Blackstar has added to its celebrated line-up of affordable combo amps with the Debut 30E.

Its feature-loaded Debut series launched in 2020 with the 10E and 15E, and the line's newest addition builds on that same successful template, albeit with a more powerful 30-wattage output.

The newcomer also features two amp channels, a Clean and an Overdrive, tweakable via a three-band EQ and controls for Gain and Volume.

The inbuilt tape echo also makes the jump across to the Debut line's newest addition, with its delay time adjustable on the amp's control panel.

Unlike its smaller counterparts, however, the Debut 30E is compatible with any of Blackstar’s two-button footswitch units, allowing users to change channels on the fly – especially useful for the gigging musician.

The catch, though, is that these are sold separately, and cost upwards of $49.99.

As is the standard for Blackstar amps, its patented ISF – Infinite Shape Feature – setting is also included. Turned to 10, a British flavor reigns, with an American setting – said to be “tighter, more focused, and percussive” than the British tones – coming out of the 30E's 1x10" custom-designed speaker when the dial is at zero. Sweet spots can be found anywhere in between.

The amp’s speaker can also be used as part of home entertainment systems, says Blackstar, for music playback, and improving film and gaming audio.

Other features include a series effects loop, line in, and headphone/emulated line outs for listening to music and silent practice and recording, respectively.

The 30-watt analog amplifier delivers a speaker-emulated output for “true Blackstar tones” crafted by the same R&D team in charge of concocting the firm's most high-end valve and tube amps. Their expertise has been stuffed into this much smaller and cheaper unit, priced at a humble $209.

“The features of the Debut 30E have been carefully selected to cover all the needs of an aspiring guitarist,” its creators say. “The Debut 30E delivers the ultimate playing experience for any guitarist wanting an easy-to-use amp that delivers great tone. Simple in use, dynamic in practice, and classically analog.”

The amp is available in two finishes – cream covering with oxblood fret, or black and ‘biscuit’ basketweave – and both are bestowed vintage aesthetic appointments.

The Blackstar Debut 30E costs $209, and is available now.

Head over to Blackstar for the full lowdown.

Blackstar’s new 1x12” combo, the TV-10A, aims to put Fender tweed tube amp flavors into an amp that, although powered by tubes, still delivers plenty of modern features. 

An in-built digital reverb and a cabinet-emulated output stand chief among those modern facets, with the British amp builder looking to craft a ‘best of both worlds’ combo amp. 

Featuring a 12AX7 preamp and 6L6 tube power section, as well as an ECC83 tube, Blackstar says the TV-10A “pays homage to classic American amplifiers” by delivering a “dynamic playing experience.” 

Tonally, the amp is said to “effortlessly transition between glassy clean tones and crunchy overdrives.” The addition of a Drive button, which can be engaged via a footswitch or a mini-switch on the amp itself, gives the TV10-A a second, hotter, and crunchier voice.  

It's quite possibly the simplest amp that Blackstar has created in some time, with controls for Gain, Tone, Reverb, and Master only. Instead of extra dials, switches, and gizmos, Blackstar has focused on nailing the American voicing of its tones and reverb, even if it has made some distinctly un-Fender-like choices. 

Traditional Fenders have typically employed a Jensen speaker, but Blackstar has gone for a 12” Celestion instead. Its reverb, we’re assured, has “faithfully captured the tone of the best valve amplifier reverb tanks” and is said to have a longer decay.  

The Class A amplifier looks like a recently unearthed relic thanks to its cream Tolex covering, basketweave grille, and leather handle. But a host of accouterments designed for the modern, gigging musician ensures its vintage-modern equilibrium.

Its effects loop gives players the choice between +4dBV and -10dBV settings, and the speaker-emulated out – a feature typically found on Blackstars – makes it an ideal recording companion. 

As is to be expected, although not always a given, a headphone jack allows for silent practice. 

All those features combine to make the Blackstar TV-10A, at $649, a reasonably affordable option for small gigs, practice, and recording. 

It’s also a pleasure to see a traditionalist tube amp in an increasingly digital market, augmenting other recent releases like the company's Polar 2 audio interface, and the fourth generation of its best-selling ID:Core practice amps. 

It will be interesting to see how the amp compares to Laney's latest creation. Its new series of Lionheart Foundry solid-state combos, the fellow British tone-mongers believe, can rival tube amps, and with its basic 1x12” model coming in at $429, it could be an interesting shootout.  

The Blackstar TV-10A is available today and costs $649.

Visit Blackstar to learn more. 

Home studios are now longer merely a nice commodity for the lucky few. In 2024, most guitarists have some form of audio interface and DAW combination to cobble demos together. 

But in an ever-growing market, Blackstar says existing interfaces have fallen short in three main areas, which it says the Polar 2 rectifies. 

Extensive market research has helped the British firm – more commonly known for its array of digital and tube amps – create an interface that benefits from “human-centric design”. 

It says that poor feel and response, issues with setting input levels, and difficult operation were letting musicians down, and it reckons its Enhance feature fixes that trio of pitfalls. 

On the surface, it’s a pretty standard audio interface. It features two XLR and instrument jack-friendly line inputs with isolated gain dials, and a headphone jack complete with a dedicated volume control. 

It also offers 48V of Phantom Power, meaning it simply needs to connect its USB C-Type port to a laptop or computer to be recording-ready. Moreover, users will be plugging into Field Effect Transistor (FET) inputs, providing ultra-low noise and high-headroom tracking. 

Then it gets interesting. When engaged, the Enhance feature, with one for each input, activates a circuit that simulates the input stage of real valve amps.

Blackstar says the feature gives the interface “the touch, the feel, and the response of playing through a real amp”. 

The feature also means recordings will “never digitally clip”, solving the input level issues its research drew up. This means the Polar 2 can be treated like the preamp section of a tube amp. 

Finally, the Enhance feature is also said to “gently lift the top end of your signal to add just the right amount of air and clarity”, supposedly making recording a breeze. 

“The Polar 2 is the audio interface for guitarists, created through Human-Centred Design to help create a user-friendly solution to get musicians back to focusing on the most important part: the music,” says Blackstar. 

“[It] empowers musicians to achieve studio-quality recordings in any environment,” without external hardware. 

Earlier this year, Blackstar added a key feature to its budget-minded practice amp, the ID:Core. 

The Blackstar Polar 2 is available today and costs $199.99.  

Head to Blackstar to learn more. 

Blackstar has added another amp to its ID:Core practice amp series, with a Bluetooth connectivity feature helping to take the series' bedroom playing friendliness to the next level. 

The brand-new 10-watt combo amp, which offers two three-inch, five-watt speakers behind its brushed-effect front panel, packs a raft of features into a small, affordable unit, with Bluetooth its USP. 

Such connectivity is aimed at streamlining the gear needed for bedroom players to jam along to their favorite tracks. Its built-in stereo speakers can also double as a sound system for music.

The fourth generation ID:Core amps were unveiled at NAMM 2024, coming three years after the company's V3 series, with connectivity and tone the key focus for the improvements made to the series' fourth generation. 

The ID:Core V4 Bluetooth benefits from both sides of that coin, with further connectivity features coming via a four-channel USB-C audio slot for low latency recording and re-amping. 

Tonally, it boasts all the same plus points as its family members, which include 10-, 20-, and 40-watt models (all without Bluetooth connectivity), with six amp voices and 12 effects to experiment with. 

Those features include Warm, Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, and two Overdrive channels, and effects split between four lots of delays, reverbs, and modulation (Phaser, Chorus/Flanger, Envelope Filter) effects. 

A tap tempo feature enables greater control of the effects' tonality – save for the Reverbs and Envelope Filter.  

