Blackstar Amps Of 2012
Summer NAMM of 2012 is officially firing on all cylinders and all the companies have been letting all their little secrets and this time around Blackstar Amps is letting any cats stored in bags loose like they’ve fiery rodents that they are. As the day of reckoning rolled over and they’ve announced their new Gus G Blackfire 200 signature amp as well as the ID:15 and ID:30 combo amps.
And there’s our vacant spot for a transition into the details.
The Amps
The ID:15 and ID:30
The ID line of amps are the newest installments in Blackstar’s programmable amps. Offering the features of their previous ID amps, but in a smaller package these two units serve the purpose of designing new tones, storing them, and using them on a whim as one would see fit.
The features are largely unaltered from the models at the advent of the line. It uses Blackstar’s True Valve Power with the six EL84, 6V6, EL34, KT66, 6L6, KT88 power valve responses. Each setting offers differing effects in characteristics such as the dynamics, response, and break up that you get from a valve amp.
The Voice control offers six channels for clean warm, clean bright, crunch, super crunch, OD1, and OD2 settings. Also included is an effect control for adding modulation, delay, and reverb effects separately and simultaneously, also programmable with the other settings.
And lastly because the future of music is to be lived harmoniously with computers the amps have a USB port for more patch storage resources, patch sharing, uploading, downloading, and community interaction. The amp also acts as an interface for direct recording into a computer with the included software.
The only difference between the two models is exactly what the model names imply. The smaller of the two pumps the sound out at 15 watts while the larger one makes its point known with 30 watts.
Gus G Blackfire 200
The Gus G Blackfire 200 is a signature amp designed for acclaimed Ozzy Osbourne and Firewind guitarist Gus G. It is a 200 watt head with four channels, a clean channel with warm and bright modes, a crunch channel that offers Crunch and Super Crunch, as well as two overdrive channels dubbed Fire and Fury that custom designed per Gus G’s guidance. All channels can be conveniently maneuvered through with a footswitch that comes with the head.
Other features include MIDI switching, speaker emulation output, and a series effects lop with effects level switch.
The head’s build is also custom designed with a brushed aluminum front panel donning the Evil G logo that compliments the cast metal Blackstar logo, and just because Gus G loves you also included is a set of bonus trinkets such as a signed certificate, an Evil G key ring, a trading card, a pick, a dust cover, and the Firewind CD Few Against Many.
