Als dieses Video angeteasert wurde war ich gespannt drauf, wen du interviewen wirst und war (angenehm) überrascht, dass es jemand von Blackstar ist und keiner der üblichen "Boutique Gurus", die nur verwaschene untechnische Antworten geben. Sicherlich könnte man über viele Dinge noch sehr viel tiefer ins Detail gehen, jedoch wäre das Video dann bestimmt 30 Stunden lang und für viele weniger technisch versierte Zuschauer zu langweilig. Die technischen Begründungen, die gegeben wurden waren aufjedenfall nachvollziehbar. Einen zweiten Teil fände ich aufjedenfall gut.
I'm a keyboard player but one of my best friends is an awesome electronics engineer, and he also messes with all his amps. I've learnt a lot with him, so now I know a lot about valve amps circuits and way of workin, and I agree with Ian. There's a part II of the interview xD ?
Tube amps are not louder than solid state amps. People assume that because the amps they're comparing are not using the same speakers. Humans are more sensitive to middle frequencies, mainly closest to vocal frequencies. It's the speakers that cut those frequencies the least that sound the loudest. At the same wattage and same impedance, hitting the same cab will register the same decibel level. Class D amps a perfectly good. They're cheaper, more resilient, and consistent. Power tube distortion sounds like shit too. You have far more control over distortion with a pedal or pre-amp. 20W or 100W, it doesn't matter. A 100W is simply going to be a bit (correction: less) than twice as loud based on the decibel rule since decibels are logarithmic. Transformers convert AC to DC. They also step up voltage or step down voltage. The size of the transformer relates to how much current goes through it. Bigger coils mean more current can flow without melting the transformer. That's why power transformers blow up at the utility poles sometimes. They overheat from too much current and go boom. It has zero effect on the tone of your amp, because it can't. There's a transformer to power the pre-amp because it just has to turn guitar signal into line-level signal and there's the power amp transformer. If you have more than one pre-amp, like multi-channel amps, you'll have multiple pre-amp transformers. I have to say, a lot of what he said is just perpetuating amp myths because it helps them sell more product.
@@greevar I think the difference between "technical" sound-pressure-level and subjective loudness was left out in the video because it was deemed irrelevant, since the majority of people care about the percieved loudness of their amp, not the measurements.
Really educational. As a St. James 6l6 head and an Amped 1 owner this was also very encouraging and great to hear all this stuff from "the horse's mouth" 😉 could have carried on listening all evening. Thanks
This was a fascinating video, thanks for doing this Kohle! I've owned a Blackstar 100w head since 2008, and had a love/hate relationship with it for many of the first years until I came to realize that A) start with the ISF first! It's a waste of time to dial in any of the other controls until you're happy with how the mid/low balance is sitting And B) for high gain tones it pretty much always needs a boost in front for pre-shaping I've had more than a couple Blackstar haters jaws on the floor with the tones just by following those 2 guidelines
Regarding tube vs solid state vs modeling, I agree with Ian. At the end of the day, there will always be demand for tube amps. But in the budget range, it seems like most players prefer a modeling amp to a pure solid state amp. Modeling gives you great tones for not much money. I have two tube amps and an HX Stomp. I use the HX Stomp 99% of the time for recording and gigs because it's so much easier to get a wide variety of sounds from. But I'm keeping the tube amps.
@@benburnett8109 Tubes don't affect tone. They affect total output (i.e. how loud it is). The capacitors, resistors, and diodes are what affect tone. Amp makers simply let you believe that the tubes are doing the work to sell more tube amps. All a tube does is take the input signal, send it to the output with added power from the negative input. A transistor does the same thing. What actually creates the tone are the capacitors, known as rectifiers (that word might sound familiar to you), and the resistors. Your presence, resonance, bass, mids, and treble are all controlled by those components, not the tubes. You can literally swap out the tubes with transistors (for example: LND150 Mosfets can be used in place of a 12ax7 tube). The amp will function identically with the solid state equivalents. In fact, MOSFET transistors can be used to produce a Class A power amp that will produce output indistinguishable from a tube amp of the same class. It will even provide "tube" distortion when pushed to clipping. That's how Blackstar can produce solid state amps (e.g. the Amped series) that uses solid state components, but replicates tube sound.
I prefer good solid state amps over tube ones for death metal. Just a certain "dryness" to their tone that I like, they're tighter in the low end, have more aggressive midrange, etc. And as a bonus, you don't have to change tubes. Too bad, most manufacturers (I mean, is there anyone other than Hughes & Kettner and Quilter? Modern Randall RG is out of stock everywhere) nowadays only make solid state guitar amps for the budget range (trash like Marshall MG), sometimes even without bothering to make head versions. Pro level SS range is mainly reserved for bass now. While all those 90s and early 00s solid state heads like Ampeg VH140C, Marshall Valvestate, some GX line Crates, Randalls and Sunns have a cult following in the US/Canada death metal and sludge scene.
@@greevar Different tubes and SS components have different S-Curves, and various tubes have differnt levels of resonance I'm not sure is present in transistors. There's also the way the speaker/OT/tube impedance interaction affects the sound, and how OT core saturation affects the sound. SS amp designers have emulated some of these things in various ways. I'm not an amp designer by any means. Is a MOSFET amp a high impedance circuit? It won't react like a tube amp if it isn't.
