A Couple Low Watt, Class A, Single Ended Tube Amps I've Recently Bought

[toomanycats]

In recent months I’ve been playing lot of gigs as a duo where I don’t need the kind of volume I do with my full band. For these bookings I've been using a variety of small combo amps, including solid state, tube, and hybrids. Specifically, in the last couple of months I've gigged with my VOX VT20X, an early 80s Fender Sidekick Reverb 20, a Peavey JSX Mini Colossal, and a Peavey Classic 30.

However, none of these were completely satisfactory for me. Regardless of their other virtues, those that lack a 12” speaker invariably sounded thin. The Peavy Classic 30 has the 12" driver, though it is quite heavy and has way more power than required. What I really needed was a low watt all tube amp with a 12” speaker. So I started looking.

After a considerable amount of online research, and trying several amps in the store, including three flavors of the Fender Blues Junior, the Supro Blues King, and Orange, I went ahead and bought a brand new Blackstar Studio 10 6L6. To my ears it was the one that really shined.

To highlight the features:
10 watts
Class A
One channel with a foot-switchable boost that actually operates more like a second channel.
One 12AX7 and one 6L6 (single ended).
Great sounding digital reverb.
12” Celestion 70/80 speaker.

The Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 is a very responsive and sensitive amp with wonderful cleans in the style of Fender and with very pleasing break up/overdrive. It is the perfect power output for what I need. It takes pedals really well. I’ve already gigged with the Blackstar several times and I'm exceptionally happy with it. Setting the master at about 6 gives me plenty of volume but with headroom to spare. Out of curiosity I brought it to practice this past Tuesday night and it had enough power to spare to hang with the full band, including drummer, bass player, and an obnoxiously loud harmonica blower.

Shortly after I bought the Blackstar a friend of mine made an offer to sell me his pristine VOX AC4C1-12 for only $200. He bought the VOX maybe five or six years ago. It's never left his house, he's babied the thing, and even put a premium tube set in it from the TubeDepot. He just didn’t need it anymore as he's gone crazy over his Roland Blues Cube Hot. Different stokes, different folks. I just couldn’t turn away from this pristine tube powered little VOX for such a great price. I know a lot of you guys either actually own or have experience with this little VOX model and know the virtues of it. It's definitely the more known quantity around here as compared to the Blackstar Studio 10 6L6.

So now I’ve got two very suitable tube amps that meet all the criteria for my small gigs, one 6L6 flavored, the other EL84 flavored. Both of them sound great, though very different. They’re just going to have to take turns.

Cat shown for scale only. Normally I would never let these guys near my amps. They'll destroy a grill in a heartbeat.

[toomanycats]

The two cute little buggers together.

[fatjack]

I've been looking at the Blackstars myself. Primaraly the kt88 but the 6l6 version a very close second.I had te Idea a clean amp of that size would be great to have and the 6l6 and kt 88 seem to fit. From the clips I've heard my tastes seem to run more to the kt amp, It just seems a bit fuller.

[golem]

Nice!

I've become fond of low watt amps. I have a GA-5 reissue (reworked by Rob and with a newer speaker) and a Marshall Origin 5 combo (retubed with something MilSpec from Tube Depot). Neither have the 12" you like, but I do find there's something I love about their gain.

[toomanycats]

Nice!

I've become fond of low watt amps. I have a GA-5 reissue (reworked by Rob and with a newer speaker) and a Marshall Origin 5 combo (retubed with something MilSpec from Tube Depot). Neither have the 12" you like, but I do find there's something I love about their gain.

I looked at the Marshall Origin series, also at Marshall's little combo Plexi, the Studio Vintage, though I didn't get to play either. Marshall is really my default tone, the one I'm most familiar with and prefer. That may have figured into my choice of the 6L6 Blackstar, as something with a different flavor can be inspiring, plus it works really well for the type of material I of with the duo.

The video below is a good example of the music I perform with the Blackstar (The amp is behind my chair and guitar stand).



My "secret weapon" with Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 is pairing it with my Bogner Ecstasy Blue overdrive pedal. With this pedal in front I can get a really good Plexi tone with the click of a button. While the amp has only a single tone knob, the pedal has very broad and precise eq capability. They pair perfectly together to deliver both Fender and Marshall tones at a reasonable volume.

[andrewsrea]

Congrats on the Blackstar! I think they are great amps.

I fixed a Blackstar for Jim Shaffner which required a specialty power transformer, and the company was a pleasure to deal with. The amps seemed to be built well and had some interesting circuits (I think there is a Soldano designer who was involved with Blackstar). Jim's amp sounded nice and the transformer was a result of misuse by the prior owner (he bought it broken, at a very low price).

As @golem mentioned, his Marshall Origin and Gibson GA-5 sound really great for small amps. The Marshall for the brit stuff and the Gibson for the Fender clean to OD stuff (that sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?). They would be good for the gigs you are describing.

I can't seem to imagine myself doing a gig with less than 12 watts.

[jhull54]

Very intrigued by the Blackstar. I wasn't familiar with that 10 watter, but I love the sound of those amps. The little Vox is tempting, as well.

@toomanycats I am curious about your reaction to playing the Fender BJ's. Although I generally hear nothing but praise for them, I have always found them boxy and underwhelming tone-wise when I have played one. That may just be due to my ineptitude with the knobs, though.

[tonebender]

TC, for years I had an early version Blackstar HT 5 Watter mini stack beside my desk for practice sessions on youtube. That amp had the best sounding gain channel ever, I mean ever. It was not loud but it just nailed a dimed Marshall better than a dimed Marshall. I am not a fan of the larger "band size" Blackstar amps but that mini was to die for when it came to overdrive tone.

[toomanycats]

Very intrigued by the Blackstar. I wasn't familiar with that 10 watter, but I love the sound of those amps. The little Vox is tempting, as well.

@toomanycats I am curious about your reaction to playing the Fender BJ's. Although I generally hear nothing but praise for them, I have always found them boxy and underwhelming tone-wise when I have played one. That may just be due to my ineptitude with the knobs, though.

I recently tried three different variations of the Blues Junior at a Guitar Center. The Lacquered Tweed III was my favorite. It had very glassy cleans and pleasing organic overdrive with that classic scooped Fender sound.

The other two I tried were Blues Junior IVs with different speakers, one a Cannibus Rex I believe, the other maybe some other Jenson? Now those amps did sound boxy to me, sorta monolithic and one dimensional compared to the BJ III. Just my observations, but to me the differences were striking and noticeable.

[Jaymo]

Nice tone and nice playing. Is that an LP or an Agile?
I can't see the headstock well enough to tell, and I don't know enough about the differences in the bodies.

I dig that song too.

[toomanycats]

Nice tone and nice playing. Is that an LP or an Agile?
I can't see the headstock well enough to tell, and I don't know enough about the differences in the bodies.

I dig that song too.

That's a 2020 Gibson Les Paul '50s Standard.

[tlarson58]

Extra points for cat content. Well done.

Thanks for the write-up and vid (love the tones). Your friend is onto something with the Roland. However, for one trick ponies, they're expensive.

SO many choices!