Blackstar Series One 45 -Serious improvement!

Roaster

Had this a few months now and have been really pleased with it but something was just missing from the sound, always a bit edgy for my tastes even with the treble an presence tamed and the resonance up high. A few people on the Blackstar forum had mentioned swapping the speakers and when some V30s became available on this very parish I thought I'd give them a go.

Anyway with no one in today I though Id give it a crack - BIG BIG smile, Blackstar promote their amps with the strapline "For the sound in your head" well, tinnitus aside I think I have it! Don't know if any of you have seen "Made of Stone" the Stone Roses reunion documentary film, I just got it off ITunes but there's a clip (its on YouTube) of The SR's rehearsing "Waterfall" with Squire playing through a few mesa's (Lonestars?) and it sounds fantastic with Ian Brown actually sounding in tune! I learnt that and "Love is the Law" (Seahorses) for the band never to be fecking played so I rekindled them just playing those straight into the Blackstar Les Paul> Cable>Amp and appreciating what a difference those V30s have made. Great afternoon!

The only decision now is whether to install the other 2 V30s I got into the Blackstar 2x12 ext cab (which the 45 sits on top for live use) instead of the stock Celestion Neodymium's they seem to favour. Might try them so see if they balance well together. If anyone has a Series One 45 I'd seriously recommend a speaker swap. One disadvantage, they seem to have tripled the weight of the combo and when you feel the weight of the neo's you'll see why, nothing to them!

Drew_TNBD

Yup. Speakers are MASSIVELY important to your guitar sound. It's the first thing I changed when I wasn't happy with the sound, and I realized quite quickly that I prefer the V30 over almost any other speaker; the only other one I have had success with is the K100.

guitarfishbay

Don't know if you're aware of this but they've switched to V30s in the stock combo now http://www.blackstaramps.com/products/seriesone45/

I had an S1 head and I've got to say the clean and crunch channels sound best in to V30s or greenbacks.   I had the 104EL34 which has two additional OD channels, and I quite liked either of those in to T75s.  In fact the whole amp sounded pretty decent into a 1960B but I preferred V30 or greenback cabs for the crunch/super crunch channel (which was my favourite channel).

V30s are my favourite speaker too, especially with modern high gain heads.

ddlooping

Speakers do make a huge difference.

One example amongst many...

ddlooping

Another example:

Roaster

guitarfishbay said:

Don't know if you're aware of this but they've switched to V30s in the stock combo now http://www.blackstaramps.com/products/seriesone45/

I had an S1 head and I've got to say the clean and crunch channels sound best in to V30s or greenbacks.   I had the 104EL34 which has two additional OD channels, and I quite liked either of those in to T75s.  In fact the whole amp sounded pretty decent into a 1960B but I preferred V30 or greenback cabs for the crunch/super crunch channel (which was my favourite channel).

V30s are my favourite speaker too, especially with modern high gain heads.

guitarfishbay said:

Don't know if you're aware of this but they've switched to V30s in the stock combo now http://www.blackstaramps.com/products/seriesone45/

I had an S1 head and I've got to say the clean and crunch channels sound best in to V30s or greenbacks.   I had the 104EL34 which has two additional OD channels, and I quite liked either of those in to T75s.  In fact the whole amp sounded pretty decent into a 1960B but I preferred V30 or greenback cabs for the crunch/super crunch channel (which was my favourite channel).

V30s are my favourite speaker too, especially with modern high gain heads.

Ah so they are fitting as standard now, they have seen the light!

monquixote

Guitarist in my old band put V30s in his HT40 and it made a big difference. 

Roaster

monquixote said:

Guitarist in my old band put V30s in his HT40 and it made a big difference. 

Can't wait to give it a blast live - sat night now!

ICBM

Roaster said:

Ah so they are fitting as standard now, they have seen the light!

I think either Celestion stopped making the Neos or they just became too expensive - there has been a global increase in the price of neodymium which badly affected the price of speakers.

I agree about the tone difference, although there's certainly a steep weight penalty with V30s.

If you like heavier modern sounds it's also worth trying Classic Lead 80s, which for some reason often seem to get overlooked in the Celestion line. They're clearer and cleaner-sounding than V30s, a bit like a 'modern G12H', and also mix very well with V30s.

Roaster

ICBM said:

Roaster said:

Ah so they are fitting as standard now, they have seen the light!

I think either Celestion stopped making the Neos or they just became too expensive - there has been a global increase in the price of neodymium which badly affected the price of speakers.

I agree about the tone difference, although there's certainly a steep weight penalty with V30s.

If you like heavier modern sounds it's also worth trying Classic Lead 80s, which for some reason often seem to get overlooked in the Celestion line. They're clearer and cleaner-sounding than V30s, a bit like a 'modern G12H', and also mix very well with V30s.

Thanks ICBM , so recommended pairing may be a Classic Lead 80 with a V30? I play in a Indie pop rock covers band so flexibility is really the aim. May hang on to the Neo's they may become sought after.

ICBM

Yes, I'd keep the Neos unless you can find someone who wants to pay top dollar for them.

V30+CL80 is a big, chunky tone - not sure if it would suit Indie pop. Although having said that I would probably use it! I love heavy sounding amps and cabs even though I play pretty non-heavy music .

I'd probably head towards something a bit more vintagey/jangly for that sort of thing - G12M Greenback and G12H-30 for example, assuming your amp is less than 50W. That's a nice combination for anything less than metal, really - not tight enough for very high-gain though.

V30+G12T-75 and V30+G12K-100 are great combinations for metal. Both these and the V30+CL80 have the advantage that the power ratings are the right way round to thrash the V30 (which it likes) before the other speaker gets driven too hard (which they don't) - something the apparently popular V30+H30 combination is very poor for, and is why I don't like it.

Roaster

Brilliant, thanks for the advice, I'll try it with the V30s in the combo and leave the Neo's in the ext cab at the bottom for now see how it sounds. You wouldn't believe how light the ext cab is with the Neo's in feels like its empty

ecc83

Yes. AFAIK the speakers were changed because of cost implications.

The V30's have given the combo a couple of dBs of extra arse kicking ability (as if it needed it!) and most here feel a generally better sound.

The downside is of course that the amp is now as heavy as cluck and on a par with that other brute, the A30. The S1-45 is of course a far more versatile amp than the very "classically" made A30.

Just thought. Since the amp has a 4Ohm tap you could drive the internal 30s AND the two Neos and point the latter at the people you don't like or the Old Fekkers like me with a lot of "top loss"!

Dave.

 

Roaster

ecc83 said:

Yes. AFAIK the speakers were changed because of cost implications.

The V30's have given the combo a couple of dBs of extra arse kicking ability (as if it needed it!) and most here feel a generally better sound.

The downside is of course that the amp is now as heavy as cluck and on a par with that other brute, the A30. The S1-45 is of course a far more versatile amp than the very "classically" made A30.

Just thought. Since the amp has a 4Ohm tap you could drive the internal 30s AND the two Neos and point the latter at the people you don't like or the Old Fekkers like me with a lot of "top loss"!

Dave.

 

Hi Dave

 

 it has gone heavy but no more more than I'm used to. Going to try the Ext cab with the Neos and the 45 with the V30s this weekend I'm thinking as the Neo's will be at leg level it should make a nice balance as they are not "in  my ear"

 

Ill report back after Saturday!