I started off as an acoustic player, so I am used to the immediacy that comes with that. Tube sag never felt right to me, so I have learned how to get a good sound out of solid-state amps that still has the instant response I like. These days I actually prefer the kind of dry, slightly raspy sound I get by driving the input of a clean, high-headroom solid-state amp with a clean boost. If I play softly it's clean (not "clean with some hair"--clean) and if I hit it hard it breaks up, but in a softer, horn-like way. It doesn't do any of the work for you, and if you make a mistake everybody in the neighborhood knows, but the payoff is a very focused, articulate tone that communicates all of my nuances. At the end of the day, I think it's entirely a question of what you are looking for. I couldn't do a metal gig with my sound, but it covers Blues, Contemporary Jazz, R&B, Funk, Reggae, and Prog like a champ. I don't do Country gigs, but I think it would be fine for that too.
I've learned a lot from Steven Fryette and other amp people and this guy def knows his stuff too. Really cool, I love when real experts share their wisdom.
Love this! So little marketing gibberish but instead loads and loads of nerdy techy facts. Would be so cool to have similar interviews with Horst Langer from Engl or maybe Peter Diezel himself. Perfect entertainment guaranteed.
I think the digital vs tube debate will play out just like it did in the art world. (not that artists use tubes) In the old days you painted or drew on canvas or paper. Starting in the 80s there were suddenly paint programs. These days, the paint programs can do whatever you want visually, but plenty of people still like to work with physical media. Commercial art is done efficiently on computers and can accomplish whatever is needed, yet paintings are still a thing. I think bands and gigging musicians will use the digital solutions for an efficient and effective solution. Tube amps will still be made because people still like them. Home players that never move their gear have no concern whatsoever about weight. The majority of the market is still home/hobbyist players, so there will continue to be some demand. The idea that it's going to be one or the other is pretty unlikely. imo...
This video put Blackstar on the radar for me - very knowledgeable and informative. A lighter tube amp with a switched-mode power supply is a great idea. Transformers are huge and heavy, and a weak point of many traditional designs.
Cool video! I bought an HT20R MKII last fall and have not been disappointed in the least. I own Fenders and at one time had a JMP100 and a grey basket weave grilled 4x12 that some idiot before me painted black. Loud AF but sounded so good! It eventually went to the 2nd guitarist for the Black Crowes around 1992, if memory serves. All those other great amps aside, the HT20R MKII is light, LOUD for 20w and you can easily dial in a mind blowing amount of tones and sounds & textures, especially if you have a pedalboard with a variety of fun noise makers. I’d love to see another video w/ Ian discussing the low wattage amps and the mindset behind the cool ISF knob (blending American & British tones in ch 2), why these low wattage amps are ideal for pedals and why in the name of all that is good and holy they didn’t include a reverb button on the HT20”R”’s 2-button foot switch? It’s supposed to be a live amp, right? Are we supposed to run back and forth to our amp to engage/disengage the reverb? Love the amp otherwise, really do. It just seems like a no-brainer to not only include reverb in a 20w amp but also include a way to turn it on and off w/o having to go back to the amp - can’t do that while singing at the same time. Heck, I’d pay an extra $10-$20 to see that happen. I doubt it would cost BlackStar more than that and even if it does, I’m sure the benefits outweigh the costs in the consumer’s mind as long as it’s fair. Just something to ponder. That aside, Really nice sounding and feature filled amp. 🙏🎸🤘👏
Amazing. I met Ian at Namm in 2012 and he got so excited showing me their amps that he turned it up louder and subsequently got fined by the Namm volume Police.
Really cool to hear how much research they did when coming up with the Blackstar features. Very informative. Ian obviously loves talking about this stuff.
my first tube amp was a blackstar ht5, i've had a ht5 metal for nearly 10 years, this makes me want a saint james so bad actually, i knew these guys were special but i'm genuinely so glad to have a product made by a dude this passionate and supporting their endeavors
I found that there is a certain SPL needed to get my guitar to interact with the amp. There is also a distance factor involved in getting different notes to sustain and feedback that depends on the length of the vibrating string. It is much easier to do this with an amp on stage, than to depend on a monitor engineer (who is likely to be different from gig to gig). Phantastick video, please do more like this!
One of the best discussions on guitar amps I've ever seen. Thank you for going deep. Hope you do another and address asymmetric clipping in tube preamps, and impact on cascading clipping gain stages. I wonder what impact that has on the frequencies generated. Also why not have two tone stacks, one before and another after distortion? Boost treble and cut bass before distortion, cut treble and boost bass after distortion?
As an engineer in mechanics and familiar to electronics, I must say, first few chapters of this video (I'm writing this comment paused on 11:49 mark) are so great... It explains a lot about guitar amps - solid state vs. valve/tube. Now, back to watching...
Blackstar is a great company. I have a Peavey Valveking 20 watt head, and it's good at clean, crunch, and heavy distortion. It's not the "best" at any, but it's darn good at all three. That's also how I feel about Blackstar - their amps might not be the "best," but they're darned good, and you get a lot for your money. Great stuff.
The Bravo is a really good amp. I tried the VK20 against the VK-2 100w and I sorta preferred the smaller amp for bedroom volume levels. Maybe not the best preamp ever, but just run something badass into the effects return and you are good. One of the best priced lunchbox amps.
As a seasoned pro (playing the bass) i gotta say that nothing beats the feeling (and also the control of your tone and feel/dynamics) of standing in front of a powerful amp and cabinet(s) on stage. Everything else (which i also use) is just a surrogate. Kudos to your interview and Ian Robinson for the insight provided.
