Do you agree with Ian? Le me know!

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! 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

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

GREAT video! Thanks for finding people in the business who have and share profound knowledge!

Congratulations to this video. Very informative and there was excitement in the discussions.

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

Great video! Fascinating to hear Ian talk about amp design. I have a little blackstar tvp 30 that is super loud and sounds amazing.

wow, so cool to hear the insights of an icon like Ian. More interviews like this please!

Amazing video. That was really insightful and interesting. Thank you so much, both of you and team!

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.

Wow! That is awesome interview! Thanks a lot! ☀️✨🌿

Excellent interview, the intricacies of Tone and 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 The Class D amp circuitry plus transformer design , was very intriguing !! 😊❤❤❤

Awesome video!!! Lovely detailed Nerdy stuff!!!

So much wonderful and inspiring information about amps in one video!

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 👍

To this point i had watch the first 10min. . Great video! THX. I‘m looking forward for the next minutes 🔥

That was an amazing class! Cheers from Brazil

Awesome show, Kristian. As a VALVE AMP kinda guy , I really enjoyed watching it. Ian was excellent and very entertaining and informative.

Amazingly informative! Thanks so much for putting such great content out 😊

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...

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

Fascinating science behind Amplification man! 🤯🤯 Looking forward to Blackstar Amp comparisons! 💀🤘

Love these highly intelligent discussions!

This was very generous and incredibly interesting!

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.

Great interview! Thanks Kohle

Awesome Video, more of this please!

This video ruled. Learned a lot. Gonna have to look into a Blackstar now.

Thanks for this very interesting interview, full of nerdy details the way I like it!

I would watch 6 hours of this and not even take a pee break. very interesting, thanks!

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. 🙏🎸🤘👏

Yes. Brilliant interview (and I now SERIOUSLY regret getting rid of my Mk1 HT-20)

For a noob like me that was very very interesting! Thx Kohle & Ian!

Awesome interview.

Fascinating interview

Absolutely loved this fellas.

Great interview!

Thank you a lot for your dedication.

I loved this interview great one

Terrific interview. Very informative.

More please! This was awesome!

What an absolutely great video! Thanks!

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!

Brilliant video. Always admired the folks there. Fish n chips and Ale for the win also haha

Forgot to leave a comment on my initial watch but I enjoyed this a lot. 🤘

Great vid! Interesting info. Would be cool to have more like this.

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.

What can I say but, that was cool as hell. Thank you

Thanks for this. So much great info!

Edumacation iz emportant kits. These iz eat wright hear. 😂 Loved the video. More please because I need it.

I have a little class d amp for desktop speakers and I played guitar through it and it sounds awesome 👌

You two should meet once a week for answering such questions - great content!

Just had the light bulb moment when he started explaining the ISF feature on Blackstar amps and literally just said out loud - "Fucking Genius!" 😂

Thanks for this important information

Ian seems to be highly knowledgable and a pretty nice person! :)

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.

Great video! Lot's of knowledge!!!

great talk !

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.

great interview.

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?

I love many, many amps. But will always own tube amps and even buy new ones. Moving air is where the real tone sits.

Great knowledge! Nice people!

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...

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..

Blackstar amps sound awesome! I cannot recommend enough, try one. You'll be glad you did!!!

Really enjoyed this.

Nice to hear the chit chat!

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 😂

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 have been very happy with my Blackstar amps.

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.

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.....

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.

This video was fantastic So much amazing info presented with a tonne of charisma

Nice video, very interesting!

Excellent!!

Very interesting. I'd love to see this kind of breakdown for cabs and speakers too. :)

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.

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.

This is awesome!

We want moreeeee!

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.

This is really fascinating and very well explained, thanks Kohle! "Shouldn't have given me all that cocaine!" :)

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 love this kinda stuff, you should get they guys from joyo (joyo zombie II is awesome!) and orange ( they are just legendary)on next.

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

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.

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 would love for brainwork to do an emulation of those Blackstar big amps. specially their filters are out of this world.

I love my ht series amps, sounds great on recordings, if you dont like it, you din't know what you talking about, all my usa fenders, just sound great on them

Incredibly interesting.

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 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)

Awesome video! Dd you use a reamp box or wasn’t necessary?

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've got a Traynor YCV80. It's a bargain rip on dirty Fenders. Currently I jam mostly with Jfet DI Cab sims.. I have a belle echo into a Radial ADY, box and out into a EHX oceans 12. For now its fun and easier than to mic up my amps. Certain sounds on my music I would use both the Amps and the Cab Sims. But I use both. I used to run amps VanHalen level dirty...so I need amps with a great effects loop for Reverb and Delay. So for jamming my pedal board with Jfets is easier. I like the Marshalls on 4 or 5 on the Power Amp and its much better than only Pre Amp distortion btw.

I played into victory kraken pedal which include internal power amp, it feels too stiff. I went back to my rack tube amp and power amp after that.