is blackstar done ?

professorben

The new singer/guitarist in the band I'm in has a Blackstar Series One 200 head and it sound absolutely epic. 

The blend of his Modded Marshall and my Mesa Mark type tone is glorious. 

bbill335

darcym said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

As far as I'm aware they shift quite a lot of units of those smaller amps.

It's funny how people assume that if a company isn't pumping out high end heads etc, they're finished. The simple matter is that those type of amps just don't sell anymore and are actually quite a specialist item now. It's the lower, cheaper end where  most sales are to be made.

it's not because they are not putting out high end heads, it's more because they seem to have not done anything for ages, no-one talks about them any more, you don't see "that guy" using the blackstar brand and getting a great tone, or anything like they just seem to not exist in any context, doesn't mean they are not still selling.

Steve Craddock is a big Blackstar user and always sounds pretty good imo

Hoof

Not at all. Go onto local cicuit gigs and they're everywhere, especially the HT and ID ranges.

Personally, I own an HT-DIST pedal, LT-Dive, LT Dual and an ID Core 40 practice amp. It's great sounding kit at good prices.

Alnico

I've just bought a series one 200 head a couple of months ago and it's an amazing amp, easily the best I've ever owned.
Blackstar are my favourite amps out there hands down, especially the valve amps.

not_the_dj

They're very active on social media. Gear giveaway competitions each week (usually a Fly 3) and plenty of rig shots from users and endorsees. 

Certainly not done from what i see 

Chalky

Like all the best businesses, they concentrate on shifting real product today rather than possible products tomorrow.

fretmeister

Chalky said:

Like all the best businesses, they concentrate on shifting real product today rather than possible products tomorrow.

Coooo-eeeeeee

Marshall, can you read this?

Take those headphones and shove them.

Remember when I went on your facebook and asked if there was a plan for a 20W JCM800, akin to the mini jubilee? And that I said I'd buy one in a heartbeat?

And then about 1000 people joined in and said they'd have one as well...?

And then you said "No - no plans for that at all"

You are twats.

Drew_TNBD

Some companies don't care about their products. They only care about fattening up the fish so they can sell it to the shark.

FarleyUK

fretmeister said:

Chalky said:

Like all the best businesses, they concentrate on shifting real product today rather than possible products tomorrow.

Coooo-eeeeeee

Marshall, can you read this?

Take those headphones and shove them.

Remember when I went on your facebook and asked if there was a plan for a 20W JCM800, akin to the mini jubilee? And that I said I'd buy one in a heartbeat?

And then about 1000 people joined in and said they'd have one as well...?

And then you said "No - no plans for that at all"

You are twats.

Watch this space.....



Picking up my 2525h mini Jubilee head on Wednesday. And maybe a CODE on the 10th.

Plus, those headphones are actually VERY good for rock music.

ecc83

Alnico said:

I've just bought a series one 200 head a couple of months ago and it's an amazing amp, easily the best I've ever owned.
Blackstar are my favourite amps out there hands down, especially the valve amps.

Strong man! Y'know, B's have been making the Artisan 100 for nigh on ten years and it is a bloody good amp. Pretty near bomb proof, all valve and good value IMHO. They did/do not shift.

THEN they brought out the 200 watter (WTF?! I thought. "If the A100 don't move, no chance with that brute")

I was wrong. Maybe it is the power control but the S1 200 does sell quite well I am told considering modern tastes.

(I still have memories of the extended voicing tests in a not very big workshop. 200W into 2x 4x12 V30s. They gave me some deffs! 'King useless! )

Dave.

guitarfishbay

I think Blackstar do a good job of making a product for a target price.  That's not a knock, they're doing well at a lot of price points.  My bandmate has the ID100 head, I've previously owned the HT60, HT100, and S1 104 EL34 amps and they've all had some cool stuff going on and some good tones in there.

The S1s just aren't balanced well though, all the weight is on one side.  And the shared EQs on such a huge and heavy head seems an unnecessary compromise.  But I thought the crunch/super crunch channel sounded fantastic on the S1.  I wish there was an Axe FX model of it actually!

monquixote

When you hear a lot about a product it usually means that they are spending a lot of money on marketing.

I'm assuming blackstar have done the r&d and marketing spend for the ht and Id and now they are reaping the profits and dreaming up the next set of products.

My local small guitar shop pretty much only sell blackstar amps.

Lestratcaster

I'm not a fan of the Blackstar amps, my mate has the Series One and he's had to send it in twice for repair as there's a problem with the tubes. I played a show on Saturday and one of the bands guitarists had an issue with the power switch on his Series One. The other guitarist in my mate's band owned a Blackstar head also and the input jack fell apart as well so this is more to do with bad construction or maybe bad luck for them. I'm not overly impressed with the tone either so I wouldn't get one of their amps.

Alnico

ecc83 said:

Alnico said:

I've just bought a series one 200 head a couple of months ago and it's an amazing amp, easily the best I've ever owned.
Blackstar are my favourite amps out there hands down, especially the valve amps.