I have a tiny Blackstar ID Core 40 Watt stereo amp that I got used.. the only thing I wish it had is 1/4: output jacks for external speaker cabs. I'm planning a small mod to give it a pair of switched 1/4 jacks to drive a pair of vertical 4X12" tower cabs that will do double duty as impedance matched guitar cabs and also as part of the front right and left channels for my home theater system. I previously used it to amp the output of a cell phone while working at a commercial laundry plant. Maybe not it'e intended purpose but it worked well... using a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter and adjusting the levels for best sound at the highest volume. it worked well with acceptable distortion. loud was the mane of that game with other blue tooth amps going all over the plant. I was close to the bank of 12 7' drum commercial dryers and 2 40 long washer tunnels... and a number of pnumatic auto folders.. the noise floor was huge . if it could compete with all that I think that it can drive a pair of nice big cabe at a decent lever in my bedroom where I have my home theater system ..laptop into a HD Projector that throws a 85" picture onto the big screen and the surround system with various speakers from many sources.. it all works well together.
I asked what the real deal is with the loudness difference and had a feeling it wasn't just the same thing everyone was saying. Thanks for following thru Kristian! Now I want to get the new Dept. 10 AMPED 3! Awesome interview with Ian Robinson, honest & clear with everything he answered.
Fascinating fellas. I build acoustic stringed instruments in my retirement which lead to pick-ups, pre-amps, & power amps. While no where close to you fellas in know how I really enjoyed the talk, questions and above all the answers. The comments regarding active compared to passive EQ hit home by matching my experience when I assembled one of each. Thanks, & please do more.....
Did the active EQ still sound good? I've thought for a while that active EQ could be really useful for guitar, although it would probably be even better with more than 3 bands.
@@patdalymusic Yes, it actually does sound nicer with the active filters when done well. I found the simpler 1st order filters had too shallow of a slope with respect to dampening starting at the cutoff frequency. I also recently found & bought for $40 a Takamine EG 240 that had a quarter sized hole in its back and a non working pickup which included a factory passive low-pass or band-pass filter & a variable resistor for volume dampening. Since it has a solid spruce top and eastern mahogany sides I repaired the hole and placed an inlay of mahogany like hardwood over the repair. The pickup was missing the piezo element and I could have picked one up on EBay for $20 which I saw as pricey, so I installed a Fishman Presys 210 after removing the factory installed system. I am almost surely certain the Fishman is an active pre-amp. I am not done yet, so I don't know how well it does but reviews seem to like it and since its a bottom level item in the line up it only cost $20. My guess is whether active or passive the EQ is only as good as the filters and I was not impressed by 1st order filters when I viewed them in action with my scope.
@@migalito1955 Thanks for the info. I've found active first order Butterworth filters very useful and musical in other audio applications like crossovers, but I've never used them for guitar. I think second order and higher would have too sharp of a cutoff for guitar - the knobs would be really sensitive.
uh, question #1. No, that's just blatantly false, or at best, highly misleading. Valve amps are not actually louder than solid state amps... at low distortion levels. Amplifier power output is rated for a clean signal, usually at
You should have asked about the amped1 power supply matter. Thomas blug said it was a total ripoff from his amp1 amplifier. It could have been interesting to see his opinion on the matter
I have a first version Blackstar ID Core stereo 40 I got used a few yrars ago. It sounds good with the speakers it has. I just wish it had bigger speakrs for a deeper fuller tone you get from a bigger bac and speakers. I'm going to try a little mod to be able to plug into a larger cab.installing a pair of switched 1/4" output jacke to drive a pair of 4X8" or larger speakers , rower cabs to stand to either side of the big screen as right and left of the surround system as well through a source switching box I designed the cabs will most likely have each thier own palte amp and crossovers internal.. for a full range sound. the cabl will be ported and have tweeters as well . imaging that tiny amp suplying the sounds from it's on boaud effects plus a few pedals, through those active 4X whatever, cabs ful range pushing real power and a lot of air just like the calssic "full Stack' driven by a Marshal of any other classic amp head... I like to mix and mtch components to get the result I want. Even now at 65 I like it loud and adding just the right amount of bass to get a great tone. allfrom whatever I can get free of at least cheap. Ain't Amazon great for a budget build. Yup I did my research on the partd i want for this little project. electronics and materials for cabs..
Hartley Peavey wrote,, many years ago, some articles about aspects of what makes tube amps sound like they do, and the effect of output transformers in shaping the sound is also described - partially a biit from a different angle than this blackstar guy describes. I forgot how they were called, but it's probably still to be found at the Peavey site somewhere. This all feeds into the Peavey TransTube tech, the sound of which I'm a fan of.
Have had both, both are great but II is obviously tighter with slightly less gain at the same setting but both have more than enough gain. Opted for the 5153 100 stealth. Another great revision of the 5150 series. It’s red channel circuit starts off with the 5150 II lead channel, bigger extended tight low end and more gain. It had so much gain on the red channel that I replaced one of the red channel 12AX7s for a lower gain 12AT7. Now instead of full out gain at 10:00 I can run the gain at 12:00 😂
For round two: why do small amps always have just a clean and full gain channel? It's a pain for actual gainy music ... just put a crunch and lead in and roll back the volume for cleans, like the Dual Terror for example. The St. James line needs a third model ;)
I am an EE and design/build pedala, to me there is nothing better sounding than a high gain fet based circuit. It is no comparison to opamps. I still use both, but my fet based ones just sound so much better. They have more of a tube feel (bc they work like tubes)
So informative. Great interview. About the modeller stuff at the end i always suggest everybody who is into modellers to plug them to a powered cab. I use my hxstomp throught the stereo fxloop of a Blackstar IDCORE 100 and it sounds great. I'd love to see that kind of approach with a St. James 2 speaker cab but with a light stereo power amp like the St James.
