Blackstar enters the trough of disillusionment

musicegbdf

I like Marmite and my HT 5 ... just saying

Gassage

hubobulous said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

They are marmite, but David Gilmour Gassage has a Blackstar pedal.

Just saying

This post is bought to you with the letters AGES and the insight of the Gods. :-)

Not sure who they are....I thought Blackstar was a euphemism for Denzil Washington.

DeeTee

They do a particular sound well, in my experience, and if that's not the sound you're looking for you won't be happy. I think the problem is a lot of reviews just made out they were all things to all people, which no musical instrument or accessory can be be.

Dave_Mc

monquixote said:

I don't think anything has changed. 

There has been a lot of negativity about Blackstar going right back to the MR days. 

I think a lot of it comes from Guitarist giving everything they made a gold award for years and then people disappointed as they have a very Marmite sound.  

+1

Also the dodgy (IMO) advertising of saying (or at least, very strongly implying) that some of their amps (and pedals) were all-valve when they weren't.

ICBM said:

 The main negativity for me revolves around the questionable advertising and marketing though.

Beaten to it. )

jpfamps

ICBM said:

blueskunk said:

Another classic case of don't believe the hype, for me anyway.

Laney all the way for small amps - lc/vc/cub range.

I find Laney over-hyped and over-rated too, with the possible exception of the Iommi model and the Lionhearts - although neither is particularly well-built.

Blackstar are OK - pretty well-made mostly, and good enough sounding. I just don't find the tone inspiring in any way, they seem to lack 'life' - that includes the Artisans, which are very well made. The main negativity for me revolves around the questionable advertising and marketing though.

I concur.

The build quality of much of Laney's output is in my opinion questionable.

Like ICBM I consider Blackstar products to be well built, but sonically fairly uninspiring. However, my guess is that I'm not the Blackstar target market!

Gassage

I have to be blunt here- my only experience of Blackstar was dreadful. I bought the little combo and it was utter dogwank.

I couldn't get rid of it quickly enough. I'd take a Cube over anything I've heard from them thus far.

dilbert

jpfamps said:

I concur.

The build quality of much of Laney's output is in my opinion questionable.

I overhauled my LC30II last year and the build quality of the cabinet simply beggars belief.  

musicegbdf

Interesting, I hated the cube and like the HT 5.. Depends what you want I suppose.

JohnPerry

For half an hour a few years ago I A-Bd an Artisan 15 and a BadCat hot cat 15 at decent volume. The Bad Cat was, IIRC, three times the price and about ten times as good. The Blackstar was, as others have said, flat and uninspiring. There just was nothing much to the tone. The BadCat was glorious. I also had an HT Dual which was about as brittle, raspy and nasty an overdrive as I've ever encountered.

meltedbuzzbox

I always found blackstars dont project sound all that well and they seem to favour humbuckers.

(not played an Artisan though, have played most of the range)

The one positive is the clean channels are usually very clean... but very shrill too. 

Babones

With the exception of the Artisan, i've never been interested in Blackstar. I don't like the sound, look or logo. They missed the opportunity to build upon Marshall's modern shortcomings. Instead they just released a bunch of dull, uninspiring amps. Maybe i'm not the target audience, as i don't like modern high gain amps with 'x' technology etc.

John_A

Having played and owned (and still own) loads of amps, I regularly gig with a Series One 50 which has been 100% reliable and IMO sounds great. As for 'can't do cleans'. The warm clean is as close to my jtm45 as any amp I own and it does a very good jcn800 as well

guitarfishbay

I think the crunch/super crunch channel on the EL34 S1s is really good. The S1/Artisan 4x12 cabs are well built too.

DiscoStu

HT Stage 60 here. Had it a few years now (bought it from the MR classifieds) and can't see me changing it unless it died.

I love the Mesa type hi gain off it - my main reason for wanting it - but I equally love the OD and the clean. For me and my way of playing it is near perfect. Wish it wasn't so blimmin heavy though!

My mate fancies ditching his AC30 for an Artisan 15 and I think it would totally suit him.

I was underwhelmed by the HT5 though. Went with a Yamaha THR10 and adore it.

GavRichList

I wasn't blown away by the A15. Tested both that and the A30 at length, and owned the A30H before my current A30. Maybe it just suits my set up etc, but it always sounds great.

DiscoStu

GavHaus said:

I wasn't blown away by the A15. Tested both that and the A30 at length, and owned the A30H before my current A30. Maybe it just suits my set up etc, but it always sounds great.

So why is it in the classifieds??

GavRichList

Because I'm skint! Read the ad - it's the best amp I've personally ever used. Only contemplating a sale for cash - it'd be a downgrade

DiscoStu

Aha!

Rocker

When I tried out an Orange Micro Terror in the shop, it sounded amazing through an Orange 4 * 12" cab.  The problem was that I did not have the space for a 4 * 12 in our music room.  I tried a number of 2 * 12" and 1 * 12" cabs but the magic was not there.  In the end I tried a Blackstar 1 * 10" and liked the sound.  Bought both the amp and the cab.  The combo sounds even better when I upgraded the valve in the amp.

I know that the Orange Micro Terror is not thought very highly and it seems that many consider the sound of Blackstar to be uninspiring. To these old ears, the combo works very well and don't take up too much space. 

Fortheloveofguitar

They bought out too much gear in such a short space of time.

Seemed like every Monday morning they'd announce yet another useless ill thought out product.