There are six slots for saving presets, while amp owners will also be granted access to Blackstar’s desktop Archetype app for Windows and Mac. 

Accessing its tone-tweaking abilities this way unlocks a wider scope for personalization than what’s available on the amp alone. It's also designed to provide a far more intuitive experience. 

The amp also benefits from Blackstar’s next-generation CabRig Lite Emulated Output, with user controls for elements such as cabinet and mic placement, and damping for further perfecting the tones it can deliver. 

The only feature that the 20- and 40-watt models in the series offer that its Bluetooth-wielding equivalent does not is footswitch compatibility. Seeing as this amp is aimed primarily at bedroom players at the start of their playing days, that isn’t a huge surprise. 

However, with power bank compatibility, it can extend its value by appealing to buskers. The additional Blackstar Powerbank costs around $75. 

The feature was first introduced on its high-end St. James amp, but has now been added to this affordability-focused line, and is accessed via a second app called CabRig. 

Technical complications aside, the end product is one Blackstar, formed by ex-Marshall employees in 2007, says is “perfect for those just starting out or for those more experienced players looking for a high-quality practice and home studio recording amp.”

The ID:Core V4 Bluetooth costs $199, making it $40 for expensive than the regular 10-watt version, with Bluetooth connectivity being the only feature added. 

Head to Blackstar for more information. 

The purpose of the Celebrating David Bowie show is simply that – to praise Bowie’s music and rejoice in the joy of listening to some of his greatest songs in the rock canon.

The band is assembled from fans and former Bowie band members, who play with passion and verse as they aim to capture the essence of what made his music so iconic and influential.

The show has been put together by music business veteran Miles Copeland and guitarist Scrote, who has a long track record of producing shows celebrating landmark artists, including the Beatles and Miles Davis.

While the Bowie show has toured sporadically since 2015, this year sees the first full tour of North America and features the unique talents of Adrian Belew, who not only played on Bowie’s 1979 album, Lodger, but also toured extensively with him, acting as musical director for his global run in 1990.

Longtime Bowie admirer Todd Rundgren also features in the show, which covers material from the artist’s earliest days to the end of his career.

While all three guitarists are about to release new albums – Scrote’s Magnificent Bastard, Rundgren’s Space Force and Belew’s Elevator – and commence on intensive rehearsals for the Bowie tour (see clip below) they were happy to speak to Guitar Player about the project’s background and what audiences can expect from the upcoming shows.

What was the initial spark behind the idea of doing shows to celebrate the work of David Bowie?

SCROTE: I’ve been putting shows together for many years, working out of L.A. as a musical director.

Back in 2015, I was doing some dates on my own with some of the guys who played on David’s last album, Blackstar, and we actually heard that he’d died when we were in the break between sets at a show.

The next day I started talking to people about David’s passing, and they were suggesting that, given how much of a fan I was of his work, maybe I could put some kind of show together.

I reached out to a few people who’d worked with David, and the first show started to evolve, which ran at four hours with 70 performers. [laughs]

That project was so successful that I realized there was a lot of interest from Bowie fans for us to do more.

We did another really long show a few months later, and then I came up with a plan for 2016 to take the show on the road to seven cities around the world that were significant to Bowie.

In 2018, we lined up more dates around the world, including Iceland. Adrian came onboard after the second show, and Todd joined us when we went to Iceland.

TODD RUNDGREN: Yeah, the trip to Iceland was my first involvement, but originally it was only supposed to be that one event.

After that, I didn’t carry on with the rest of the tour, so I guess I wasn’t a permanent member of the entourage. But then, with the project kicking off again post lockdown, I’ve got back onboard.

ADRIAN BELEW: I first worked with Scrote on an event celebrating the Beatles. I watched the way that he put everything together, which seemed kind of haphazard at the time, but then it turned out to be really well planned, and I really enjoyed being a part of it.

When he told me about the Celebrating David Bowie idea, I knew he’d be able to put a great show together, so I really wanted to be a part of it.

Todd, I know you didn’t work with Bowie, but did you cross paths with him much over the years?

RUNDGREN: Yes, a few times. I actually met him on his very first American tour with the Spiders and then on various occasions over the years.

Ironically, just at the time that I moved from upstate New York to California, he moved to about a mile from where I’d been living, so I guess we’d have seen a lot more of each other if I’d stayed in New York.

I never really ever thought seriously about us working together. I know he had a core of people that he spent a lot of time working with.

I actually had a lot more contact with Mick Ronson, who also moved to upstate New York at the same time that I was living there, and I still see his wife, Suzi, occasionally.

BELEW: When I first met David, he was very different from all of the preconceptions that I had about him. I thought of him as an untouchable superstar. I was surprised to find that he was real down to earth and a fun person, with a great self-deprecating sense of humor.

He was always so interested in so many different things, not just rock music. We got on like a house on fire.

Todd, you and David both had very theatrical stage shows in the ’70s. Was there an influence going on there in either direction?

RUNDGREN: I had a permanent costume designer who traveled with me who would come up with weird ideas all the time, and I think his inspiration was what informed the theatrical things that I was doing to a degree. I know he was looking at things that David was doing and re-interpreting some of them for me.

I have no independent correlation of the fact that people David worked with may have taken some ideas from things I did, but it’s a possibility when you’re working with stylists and designers.

Adrian, were you already familiar with Bowie’s work before you first toured with him in 1978?

BELEW: Very much so. I’d been in a lot of cover bands, and I’d played a lot of his material.

A funny story is that I remember hearing “Heroes” for the first time when I was driving my broken-down Volkswagen. And then 18 months later, I was playing it live with David.

Given how many great guitar parts there are on Bowie’s records, is there much competition for who gets to play what?

SCROTE: Before Todd came onboard in Iceland, it was divided between Adrian and me, and things seemed to work themselves out naturally.

When Todd joined us, it was interesting, as I’d never worked with him before. He just naturally gravitated toward certain songs, but there was no ego from him or anyone else.

The whole set list is deliberately very guitar-centric. I think that Todd is kind of Mick Ronson meets Earl Slick, I’m kind of Reeves [Gabrels] with maybe a little Ronson and some Adrian.

And Adrian is Adrian too. [laughs]

Who’s Robert Fripp?

SCROTE: That’s a tough one. Maybe somewhere between me and Adrian.

RUNDGREN: Mick Ronson was such a great guitar player. I love to play some of the things that he did, and he was a really skilled arranger too. I think he’s always been very underrated.

I don’t think I’ll be doing a whole lot of shredding with Adrian in the show. [laughs]

David was a connoisseur of guitar players, so there’s certainly no shortage of great guitar parts.

BELEW: I really liked Mick’s playing too. I always thought David’s material was great for guitar players.

Are there any particular songs that you earmarked for yourselves?

RUNDGREN: I got turned onto David a little earlier than a lot of people, who probably picked up on him when Ziggy Stardust broke, but I’d been spending a lot of time in England before that and was already very familiar with Hunky Dory and “Changes” being on the charts in England.

That means that my leanings are very much toward the earlier stuff, and I get to do a lot of that, like “Life on Mars” and “Changes.”

I do some of the later songs as well, but I definitely have a soft spot for the earlier material. I really enjoyed the way he would change his sound from song to song.

SCROTE: I try to think of the show as a package and who suits what songs best. I don’t have songs that I have earmarked for myself as such, but I do like a lot of the material from the “Heroes” era.

RUNDGREN: I could take a pretty good stab at the Stevie Ray stuff. I started out as a blues guitarist, so I might make my case for “Let’s Dance,” although I’m not sure it’s in the set yet. [laughs]

BELEW: I tend to play a lot of the things that I was involved with when they were recorded, but Scrote will often make suggestions that turn out really well.