I've always wondered how much digital modeling of circuitry could assist in the development of new hardware amplifiers by being able to model interactions of different pieces of hardware without having to fabricate numerous variations in the real world. Perhaps the digital realm could be used to save money on R&D by cutting time and hardware costs🤷 Cheers
26:35 the Fender and Marshall EQ are not the same circuits, but almost, if we don't take the values into account, the mid pot is wired differently, which by itself affect how the EQ works and its voicing.
Such an informative video. Thankyou! Altho would love to have an answer on why the series one amps had the resonance and presence circuit placed on the pre-amp section rather than the power amp?
Awesome video, learned a lot! Side note: you played guitar in the band Kokoon did you not? I discovered that band on some random forum 10+ years ago that the drummer Neudi posted in and rediscovered them on Spotify recently, always liked the tunes. Looking at the cover there’s a guy looking suspiciously a lot like you. Did some digging on metal-archives and saw it WAS you! World feels small in those moments, haha! Love Kokoon (and your videos), man!🤘
Here is something that’s a big part about what amps people pick to play it’s an ego with what brand is hot. If you play a solid state amp or a lesser played amp like black star people will say oh that’s crap I play orange or Mesa but they have never played a black star and would love one if they did. I have a peavey 6505+ I got it when everyone was playing them 10+ years ago when everyone played them and I was like you need to mod and use pedals to make this sound good, if you play in low tunings it sounds better but still need a pedal.
@@KohleAudioKult so 16ohm is brighter than 4 ohms? Or would it be 4ohms is brighter than 16ohms? If two trains leave a station and both are carrying 4x12 speaker cabs and one train has all 16 ohm cabs and one train has all 4 ohm cabs---which one would get to New York first. By the way, the conductors are classically trained musicians. And the trains were built by Engl. The tracks were built by Diezel and the flashing lights were built by Mesa.
Have you ever thought about turning an amp into a bunch of separate modules like a modular synth and then being able to mix and match with tons of different amps?
I absolutely love my Series One EL34 100 Watt. It goes from glassy cleans to high gain earth shattering tones. I always played Marshall before but decided to look to another company as i felt their quality control was terrible. Love the Blackstar company.
Do you agree with Ian? Le me know!
Als dieses Video angeteasert wurde war ich gespannt drauf, wen du interviewen wirst und war (angenehm) überrascht, dass es jemand von Blackstar ist und keiner der üblichen "Boutique Gurus", die nur verwaschene untechnische Antworten geben. Sicherlich könnte man über viele Dinge noch sehr viel tiefer ins Detail gehen, jedoch wäre das Video dann bestimmt 30 Stunden lang und für viele weniger technisch versierte Zuschauer zu langweilig. Die technischen Begründungen, die gegeben wurden waren aufjedenfall nachvollziehbar. Einen zweiten Teil fände ich aufjedenfall gut.
Nice distortion on the voices as well :D Guess after talking about guitar-amps for so long one simply can`t live with clean dialogue.
I'm a keyboard player but one of my best friends is an awesome electronics engineer, and he also messes with all his amps. I've learnt a lot with him, so now I know a lot about valve amps circuits and way of workin, and I agree with Ian. There's a part II of the interview xD ?
Tube amps are not louder than solid state amps. People assume that because the amps they're comparing are not using the same speakers. Humans are more sensitive to middle frequencies, mainly closest to vocal frequencies. It's the speakers that cut those frequencies the least that sound the loudest. At the same wattage and same impedance, hitting the same cab will register the same decibel level.
Class D amps a perfectly good. They're cheaper, more resilient, and consistent. Power tube distortion sounds like shit too.
You have far more control over distortion with a pedal or pre-amp.
20W or 100W, it doesn't matter. A 100W is simply going to be a bit (correction: less) than twice as loud based on the decibel rule since decibels are logarithmic.
Transformers convert AC to DC. They also step up voltage or step down voltage. The size of the transformer relates to how much current goes through it. Bigger coils mean more current can flow without melting the transformer. That's why power transformers blow up at the utility poles sometimes. They overheat from too much current and go boom. It has zero effect on the tone of your amp, because it can't. There's a transformer to power the pre-amp because it just has to turn guitar signal into line-level signal and there's the power amp transformer. If you have more than one pre-amp, like multi-channel amps, you'll have multiple pre-amp transformers.
I have to say, a lot of what he said is just perpetuating amp myths because it helps them sell more product.
@@greevar I think the difference between "technical" sound-pressure-level and subjective loudness was left out in the video because it was deemed irrelevant, since the majority of people care about the percieved loudness of their amp, not the measurements.
I would watch hours of content like this! Thank you. It looked like he had so much more to share! We are ready for Part 2, 3, & 4! 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻
Thanks! 🤘❤️
I second this! Could easily enjoy listening to this for hours
Agree, would love to see more of these videos if your willing.
Agree 👍🏻💯%
It's so inspiring to see someone as excited and enthusiastic about his job! Lovely!
Great job guy's. I think Blackstar has just won over countless people. Got me!
Really educational. As a St. James 6l6 head and an Amped 1 owner this was also very encouraging and great to hear all this stuff from "the horse's mouth" 😉 could have carried on listening all evening. Thanks
This was a fascinating video, thanks for doing this Kohle!
