Teaser Pic (from store) on the way to house now

[Tonray's Ghost]

More to follow.... anxiously waiting

[bc rich]

I am seeing a standby switch , we know what that means.

[Tonray's Ghost]

So this is the same amp as @toomanycats recommended (Blackstar Studio 10 6L6) except I couldn't stomach the oxblood grill cloth as this sits square in the living room and visible from the dining room also. So for an extra $52 bucks I got the CV10 which is the art deco Carmen Vandenberg model..which was a great aesthetic upgrade to me anyway. Played about 40 minutes to test it out and quite happy. Still need to dial in some tones but what amazed me is with the tone turned down it makes a great jazzy/swing type tone..love it.

I have it sitting on a monitor stand from IKEA, which initially had a wooden drawer but with that removed the bottom section becomes a great place to slide a multi effects pedal. Coming soon too. So far so

[toomanycats]

So this is the same amp as @toomanycats recommended (Blackstar Studio 10 6L6) except I couldn't stomach the oxblood grill cloth as this sits square in the living room and visible from the dining room also. So for an extra $52 bucks I got the CV10 which is the art deco Carmen Vandenberg model..which was a great aesthetic upgrade to me anyway. Played about 40 minutes to test it out and quite happy. Still need to dial in some tones but what amazed me is with the tone turned down it makes a great jazzy/swing type tone..love it.

I have it sitting on a monitor stand from IKEA, which initially had a wooden drawer but with that removed the bottom section becomes a great place to slide a multi effects pedal. Coming soon too. So far so

I told you so!

For the record, Mrs tmc refers to my cream and red Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 as "the red velvet cake amp." I like the understated elegance of your amp as well.

Happy New Amp Day!

[tonebender]

Happy new amp day. I once traded an old Univox head to a guy for a Blackstar 5 watt and two mini cabs. It was a mini stack. I kept the amp and one speaker next to my computer desk for youtube lessons. That little amp had the sweetest gain channel of any amp I have ever owned. I tried out all the bigger versions I could find in stores but they just did not have the same gain sound. It just nailed the quintessential Marshall brown sound.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Happy new amp day. I once traded an old Univox head to a guy for a Blackstar 5 watt and two mini cabs. It was a mini stack. I kept the amp and one speaker next to my computer desk for youtube lessons. That little amp had the sweetest gain channel of any amp I have ever owned. I tried out all the bigger versions I could find in stores but they just did not have the same gain sound. It just nailed the quintessential Marshall brown sound.

The clean channel on this stays pretty clean almost all the way up, with the drive button engaged I've found I can crank it but using my guitar volume control I can get a nice crunch at living room volumes. Because the clean channel has good headroom, this will be great with effects pedals and a Valeton GP200lt is soon to join it. It came with a single button footswitch to engage the drive but I'll likely not use it at least for that

[Partscaster]

Thats nice looking. Congratulations. Well worth the effort and the extra 52$. And with good "jazzy/swing type tone" as a fundamental its gotta be a great tone platform for your pedals of taste,.....or staying clean and letting some volume sweeten the notes.
And, Carmen Vandenburg is so attractive.

[Tonray's Ghost]

On the way:

I intend to try two methods (or use a combination of both depending on situation)

1) Guitar into GP-200 / GP-200 output into Amp Input. Here turn off AMP/CAB sims in GP-200 and use it solely as an effects pedal

2) Guitar into GP-200 / GP-200 output into Amp Return. Here leave AMP sims on but CAB sims off. Basically bypassing the amp pre-amp and using it as a powered speaker. Use as AMP emulator and effects pedal

3) There is of course the 4 cable method which is way overkill for my little living room jam sessions.

Excited to post up some sound samples next week.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Ok..got the Valeton GP-200LT in. 1 day shipping pretty impressive. The unit itself is miles ahead of the original GP-100 I used for nearly 4 years . Some things easier , lots more options but also lots more to muck up.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours trying out different connection methods and for me at least the best option was to plug the unit directly into the Amplifier FX Return. This allows me to use the Amp sims on the unit, the benefits being I have great flexibility in choice and configuration but the downside is they can be a tad bit noisier than the native pre-amp. But it took some playing with the input level (I found that -10dB) set on the Valeton and the FX level button pushed in to match gave me the best balance of noise on my single coil settings and tone.

Initially, I intended to place the unit on the floor under the amp stand, but just 2.5 hours of bending over to play with it has nearly ruined my already bad lower back..so on on the shelf it goes for hand operated action of the foot-switches.

So really only have my levels set and connections fine, later this week need to try and make some patches to match the ones I had on the old unit. Knackered. That's all for tonight.