Strong man! Y'know, B's have been making the Artisan 100 for nigh on ten years and it is a bloody good amp. Pretty near bomb proof, all valve and good value IMHO. They did/do not shift.

THEN they brought out the 200 watter (WTF?! I thought. "If the A100 don't move, no chance with that brute")

I was wrong. Maybe it is the power control but the S1 200 does sell quite well I am told considering modern tastes.

(I still have memories of the extended voicing tests in a not very big workshop. 200W into 2x 4x12 V30s. They gave me some deffs! 'King useless! )

Dave.

Yes the power control is very useful.
Down and driving the amp vs up and keeping the amp volume low is two totally different characters and everything in between.
As it goes my stage set up is soon to be two 4x12 V30 cabs but it won't be in small rooms when they get used.
The rest of the time it stays below 1/4 power through a 2x12 running a V30 and a G12-T100.

I'm not one to care about the 'Noise Police' and I'll never play another pub gig as long as I live so it suits me but I agree they're not for everyone.

It's the best amp purchase of my life.

Ravenous

dindude said:

Getting a view of their accounts on-line probably wouldn't be too difficult.

+wis.  Search for Companies House, I should think they'll have older ones filed.

rico

FarleyUK said:

fretmeister said:

Chalky said:

Like all the best businesses, they concentrate on shifting real product today rather than possible products tomorrow.

Coooo-eeeeeee

Marshall, can you read this?

Take those headphones and shove them.

Remember when I went on your facebook and asked if there was a plan for a 20W JCM800, akin to the mini jubilee? And that I said I'd buy one in a heartbeat?

And then about 1000 people joined in and said they'd have one as well...?

And then you said "No - no plans for that at all"

You are twats.

Watch this space.....



Picking up my 2525h mini Jubilee head on Wednesday. And maybe a CODE on the 10th.

Plus, those headphones are actually VERY good for rock music.

What secrets aren't you telling us!

professorben

Alnico said:

I've just bought a series one 200 head a couple of months ago and it's an amazing amp, easily the best I've ever owned.
Blackstar are my favourite amps out there hands down, especially the valve amps.

It is a monster, the singer in my band is playing his Les Paul with Bareknuckle Nailbomb and it sounds awesome. 

ennspek

ecc83 said:

Alnico said:

I've just bought a series one 200 head a couple of months ago and it's an amazing amp, easily the best I've ever owned.
Blackstar are my favourite amps out there hands down, especially the valve amps.

Strong man! Y'know, B's have been making the Artisan 100 for nigh on ten years and it is a bloody good amp. Pretty near bomb proof, all valve and good value IMHO. They did/do not shift.

THEN they brought out the 200 watter (WTF?! I thought. "If the A100 don't move, no chance with that brute")

I was wrong. Maybe it is the power control but the S1 200 does sell quite well I am told considering modern tastes.

(I still have memories of the extended voicing tests in a not very big workshop. 200W into 2x 4x12 V30s. They gave me some deffs! 'King useless! )

Dave.

The Artisan 100 and the Series 100 are different amps aimed at different niches so it's not really comparing like for like. That said they are both great amps.

ICBM

I will say this - much as Dave knows I don't like the voicing, and I was very critical about the way the HT series was initially marketed as "all valve" (as I think he was) - the HT series is *very* innovative by comparison with most valve amps.

What's so ridiculous about the "all valve" claim is that the amp is in fact a clever and unusual hybrid design, which uses the smaller number of valves in the places they really matter (distortion/tone stack stage and final power output stage), and the solid-state stages in the places they're not only as good, but arguably better (lower noise and microphonics). In many ways this is exactly what a lot of players do with their all-valve amps and fancy overdrive pedals anyway…

The small 1W and 5W models were also innovative in being proper miniature push-pull amps - even fixed-bias, for the HT-5 - unlike almost all other companies which used the traditional single-ended EL84 approach. (Marshall have since copied the 1W push-pull idea.)

My complaint about them is to do with the sound, really - I just don't like that very stiff, dark character they have, and I really don't like their choices of speakers... but I will admit they're quite consistent - consistently too tight and midrangy .

It's nothing to do with the construction method or quality - and I'm not a fan of the Artisan series, they have the same problem with the sound that all the others do. (And once again the V30 is the wrong choice, in my opinion - even though it's a good speaker.)

So in all honesty I don't expect this to change any time soon, since I think whoever is in charge knows exactly what sound they're aiming for - they're too consistently successful at it for it to be an accident. But it is certainly not the sound in *my* head .

They're not remotely 'done' though - if anything the likes of the ID series and the Core are the future for guitar amps, not large valve amps.

Funkfingers

I have a mk1 HT-5H and matching 1x10 cab. The head always sounded better through any loudspeaker other than the stock Chinese Celestion. I upgraded to an Eminence Legend.