The lineup
Northampton, 2007-2017
From a humble shed to the world’s biggest stages: the 10 years since Blackstar Amplification launched at the 2007 Frankfurt Musikmesse have told one of the great modern British success stories in the musical instrument industry. It began as four friends, who had worked together in amp design at Marshall, looking for a new challenge. Two-and-a-half years of development in a garden shed in Northampton later, and Blackstar was ready to face the world with its Series One head and HT-Duel overdrive.
The company is still based in the town, now in an impressive HQ with a lab, studio and expanded team. Blackstar’s line of innovative amps and pedals is constantly being developed and added to, with artists including Neal Schon, Gus G and James Dean Bradfield plugging in. We caught up with one of the founding four: sales and marketing director, Paul Hayhoe, to reflect and look forward. What sparked the idea behind Blackstar in the beginning? “The four of us who started Blackstar had all worked together for years. We were also in a band together with our head of marketing, Joel Richardson. We worked really well together as a team with complementary skills and we felt we had something truly unique and innovative to offer guitarists.” What were the biggest challenges for the team in the early days? “Having no money! We spent the first three years after leaving Marshall doing technical research and getting our plans together. During this time, we had no income and had to burn our savings, run up credit card bills and live off baked beans. Sound-testing a 200-watt Series One valve head in a garden shed in Northampton had its challenges…” Can you share a few highlights from the last 10 years that stand out for you? “Receiving the first prototype HT-Dual valve overdrive pedal. It was our first-ever product and to hold in our hands a real product after years of planning and research was amazing. Also, going to see Gus G playing on the Ozzy Osbourne world tour and seeing a wall of Blackstar stacks on stage. And the HT-5 has been incredibly successful for us, so seeing hundreds of those amps on the production line felt like we were achieving something.” Has Blackstar gone in any directions that have surprised you in terms of players’ changing tastes? “Right from the start we had a plan for Blackstar and the first 10 years have been broadly how we expected. One shift we’ve seen is the move towards combos rather than heads, and guitarists looking for lighter, smaller amplifiers. Plus, the popularity of pedals and the fact that digital technology is now more and more accepted by guitarists.” What can we expect from Blackstar to mark the anniversary and what are your plans for the future? “We have a number of exciting new product launches this year. We’ve got some amazing technical developments on our products this year with a big focus on valve technology. There might be some other surprises in there, too. The first will be at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, which is where we launched Blackstar 10 years ago!”