Blackstar

[Ironmaiden]

Hi,

 

Does anyone have any experience with Blackstar amps?

[binky_bass]

My guitarist uses an all valve UK made Series One 100w head and 410 cab that he keeps in my practice space and that I 'occasionally' use. Made by the same chaps that made Marshall amps. It sounds excellent and is absolutely a quality product. Never personally used their bass amps though. 

[Ironmaiden]

1 hour ago, binky_bass said:

My guitarist uses an all valve UK made Series One 100w head and 410 cab that he keeps in my practice space and that I 'occasionally' use. Made by the same chaps that made Marshall amps. It sounds excellent and is absolutely a quality product. Never personally used their bass amps though. 

I was watching some youtube demos and they sound amazing. I'm surprised I don't see a lot of artists use them.

[ped]

I’ve got (and I’m selling) the 500w 2x10 and powered 1x15 extension. I’ve used it life quite a lot and it sounds fantastic. Only selling because I don’t need such a big on stage sound at the moment. I’ve found it really flexible, full sounding and ‘3D’ sounding (for want if a better word). Previous amp for context was a mesa 400+. 
 

I haven’t used the effects that much but they’re nice to have. I tend to use quite a clean sound and these have tons of clean headroom. I have always quite liked the combo format, too - and they look great on stage!

[Lozz196]

I’ve not used any Blackstar gear but I have been at a gig where the backline was provided by them. The bass rig was the same as @peds above and it sounded really good. I knew the bands playing too, so could tell if the sounds obtained were what was wanted and the setup covered them all well. 

[Silky999]

I also have Blackstar’s Unity 500 210 combo and ACT 250 extension cab. The 500 on its own will deal with most gigs and has a lovely full sound with some tonal options with the settings. It is not massively heavy and both cabs stacked look quite fetching with the Blackstar logo. It is just a nice and easy bit of kit to work with and has volume behind it/them.

[police squad]

I have an HT1R guitar amp it's very good

The guitarist in the U2 trib I'm in, has two St. James 50 heads, into two 2x12 cabs with neo speakers

an amazing rig that weighs nothing

I may, at some point, try some Blackstar bass gear but I have been extremely happy with my Ashdown RM500

[Wombat]

I have a Unity 700. Bought 2nd hand from Stealth of this parish. I really like the sound. Very varied. Wasn’t ‘that’ easy to dial in my ideal tone to be fair but I have that now - and a photo of where the knobs should be! - I like using it.

It’s paired with my 4ohm Eden and I got it so I could get another 8ohm cab and use the Unity at 2.7ohm when I needed to be loud. However, the band I’m playing in has a great PA and with the pub gigs we’re doing I go straight in with IEMs so don’t bother humping an amp to the gig!

[Ironmaiden]

Great replies thanks. I might go with the 500 watt.

[lemmywinks]

I mate of mine has the Unity 250 1x15 combo, it's decent enough and can fill a good sized room on its own. A little unrefined sounding and boomy when I've heard him live but that may be (read probabably is) down to his eq as he's a converted rhythm guitarist. Quite compact for the sound it puts out too.

[Cat Burrito]

I come from an Ampeg / Orange background and own / use Blackstar now. I have the practice amp, the 800w head and one of the professional series cabs. I did have the 500w combo which was great too but didn't pair with the cab so I sold it to buy the head (the theory being the head can be taken to gigs when there is a cab, rather than drag the whole combo out). It's all been really good quality. Great tone and I like the built in effects. Going forward, I'm not in a hurry to change anything. I've been lucky enough to use the 8x10 at a couple of big shows which sounds stunning with the matching head. 

[ped]

52 minutes ago, Ironmaiden said:

Great replies thanks. I might go with the 500 watt.

Let me k ow if you’re interested 

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/505720-blackstar-u500210act-stack-2x10-1x15-£550/#comment-5362182

 

[Ironmaiden]

37 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

I come from an Ampeg / Orange background and own / use Blackstar now. I have the practice amp, the 800w head and one of the professional series cabs. I did have the 500w combo which was great too but didn't pair with the cab so I sold it to buy the head (the theory being the head can be taken to gigs when there is a cab, rather than drag the whole combo out). It's all been really good quality. Great tone and I like the built in effects. Going forward, I'm not in a hurry to change anything. I've been lucky enough to use the 8x10 at a couple of big shows which sounds stunning with the matching head. 

I do own a GK410RBH cab. I will take a look at the head too. Thanks

[edstraker123]

I have 2 Blackstar guitar amps a HT1 and a HT5 both are awesome - I upgraded the HT1 with a Celestion and new valves but the HT5 mk iii was perfect as it is. Great value for money.

[Jo.gwillim]

19 hours ago, Ironmaiden said:

Great replies thanks. I might go with the 500 watt.

I have a unity 700 head I've been meaning to put up for sale for ages pm me if it's of interest 

[Russ]

Currently got the 1x12" combo, and had a Unity 700 head for a little while. 

 

The combo is nice - solid, big sound, lots of tonal options and a great EQ. It's a nice thing to have sitting below my desk. Downsides - cloth grille (my cats have destroyed it and I can't get a replacement). Little switches are fiddly - some more solid switches, or big pushbuttons would work better. So yeah, overall, not a bad little amp. 

 

The Unity 700 head - maybe a bit less complimentary about this one. The 700W power rating is misleading - it only outputs that much power into 2ohms, so unless you're running two 4ohm cabs, it feels very underpowered. Lots of tonal options again (the "response" control is excellent), but it's still got those nasty fiddly little switches, and the controls for the built-in effects are hidden at the back of the amp. No standby switch. Only a single Speakon out on the back, which is weird if it'll only deliver its maximum power into two cabs. Plus, it's also kinda big - most Class D heads are quite a lot smaller. At least it comes with a nice branded gig bag. 

 

I really hope Blackstar roll out an updated range of Unity gear - tonally it's great and very versatile. It's just got some annoying little shortcomings that should be relatively easy to address.

 

It also doesn't seem like they've gone out of their way to promote the range - I haven't seen many players using it, and none of the usual bass Youtube crowd seem to use it (let's face it, you need them on board to promote gear now, in the absence of bass magazines) so I'm not sure how successful the range has been for them. Maybe there's an opportunity there for one of our number with a bit of a public profile to approach Blackstar and look into being an endorser? And there's definitely room in the market for a rock-oriented range of bass gear - look how well Darkglass have done. 

 

 

[Wombat]

I take the point about power and single speakon but my U700 only runs into 2.7ohm so I can run a 4 and an 8? Did they change it at some point or could I run two 4s?

[Russ]

19 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I take the point about power and single speakon but my U700 only runs into 2.7ohm so I can run a 4 and an 8? Did they change it at some point or could I run two 4s?

You're right, should be 2.67ohms. Just took another look at the manual. It will only put out 500W into 4ohms. 

 

[Beedster]

I have this, it's for sale but due to lack of space as opposed to lack of either quality or functionality

 

 

There's a few things to say about it

 

1. I've had similar powered speakers before, I guess most notable the hil Jones PB-300. I've not run them side by side, but given the difference in RRP I was extremely surprised at just how good the Blackstar sounds

2. I run both active and passive basses into the input for both practice and rehearsal and it works just fine, always good to know if you're gigging it

3. It also has a passive speaker input (i.e., bypasses the power amp stage) which I've been using with my Ampeg PF-50 and it sounds absolutely lovely.

4. It looks and feels like a quality unit

 

In short, if all Blackstar gear is as well made, as functional, and as good sounding is this unit, they're doing something right 👍