We have a lot of different singers and instrumentalists in the show, and we’re all very happy to share vocal duties or different parts.

How do you come up with the set list when there are so many great songs to choose from?

RUNDGREN: I think we’re not far from the set we did in Iceland. Scrote seems to have his finger on the pulse of what the fans want to hear.

It’s not like we’re going out there to deliver a college lecture or be comprehensive. We just want to do the stuff people want to hear, which is the guiding principle. There are songs that you know you have to play, so a good two-thirds of the set is pretty obvious.

BELEW: Scrote has a vision as the producer, and I have a lot of faith in his ideas. We work together quite closely, and we’ll suggest things to each other.

We have done some obscure things on previous shows, but I think we’re sticking to the more well-known songs for this tour.

What guitars are you using on the tour?

RUNDGREN: Things have been in a tizzy for me because my favorite guitar, Foamy, has disappeared. I’d just finished a Beatles tribute tour and was about to start rehearsals with Daryl Hall and the guitar just vanished somewhere between Missouri and Connecticut.

FedEx traced it and said it should have been delivered, but I haven’t found it. I suppose I can assume that it was stolen, but I can’t definitively say that. Maybe it will turn up at some point.

I was supposed to start rehearsals in Chicago, and I had to go to the store and make an emergency purchase of a new guitar. I ended up with a Schecter, which was laid out in the same way that Foamy was, which was one of my primary considerations.

Foamy was made by P-Project and given to me by the company in Japan many years ago. The Schecter has become my main guitar, but I think I might also take a vintage Telecaster that I spent a lot of money on as well.

I’ll probably also take my replica of the SG that I used to have called The Fool that I auctioned off because I owed the IRS a lot of money. [laughs]

SCROTE: I think we’re all thinking of traveling kind of light when it comes to gear. I’ll be taking a custom-made thinline Tele, a Les Paul with P-90s for the Slick/Ronson territory, a 12-string acoustic guitar and maybe a Strat, although Adrian has the Strat thing covered.

BELEW: I’ve had three new Stratocasters built for me by the [Fender] Custom Shop, so I’ll be taking those.

My live rig is very simple and fits in one case. It’s the first Axe-Fx built by Fractal. I’m not sure what the model’s name is. Other than that, it’s a couple of pedals and a Mastermind MIDI controller.

For a tour like this, where I’m playing the early music before I had the more complex equipment, I think it makes sense to try to use similar things.

What were your favorite albums from Bowie’s catalog?

RUNDGREN: Hunky Dory was the first record that I knew and one that I still really love, but there are so many great albums.

SCROTE: That’s a tough one. I guess I’ve always kind of leaned toward “Heroes”, but I also really love Hunky Dory.

BELEW: I really like Young Americans and “Heroes”.

There are going to be songs that Bowie never actually played live himself in the show, aren’t there?

SCROTE: Right. I don’t think he even toured for many years before his death. To do Bowie’s songs justice live, I think we need to bring everything to the table and cover as many bases as possible, to replicate things that happened in the studio.

There are no backing tracks anywhere; everything is live. We have a real pool of talent in the show, and everyone is really at the top of their game.

There’s a certain relaxed camaraderie, both personally and musically, with Adrian, Todd and the rest of the band that I’ve rarely found in anything that I’ve ever done before. It’s a real great fun hang when we’re together.

There’s a beautiful spirit about the show, and to be able to celebrate the genius of David’s work in such great company is a genuine gift.

BELEW: Everything is done on a much bigger scale than the tours I did with David, particularly in 1990. Whereas back then, we had to find ways to cover parts and even leave some things out, now we have the ability to reproduce everything.

It’s a lot easier for me these days, that’s for sure. I no longer have to try to sound like a saxophone or something. [laughs]”

Browse the David Bowie catalog here.

Visit the Celebrating David Bowie website for tour dates and tickets.

It’s a safe bet that tube-powered guitar amps won’t go out of style with electric guitar players anytime soon, but if there’s one thing that drives players to find acceptable alternatives to tube technology, it’s the weight.

By nature tube amps are heavy, and for the most part people have just accepted it as fact that nothing can be done about it.

But what if someone came up with an all-tube amp that weighed about as much as a typical solid-state rig?

Well Blackstar has done just that with the St. James series 50-watt heads and 1x12 combos, which tip the scales at 13 and 28 pounds respectively. (A matching 2x12 speaker cabinet weighs 29 pounds and runs $749.)

The James gang claim to be the lightest 50-watt amps available. So how did Blackstar accomplish it?

For starters, the patented design features a new output transformer that uses “specific interleaving of the windings, careful choice of lamination materials, and a couple of other geometric considerations” that allow it to deliver the tone Blackstar required while reducing the OT’s size and weight.

Other contributing factors include a new lightweight Celestion Zephyr speaker that’s based on a Vintage 30 and does not use a neodymium magnet.

The cabinets are also made of real wood – candlewood ply, to be exact.

Removing the folded-steel chassis to have a look inside reveals circuitry that’s laid out on five interconnected PC boards that grip most of the components, including the tube sockets. The pots, jacks and switches are also attached to the chassis for extra strength.

The output transformer is indeed quite small and sits atop, next to the tubes, and the 400-volt power supply is fan cooled and housed in a separate, perforated-steel cage bolted to the chassis.

The main difference between these amps is one uses EL34 output tubes and has a British-voiced medium-gain lead channel while the other uses 6L6 tubes and has a lead channel that Blackstar says is their highest-gain channel ever.

Both versions have identical “blackface-style” clean channels that offer crisp highs and tight low end, and all other details are identical except for the fawn covering and dark gray grille cloth of the EL34 version versus the black covering and salt-and-pepper grille cloth of the 6L6 model.

To test the 6L6 combo, I initially used it on a gig that involved a hike to reach the stage. This is where the St. James’ weight was most appreciated, especially compared to my 39-pound Deluxe Reverb.

With a Tele or an ES-335, the St. James sounded great with its clean channel turned up to around two o’clock to get a slightly gritty tone when the guitars were cranked.

The response was similar to a Deluxe with its volume around five, although for some reason the Blackstar sounded harder when its volume was pushed past the point where the sound begins to break up.

A Fulltone OCD distortion pedal hitting the front end yielded a nice range of overdriven tones.

Channel I cleans up well when the guitar volume is turned down, and when you need to crank, it gets intensely loud.

I mostly kept the master volume around one or two o’clock and used the Sag setting, which produces a slightly softer, tube-rectifier feel.

The two-watt setting is handy for rehearsing and recording, and it’s loud enough for a small gig. Blackstar achieves the reduced wattage by lowering the voltage in the circuit, not by using a power soak, which would affect the tube tone.

Channel II is a completely different animal that has tons of gain and is voiced to deliver classic British overdrive with tight, thumping lows and ballsy midrange.

I set the gain II knob about a quarter way up and had plenty of sustain for lead and slide playing.

Activating Channel II’s voice switch bumps up the gain and low end, and you get that looser, modern vibe, with lots of chug. There’s no clean range to speak of in Channel II, but that’s cool because it’s optimized for rock and metal.

If you prefer to have two channels that can be set to deliver American- and British-style tones without such a drastic change in gain – and therefore perhaps be a better platform for pedals – the EL34 version is probably more your cup of tea.

The St. James (which is named for an ancient abbey in Blackstar’s hometown of Northampton) features a digital reverb that sounds reasonably blackface-like, along with an effects loop with a level switch.

As you’d expect from a modern tube amp, it’s also well equipped for recording and DI applications, thanks to its built-in reactive load, which comes after the tube stages so that it sees the full whack of the amplifier.