I've owned a Blackstar 100w head since 2008, and had a love/hate relationship with it for many of the first years until I came to realize that
A) start with the ISF first! It's a waste of time to dial in any of the other controls until you're happy with how the mid/low balance is sitting
And
B) for high gain tones it pretty much always needs a boost in front for pre-shaping
I've had more than a couple Blackstar haters jaws on the floor with the tones just by following those 2 guidelines
Regarding tube vs solid state vs modeling, I agree with Ian. At the end of the day, there will always be demand for tube amps. But in the budget range, it seems like most players prefer a modeling amp to a pure solid state amp. Modeling gives you great tones for not much money. I have two tube amps and an HX Stomp. I use the HX Stomp 99% of the time for recording and gigs because it's so much easier to get a wide variety of sounds from. But I'm keeping the tube amps.
Best comment here. Well said. Tube amps are safe. Afterall, that's the "tone" we all chase!
@@benburnett8109 Tubes don't affect tone. They affect total output (i.e. how loud it is). The capacitors, resistors, and diodes are what affect tone. Amp makers simply let you believe that the tubes are doing the work to sell more tube amps. All a tube does is take the input signal, send it to the output with added power from the negative input. A transistor does the same thing. What actually creates the tone are the capacitors, known as rectifiers (that word might sound familiar to you), and the resistors. Your presence, resonance, bass, mids, and treble are all controlled by those components, not the tubes. You can literally swap out the tubes with transistors (for example: LND150 Mosfets can be used in place of a 12ax7 tube). The amp will function identically with the solid state equivalents. In fact, MOSFET transistors can be used to produce a Class A power amp that will produce output indistinguishable from a tube amp of the same class. It will even provide "tube" distortion when pushed to clipping. That's how Blackstar can produce solid state amps (e.g. the Amped series) that uses solid state components, but replicates tube sound.
I prefer good solid state amps over tube ones for death metal. Just a certain "dryness" to their tone that I like, they're tighter in the low end, have more aggressive midrange, etc. And as a bonus, you don't have to change tubes. Too bad, most manufacturers (I mean, is there anyone other than Hughes & Kettner and Quilter? Modern Randall RG is out of stock everywhere) nowadays only make solid state guitar amps for the budget range (trash like Marshall MG), sometimes even without bothering to make head versions. Pro level SS range is mainly reserved for bass now. While all those 90s and early 00s solid state heads like Ampeg VH140C, Marshall Valvestate, some GX line Crates, Randalls and Sunns have a cult following in the US/Canada death metal and sludge scene.
@@greevar Different tubes and SS components have different S-Curves, and various tubes have differnt levels of resonance I'm not sure is present in transistors. There's also the way the speaker/OT/tube impedance interaction affects the sound, and how OT core saturation affects the sound. SS amp designers have emulated some of these things in various ways. I'm not an amp designer by any means. Is a MOSFET amp a high impedance circuit? It won't react like a tube amp if it isn't.
I started off as an acoustic player, so I am used to the immediacy that comes with that. Tube sag never felt right to me, so I have learned how to get a good sound out of solid-state amps that still has the instant response I like. These days I actually prefer the kind of dry, slightly raspy sound I get by driving the input of a clean, high-headroom solid-state amp with a clean boost. If I play softly it's clean (not "clean with some hair"--clean) and if I hit it hard it breaks up, but in a softer, horn-like way. It doesn't do any of the work for you, and if you make a mistake everybody in the neighborhood knows, but the payoff is a very focused, articulate tone that communicates all of my nuances. At the end of the day, I think it's entirely a question of what you are looking for. I couldn't do a metal gig with my sound, but it covers Blues, Contemporary Jazz, R&B, Funk, Reggae, and Prog like a champ. I don't do Country gigs, but I think it would be fine for that too.
I've learned a lot from Steven Fryette and other amp people and this guy def knows his stuff too. Really cool, I love when real experts share their wisdom.
Love this! So little marketing gibberish but instead loads and loads of nerdy techy facts.
Would be so cool to have similar interviews with Horst Langer from Engl or maybe Peter Diezel himself. Perfect entertainment guaranteed.
I’m planning to do more interviews like this.
Both from the guitar and the studio world
Awesome show, Kristian. As a VALVE AMP kinda guy , I really enjoyed watching it. Ian was excellent and very entertaining and informative.
Awesome video!!! Lovely detailed Nerdy stuff!!!
I think the digital vs tube debate will play out just like it did in the art world. (not that artists use tubes) In the old days you painted or drew on canvas or paper. Starting in the 80s there were suddenly paint programs. These days, the paint programs can do whatever you want visually, but plenty of people still like to work with physical media. Commercial art is done efficiently on computers and can accomplish whatever is needed, yet paintings are still a thing. I think bands and gigging musicians will use the digital solutions for an efficient and effective solution. Tube amps will still be made because people still like them. Home players that never move their gear have no concern whatsoever about weight. The majority of the market is still home/hobbyist players, so there will continue to be some demand. The idea that it's going to be one or the other is pretty unlikely. imo...
This video put Blackstar on the radar for me - very knowledgeable and informative. A lighter tube amp with a switched-mode power supply is a great idea. Transformers are huge and heavy, and a weak point of many traditional designs.
