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Introduction
Thank you for purchasing this Blackstar St. James amplifier. Like all our products,
this amp is the result of countless hours of painstaking Research and Development
by our world-class design team. Based in Northampton (United Kingdom), the
Blackstar team are all experienced musicians themselves and the sole aim of the
development process is to provide guitarists with products which are the ultimate
tools for self-expression.
All Blackstar products are subjected to extensive laboratory and road testing to
ensure that they are truly uncompromising in terms of reliability, quality and above
all TONE.
This manual covers the following models:
-
St. James 50 EL34H Head
-
St. James 50 EL34 Combo
-
St. James 50 EL34 212 Combo
-
St. James 50 6L6H Head
-
St. James 50 6L6 Combo
-
St. James 50 6L6 212 Combo
The St. James amplifiers have been designed to be both flexible and intuitive to use.
Although at first glance they look to be reassuringly simple, they actually contain
advanced features and cutting-edge technology to provide guitarists with tools they
can use in many different playing scenarios; from stage to studio, home practise /
recording and silent ‘orchestra pit’ use. All while still being a true valve amp. They
are an inspired combination of the best that analogue audio circuitry and digital
signal processing can provide.
Although you may be tempted to plug straight in and play (and are welcome to),
please at some point read through this handbook carefully, to ensure you get the
maximum benefit from your new Blackstar product and all the available features. (It
will only take about 20 minutes, honest!)
At this point we must bring up the product’s light weight. You will be pleased to
know that one of the goals when developing this range was to produce real valve
amps at lighter weights than were previously dreamed of. In doing this, we looked
at all the different areas where weight could be saved, that would not compromise
the sound, performance or reliability. This involved using new and cutting-edge
technology, along with specifically chosen materials, in the design and construction
of the power supply, the speakers, the output transformer, chassis metalwork and
cabinet woodwork. Increment by increment we minimised weight throughout the
design and the result is St. James: the lightest 50W valve amps in the world.
If you like what you hear and want to find out more about the Blackstar range of
products please visit our website at www.blackstaramps.com.
Thanks!
The Blackstar Team
Features
The St. James heads and combos are highly versatile amplifiers suited to a wide
range of playing styles and situations.
Channel I, all models: The valve gain structure and voicing of this channel has been
inspired by classic American amplifiers of the mid ’60s. It is very clean and bright,
but with a solid low-end and controlled mids. Also, on this channel the valve power
stage is set to be tight, relatively clean and linear across the frequency range.
This is one of the most popular choices for a ‘pedal platform’ as it provides a solid
clean foundation to apply effects to.
Channel II is different depending on the specific model:
The ‘EL34’ models use a ‘classic’ valve preamp topology for Channel II which is
based on a much-loved British ‘Class A’ amplifier of the early ’60s. This is a low
to medium gain preamp that can be used clean, warm or mildly overdriven. Again,
this is a very popular choice for a ‘pedal platform’ as well as for a great responsive
crunch tone. When this channel is selected the valve power stage is set as ‘open-
loop’. This has a looser feel with a resonant bottom-end and lively highs.
The footswitchable Voice setting pushes the valve preamp harder with a 10dB clean
boost, to take it from ‘chimey’ to ‘creamy’ and beyond.
The ‘6L6’ models use a ‘modern’ preamp gain structure for Channel II. This specific
channel is a combination of Blackstar’s award-winning cascaded valve overdrive
circuits and a traditional ‘British style passive tone stack’ (EQ). When CH. II is
selected but Voice is off, the valve power amp is set to be tight and relatively linear.
Switching to the alternative Voice setting on these models revoices the overdriven
cascaded valve preamp for more saturation, as well as reconfiguring the power amp
to be open loop, to provide that contemporary high-gain looser feel with plenty of
resonant low end ‘chug’.
All models feature a 3 way ‘Power’ switch to give the user options on how their valve
output stage is run.
On the rear panel, in addition to the expected effects loop and footswitch sockets,
we have also included separate stereo headphone, balanced XLR and USB outputs.
Key to the great sound from these is two very important additions. First is the
inclusion of an
internal reactive load
, specially designed to load the valve output
stage in the same way as a guitar speaker. The other is our newly developed
CAB
RIG
DSP technology to provide the user cutting-edge cabinet, speaker and room
simulation. This opening overview cannot do it justice, therefore CAB RIG will have
documentation all of its own!