On the bottom rear panel there’s a stereo line/headphone out and a balanced XLR out that came in handy for going direct or for silent recording.

A mini-toggle selects three different cabinets that are factory loaded – and they all sounded good though a PA – however, you can change them by connecting the USB to a computer and using Blackstar’s free Cab Rig software to select different cabs (an assortment of 2x12s, 4x12s, 1x12s and 1x10s are available, along with a DI option), as well as microphones, rooms, damping and EQ settings (preset or user-adjustable).

Saving customized cabs is simple, and you can save them to the amp if you want to replace any or all of the three stock cabs.

Well-equipped for just about any situation, and remarkably easy to carry considering the wallop it packs, the St. James is a shoe-in for an Editor’s Pick Award.

Kudos to Blackstar for cracking the code on making a tube amp that won’t break your back or your wallet.

Specifications:

• CHANNELS: Two
• CONTROLS: Volume 1, gain II, volume II, bass, middle, treble, reverb. Gain II select switch, gain II voice switch, power switch (50 watts, Sag, 2 watts)
• POWER: 50 watts, switchable to 2 watts
• TUBES: Two 12AX7s, two 6L6s (also available with EL34s)
• SPEAKER: 12” Celestion G12Z-70 Zephyr (16Ω)
• EXTRAS: Effects loop with -10 dBv/+4 dBv switch. Built-in reactive load, Cab Rig speaker simulator with 3-position cabinet selector, 1/4” stereo line-out/headphone jack and XLR balanced out. Three speaker jacks (1x8Ω, 2x16Ω, 1x16Ω) USB audio. Two-button foot switch included for channel select and reverb on/off
• WEIGHT: 28.48 lbs (tested)
• BUILT: China

Visit Blackstar for more information.

Despite their reputation for heavy tone, Blackstar have unveiled what promises to be “the lightest 50W tube amp in the world.”

The result of some deep-dive R&D into classic vintage guitar amps, Blackstar's new St. James series offers an intuitive dual-channel configuration providing both clean and overdriven electric guitar tones.

Also featuring built-in reactive load and impulse response for silent recording, the St. James amps are available in 50-watt 6L6 and EL34 formats, either as a head (matching 2x12 cab optional) or 1x12 combo.

While the EL34 amps are voiced for that timeless British rock sound, the 6L6 designs deliver crystal clean tones and higher gain.

According to a recent press release, the models’ light weight is attributable to several factors, notably a candlenut wood cabinet and custom Celestion Zephyr speaker.

All four models feature twin-channel 12AX7 preamp tube circuitry, along with three power switch options.

While a 50W full power setting offers the greatest amount of clean headroom, a 2W low power setting has been provided with recording and smaller stages in mind. 

Meanwhile, a SAG setting allows a softer, more compressed feel characteristic of the power supply ‘sag’ associated with some vintage amps (particularly those featuring tube rectification.)

The 6L6 combo, head, and matching cabinet are available in black tolex with salt and-pepper fretcloth, while the EL34 combo, head, and matching cabinet come in fawn tolex with gray fretcloth.

U.S. MAP pricing is as follows:

• St. James 50 Watt 6L6 Combo Amp: $1299.99
• St. James 50 Watt 6L6 Amp Head: $1199.99
• St. James 50 Watt EL34 Combo Amp: $1299.99
• St. James 50 Watt EL34 Amp Head: $1199.99
• St. James Vertical 212 Cabinet Black: $749.99
• St. James Vertical 212 Cabinet Fawn: $749.99

Visit Blackstar for more information.

If you’re looking for the latest takes on fuzz, boost and distortion then look no further.

Here are 10 of the finest gain pedals to recently hit the market…

Vertex Effects – Steel String Supreme SRV Preamp

If you love the Dumble-derived tones of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson or John Mayer, the Steel String Supreme SRV preamp pedal from Vertex Effects should be on your list. 

Designed to function as a preamp, it inherits the level, gain, filter and jazz/rock controls from the Vertex Steel String MkII, and goes even further.

The output knob determines your first gain-stage level, and fat shapes the lower midrange for extra thickness and body. Clean offers a parallel blend of your clean and effected signal, and the three-way Bright/Deep mode switch delivers a treble boost in the up position, a bass boost in the down position, and is neutral in the middle.

Boss – FZ-1W Waza Craft Fuzz

Boss analyzed several vintage fuzz circuits, including vintage Sola Sound Tone Bender units, to create the FZ-1W, a pedal that puts Waza craftsmanship and premium components to work in a classic-sounding fuzz.

The FZ-1W has controls for level, fuzz and tone, plus a Vintage/Modern mode switch that selects between the aggressive tone, dynamic touch response and extreme sensitivity to input volume of classic fuzz units and the fatter and more mid-focused tones associated with contemporary music styles.

The tone control is designed for deep sculpting, allowing you to get the most out of both modes and making the FZ-1W a wonderfully versatile device for fuzz lovers.

TC Electronic – Zeus Drive Overdrive

The all-analog Zeus pedal delivers thunderous overdrive, giving your electric guitar signal a boost without affecting its dynamic range. The result is thick, warm distortion, with an outstanding dynamic response.

The drive control progressively blends overdrive with a buffered clean signal to deliver transparent, amp-like tone and response. The Zeus pedal forgoes the standard tone control for a treble attenuator that lets you dial in your highs without thinning the lower frequencies. Better still, engaging the Fat switch induces luxuriously warm and enveloping bottom end.

TC Electronic stepped up the Zeus’s internal voltage, giving it a huge dynamic range and output power via the volume control. An internal DIP switch toggles true bypass and discrete buffered bypass, allowing you to choose the option that’s best for your setup.

Blackstar – Dept. 10 Dual Drive, Dual Distortion and Boost

Blackstar’s new Dept. 10 Series Dual Drive and Dual Distortion pedals both pack an ECC83 (12AX7) tube and have been designed to run at amp-level internal voltages to really get those lightbulbs cooking.

But there’s a digital twist in the form of Blackstar’s new Cab Rig emulation, which, combined with the new Architect software, gives you deep, flexible editing of a virtual cabinet, including choice of speaker and mic, placement and EQ, making it a portable, valve-powered solution for live and recording applications.

Both pedals feature regular and dedicated emulated outputs, three-band EQ, Blackstar’s ISF control, an effects loop, and USB for use as an audio interface.

Blackstar’s new series also includes the Dept. 10 Boost, which sets itself apart from the Dual pedals by being aimed at a more traditional pedalboard setup.

You won’t find any digital wizardry here. Instead, this pedal aims to give your board a bump that Blackstar says is akin to adding two hot gain stages to your chain. 

The Peter Baxandall-style EQ circuit is known for its smooth, wide-sweeping tonality and delivers rich second-order harmonics and natural compression.

Walrus Audio – Eras Five-State Distortion & Iron Horse LM308 Distortion

Walrus Audio’s two new distortion pedals provide varying flavors of the effect via clipping from silicon diodes, LEDs or both together.

However, each takes a different route to dialing it in. The Eras Five-State Distortion has five hard-clipping options, gain and volume knobs, and very effective tone controls – the treble knob is especially adept at dialing in cutting presence. There’s a great variety of dirt on offer, from crunchy drive to high-gain metal tones, and all the clipping modes have something different to offer.

The main delineation is between the three Tight modes and the two Rhythm modes, where the scooped mids offer a notably different sonic landscape to the Tight modes’ slight mid cut.

The cherry on the top is the blend knob, which allows you to mix your dry sound with the distortion for hybrid layered sounds or, more subtly, extra clarity and definition as you roll it back from fully wet.