[andrewsrea]

If you like the Marshall sound, you will like Blackstar. Since the owners came from Marshall, there are a lot of similarities and Blackstar seems to add a little more practical value for the price.

HNAD!

[Tonray's Ghost]

If you like the Marshall sound, you will like Blackstar. Since the owners came from Marshall, there are a lot of similarities and Blackstar seems to add a little more practical value for the price.

HNAD!

This particular unit is the 6l6 variant. More Fenderish Blues Jr than Marshall-y. The other 2 variants , the el34 and the kt88 fit that bill more closely. This one is quite versatile but since I'm plugging in after the preamp, I can sculpt any character I want with the GP-200 preamp and dirt.

[andrewsrea]

I missed the post for the preamp for some reason. That set up looks great! 10w is enough 'loud' to achieve 85dB (what your ears like hearing) and the preamp can get you a variety of tone. HNPAD!

[Tonray's Ghost]

I missed the post for the preamp for some reason. That set up looks great! 10w is enough 'loud' to achieve 85dB (what your ears like hearing) and the preamp can get you a variety of tone. HNPAD!

But as usual..most of the presets included with the unit are so outrageouslly over the top as to be pretty useless. I often wonder how these companies develop and test these...perhaps they are doing it with FRFR monitors and they sound way different than actual amps/cabs. I dunno..just crazy. But luckily the Valeton is so easy to use and configure from the panel (not even counting the excellent Windows app) presets are easy to make and modify. I'll likely delete 90% of what's there and start with a few promising ones and develop 3 or 4 that I use everyday. Then maybe the unit can go back to the floor as a proper stompbox once I don't need to bend over all the time to configure it.

[tlarson58]

This is so cool. I'm geeking on it from half the world away.

Happy new rig day!

[Tonray's Ghost]

I will add one piece of advice after pulling my hair out for about 30 minutes. After 1st plugging into the FX RETURN on the amp, I could not get a sound out of the amp to save my life. Played with input levels, swapped cables (3 times !), etc etc. Turns out you need something plugged into the guitar INPUT on the amp to get it to activate. I had a 1/4 inch plug adapter (no cable attached) and with that plugged in everything worked. Maybe this is universal or maybe this is a Blackstar thing. Another point to keep in mind is that after plugging into the FX RETURN, the amp's top panel (everything pre-amp related) does nothing. GAIN/TONE become useless and you must use the GP-200 (or whatever) to manipulate all. The Master volume does work however.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Just some pics of the very nice Valeton GP-200 software and firmware update

[andrewsrea]

But as usual..most of the presets included with the unit are so outrageouslly over the top as to be pretty useless. I often wonder how these companies develop and test these...perhaps they are doing it with FRFR monitors and they sound way different than actual amps/cabs.

IMHO, the over-the-top effects stems from early amp marketing. I worked early in my career with an electrical engineer who had once worked for Earth Amplifiers. He said the marketing department made a decision to order potentiometers so that when competing with Fender and Ampeg in stores, the reverb and volume on'3' would be much louder than their competitors on the same settings. It creates the mindset that 'more is more' and differentiates the product.

I agree with your perspective. I find multi-effects and modelers seem to over play the distinction, often missing the distinction is a nuance.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Well...a few days in and not able to dial in the same glorius tone I had with the old GP-100 and the little Mooer amp. I had a setting there where I cranked the treble and bass on the amp, dropping the mids, then using a Fender Twin amp sim with some reverb, and a Blues Driver type overdrive, had a nice gritty blues tone suitable for either fingerstyle or picking.

The new amp sounds great plugged in directly to guitar, but then I have no presets or effects other than reverb and have to adjust knobs constantly. The GP-200 seems to have some promise but perhaps because I don't have 3 level EQ (Bass/Middle/Treble) I am not able to duplicate the former tone with the unit either plugged in to the FX Return or straight into the amp input. Vexing....arghhh. So off today to buyu three more quality guitar cables (does the GASSS for tone ever end ?) to try out the 4 cable method where I can use the full pre-amp power of the amp AND separate the drives from the time bassed effects within the unit. I'm hopeful this will give me some more leverage in getting the tone I seek.

[Tonray's Ghost]

So off to the guitar shop (the one that carries PRS and G&L as their main lines. They want $65 for each 90 degree/straight in 10 foot cable. That's $200 smackers..ouch. leave frufru guitar shop and head downstairs to the shop that carries Squier as their premium line. They want $7 per cable and threw in a free canvas tote bag to boot.

So tomorrow (knackered today as it's 95 F and spent all morning in the Bangkok DLT (DMV) renewing my car registration), the 4 cable method it is !!!