We've already talked about Blackstar in previous articles... So I'd simply like to remind you that it's a company that has been building amplifiers and pedals for 50 years, and it has a good catalog of them. Let's move on to a technical analysis of the pedal.
HT-Reverb (Blackstar)
As soon as you take the "beast" out of the box, you realize its level of construction. The Blackstar family has something in common: they are rugged, fully assembled pedals that give a sense of security, since, whatever happens, it seems unlikely they'll suffer any damage. In addition, as a member of Blackstar's HT pedal family, it houses a tube inside. Since nobody and nothing is perfect, its weight is considerable... but if you want your pedal to always be at 100 percent, you'll have to carry a bit more weight. Meanwhile, on the upper front it has five pots with which we can control:
a) Reverb type: you can choose between Room, Hall, Bright Hall, Plate, Spring, Arena, Reverse and Gate.
b) The reverb's tail time.
c) Tone: controls the amount of high frequencies in the reverb.
d) Dwell: with this control you choose how much signal passes through the tube. This pot is paired with an LED that changes color depending on the level of signal passing through the tube.
e) And its level, which is directly related to the Dwell control.
It has two footswitches: one to turn the effect completely on or off, and the other to choose the pedal's operating mode. This footswitch offers several modes:
If the footswitch is not engaged, the reverb follows the speed set with the time control.
If the footswitch is engaged, we'll have two options for the reverb speed: it can be short or long (green or red on the footswitch LED).
On the right side we have the pedal's input, and on the left, the two outputs for using it in stereo. Meanwhile, on the top side we have the power input, which, as you can imagine, given that it has a tube and other features, isn't 9 V but 22 V. This means we have to use its own power adapter, which comes with the pedal. What's really striking, though, is that you can see the tube through a grille, making it glow on display.
Sound
A more high-level pedal. As soon as you plug it in, you'll realize how many options it offers. First, we should bear in mind that usually you don't have reverb at the stomp of a foot. Being able to control this effect with your foot will give you a lot of possibilities, so that you can combine it, as each case requires, with different sizes and types of wave or repetition.
Plugging it in and setting it to the ROOM position, we come across a fairly standard sound... It's not too long and will blend perfectly with your pop/rock repertoire. When you move on to try the next option, HALL, you'll see it's somewhat longer than the previous one and perhaps a little smoother. The Bright HALL option is similar but with a bit more brightness.
PLATE, for its part, is a plate reverb, completely metallic. SPRING sounds like a typical vintage spring reverb. Meanwhile, the ARENA option produces enormous spaciousness, and you have to think about where to "place" it, since it can be too big in some cases and situations; its decay is gradual and smooth.
The REVERSE and GATE options are aimed especially at guitarists. The effect is triggered by the pick attack, as is the gate, which consists of a noise gate right after the reverb. Time and tone are key controls for properly adjusting whichever sound you have active at the time. The controls are meticulous and precise, which will lead you to find exactly the sound you want so that it blends perfectly with your tone.
Next comes the level control, crucial for dialing in the amount of effect your signal chain needs. The DWELL pot is useful, but from the standpoint of warmth... It will add a touch of quality to your sound. I also tried the effect both in front of the amp and in the loop, and it works wonderfully in both places... Even on the JCM 800, which has neither reverb nor a loop, it blended perfectly.
Conclusion
A very notable option that I personally liked a lot. It's aimed at amplifiers that don't have reverb, letting you control how and where to place it with great "finesse."