https://www.blackstaramps.com/uk/ranges/unity

ecc83 · January 2018

Just had the info that Blackstar are getting into bass gear.

Annoyingly I cannot find a handbook as yet but will ask.

Dave.

Kalimna · January 2018

https://www.coda-music.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=unity&order=relevance&dir=desc

For prices etc.

I quite like Blackstar gear, and these may well tempt me into picking up/having-a-go-at-making a 4-stringer..... Hmmmm Ive gotta birthday in May too......

Adam

digitalscream · January 2018

So...by the looks of it, solid state bass amps with switchable 6L6 and 6550 emulation in the power section?

Snap · January 2018

Nice. Might have a dip, possibly. I've got the Fly Bass Stereo and that is seriously impressive. Puts out a good amount of volume and rumble and handles my Stingray just fine.

ecc83 · January 2018

One thing I have discovered, they have for the first time AFAIK moved from Celestion to Eminence speakers, the Opus range.

Any bassists here have the dope on their relative qualities?

Dave

DrBob · January 2018

Kalimna said:

https://www.coda-music.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=unity&order=relevance&dir=desc

For prices etc.

I quite like Blackstar gear, and these may well tempt me into picking up/having-a-go-at-making a 4-stringer..... Hmmmm Ive gotta birthday in May too......

Adam

Little bit "Mass Produced" for your taste in amps these days isnt it Adam ?

Kalimna · January 2018

Well, it *would* compliment my Fly and TVP.....

And anyway, Andy hasnt done a bass amp yet....

ICBM · January 2018

ecc83 said:
One thing I have discovered, they have for the first time AFAIK moved from Celestion to Eminence speakers, the Opus range.

Any bassists here have the dope on their relative qualities?

I generally like Eminences for bass, but rarely for guitar - in fact I often prefer them to similar Celestions. Not sure why! The same caveats about sensitivity and power ratings apply, but less so than for the guitar ones in my experience.

I wouldn't buy one of these amps though - they have top-mounted controls. This is such a bad idea for a gigging amp - but for some unaccountable reason it seems to be the fashion now, for both bass and guitar amps. Leo Fender got it right in 1960 - controls at the top of the front, angled back slightly if you like. On the top is just asking for beer to get into the workings, and makes it impossible to stack anything on top of the amp, which is useful on small stages.

This is just one of quite a number of things which seems to be fashionable for some sort of 'retro' reason when it's really a problem, that was solved decades ago...

Cabicular · January 2018

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:
One thing I have discovered, they have for the first time AFAIK moved from Celestion to Eminence speakers, the Opus range.

Any bassists here have the dope on their relative qualities?
I generally like Eminences for bass, but rarely for guitar - in fact I often prefer them to similar Celestions. Not sure why! The same caveats about sensitivity and power ratings apply, but less so than for the guitar ones in my experience.

I wouldn't buy one of these amps though - they have top-mounted controls. This is such a bad idea for a gigging amp - but for some unaccountable reason it seems to be the fashion now, for both bass and guitar amps. Leo Fender got it right in 1960 - controls at the top of the front, angled back slightly if you like. On the top is just asking for beer to get into the workings, and makes it impossible to stack anything on top of the amp, which is useful on small stages.

This is just one of quite a number of things which seems to be fashionable for some sort of 'retro' reason when it's really a problem, that was solved decades ago...

I replaced the celestions in my Sub with eminence 12s and they were markedly better at the low end stuff

ecc83 · January 2018

ICBM, Whilst I agree that top mounted controls have disadvantages there are, (as I am always saying!) commercial concerns.

If a valve chassis is mounted horizontally you have two choices*. Upside down is easier since the 'slot' only has to accommodate the height of the chassis. Right way up and you need a lot of height for say EL34s, you also have to consider ventilation. Slots in the top? Beer traps! That extra cab height is extra wood with no acoustic advantage but I agree, in a perfect, non competitive world, right way to do it! I am never happy to see valves upside down but admit it does seem to work!

You can go 'right way up' but with an angled presentation. This gives decent ventilation, upper back panel can be slotted but again, costly to implement and wasteful of wood.