The Iron Horse LM308 Distortion is the third iteration of the Iron Horse pedal, and it’s had quite a revamp over its predecessors.

There’s now more pedalboard-friendly positioning of the I/Os and a soft-relay true bypass on/off. Significantly, the new version allows continuous morphing from silicon diode to LED clipping.

The Iron Horse LM308 Distortion offers distortion based around a LM308 chip as found in a Pro Co Rat, and the sonic similarities are immediately apparent. The tone knob even has that same huge range rolling back from fully bright to dark and woofy. The gain range is very versatile, taking you from a tonally targeted clean boost right through to full-on distortion.

JHS – PackRat Distortion

JHS founder Josh Scott examined 45 versions of famous Rat stompbox and authentically reproduced their circuits, accounting for drift from the aging components. The result is the PackRat, a pedal that offers nine vintage and hard-to-find replications – not emulations – of the iconic Rat distortion pedal.

The PackRat uses a proprietary digital runway system to direct the paths of 261 components through 40 individual switches, giving you the exact same circuitry as the original pedals in a purely analog signal path.

Wampler – Pantheon Dual Overdrive Deluxe

The Wampler Pantheon’s interpretation of a “Blues Breaker” stomp box captured all the tonal nuance of the original, but with added flexibility and style. The new Pantheon Deluxe lets you dial in two channels of organic creamy gain, gritty overdrive or heavy distortion.

Channel 1 delivers a classic Blues Breaker tone, while Channel 2 is a recreation of the original Pantheon, a similar circuit to the Blues Breaker but with a modern boutique feel.

 Independent side-mounted voicing and gain level switches allow you to further shape your tone to perfection. The Dual Pantheon offers a staggering 200 combinations of gain settings, features dual inputs and outputs, and – a first for Wampler – includes MIDI channel switching.

Mike Rutherford – guitarist and founder of prog rock titans Genesis – loves a Squier Bullet Stratocaster it can be revealed. Favoring Fender’s super-budget electric guitar over instruments multiple times the price the prog legend has recently taken to playing these bargain basement models live in front of thousands of fans.

So how has this entry-level Strat managed to convert a seasoned pro like Rutherford? After all, he could play virtually any Stratocaster he wanted.

GP spoke to his Guitar Tech Steve Prior in order to find out.

“The Squier Bullet Stratocaster is his favorite at the moment, it really is,” says Prior who currently happens to be out on the road with Queen’s Roger Taylor following the postponement of Genesis The Last Domino? tour dates due to Covid-19. “And I’ve just bought him a couple of others which I’ve found rather cheaply in the clearance section at Guitar Guitar in Newcastle [England]. They were only about 100 quid each! I mean they’re unbelievably good guitars for the money."

“His favorite one is an unusual color; it’s a limited-edition finish called Sonic Grey,” Prior tells us. “Squier Bullet Strats in this finish were imported into South Africa from Indonesia. Mike bought the guitar in a shop in Cape Town because he forgot to take his black Clapton Strat with him on a visit. He actually bought two (the other Bullet Strat is Arctic White.)

“Sitting at home in Cape Town plugged into his Blackstar 3-watt amp, Mike just fell in love with it playing along to his laptop and relearning all the Genesis songs. That was him for almost all of the first lockdown because he wasn’t allowed out of Cape Town. He was stuck there. But he came back saying how much he loved this guitar.”

The Sonic Grey Squier Bullet Stratocaster features a polyurethane-finished poplar body and 25.5 inch scale ‘C’-profile maple neck with a 9.5 inch radius, 21-fret Laurel fingerboard. Three Standard Single-Coil Strat pickups along with a 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Synchronized Tremolo means the guitar stays close to Fender’s original 1954 design.  

“It’s super lightweight; it feels like balsawood,” highlights Prior. “But I have changed the bridge/saddles and put Gotoh tuners on just to make it more reliable for the tour. Mike loves the sound of the pickups, although on a couple of these guitars I have put Fender Noiseless bridge pickups in, just in case we get any interaction with the stage's enormous 70 feet LCD screen.”

While Fender’s Squier Bullet Stratocasters are cheerfully functional instruments, pro players may want to upgrade and mod the guitars to bring them up to spec. Indeed, they serve as ideal testbeds for tinkering.

“If you want to put Gotoh tuners on you’ve got to enlarge the peghead holes,” advises Prior. “I also recut the nut and dressed the frets. I would maybe recommend upgrading the electronics to Switchcraft and CTS too. It’s about fine-tuning the guitar really.

“Mike has got so many other wonderful Strats, but he also loves using these Indonesian-made Squier Bullet Stratocasters. He can’t put the Sonic Grey one down. It’s the first guitar he wants to play every day and he uses it for some big songs in the Genesis set including “No Son of Mine” and “Mama.”

“I asked him if he’d like me to take the Squier decal off the headstock but he said he wanted it stay. Fender are probably over the moon about that!”

Stay in touch with current goings on in the Genesis camp here.

Blackstar has teamed up with Jeff Beck and Bones UK guitarist Carmen Vandenberg for a new signature guitar amp, the CV30.

A 30W 1x12 combo, the CV30 sports clean and overdrive channels, each with two voices – American Clean and British Clean, and Classic Overdrive and Modern Overdrive.

Control-wise, the pedal platform-inclined clean channel sports only your basic volume and tone controls, while the overdrive channel features bass, middle, and treble knobs, plus Blackstar's trademark ISF control.

Built around a 6L6 power section, the CV30's sounds come by way of its Celestion V-Type speaker.

Other features on the amp include a speaker-emulated line output, series effects loop, and dark and light reverb options.

The Blackstar CV30 Carmen Vandenberg signature amplifier will be available later this year – in a limited run of 100 autographed, certificate of authenticity-boasting units – for $999. A two-way footswitch is included.

For more info on the amp, stop by blackstaramps.com.

Blackstar has pulled back the curtain on its new ID:Core V3 guitar amp. 

Available in 10, 20, and 40-watt incarnations, the ID:Core V3 features half a dozen amp voices – OD1, OD2, Crunch, Super Crunch, Clean Warm, and Clean Bright – and re-voiced and enhanced effects that include modulations, a chorus and tremolo, and a variety of delays, plus a collection of room, hall, spring, and plate reverbs.

Controls come in the form of volume, gain, and EQ knobs, while the reverb button also doubles as a tuner when it's held down.

Blackstar's patented ISF control is included, as well as its Architect editing and patch management software, which gives users access to Cab Rig Lite, a cab simulator that lets users adjust cab type, room environment, and mic choice.

A recessed handle and PB-1 Power Bank give the amp high scores in the portability department, while its four-channel USB audio allows for easy transformation into an audio interface. 

The amp also features an iPhone/Android-compatible cable, for easier live streaming.

The Blackstar ID:Core V3 amplifier will be available for $129 – for the 10-watt combo – or $179, for the 20- and 40-watt versions.

For more info on the amp, stop by blackstaramps.com.

Blackstar has unveiled its new Live Logic MIDI controller.

Live Logic is a fully-customizable MIDI foot controller that aims to ease communication between DAWs, pedalboards and outboard gear, and allows players a number of ways to control live performance or recording situations.

For instance, the unit can be connected to a computer via USB to relay MIDI messages from non-USB pedals directly into a DAW. Additionally, with Ableton Live integration, Live Logic can be used as a performance controller for looping, a DAW control surface or even to control lighting rigs.

Live Logic features a Patch Mode, in which front-panel buttons one through four are used to send out program change MIDI messages, while five and six are used to cycle through banks. In the controller's Custom Mode, these same buttons can be - using the Live Logic companion software - configured to control any MIDI-based parameter.