Cool video! I bought an HT20R MKII last fall and have not been disappointed in the least. I own Fenders and at one time had a JMP100 and a grey basket weave grilled 4x12 that some idiot before me painted black. Loud AF but sounded so good! It eventually went to the 2nd guitarist for the Black Crowes around 1992, if memory serves. All those other great amps aside, the HT20R MKII is light, LOUD for 20w and you can easily dial in a mind blowing amount of tones and sounds & textures, especially if you have a pedalboard with a variety of fun noise makers. I’d love to see another video w/ Ian discussing the low wattage amps and the mindset behind the cool ISF knob (blending American & British tones in ch 2), why these low wattage amps are ideal for pedals and why in the name of all that is good and holy they didn’t include a reverb button on the HT20”R”’s 2-button foot switch? It’s supposed to be a live amp, right? Are we supposed to run back and forth to our amp to engage/disengage the reverb? Love the amp otherwise, really do. It just seems like a no-brainer to not only include reverb in a 20w amp but also include a way to turn it on and off w/o having to go back to the amp - can’t do that while singing at the same time. Heck, I’d pay an extra $10-$20 to see that happen. I doubt it would cost BlackStar more than that and even if it does, I’m sure the benefits outweigh the costs in the consumer’s mind as long as it’s fair. Just something to ponder. That aside, Really nice sounding and feature filled amp. 🙏🎸🤘👏
Amazing video.
That was really insightful and interesting.
Thank you so much, both of you and team!
Wow! That is awesome interview! Thanks a lot! ☀️✨🌿
Amazing. I met Ian at Namm in 2012 and he got so excited showing me their amps that he turned it up louder and subsequently got fined by the Namm volume Police.
That’s a true Rock’n’Roll story! Awesome!
I would watch 6 hours of this and not even take a pee break. very interesting, thanks!
Really cool to hear how much research they did when coming up with the Blackstar features. Very informative. Ian obviously loves talking about this stuff.
my first tube amp was a blackstar ht5, i've had a ht5 metal for nearly 10 years, this makes me want a saint james so bad actually, i knew these guys were special but i'm genuinely so glad to have a product made by a dude this passionate and supporting their endeavors
Very interesting. I'd love to see this kind of breakdown for cabs and speakers too. :)
We’ve got one for speakers already:
th-cam.com/video/ZAUpWQWlTe0/w-d-xo.html
I love many, many amps. But will always own tube amps and even buy new ones. Moving air is where the real tone sits.
Fascinating science behind Amplification man! 🤯🤯 Looking forward to Blackstar Amp comparisons! 💀🤘
You two should meet once a week for answering such questions - great content!
Haha! I'd love to!
Question: are they interested in creating their own take on making a power supply for modellers?
Just use the Amped 1. It’s exactly that!
While I do not like some of Blackstar’s build practices, Ian seems like a good, knowledgeable bloke and I think we’d get along nicely.
I found that there is a certain SPL needed to get my guitar to interact with the amp. There is also a distance factor involved in getting different notes to sustain and feedback that depends on the length of the vibrating string. It is much easier to do this with an amp on stage, than to depend on a monitor engineer (who is likely to be different from gig to gig). Phantastick video, please do more like this!
One of the best discussions on guitar amps I've ever seen. Thank you for going deep. Hope you do another and address asymmetric clipping in tube preamps, and impact on cascading clipping gain stages. I wonder what impact that has on the frequencies generated. Also why not have two tone stacks, one before and another after distortion? Boost treble and cut bass before distortion, cut treble and boost bass after distortion?
I thought the same thing about the tone stack. I think the Mesa Mark series actually does have separate tone controls for before and after the preamp.
Amazingly informative! Thanks so much for putting such great content out 😊
Thanks man. We've got a similar video with Steven Fryette coming up in the following weeks!
That was an amazing class!
Cheers from Brazil
Great video! Fascinating to hear Ian talk about amp design. I have a little blackstar tvp 30 that is super loud and sounds amazing.
As an engineer in mechanics and familiar to electronics, I must say, first few chapters of this video (I'm writing this comment paused on 11:49 mark) are so great... It explains a lot about guitar amps - solid state vs. valve/tube. Now, back to watching...
Enjoy!
wow, so cool to hear the insights of an icon like Ian. More interviews like this please!
Just had the light bulb moment when he started explaining the ISF feature on Blackstar amps and literally just said out loud - "Fucking Genius!" 😂
Congratulations to this video. Very informative and there was excitement in the discussions.
Excellent interview, the intricacies of Tone and 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 The Class D amp circuitry plus transformer design , was very intriguing !! 😊❤❤❤
Blackstar is a great company. I have a Peavey Valveking 20 watt head, and it's good at clean, crunch, and heavy distortion. It's not the "best" at any, but it's darn good at all three. That's also how I feel about Blackstar - their amps might not be the "best," but they're darned good, and you get a lot for your money. Great stuff.
My exact thoughts with my Peavey Bravo. I'm not spending $1,000 to do one specific thing 15% better.
The Bravo is a really good amp. I tried the VK20 against the VK-2 100w and I sorta preferred the smaller amp for bedroom volume levels.
Maybe not the best preamp ever, but just run something badass into the effects return and you are good. One of the best priced lunchbox amps.
@@wootks Yeah, I'd agree. It's a jack of all trades, but jacks are very, very useful.
This is really fascinating and very well explained, thanks Kohle! "Shouldn't have given me all that cocaine!" :)
Fascinating interview
As a seasoned pro (playing the bass) i gotta say that nothing beats the feeling (and also the control of your tone and feel/dynamics) of standing in front of a powerful amp and cabinet(s) on stage. Everything else (which i also use) is just a surrogate.
Kudos to your interview and Ian Robinson for the insight provided.
Thank you a lot for your dedication.
Tube amps often have higher wattage than on paper. 100 watt plexi measured 140w etc.
