THE SAINTS ARE COMING!

BLACKSTAR LOOKS TO “THE FUTURE OF GUITAR AMPLIFICATION” WITH ITS LATEST VALVE AMPS

Heavyweight tones require a heavyweight amp, right? Wrong. So says Blackstar, whose new St James line of amps - which it says are the lightest valve amps in their class on the planet – sets out to deliver two things: true valve tone in a back-friendly format coupled with versatile modern features suited to today’s ‘play anywhere’ requirements.

The line-up comprises two flavours of amps, named after their power amp valves – the St James EL34 (Fawn/black basketweave) and the St James 6L6 (Black/silver birch). There’s a pair of ECC83S in the preamps, plus two EL34S or 6L6s in the respective power stages giving us either 50-watt head/2x12”cab or 50-watt, 1x12” combo configurations across the range.

Incredibly, Blackstar has managed to get the weight of the heads down to 6.7KG, while the combo comes in at 12.7KG. For context, that’s approaching half the weight of many classic 1x12” combo amps. How is that possible? Well, Blackstar has made use of a brand new, Patent-applied-for switched-mode power supply design that removes some of the bulk form all models, while also making the amps universal voltage for use in any country. Next, there’s the lightweight Candlenut wood cabinet which reduces weight even more, while maintaining the tonal properties and strength required. Finally, Blackstar and Celestion have teamed-up for the brand new Zephyr 12-inch speaker which uses a traditional (not neodymium) magnet to give a similar response to the much-loved Vintage 30, but at a lighter weight.

Back to the circuitry, each amp features two channels with the first channel on each offering a classic US clean sound. The EL34 models switch to a more chimey, 60s British-inspired sound, plus there’s a 10db clean boost taking it into “creamy” territory. Meanwhile, the 6L6 models offer a more modern, higher gain circuit on the second channel, with a voice switch to add greater saturation and low end chug.

St James amps can operate at full power; in Sag mode which introduces natural compression and a softer attack; and at two watts for when you want to drive the power stage harder at lower volumes.

In addition to this, each model includes a built-in reactive load for speaker-free operation, while still running through the whole of the amp’s circuitry, plus Blackstar has included its excellent Cab Rig Dsp-driven emulated outputs for going direct. In turn, the Cab Rig can be edited via the Architect software for deep control over your cabinet sound, with three slots on the amp for storing cab presets. Blackstar St James amps are priced at £999 for the heads, £1049 for the combos and £499 for the cabinets.

Stuart Williams