The Watering Hole

Checked out some pedals today at GC, REALLY liked the Blackstar stuff upon first strike, soooooo Marshall sounding it could be criminal, lol, supposedly the main 2 Blackstar guys are former long time Marshall employee's of some sorts....anyway, this pedal, the "Distx" is a killer, gobs of gooey gain but organic sounding on all levels, not sure if its been mentioned here or not, but FWIW, the thing is pricey for a pedal but has impressive specs and TONE! Info: http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/products/ht/htdistx.html




I didn't have time to make more clips, the first thing I wanted to do (after I settled down from playing with the mondo type saturated lead stuff which I found to be awesome  :D) was to see just how close (quickly) I could dupe the jcm800 crunchy sample I made a couple weeks back and I'll be damned if its not right there (well, pretty stinking close, could prolly get it closer if I wasn't in a rush!

The first clip is the same one I posted a couple weeks back, the second is the new pedal playing the same thing, for that, I got the Marshall set to as clean as possible on the Normal channel, all the crunch is the Distx Pedal. The gain on the pedal was only at 9 o'clock here, at anything past 12 is like a super rodded Marshall, pure singing tone, which I cannot quite reach via boosting and the OCD, its a cool combo, will use it for many things, but for now, LEADS are covered with this new pedal! I MAY take it back in next month an upgrade to the head version, but I dunno, pretty happy with it in front of the Marshall. (=

RAW Marshall Sample (posted earlier)

Blackstar Pedal Sample

And heres a cheesy thing, could've played it better, but its a simple Dokken riff I used to jam along to, lol, the Pedal is on the left, the Raw amp on the right!

Schlokken Rhythm

That is a juicy tone...   Upgrade to a head?  You building a museum?  Hehe, wait you actually use your stuff...

All kidding aside, that sounds *really* good...

KrankZilla — Mar 18, 2009
That is a juicy tone...   Upgrade to a head?  You building a museum?  Hehe, wait you actually use your stuff...

(Sheesh!  If I owned a dog, would you kick him too?  :-?  :-/ )

KrankZilla — Mar 18, 2009
That is a juicy tone...   Upgrade to a head?  You building a museum?  Hehe, wait you actually use your stuff...

Thanks! I'm thinking the head might sound better, it sure looks sexier anyway, and its only $100 more, might be more reliable down the line, dunno.

No collector here! I get rid of stuff I no longer need/use, in fact, I probably have a higher turn over than the local Wal-Mart and its part timers, lol.....but, I seldom regret getting rid of something, think the only two pieces I really wish I would've never got rid of were the PSA-1 Sansamp and a Rivera 4x12 cab, in fact, even if I don't get the Blackstar head, the 6505+ head is now for sale, no longer need for it, something about its voicing, it didn't grow on me over time I guess...(if anyone here is interested, I'll sell it to them DIRT cheap).

(Sheesh!  If I owned a dog, would you kick him too?  :-?  :-/ )

Depends, I might, if its one of those annoying fuckers that NEVER seem to tire of yelping all night, yeah, sure, that vision has popped up in my head more than once, lol.

Kabala — Mar 18, 2009
(after I settled down from playing with the mondo type saturated lead stuff which I found to be awesome  :D)

Post some of THAT!

Impressive--this was apparently recorded with a cell phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOt85xh3rk8&feature=related

^ That does sound good, I saw most of these youtubes before I hit the store to sample it in person...here's a nice demo of the amp version, entertaining vid anyway, lol, and I like this in yer face sound, guy is duping Paul Gilbert, tone and all....check the comments - "Nice playing, but your guitar face needs some working on!"  ;D ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou4KTcdsuJc&feature=related

charger — Mar 18, 2009Impressive--this was apparently recorded with a cell phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOt85xh3rk8&feature=related

:o 8-)

Considering that I don't normaly go for this kind of playing.......Nuff sed!

damn that pedal sounds so fucking sweet.. i wonder about the blackstar amps?

Sounds great for metal.

The — Mar 20, 2009damn that pedal sounds so fucking sweet.. i wonder about the blackstar amps?

The Blackstar 'HT' line is just variations of the same thing, the HT pedals, 5 watt head, combo, etc, all the same guts, they're UK designed, but they're being manufactured in Korea - still handwired though.

The Blackstar Artisan 15 sounds badass as well IMO, kinda reminds/sounds like one of the low/mid gain Cornfords....this is one of the Blackstar creators displaying it. I LOVE the crunch at 3:45, just perfect!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3aCzcz6xvM

desertbluesman — Mar 20, 2009Sounds great for metal.

Indeed! The more time I spend with it, the more I'm liking it and figuring things out - in just a few minutes I dialed in a killer 80's metal tone, can't believe this is a PEDAL...here's some Blackstar "RATT." \m/

Lay It Derek

EDIT: Same riff, slightly different tone (better?), tweaked a knob or two, think this is less thick but breathes more (but the playing bites the bag):

Lay It Up ....the file is a little hot, I hear some clipping.

Kabala — Mar 21, 2009 ... The more time I spend with it, the more I'm liking it and figuring things out - in just a few minutes I dialed in a killer 80's metal tone, can't believe this is a PEDAL...here's some Blackstar "RATT." \m/

Lay It Derek

Now THAT'S a tone I really like!

that little amp sounds good!  

So does your sample, Derek.  

My local shop has just got a load of the Blackstar stuff in yesterday. The only one the had hooked up was the Artisan30 2x12 combo.

I liked it a whole lot and at £400 cheaper than a Cornford Hellcat....I'd like to get back in there and try the head/2x12 cab version and see where that takes me.

I've come to the conclusion that I like head/cab setups a LOT more than combo's now.

Sounds good,

Those Blackstar amps look good, tempting - also they are British and with the poor state of the £ atm I have decided that my next purchase will be British.

fingers — Mar 23, 2009Sounds good,Those Blackstar amps look good, tempting - also they are British and with the poor state of the £ atm I have decided that my next purchase will be British.

Brits have always made great amps. A little different than the US amps but still great gear.