Plate voltages can get up to 600volts!!!
Yep!!
To this point i had watch the first 10min. . Great video! THX. I‘m looking forward for the next minutes 🔥
Awesome interview.
Yes. Brilliant interview (and I now SERIOUSLY regret getting rid of my Mk1 HT-20)
Great interview!
I have a tiny Blackstar ID Core 40 Watt stereo amp that I got used.. the only thing I wish it had is 1/4: output jacks for external speaker cabs. I'm planning a small mod to give it a pair of switched 1/4 jacks to drive a pair of vertical 4X12" tower cabs that will do double duty as impedance matched guitar cabs and also as part of the front right and left channels for my home theater system. I previously used it to amp the output of a cell phone while working at a commercial laundry plant. Maybe not it'e intended purpose but it worked well... using a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter and adjusting the levels for best sound at the highest volume. it worked well with acceptable distortion. loud was the mane of that game with other blue tooth amps going all over the plant. I was close to the bank of 12 7' drum commercial dryers and 2 40 long washer tunnels... and a number of pnumatic auto folders.. the noise floor was huge . if it could compete with all that I think that it can drive a pair of nice big cabe at a decent lever in my bedroom where I have my home theater system ..laptop into a HD Projector that throws a 85" picture onto the big screen and the surround system with various speakers from many sources.. it all works well together.
I asked what the real deal is with the loudness difference and had a feeling it wasn't just the same thing everyone was saying. Thanks for following thru Kristian! Now I want to get the new Dept. 10 AMPED 3! Awesome interview with Ian Robinson, honest & clear with everything he answered.
I’m gonna check out the Amped 3 very soon!
@Kohle Audio Kult I hope to catch that video
Fascinating fellas.
I build acoustic stringed instruments in my retirement which lead to pick-ups, pre-amps, & power amps. While no where close to you fellas in know how I really enjoyed the talk, questions and above all the answers. The comments regarding active compared to passive EQ hit home by matching my experience when I assembled one of each.
Thanks, & please do more.....
Did the active EQ still sound good? I've thought for a while that active EQ could be really useful for guitar, although it would probably be even better with more than 3 bands.
@@patdalymusic Yes, it actually does sound nicer with the active filters when done well. I found the simpler 1st order filters had too shallow of a slope with respect to dampening starting at the cutoff frequency.
I also recently found & bought for $40 a Takamine EG 240 that had a quarter sized hole in its back and a non working pickup which included a factory passive low-pass or band-pass filter & a variable resistor for volume dampening. Since it has a solid spruce top and eastern mahogany sides I repaired the hole and placed an inlay of mahogany like hardwood over the repair. The pickup was missing the piezo element and I could have picked one up on EBay for $20 which I saw as pricey, so I installed a Fishman Presys 210 after removing the factory installed system. I am almost surely certain the Fishman is an active pre-amp. I am not done yet, so I don't know how well it does but reviews seem to like it and since its a bottom level item in the line up it only cost $20.
My guess is whether active or passive the EQ is only as good as the filters and I was not impressed by 1st order filters when I viewed them in action with my scope.
@@migalito1955 Thanks for the info. I've found active first order Butterworth filters very useful and musical in other audio applications like crossovers, but I've never used them for guitar. I think second order and higher would have too sharp of a cutoff for guitar - the knobs would be really sensitive.
Ian seems to be highly knowledgable and a pretty nice person! :)
What an absolutely great video! Thanks!
Follow-up coming tomorrow!
Forgot to leave a comment on my initial watch but I enjoyed this a lot. 🤘
GREAT video! Thanks for finding people in the business who have and share profound knowledge!
uh, question #1. No, that's just blatantly false, or at best, highly misleading.
Valve amps are not actually louder than solid state amps... at low distortion levels. Amplifier power output is rated for a clean signal, usually at
You should have asked about the amped1 power supply matter.
Thomas blug said it was a total ripoff from his amp1 amplifier.
It could have been interesting to see his opinion on the matter
This video ruled. Learned a lot. Gonna have to look into a Blackstar now.
Love these highly intelligent discussions!
That was great, heaps went over my head, but how good is it to be able to watch/listen to something your interested in. Thanks agian guys 👍
So much wonderful and inspiring information about amps in one video!
I have a first version Blackstar ID Core stereo 40 I got used a few yrars ago. It sounds good with the speakers it has. I just wish it had bigger speakrs for a deeper fuller tone you get from a bigger bac and speakers. I'm going to try a little mod to be able to plug into a larger cab.installing a pair of switched 1/4" output jacke to drive a pair of 4X8" or larger speakers , rower cabs to stand to either side of the big screen as right and left of the surround system as well through a source switching box I designed the cabs will most likely have each thier own palte amp and crossovers internal.. for a full range sound. the cabl will be ported and have tweeters as well . imaging that tiny amp suplying the sounds from it's on boaud effects plus a few pedals, through those active 4X whatever, cabs ful range pushing real power and a lot of air just like the calssic "full Stack' driven by a Marshal of any other classic amp head... I like to mix and mtch components to get the result I want. Even now at 65 I like it loud and adding just the right amount of bass to get a great tone. allfrom whatever I can get free of at least cheap. Ain't Amazon great for a budget build. Yup I did my research on the partd i want for this little project. electronics and materials for cabs..
Thanks for this important information
Hartley Peavey wrote,, many years ago, some articles about aspects of what makes tube amps sound like they do, and the effect of output transformers in shaping the sound is also described - partially a biit from a different angle than this blackstar guy describes. I forgot how they were called, but it's probably still to be found at the Peavey site somewhere.