Elsewhere, the Live Logic controller features two expression pedal inputs for continuous control of MIDI parameters, MIDI ins and outs, a USB port and a 9V DC power input. The controller can also be powered using a 9V battery.

The Blackstar Live Logic MIDI controller is available now for $179. 

For more info on the controller, stop by blackstar.com.

Since its release in 2017, the Blackstar HT Club 40 MkII combo amp has been a staple for those looking to gig in club-sized venues. Now, almost three years later, the HT Club 40 MkII 6L6 has arrived. 

The new model is fitted with - you guessed it - a pair of 6L6 tubes in place of the previous model's EL34s. The company says the new edition will be an "ongoing alternative to the standard HT Club 40 MkII."

Promising characteristic glassy clean tones, crunchy overdrives and smooth mid-range, the 6L6 version drives a 12" Celestion 70/80 speaker and features two channels and four footswitchable voices: American Clean, British Clean, Classic Overdrive and Modern Overdrive.

It also boasts a USB output for recording, built-in effects loop, onboard digital reverb, Blackstar's proprietary ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) and the option for power reduction down to 10% of its full wattage.

Cosmetically, the HT Club 40 MkII features black basketweave tolex and chicken head knobs.

The Blackstar HT Club 40 MkII 6L6 is available now for $799, the same price as the regular EL34 version. For more information, head to Blackstar.

Blackstar has unveiled its new Debut combo guitar amplifiers, the 10E and 15E.

The 10W and 15W amps both feature clean and overdrive channels, a built-in "tape" echo effect and Blackstar's Infinite Shape Feature, which adjusts the EQ sweep from American to British.

The amps also feature line in and headphone/emulated line outs, plus a pair of 3” speakers. The 15W amp also features an additional tone control.

The Blackstar Debut 10E and 15E combo amplifiers will be available later this year - in vintage cream and with oxblood styling - for $79 and $99, respectively.

For more info on the amps, stop on by blackstaramps.com.

Blackstar has released its HT Club 40 MkII combo in a new Black and Blue Edition, which comes with a number of spec tweaks.

The Black and Blue Edition switches out the original’s EL34 tubes for sought-after Tube Amp Doctor vintage Backplate RCA 6L6GC tubes, promising a deeper bass and smooth top-end.

Within the baby blue tolex and tan basketweave grille, Blackstar has equipped this model with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.

Other features include a cream panel, corners and chickenhead knobs; brown leather handle; and special edition plaque.

Aside from these changes, the amp boasts the same features as the original, including two footswitchable channels and four footswitchable voices, power reduction, digital reverb, speaker emulated output and USB out.

The HT Club 40 MkII Black and Blue Edition is available now for $899. See Blackstar Amps for more info.

Blackstar has launched its new JJN-20R combo amp.

A combo version of Jared James Nichols' signature head, the JJN-20R features two EL84 power amp tubes and an ECC83 in the preamp section.

In terms of controls, the JJN-20R features Clean and Bluespower channels with footswitchable voices, reverb, reducible power down to two watts, a USB audio and XLR D.I. out, and a Celestion G12T-75 speaker.

Looks-wise, the amp is built with a Jared James Nichols panel design and tan basketweave front, and is wrapped in racing green tolex.

"I have toured around the world, always with a Blackstar amp behind me," Nichols said in a press release. "I am so thrilled to be able to share my blues power tones with the world through my own signature guitar amp.” 

The Blackstar JJN-20R combo amp is available now for $729.99.

For more info on the amp, stop by blackstaramps.com. 

Tube amps of five watts or less have been at the heart of some of the most inspired recordings by rock’s legendary guitarists - many of whom used stacks onstage, but favored small “practice” combos from Fender, Supro, Selmer, Valco, Vox and others for tracking mammoth tones to tape.

A tiny tube amp pushed into saturation typically delivers warm, beautifully compressed distortion, minus the deafening roar that a larger amp produces. And in a recording studio or a practice session – or even on a gig where low levels are mandatory – amps that use one 6V6 or EL84, or even just a 12AX7 dual triode for power, may be the perfect thing to plug into.

We in the guitar community often get snickered at for sticking with “obsolete” tube technology, but the fact is that many of today’s new micro amps are highly evolved designs that – besides sounding more organic and dynamically responsive than anything conceived via software – offer such features as footswitchable gain modes, sophisticated tone controls, built in power attenuation, speaker emulated line outs, and other features that weren’t even in the neuron stream when engineers were designing guitar amps back in the ’40s and ’50s.

This round-up focuses on new micro heads and combos from Blackstar, Fender, Jet City, Hughes & Kettner, Kustom, Laney, Vintage47, and Vox, which we tested in a variety of environments using a selection of guitars from Fender, PRS, Gibson, and Gretsch. We also report on three new 1-watt Marshall heads – the JMP-1H, JTM-1H and JCM-1H – that the company released in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

• Our pick of the best guitar amps available today

1. Blackstar HT-5R 1x12 Combo

The diminutive HT-5R packs the bells and whistles of larger contemporary channel-switchers to achieve “beyond bedroom status” in an amp that is nevertheless ideally sized to pedal-down playroom jamming. In a near-physics-defying feat, this 17.5" x 14" x 9" box even includes a 12" speaker. Its two footswitchable channels have independent EQ – a simple tone control on Clean, but three knobs and ISF control for Overdrive – plus global reverb. 

The ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) control is continuously variable between tight, bright, in-your-face “American” tones and warmer, looser “British” tones. The chassis’ underside boasts a series FX loop with level switch, an mp3/ line input, a speaker-emulated DI/headphone jack (with closed-back 4x12" and open-back 1x12" options), and multiple speaker outs.

The HT-5R achieves its 5-watt goodness by using both sides of a 12BH7 dual triode – normally a preamp tube – in a pushpull output stage, rather than following the traditional single-ended format. This implies a sonic signature that’s more “big amp feel in a small-amp package,” rather than the typical mini-class-A deal. The cabinet and cosmetics are mostly businesslike, although the black grille cloth on the review model was a little slack across the speaker front.

Tested with a Tele and an SG, the HT-5R hopped easily from Fender-y cleans to British overdrive and beyond. The Overdrive channel is surprisingly versatile, and runs confidently from chewy blues crunch to high-gain sizzle – all of which are a total blast to play. It’s a gutsy little monster, too – although low end is understandably attenuated in a package this size. The reverb sounds good on the clean channel, but it gets a little lost in high gain tones. The speaker-emulated output is effective for recording and headphone rehearsing alike. All in all, the HT-5R is a surprisingly versatile little tone generator.

2. Fender Greta

Sporting a retro, tabletop-radio look, the Greta is an adorable lil’ thing with a 4" speaker and Volume and Tone controls. There’s also a VU meter that moves to the red the more you push the amp’s Volume control. Using the onboard speaker, the tones are small, funky, and kind of fun. It’s not the sort of town you would want to live in, but a fun place to visit – maybe on a recording session for a lo-fi track, or practicing at home when you need to be super quiet. 

But plug the Greta into a speaker cabinet and stand back – it sounds remarkably real, true, and loud. Gig loud? Well, not really, but certainly something that is worthy of being miked up, as it spews frothy distorted tones that are full of fang-y midrange and sweet top end. Very fun! With the amp’s Volume turned up halfway, you’re afforded some tough, punchy grind, yet you can back off your guitar’s volume for lovely clean tones that compress and sparkle nicely. We typically cranked the Tone control all the way, which yielded excellent results with humbuckers and single-coils. 

The Greta can also run into the front-end of another amplifier – think of it as a tube-powered stompbox with Volume and Tone controls and a 4" speaker! The line out gracefully adds to the Greta’s utility as a studio tool. I even used it to run the Greta in front of my Deluxe Reverb with excellent results. The Greta is a blast to play, it has a small footprint, it sounds cool, it looks cool, and you can’t argue with the price.

3. Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 5

Lunch box amps are getting even smaller – way too small to fit your schwarzwurst and spargel leftovers in, that’s for sure! Case in point: the TubeMeister 5 – a tiny Teutonic tube terror that is potently portable at 7.5 lbs, and includes a padded gig case. 

The key to the ’Meister is its front-panel Drive switch. When it’s not engaged, the TubeMeister stays tight, clean, sparkly, and dynamic nearly throughout the range of the Master Volume control. Strat players will love the glassiness that the TubeMeister offers, as it really enhances the funky “cluck” of in-between pickup settings. Humbucker players will be as happy as can be with the TubeMeister’s ability to yield swift, hammer-like, AC/DC-style tones with a fast attack that delivers tough, barking chords like a lead pipe to the head. 

And, the ’Meister sports an abundance of chime and high-end definition with humbuckers too. Crank the amp’s Gain and an aggressive grind enters the picture with a bounty of tight and powerful low end, as well as musically snarling midrange. Yes, the TubeMeister is dynamic – you can go from gorgeous clean to Iron Maiden with a twist of your guitar’s volume knob. Brilliant.

Kicking in the Drive switch, all hell breaks loose with crushing high gain that manages to stay tight and focused, even when Master and Gain are cranked. The low end can pummel through a 1x10 or a 4x12, and it doesn’t sound hyped, fake, or detached from the notes that are being played. The treble frequencies need to be dialed back a bit with single-coil-equipped guitars, but that’s an easy fix. 

The TubeMeister excels at classic and modern rock tones. I wish the Drive function was footswitchable, but the TubeMeister 5 sounds so good, we can look past that. Plus, the addition of Hughes & Kettner’s famous speaker simulated Red Box direct out establishes the TubeMeister as a fantastic choice for silent recording.

4. Jet City Amplification PicoValve

Designed by boutique pioneer Andy Marshall of THD fame, the Jet City PicoValve rocks the rugged roll-cage look, and boasts a 16-gauge steel chassis, as well as a circuit that can handle nearly any octal-based tube (such as a 6V6, EL34, or 6550). Tube-swappin’-tonetweakers unite! 

The PicoValve is one of those amps that sounds good right from the get-go, no matter where you set the controls. With a Gibson SG and the PicoValve plugged into a 4x12 Marshall cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s, it was hard to go wrong. In either 5- or 2-watt mode, the Pico’s tones remain coherent and tight when the amp is running full on – even with the Gain dimed. 

What you get by cranking the Master Volume is more touch and tonal sensitivity and power tube compression. The PicoValve’s tones were dynamic, reacting to pick attack and subtle nudges of our guitar’s volume and tone controls to give us some nice sonic shadings. The PicoValve also excels at giving up clean-ish distorted tones – preferably with the preamp Gain about halfway up, and the Master Volume cranked.

With a Telecaster and the amp in 5-watt mode – and the Gain less than halfway up – we were able to elicit some sparkling clean tones that really shined through our open-back Fender 1x10 and 1x12 cabinets. The amp’s EQ is simple and effective, as any setting pretty much gets you exactly what you need without having to resort to excessive knob turning. The PicoValve is thick and meaty with a side of sparkly jangle. What’s not to like about that?

5. Kustom Defender 5H Mini-Stack

You can’t overestimate the timeless appeal of a simple, foolproof, one-knob tube amp, and the Kustom Defender 5H delivers on that Thoreauvian promise right out of the box. No tone control? That’s right! Made in China? Who cares? It’ll cost you less than a hundred bucks for the head, and take you to Crank Town without triggering a knock on the door from the boys in blue. 

Within its lunchbox-sized 12" x 4" x 7" vented-steel box, the Defender 5H taps a single 12AX7 preamp tube and single EL84 output tube to churn out 5 incontrovertible class-A watts. There’s a single volume knob – turn it up, turn it down – and a Power switch. And, along with the three speaker outputs and AC connection round back, that’s it. If you need more, look elsewhere. 

The accompanying Defender 1x12 speaker cab carries a Kustom-designed 12" 16Ω speaker with a 30-watt power-handling capability. It’s a sturdy enough MDF box, with a plywood speaker baffle “for enhanced tone and resonance,” as Kustom puts it, and inspires no complaints at this price point.

The real glory of simplicity like this – and, arguably, one of the main points of the micro amp in the first place – other than its premise of keeping down the volume, is that this is truly a plug-and-play machine. Injected with the seminal purity of a Telecaster or an SG Standard, the Defender 5H Mini-Stack delivers everything from shimmering cleans, to throbbing Brit-rock crunch, to mouse-that-roared lead tones. 

Lows are surprisingly gutsy, highs shimmer with harmonic complexity, and it all cleans up nicely at the guitar’s volume control, or simply by easing up your pick attack. This is the kind of amp you decide to buy for that guitar-playing niece or nephew in need of their “first real tube amp,” while secretly deciding you will probably just keep it for yourself. Buckets of fun!

6. Laney Cub 8

Lyndon Laney started out as a bass player in England in the 1960s, and has the distinction of being in a group called Band of Joy, which featured John Bonham and Robert Plant. After those guys went on to bigger things, Laney himself got into building amplifiers. He was quite good at it, too, as Laney amps have been used by a lot of great players over the years, most notably Tony Iommi. While the Cub 8 looks like something Laney might have introduced early on, it’s actually a new design that exudes a soulful, retro look courtesy of its cream pointer knobs, brown top panel, leather-grain covering, and amoeba-shaped front with basketweave grille cloth. Not that the Cub 8 is a heavy amp, but the squishy rubber handle sure makes carrying it a breeze.

With a 12AX7 in the front end, a 6V6 for power, and solid-state rectification, the Cub offers a useful range of sounds that can be optimized for a cleaner response by using the Low input. Keeping the Volume control below 9:00 lets you work in that edge-of-breakup zone that sounds great for blues and jazz, while turning the Volume control up to half or higher allows the amp to go into grinding overdrive that you can easily control from the guitar. The distortion gets a little buzzy when you really start crankin,’ but keeping the well-voiced Tone control turned down, and/or using humbuckers, helps to smooth out the sounds.

Jacking into the High input opens the door to the Cub 8’s most saturated realms. As with many small, single-ended class-A amps, however, the sweetest and most balanced distortion tones are usually somewhere short of a “dimed” setting. Amps like these are also very sensitive to the guitar level, so although using singlecoils will likely induce more top-end bite, they can also facilitate a wider range of tones—and may be the best way to go if you’re already wedded to a boost or distortion pedal for your lead sounds. 

The Cub’s 8" speaker has a midrangey focus that’s very suitable for miking in a studio, though the amp opened up more and was louder when we plugged it into a 1x12 cabinet via the handy external speaker jack. It will safely drive 8Ω or 16Ω loads, so anyone planning to use the Cub 8 for small gigs or rehearsing with a band might consider bringing along an extra cab just in case a little more oomph is needed.

7. Vintage 47 Oahu Suitcase

Vintage 47 makes hand-made, point-to-point wired, period-correct recreations of killer old Valco-style (i.e., Supro, Airline, Oahu, etc.) amps from the ’40s. For anyone who digs what those classic amps can do, this bitchin’ little 5-watt beauty is a must-hear. Sporting super-cool cosmetics, simple controls, and weighing almost nothing, the Oahu Suitcase delivers a surprisingly big range of class-A tones from its 8" hempcone speaker.

