Blackstar – HomeToneBlog.com

11th January 2020

#HomeTone Thoughts Before Winter NAMM 2020

Winter NAMM is almost here. It’s one of the most high-profile guitars & gear trade shows in the world, and traditionally, many manufacturers use it to announce or launch their major new products of the year.

YouTube is going to be dominated by NAMM show floor coverage for the next few weeks. If you want to see everything that will be displayed at the show, subscribe to one of the YouTube channels I recently recommended.

From a #HomeTone perspective, what are the gaps in the market that I’m hoping to see filled by new products?

30th December 20194th January 2020

2019 Review: Pedal Platform Amps

Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what amps I’m using for pedal platforms, and why.

15th December 20194th January 2020

#CoffeeAndKlon 24: The Klon’s Buffer

This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.

Good morning! If you’re here in the UK, I hope the terrible election result and biblical rain hasn’t dampened your weekend completely. I’ve got another #CoffeeAndKlon for you this morning, and I want to talk about the *other* graphic on the KTR today.

3rd August 20194th January 2020

Fender Pugilist: A Marshall-In-A-Box Pedal?

This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.

I’m just going to put this out there. Is the Fender Pugilist distortion pedal secretly a Marshall-in-a-Box pedal? I think there’s a case to be made.

3rd July 20194th January 2020

First Impressions: Mad Professor Big Tweedy Drive Pedal

This conversation was originally published on my Twitter feed.

This evening, I’m enjoying something a little bit different – a Mad Professor Big Tweedy Drive pedal. Boosting it with a Klon, and running it into a Blackstar Studio 10 6L6.

2nd March 20194th January 2020

New Arrivals For February

February has been a very strange month for gear.

The Winter NAMM announcements are over, and now we wait for actual stock to appear in the shops. Some items – like Marshall’s new Studio line of heads, combos and cabs – have arrived quickly (and largely sold out just as quickly). Other pieces – not so much.

eBay started slow, but in the middle of the month, there was a lot of great gear up for grabs at surprising prices. I was expecting most people to be waiting for the “free for private sellers” changes coming at the start of March. I was wrong.

Here’s a list of everything I’ve picked up in February, along with my initial impressions. I’ll write up a full article on each of them once I’ve had a bit of time with them.

9th February 20194th January 2020

On My Wishlist: Blackstar’s Studio 10 6L6

Earlier today, I popped round my local guitar shop to try Blackstar’s new Studio 10 combo amps. I came away with the 6L6 version firmly on my list of amps to buy.

22nd March 2018

Blindfold Challenge – Affordable High Gain Amps

Chappers and the Captain have posted the 2nd part of their high-gain amp blindfold challenge. This time, they’re looking at 7 amps at £1,000 or below.

These kind of videos are a great opportunity to hear a bunch of amps side by side. Exact same guitar, exact same guitarist, and it looks like they’re running each amp into the exact same cab (so they’re all mic’d up the same). The only difference is the amp itself.

And these aren’t aspirational boutique sell-a-kidney amps. These are the kind of amps that you’d be looking at if you want a real valve amp for home and gigging.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed this video.q