is blackstar done ?

pintspiller

I have a HT1 and think it's great at what it does.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

No . Although to be fair to them, I'm also reasonably sure it was never marketed as "ALL valve" - that really didn't help Blackstar when the HT circuit was found to be a hybrid. (As I know you agree!)

I don't think slapping Union Jack all over their products helped either.

Plectrum

NelsonP said:

Plectrum said:

Blackstar's accounts don't make happy reading. They've been making big losses for a few years (I only looked as far back as 2014). One wonders how much longer they can go on doing that. I think they're going to struggle to increase sales sufficiently in a zero-growth market. In fact with the launch of new products such as CODE and Katana, Blackstar may struggle to hold what market share they have.

Marshall OTOH increased sales last year by almost £2 million to just over £27 million and made a profit of £2.9 million gross/£2.3 million net. They have no overdraft, are completely debt free and have an £8 million "cash mountain".

If this is true then Marshall should be buying someone soon.

I hope that someone is Atomic Amplification. The Amplifire is the missing link in Marshall's portfolio at the moment, and the best modeller for Marshall tones. And the CLR is one of the best FRFRs out there too.

Go on Marshall, you know it makes sense!

Softtube's models are at least as good plus they're based on reference amps from Marshall's museum so you know you're hearing, within the limits of current technology, models of "best of breed" classic amps. Should Marshall ever decide to get into that market segment they already have the technology.

professorben

@alnico if you need a hand mate I'm only about 40 mins away in my van and wouldn't mind popping by a nice shop, give me a buzz, although I'm busier than Barry Gibbs booking agent right now. 

Alnico

professorben said:

@alnico if you need a hand mate I'm only about 40 mins away in my van and wouldn't mind popping by a nice shop, give me a buzz, although I'm busier than Barry Gibbs booking agent right now. 

Thanks Ben,
I'll PM you.

ennspek

British company that has gone from nowhere to being standard back line and home stuff in the space of ten years?
Huge success story and to be applauded in my opinion.

darthed1981

ennspek said:

British company that has gone from nowhere to being standard back line and home stuff in the space of ten years?
Huge success story and to be applauded in my opinion.

Wiz from me.

MattFGBI

http://www.mia.org.uk/2017/07/blackstar-complete-a-management-buy-out/

TimmyO

ICBM said:

Plectrum said:

Blackstar's accounts don't make happy reading. They've been making big losses for a few years (I only looked as far back as 2014). One wonders how much longer they can go on doing that. I think they're going to struggle to increase sales sufficiently in a zero-growth market. In fact with the launch of new products such as CODE and Katana, Blackstar may struggle to hold what market share they have.

That's both surprising and worrying.

Plectrum said:

Marshall OTOH increased sales last year by almost £2 million to just over £27 million and made a profit of £2.9 million gross/£2.3 million net. They have no overdraft, are completely debt free and have an £8 million "cash mountain".

Which is also surprising, but it indicates they might have turned the corner - there were some not very good rumours about their financial situation a few years ago.

Maybe fridges and sunglasses are growth markets...? 

fretmeister

I really wanted one of the fridges for my office.

Didn't move quick enough though.

ICBM

MattFGBI said:

http://www.mia.org.uk/2017/07/blackstar-complete-a-management-buy-out/

Interesting. Does that mean that the outside investors have bailed out, and sold the company (or a majority of it) back to the people who started it?

If so that's both hopeful - in that people who are actually hands-on now have control of the company - but also worrying, in that I assume it means that the investors saw little prospect of profits.

I know Fender's management did this in 1985 when CBS saw no future for them, and then made a success of it - but I know it was a bit shaky to start with.

TimmyO

ICBM said:

MattFGBI said:

http://www.mia.org.uk/2017/07/blackstar-complete-a-management-buy-out/

If so that's both hopeful - in that people who are actually hands-on now have control of the company - but also worrying, in that I assume it means that the investors saw little prospect of profits.

It's always dangerous speculating on the reasons for a sale when you don't have specific info. They may have realised the profit they wanted, they may want the cash to invest in something else they think will do better, etc etc.

Gassage

I'm not surprised. They're absolute rubbish.

Whitecat

http://www.musicinstrumentnews.co.uk/2017/07/24/blackstar-merge-gordon-smith-auden/

fretmeister

Gassage said:

I'm not surprised. They're absolute rubbish.

Nah - they're just not good at making old white man blues noises.

Whitecat

Noticed that Andertons are blowing out a bunch of Blackstar stuff... not sure what that will mean (new lines with the new ownership group, or maybe Andertons is cutting and running...) - but if you want a bit of a deal on what they've got, go for it...