a boost or overdrive. Channel 2 gives distortion tones from super crunch right up to screaming lead. The unique switching operation will transform a single channel vintage amp into a three channel tone machine. The ISF control takes you from ‘British Valve’ to ‘Modern American’ and anywhere in between and the no compromise speaker emulated output lets you get it all down to tape or disk.

• Genuine valve design • Operates at 300V HT • Cascaded valve gain stages • Responds like a valve amp • 2 channel operation • Clean, Crunch & Lead modes • Unique switching operation • Unique enhanced tone controls • Exclusive Infinite Shape Feature (ISF) • Fully equipped for stage or studio • Speaker emulated output • High integrity buffered bypass • Power supply included • Silent switching.

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MusicRadar rating

4.5 of 5

Pros

The range of tones. General usability.

Cons

Not immediately clear how to bypass the pedal.

The bottom line

This the best value Blackstar pedal, because of the breadth of tones and parameters on offer. Here, the ISF function proves genuinely useful.

Review Policy

All MusicRadar’s reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.

Specification Show

HT-Dual DS-2

Price:: £139
Available Controls:: 2 x Gain, Bass, Clean, Gain, Mid, Middle, Treble
Channels:: 2
Connectivity:: Input, Out
Country of Origin:: Korea
Footswitch:: 2 Button Footswitch, Channel Select
Outputs:: Emulated output
Unique Features:: Dual concentric gain 1 and gain 2, dual concentric level 1 and level 2, gain/clean button. Single ECC83 preamp tube, Included 16-volt PSU only
Valve/Tube Details:: Single ECC83 preamp tube