jimmy23cricket Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Interesting Always liked their guitar stuff https://www.blackstaramps.com/uk/ranges/unity-elite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Definitely an interesting head. Cabs not so much. Why only a single Speakon out when the amp can cope with a 2.67 ohm load? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 16 minutes ago, stevie said: Why only a single Speakon out when the amp can cope with a 2.67 ohm load? Definitely a perplexing design choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Aside the ponderous single speakon out (unless it's something to do with how their own cabinets and how they link up together) it looks like a well designed, well equipped and very decent looking amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stofferson Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 I had the pleasure of using the combo and extension cab at a gig last year, was nice, I did ask when they'd bring out a head, didn't fiddle as I just chucked my pedal board with Sansamp in front. Still, seems like most entry level Class D heads on the market nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Blackstar sponsored a gig I went to a couple of years back, and I thought the bass combo & cab sounded great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 I've got the u500 combo and think it sounds great - lots of options and the built in compressor is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 At least the controls are on the front this time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 All cabs have an In and Thru, so they probably felt 1 Speakon out on the amp was enough. Works for my setup, but clearly not everyone’s cabs will have a thru. Missed opportunity. Looks decent enough otherwise, but no GAS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Looks great but the cabs are pretty pricey ... the head plus 2 x 210s would be about about £1850!! There's a lot of very good competition at that price. Still though, like the look of it all. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 5 minutes ago, funkydoug said: Looks great but the cabs are pretty pricey ... the head plus 2 x 210s would be about about £1850!! There's a lot of very good competition at that price. Still though, like the look of it all. That is pricey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 The combos sound great, nice to see they've done what they should have done in the first place and released a head. Looking forward to giving it a try. They've missed a trick with the cabs though - a single, smaller, full-range cab might have been a better fit, like a 2x12" or 1x15"+1x10" or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim1 Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 I have been looking at these for a while, but nowhere can I find the power output at 4 or 8 ohms. 700 watts at 2.67 is all they seem to reveal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 I had assumed that the Unity combos were Class D. Regardless of whether they are any good, Blackstar are almost guaranteed to sell some of these. The shops that have accounts with them (particularly smaller ones, not that there are many left) will be required to take some into stock, and the folks who go in looking for 'a bass amp' will be pointed to this range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stofferson Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 39 minutes ago, Tim1 said: I have been looking at these for a while, but nowhere can I find the power output at 4 or 8 ohms. 700 watts at 2.67 is all they seem to reveal. from the manual dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Looks very GK-like.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Ah great, another amp with no heft! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 700w into 2.67 ohms? I'd bet they're using the ICEpower module that so many others do, with their own preamp. Blackstar make nice pre's - they've had plenty of practice building guitar amps - so it should work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Small form factor only allows for one speakon - simple! Mind you, as stated, given Blackstars cabs have thrus (they aren't really thrus are they, they are just a parallel split) and they should be pushing the cabs as a companion to the amp, it's not really an issue. It's not really a deal breaker either - if you were desperate to use other cabs without thrus, it's not difficult to knock up a cable or a little box to plug cables into it. The reality is, if you are buying an amp physically this small and light anyway, you are probably only interested in having a single cab to run with it anyway... probably a 212... and that's the real point at which Blackstar have fallen down with this suite of products - a missing 2x12 cab, or a single 12 that you can daisy chain with another. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 For some reason the blackstar website keeps setting off my Malwarebytes for Trojans. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 (edited) - Edited March 8, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 That's weird. I'm looking at the world via my office server at the moment, which is usually on an absolute hair-trigger when it comes to malware and adware and anything-else-ware, and yet it's perfectly happy with the Blackstar site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 4 hours ago, EBS_freak said: Small form factor only allows for one speakon - simple! Mind you, as stated, given Blackstars cabs have thrus (they aren't really thrus are they, they are just a parallel split) and they should be pushing the cabs as a companion to the amp, it's not really an issue. It's not really a deal breaker either - if you were desperate to use other cabs without thrus, it's not difficult to knock up a cable or a little box to plug cables into it. The reality is, if you are buying an amp physically this small and light anyway, you are probably only interested in having a single cab to run with it anyway... probably a 212... and that's the real point at which Blackstar have fallen down with this suite of products - a missing 2x12 cab, or a single 12 that you can daisy chain with another. True. Virtually all cabs have parallel inputs/outputs, so easy to run more than one if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 I'm not sure this actually is a small form factor amp - it's 380mm wide. The Peavey Minimax is only 280mm wide and it has two Speakons. The old Ashdown Little Giants were only 200mm wide and they had two Speakons. I'd consider this a minor niggle rather than a deal-breaker. It's certainly good to see another British company active in the market. The more competition the better for us all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 24 minutes ago, stevie said: I'm not sure this actually is a small form factor amp - it's 380mm wide. The Peavey Minimax is only 280mm wide and it has two Speakons. The old Ashdown Little Giants were only 200mm wide and they had two Speakons. I'd consider this a minor niggle rather than a deal-breaker. It's certainly good to see another British company active in the market. The more competition the better for us all. There's actually some great Class D stuff coming out of the UK. Ashdown's Rootmaster series are excellent, and Laney's Nexus range are fantastic. Not sure Trace counts as a British company anymore, but there's also the Elf. Just need Marshall to put something out now. I know they have Eden for all their bass stuff these days, but I would pay through the nose for the old DBS preamp section coupled with a big-powered Class D amp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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