IMHO things are rather different for a bass cab since I doubt stacking things on top is practical? Many, many years ago when I gigged bass you could stand NOTHING on my cab lest it 'walk' off! Ok, a 'King heavy head will sit still but heads avoid the problem anyway!

*The VERY best idea is all the power OP/heavy ***t in a chassis bottom of cab and an umbilical to a light, compact pre amp chassis. Pre valves can be 1/2 in the chassis further reducing its profile but, cost a friggin' fortune!

Oh! And I cannot speak for other mnctrs but B's amps have a foam sealing strip inside top of cab. Beer COULD get in via pot shafts I suppose? Never had it and the only other vulnerable point was the input jack but that will likely have a plug in it?

Dave.

ICBM · January 2018

All true up to a point - although you may be surprised how few makers use a foam strip - but I don't really see it as being a cost-related decision. A Fender BF-style cabinet with the chassis upside down at the top has to be as cheap or cheaper than any other design, since it's also the simplest. Heat doesn't seem to be much of an issue, at least if the valves are mounted properly and not in open chassis cutouts directly onto the PCB.

There's also the issue with top-mounted controls that on a guitar amp, you always want it raised up or tilted back - at least if you want to actually hear it properly yourself - and then at the back of the top is about the worst possible place for the controls (apart from at the bottom of the back like some Gibson amps!). OK on a bass amp you usually want it down on the floor so I can just about see on top as less of a pain, but at the back is still not ideal.

ecc83 · January 2018

Er? Surely mounting the chassis on the back panel has to be the cheapest option? You have to HAVE a back panel anyway.

I do agree, upside down IS very common and "we" do it for the HT range but, as I often say, I am not a dyed-in-the wool 'gitamp' man and just don't like the configuration!

The guitar 'combo' is a huge design compromise anyway (as are passive guitar electrics!) microphonic and sometimes hard to stop rattles. Just a bigger, eff'ed up radio set really!

Dave.

ecc83 · January 2018

The ventilation thing is a bit weird! We sealed up a 60 Stage and ran the bits off it for 2 hours. The chassis temperature only rose a few dgrs above the 'open' state, never remotely dangerous.The problem is, LITIGATION!

If a sealed up valve amp was involved in a fire (but did not start it) WHAT would the BS lawyers make of that? !

Dave.

ICBM · January 2018

ecc83 said:

Er? Surely mounting the chassis on the back panel has to be the cheapest option? You have to HAVE a back panel anyway.

True, but the shaping of the top of the box, and covering it with vinyl, is more complicated than the Fender-style method. With that, all you do is make the baffle not go all the way to the top and you have your slot for the chassis.

ecc83 said:
I do agree, upside down IS very common and "we" do it for the HT range

Which 'you' (I know it wasn't you

) made needlessly complicated and ugly by copying Matchless/Mesa etc with that 'U'-shaped top panel! They would have looked better if they were like the ID combos with a full-width front panel.

Then the HT-20 wouldn't have needed that annoying one-above-the-other volume and reverb knob arrangement either

.

ecc83 said:
The guitar 'combo' is a huge design compromise anyway (as are passive guitar electrics!) microphonic and sometimes hard to stop rattles. Just a bigger, eff'ed up radio set really!

It is, but like a guitar the problems (from a technical point of view) actually contribute to the sound, and it's not quite the same if you eliminate them.

ecc83 said:

The ventilation thing is a bit weird! We sealed up a 60 Stage and ran the bits off it for 2 hours. The chassis temperature only rose a few dgrs above the 'open' state, never remotely dangerous.The problem is, LITIGATION!
If a sealed up valve amp was involved in a fire (but did not start it) WHAT would the BS lawyers make of that? !

Interestingly that Mesa Trem-o-verb I had did run really hot, even with good ventilation - a typical upside-down chassis with the cabinet open at the back. I left it on for three or four hours once and the temperature inside the chassis got to 80ºC in one place (checked with a thermocouple probe poked through some of the jacks!) - I stopped at that because it's really not good for the caps.

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