The series one 45 is medium sized combo containing two 12 inch speakers allowing up to 45 watts of power. This is plenty loud enough for the gigging musician. It does however still sound great at very low volumes.
One thing that is consistent across the Blackstar range is the build quality and easy to understand layout of the controls and features like the ISF (Infinate shape frequency). The ISF is a standout feature on all Blackstar amps. This quirky little feature enables the user to create either a British or American sound or anything in between, depending on where the dial is turned to. The 'British' side creates a much warmer and thicker tone, than the more sparkly and twangy 'American' side of things, so the control is not just a gimmick but is well worth incorporating into your tone settings.
On the clean channel with this control set to create a more British sound, the tone was thick and warm and threatened to break up when incorporating harder dynamics when playing. On the American side however, the much brighter twang produced reminds the player of classic Fender and Mesa amplifiers. Pushing the up the gain and turning back to the British side of things, the tone produced was still deep and thick, yet resonant and crystal clear and therefore perfect for country music. The bass and resonance of this tone was further improved by selecting the 'warm clean' channel, but turning the ISF dial to the American side meant that the brightness and twang was still retained.
Switching to the overdrive channel, the same amount of warmth and clarity was retained with the gain control around 2, especially with the ISF control turned to the British setting. Keeping this ISF setting and turning the gain up to halfway rendered a hair-raising ballsy crunch, perfect for recreating any 70's classic rock tone, whilst turning the ISF control to the American setting cleaned the tone up and improved the clarity and brightness. Cranking the gain served only to heat up this signal, adding more sustain, but the ISF control still made tone shaping infinitely possible.
Pressing the 'super crunch' button, I was amazed with the levels of gain that were possible even at low volume. Turning the ISF control to the American setting and scooping the mids, the tone was powerful yet fluid, with lead work sustaining and cutting through perfectly due to the impressive gain levels. Turning the ISF to the British setting, I was presented with the raw, ballsy sound of cranked Marshall heads, yet still surprisingly modern, given the 'super crunch' mode selected.
In conclusion, it is easy to see that the blackstar has been developed by designers in pursuit of valve tone. One benefit of this is that the ISF control makes most famous and classic amp tones easy to emulate, from the bright twang of fender amps to the raw crunch of classic Marshall stacks. Players in pursuit of high gain levels may be better suited to the larger peavey and mesa boogie type amps, but from a perfectly clear clean sound with amazing clarity to a thick, modern distortion, the Blackstar is a powerful rival to any amplifier.
One thing that is consistent across the Blackstar range is the build quality and easy to understand layout of the controls and features like the ISF (Infinate shape frequency). The ISF is a standout feature on all Blackstar amps. This quirky little feature enables the user to create either a British or American sound or anything in between, depending on where the dial is turned to. The 'British' side creates a much warmer and thicker tone, than the more sparkly and twangy 'American' side of things, so the control is not just a gimmick but is well worth incorporating into your tone settings.
On the clean channel with this control set to create a more British sound, the tone was thick and warm and threatened to break up when incorporating harder dynamics when playing. On the American side however, the much brighter twang produced reminds the player of classic Fender and Mesa amplifiers. Pushing the up the gain and turning back to the British side of things, the tone produced was still deep and thick, yet resonant and crystal clear and therefore perfect for country music. The bass and resonance of this tone was further improved by selecting the 'warm clean' channel, but turning the ISF dial to the American side meant that the brightness and twang was still retained.
Switching to the overdrive channel, the same amount of warmth and clarity was retained with the gain control around 2, especially with the ISF control turned to the British setting. Keeping this ISF setting and turning the gain up to halfway rendered a hair-raising ballsy crunch, perfect for recreating any 70's classic rock tone, whilst turning the ISF control to the American setting cleaned the tone up and improved the clarity and brightness. Cranking the gain served only to heat up this signal, adding more sustain, but the ISF control still made tone shaping infinitely possible.
Pressing the 'super crunch' button, I was amazed with the levels of gain that were possible even at low volume. Turning the ISF control to the American setting and scooping the mids, the tone was powerful yet fluid, with lead work sustaining and cutting through perfectly due to the impressive gain levels. Turning the ISF to the British setting, I was presented with the raw, ballsy sound of cranked Marshall heads, yet still surprisingly modern, given the 'super crunch' mode selected.
In conclusion, it is easy to see that the blackstar has been developed by designers in pursuit of valve tone. One benefit of this is that the ISF control makes most famous and classic amp tones easy to emulate, from the bright twang of fender amps to the raw crunch of classic Marshall stacks. Players in pursuit of high gain levels may be better suited to the larger peavey and mesa boogie type amps, but from a perfectly clear clean sound with amazing clarity to a thick, modern distortion, the Blackstar is a powerful rival to any amplifier.
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