Some of the most famous Supro tones can be found on the first Led Zeppelin album, and we wanted to see if the VA-422 could cop them. We cranked the Volume and Tone knobs up all the way and lit into the intro to “Communication Breakdown.” Sure enough, we were greeted by a delightfully fuzzed out, spitty, mean tone that was perfect for the riff. Even with the controls maxed out, the Oahu was very quiet and cleaned up really well when we picked lightly or turned the guitar down a bit. 

The Tone control has a lot of range and can get incredibly bright when cranked. We still found those trebly tones to be very useful, though, and they responded nicely when we rolled the guitar’s tone knob back. The real sweet spot on this amp, though, was when we kept the Volume at about 80 percent and the Tone at about 50 percent. This produced a full, warm sound that was ultra-dynamic. It seemed to bring out the best in any pickup combination and even dealt with the PRS piezo tones no problem. And, in addition to sounding sweet, this amp feels great to play through.

Sticking a mic in front of the Oahu Suitcase instantly showed why so many great guitarists and producers love having amps of this type in the studio. This thing records like a dream, with a lively, punchy rhythm sound that sits in the mix like nobody’s business. This little amp is a winner.

8. Vox AC4HW1

The Vox AC4, one of a series of small amps that the English company introduced in the early to mid 1960s, was basically a renamed AC2 that featured the same complement of tubes: an EF86 and a 12AX7 in the preamp, an EL84 for power, and an EZ80 rectifier. Vox’s new AC4HW1 veers from the original design by using a pair of 12AX7s and an EL84 power tube with solid-state rectification, but retains the stellar look of the vintage classic by featuring period-correct fawn covering with gold piping, brown diamond- pattern grille cloth, pointer-style knobs, and a white handle. 

The controls include Gain, Treble, Bass, and Volume, along with a Cool/Hot switch that toggles between the normal Top Boost sound (Cool), and a brighter, gainier response that results from partially bypassing the tone stack in the Hot setting.

The little combo hides a 12" Celestion G12M Greenback in its compact, semi-closed back cabinet. Removing the 15 screws that hold the rear cover in place provides full access to the handwired circuitry, which is laid out neatly on a phenolic board with flying leads to the pots, jacks, and switches. It’s a show of quality that extends to all aspects of the AC4’s construction and cosmetics.

Though small in stature, the AC4 throws out an impressive amount of sound. The cleanest tones are best tapped by plugging into the Low input and turning the Gain knob no higher than 9:00. In this mode you get a harmonically rich and jangly shimmer that’s evocative of Beatles-era Brit-pop guitar tones. This amp loves to grind, and will do so readily if you pick or strum hard – especially if the Volume control is set high enough to invite power tube clipping. 

Cranking up the Gain quickly brings on more chewy distortion and compression, and switching to the High input transforms the AC4 into a raging little beast with plenty of sustain for solos. The highs can easily be managed in Cool mode by setting the Treble knob fairly low and adjusting the Bass knob for the warmest response, but these controls have less effect in the Hot setting, which is designed to provide a boost in gain and brightness for solos. 

We found the extra brightness hard to manage even with humbuckers, but by turning the amp’s Treble control all the way down and backing off the tone controls on my PRS SC58, we could tame the slice to a reasonable degree. We think it would have been nice if Vox had added a little treble attenuation to the Hot setting, but this amp sounds so cool in its, well, Cool mode, that it’s not a big deal. 

Kept in its lower-gain realms and perhaps paired with a boost or distortion pedal for extra sustain, the AC4HW1 is a convenient practice/small-gig rig that packs an irresistible combination of British accent and “mod”-era Vox look.

Marshall JTM-1H, JMP-1H, JCM-1H 50th Anniversary 1-Watt Amplifiers

As part of Marshall’s “50 Years of Loud Anniversary Celebration,” the hallowed amplifier manufacturer introduced a series of five 1-watt mini amplifiers designed to represent the five decades of Marshall’s existence. Each amp is available as a head or a 1x10 combo. Reviewed here are heads representing the first three decades: the JTM-1H (1960s), the JMP-1H (1970s), and the JCM-1H (1980s). The heads retail for $1,000 and street for $749. Combos run $1,060 retail and $799 street. 

The heads were built in England at Marshall’s Bletchley factory and designed to sound and look period-appropriate. Obviously, not all Marshall amps from any decade sound or look identical, but these little all-tube beauties capture the essential vibe of their ancestors – right down to the switches, knobs, name plates, and cabinetry.

Tone-wise, the amps come surprisingly close to replicating vintage sounds, which is particularly remarkable given the diminutive power tubes in their output sections. All three pack a good bit more gain than the originals, but that shouldn’t be an issue, especially given that back in the ’60s and ’70s players struggled mightily to coax more gain from their Marshalls (and present-day guitarists who plug into actual “plexis” frequently find the sound too clean and unforgiving).

The 1-watters were surprisingly loud when powering a Marshall C110 speaker cabinet ($350 retail/$250 street) loaded with a Celestion G10F-15, and even rocked a 1x12 cab with authority. Should that be a problem when practicing, a Power switch on the rear panel drops the output to 0.1 watt operation, which thins out the tone a bit but still sounds fine.

We tested the heads with PRS P22 and Gibson ’59 Les Paul reissue guitars, both of which paired beautifully with the Marshalls, yielding an impressive range of wondrous sounds. In fact, we can’t remember when we’ve had more fun just plugging in and playing for pure enjoyment. Each model has its own personality, yet they all possess a magic that reminded me of why we fell in love with the electric guitar in the first place. So, while some may find these heads pricey, what’s the going rate for inspiration and fun? Besides, these were limited-run products that weren't manufactured beyond 2012, making them potentially savvy investments as well.

9. Marshall JTM-1H

Fans of simplicity will love this spartan beastie, with its lone Loudness and Tone controls. The JTM-1H sports a vintage style Tolex-covered cabinet with gold piping and a block logo nameplate. The JTM-1H employs two 12AX7 and one 12AU7 tubes in a Class A/B configuration, and Marshall says that the amp is “based on the JTM45 tone stack, as if the inputs had been jumped,” which sounds about right, though with more gain on tap as mentioned previously. 

The sound is big, round, and bursting with harmonic complexity, and the nicely voiced Tone control sweeps a relatively wide range from dark to sizzling. The amp feels right, too, both in terms of playing dynamics and palpable thump – even through the 1x10 cab.

10. Marshall JMP-1H

Very similar in look, sound, and feel to the JTM-1H, the JMP-1H provides separate Bass and Treble controls, along with a Gain Boost switch that dramatically changes the amp’s response in addition to it’s sound when engaged – almost like having two amps in one. The diminutive Super Lead-style head boasts two 12AX7 and two 12AT7 tubes with a Class A “parallel single-ended” power-stage topology. 

The tone controls are effectively voiced, offering lots of sound-sculpting capabilities, especially on lower-gain settings. There’s more high end available than with the JTM-1H, and considerably more gain than you’d expect from a vintage JMP series amp – but the bottom line is that this amp sounds truly magnificent.

11. Marshall JCM-1H

The JCM-1H reaches for the roar and percussive knock of the famed JCM800 Lead Series amps that ruled the ’80s, offering Bass, Middle, and Treble controls, along with Pre- Amp Volume and Master Volume controls, and a front-panel Boost switch designed to provide the extra punch of Marshall’s Jubilee and Split Channel amps. It shares the same tube complement and Class A/B topology of the JTM-1H, but has more high-end overall than either of the other two heads, resulting in the slightly harsher and buzzier tone of the period. 

The additional controls combined with the very effective Boost circuit allow you to dial in scores of glorious tones. Along with its two siblings, the JCM-1H is absolutely adorable and makes a majestic racket.