This all feeds into the Peavey TransTube tech, the sound of which I'm a fan of.
Great interview! Thanks Kohle
More please! This was awesome!
Have had both, both are great but II is obviously tighter with slightly less gain at the same setting but both have more than enough gain. Opted for the 5153 100 stealth. Another great revision of the 5150 series. It’s red channel circuit starts off with the 5150 II lead channel, bigger extended tight low end and more gain. It had so much gain on the red channel that I replaced one of the red channel 12AX7s for a lower gain 12AT7. Now instead of full out gain at 10:00 I can run the gain at 12:00 😂
For a noob like me that was very very interesting! Thx Kohle & Ian!
For round two: why do small amps always have just a clean and full gain channel? It's a pain for actual gainy music ... just put a crunch and lead in and roll back the volume for cleans, like the Dual Terror for example. The St. James line needs a third model ;)
What can I say but, that was cool as hell. Thank you
This was very generous and incredibly interesting!
I am an EE and design/build pedala, to me there is nothing better sounding than a high gain fet based circuit. It is no comparison to opamps. I still use both, but my fet based ones just sound so much better. They have more of a tube feel (bc they work like tubes)
Blackstar amps sound awesome! I cannot recommend enough, try one. You'll be glad you did!!!
Nice to hear the chit chat!
Edumacation iz emportant kits. These iz eat wright hear. 😂 Loved the video. More please because I need it.
So informative. Great interview. About the modeller stuff at the end i always suggest everybody who is into modellers to plug them to a powered cab. I use my hxstomp throught the stereo fxloop of a Blackstar IDCORE 100 and it sounds great.
I'd love to see that kind of approach with a St. James 2 speaker cab but with a light stereo power amp like the St James.
Brilliant video. Always admired the folks there. Fish n chips and Ale for the win also haha
Thanks for this very interesting interview, full of nerdy details the way I like it!
I would love for brainwork to do an emulation of those Blackstar big amps. specially their filters are out of this world.
Great vid! Interesting info. Would be cool to have more like this.
Coming soon!
Absolutely loved this fellas.
Awesome Video, more of this please!
great talk !
This video was fantastic
So much amazing info presented with a tonne of charisma
Could listen to Ian Robinson til the cows come home; wealth of knowledge & fun listen. You have to do another Ian interview on the BS St.James please
I agree. I'll be back sooner or later for sure!
I loved this interview great one
I have a little class d amp for desktop speakers and I played guitar through it and it sounds awesome 👌
I have been very happy with my Blackstar amps.
Excellent!!
I've always wondered how much digital modeling of circuitry could assist in the development of new hardware amplifiers by being able to model interactions of different pieces of hardware without having to fabricate numerous variations in the real world. Perhaps the digital realm could be used to save money on R&D by cutting time and hardware costs🤷
Cheers
Thanks for this. So much great info!
26:35 the Fender and Marshall EQ are not the same circuits, but almost, if we don't take the values into account, the mid pot is wired differently, which by itself affect how the EQ works and its voicing.
Terrific interview. Very informative.
Such an informative video. Thankyou! Altho would love to have an answer on why the series one amps had the resonance and presence circuit placed on the pre-amp section rather than the power amp?
Awesome video, learned a lot!
Side note: you played guitar in the band Kokoon did you not? I discovered that band on some random forum 10+ years ago that the drummer Neudi posted in and rediscovered them on Spotify recently, always liked the tunes.
Looking at the cover there’s a guy looking suspiciously a lot like you. Did some digging on metal-archives and saw it WAS you! World feels small in those moments, haha!
Love Kokoon (and your videos), man!🤘
Yes! That was me! Welcome!
@@KohleAudioKult So cool. Keep it up 👏
Here is something that’s a big part about what amps people pick to play it’s an ego with what brand is hot. If you play a solid state amp or a lesser played amp like black star people will say oh that’s crap I play orange or Mesa but they have never played a black star and would love one if they did. I have a peavey 6505+ I got it when everyone was playing them 10+ years ago when everyone played them and I was like you need to mod and use pedals to make this sound good, if you play in low tunings it sounds better but still need a pedal.
I’m not all the way through the video yet but this is a goldmine! Thanks!
I wonder if cab impedance changes the sound btw.
The founder of Jensen talked about it in a interview (in this very channel, like, two years ago)
Yes! In a nutshell: The higher the impedance the brighter the tone!
Interesting! Thx Kristian
@@KohleAudioKult so 16ohm is brighter than 4 ohms? Or would it be 4ohms is brighter than 16ohms? If two trains leave a station and both are carrying 4x12 speaker cabs and one train has all 16 ohm cabs and one train has all 4 ohm cabs---which one would get to New York first. By the way, the conductors are classically trained musicians. And the trains were built by Engl. The tracks were built by Diezel and the flashing lights were built by Mesa.
Really enjoyed this.
You shouldn’t have given me all that cocaine… hahaha. As he gets the drip lmao.. that was funny as hell
🤘😜
@@KohleAudioKult 🤘🏼😝
Have you ever thought about turning an amp into a bunch of separate modules like a modular synth and then being able to mix and match with tons of different amps?
Great idea!
I absolutely love my Series One EL34 100 Watt. It goes from glassy cleans to high gain earth shattering tones. I always played Marshall before but decided to look to another company as i felt their quality control was terrible. Love the Blackstar company.
I agree! Good amp.
@@KohleAudioKult Nice one man. I love my Series One
Great knowledge! Nice people!