ThreeChordWonder
New member
NAD!!!!
Well, the wife got a $5000 (yes, five THOUSAND Dollar) puppy, so...
Blackstar Debut 50R arrived today.
A fuller review maybe later, but there are plenty online already, so don't hold your breath.
So far though....
Well, the wife got a $5000 (yes, five THOUSAND Dollar) puppy, so...
Blackstar Debut 50R arrived today.
A fuller review maybe later, but there are plenty online already, so don't hold your breath.
So far though....
- Pluses:
- All analogue, no chips, no modeling effects to b#gger things up.
- Just US$250 plus taxes etc. $288 total. Got mine on 8 months interest free too.
- Came double boxed with foam corners, absolutely no damage at all.
- Dual voltage, so when I'm next on tour (coming soon to a bus shelter near you...) that'll come in handy.
- Well built, all be it from MDF not real wood.
- Great clean tone, with a "Bright" botton to boost the treble, and it's own volume knob.
- Plate and hall reverb options, with a knob to turn the effect up and down.
- Effects loop is included. Haven't tried it yet.
- The Blackstar ISF knob. At zero its all bright Fender-ish, at ten it's more dark Marshall-ish. On the Marshall Origins they call this the "tilt" function, and I daresay others have or will work their way around Blackstar's patent(s).
- 5 watt and 50 watt modes. 50 watts is bloody loud.
- The overdrive channel actually sounds pretty darned good, with both gain and volume knobs.
- It does feedback!!!!
- No chips I could see. All discrete transistors as far as I can see.
- Light weight. Around 24 lbs (11kg) compared to the Origin50 at 40 lbs (18 kg).
- The minuses:
- Made in China, but isn't everything these days? But I daresay a soldering robot works just as well in Shanghai as it does in Swindon or San Francisco.
- The 4 ohm speaker will be difficult to upgrade. An 8 ohm might work, but power will be reduced. Rough calcs to about 25 watts.
- No plastic corners on the cabinet.
- No separate tone controls for the clean and overdrive channels.
- The footswitch is an optional extra, and apparently it only switches between clean and overdrive (one button) and button 2 turns the reverb on and off.
- They don't mention the part number for the footswitch in any of the blurb I've found so far either.
- No off button on the control panel for the reverb, just a knob to turn the feet up and down.
- Overall:
- Sound (so far) 9/10 (it isn't a real Princeton or an original Plexi after all).
- Features 7/10 (minus 1 point each for the lack of separate tone controls, not including the footswitch (or the part number) and no on/off switch for the reverb).
- Build quality 9/10 (minus 1 for the MDF).
- Value for money 10/10 though (it was only $250 bucks after all!)
- OVERALL 9/10.
