Blackstar Artist Series
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SavageRiffer
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Re: Blackstar Artist Series
Yep, played the 15w version a few times. I'm a huge Blackstar fan. The Artist series is very, very good. Unfortunately, I don't care for combo amps and there's no head version. You can get a fair range of useable tones. The one negative in my opinion is the ISF control. I'd prefer to have a plain 3-band tone stack because the ISF does more of a parametric kind of EQ shift or whatever. ISF at 12:00 is ideal, there is a sweet spot around 9:00 & 3:00, but it gets a bit muffled and dark to the right, and kind of a U-shaped EQ cut into the mids on the left side. I just don't like it, and think that an amp like that would be better off without it anyway. Other than that the amp really plays on the character of 6L6 tubes. There are so many tones that start from chimey cleans to classic overdrive. I've boosted it with a pedal called the Mojohand Rook or something, which I've never used before, but it was sounding really great for heavier chords and lead tones. It doesn't have a lot of gain, maybe a gain range similar to a Friedman Smallbox. There is a sweet spot on the clean channel around 1:00 where it has a beautiful sounding breakup kind of clean with humbuckers. It's pretty loud so you won't get that sound in an apartment. Even if you own some nice boutique amps, the Artist wouldn't sound out of place at all among them. Single-coil neck pickup on the gain channel is crazy good on that amp. It has a sturdy low end for a 1x12 combo, so I think it's pretty good for gigging. If you have a Fender Blues Junior, which is a great little amp, you would sell it if you bought an Artist 15. It's that good.
Yep, played the 15w version a few times. I'm a huge Blackstar fan. The Artist series is very, very good. Unfortunately, I don't care for combo amps and there's no head version. You can get a fair range of useable tones. The one negative in my opinion is the ISF control. I'd prefer to have a plain 3-band tone stack because the ISF does more of a parametric kind of EQ shift or whatever. ISF at 12:00 is ideal, there is a sweet spot around 9:00 & 3:00, but it gets a bit muffled and dark to the right, and kind of a U-shaped EQ cut into the mids on the left side. I just don't like it, and think that an amp like that would be better off without it anyway. Other than that the amp really plays on the character of 6L6 tubes. There are so many tones that start from chimey cleans to classic overdrive. I've boosted it with a pedal called the Mojohand Rook or something, which I've never used before, but it was sounding really great for heavier chords and lead tones. It doesn't have a lot of gain, maybe a gain range similar to a Friedman Smallbox. There is a sweet spot on the clean channel around 1:00 where it has a beautiful sounding breakup kind of clean with humbuckers. It's pretty loud so you won't get that sound in an apartment. Even if you own some nice boutique amps, the Artist wouldn't sound out of place at all among them. Single-coil neck pickup on the gain channel is crazy good on that amp. It has a sturdy low end for a 1x12 combo, so I think it's pretty good for gigging. If you have a Fender Blues Junior, which is a great little amp, you would sell it if you bought an Artist 15. It's that good.
SavageRiffer
New member
Re: Blackstar Artist Series
They do have the regular EQ, but they also have the ISF. It affects how those controls interact. The ISF, in my opinion is best left somewhere in the middle, but anywhere past the middle range, I can never seem to get the EQ exactly where I want it. That's why I say it would be better without it. That goes the same for all Blackstars except the HT series, some of which only have the ISF to control sound. The HT1 and HT5 are little monster amps with fantastic sound.
They do have the regular EQ, but they also have the ISF. It affects how those controls interact. The ISF, in my opinion is best left somewhere in the middle, but anywhere past the middle range, I can never seem to get the EQ exactly where I want it. That's why I say it would be better without it. That goes the same for all Blackstars except the HT series, some of which only have the ISF to control sound. The HT1 and HT5 are little monster amps with fantastic sound.
SavageRiffer
New member
Re: Blackstar Artist Series
That's a steal! The Artisans are pretty good. I've only tried the 100w head. Never tried the 15 or 30 as I'm not too fond of EL84 amps. It was underwhelming at first, but I played it a few times and got hooked. It would be nice to have one in my amp room.
That's a steal! The Artisans are pretty good. I've only tried the 100w head. Never tried the 15 or 30 as I'm not too fond of EL84 amps. It was underwhelming at first, but I played it a few times and got hooked. It would be nice to have one in my amp room.
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