Series One 100
nice, Vox-ey jangle, so I set the Bass midway,
Middle around 6 and the Treble around 5. I
began with the ISF control in the middle as a
central reference point and estimated this tone
to be around a 30 to 40 percent DPR. Using a
minimal amount of Gain, I got a good, sparkly
tone playing some Byrds-style arpeggiated
chords. Still searching for that AC30 tone, I
brought the Gain up a bit, increased the Bass
and moved the ISF clockwise to 2 o’clock. It
became very Vox-like. Turning up the Gain a
little more and moving the ISF more clockwise caused the amp to sound like a WEM
Dominator on steroids. Attempting to put a
monkey wrench in the program, I increased the
DPR to about 60 percent. The tone was very
responsive to pick attack, and it got punchy—I
couldn’t help but play some Billy Gibbons licks
to get it to break up a little where I needed it.
Selecting the Warm mode with the same guitar
and amp settings brought the tone into Jeff
Beck-land. Increasing the Gain to 7 or 8, with
the Bass wide open and turning up the Treble
to 6 got the Series One 100 within the “Plexi”
realm. Letting a chord ring out as I turned
the Treble knob, I could hear the behavior of
the midrange shift quite a bit. Switching to a
Les Paul Custom, I set out to get some classic rock tones ranging from Free to Thin Lizzy.
Turning the ISF a smidge to the right without
changing any of the tone settings proved that
control’s worth; the dampening characteristic
of the ISF tightened up the bottom end much
like the channel-jumped 1959 Super Lead this
mode was tailored to parallel. Turning up the
DPR to 100 percent, I couldn’t help but play
the opening riff to “Jailbreak.” Turning up the
Gain almost full bore gave the amp a walloping
crunch that’ll make you forget this is still the
Clean channel. Decreasing the volume on the
guitar still gives you a usable clean tone, but
you’ll forget that overdrive and booster pedals
exist when you turn your guitar back up.
You can effortlessly get spanky in Bright mode
and a focused bottom end in the Warm mode;
these characteristics are due to the removal of
feedback from the power amp in Bright mode
and the inclusion of feedback in Warm mode.
Getting into the Gain
To the right of the Clean channel is where the
heat is. Switching into the overdriven Crunch
www.premierguitar.com
channel, I tried to pick up where I left off with
the gained-up Warm mode. Setting up the
tone for a simple overdriven tone ideal for a
general rock playing style, I set the bass at 9 or
10, Middle at 6 and Treble at 7. Backing the
power down to 50 percent, I experimented
with this channel’s Gain and Volume in an
attempt to get a cranked silverface Twin sound.
Putting the ISF on the US side, I was able to
achieve a Texas-laced fury with the Gain at 4
and Volume straight up at 5. Increasing the ISF
to the British side gradually, without changing
the tone settings, the sound became much
more percussive, with that back-of-the-cabinet
thump becoming more prominent. It almost
sounded like two completely different amps,
going from that cranked ’70s Twin tone to a
Hiwatt with the turn of the ISF dial.
The Overdrive channel’s Super Crunch mode
leaves a little to be desired, though. The aim
of this mode is to give heavier gain saturation
and an even more focused bass, which it has,
but there was a slight drop in volume when
switching from Crunch to Super Crunch. While
in Crunch mode and still wielding my Les Paul,
I set out for a good metal tone à la Judas
Priest, dropping the Middle control to 5 and
cranking the power back up to 100 percent,
which turned the S1 into a heavy metal flame-thrower. It has a great tone, strong and well
defined, and the ISF control gives an almost
infinite variety of metal tones, from Van Halen
to Metallica. Going from a rhythm riff into solo
mode using the footswitch, the gain structure
does have quite a bit more dirt, but there is a
slight cut in volume. It isn’t a lot, but it’s significant enough to notice. The increase of saturation and midrange dip made the sound less
defined. In order to get the needed volume
boost to kick the Crunch into Super mode,
the channel volume in Super Crunch mode
would have to be increased. To give the Super
Crunch the definition it needed, a decrease in
gain was the cure. But in a performance situation, this is unrealistic, as the two modes share
the same Gain and Volume controls.
The Final Mojo
The Blackstar Series One 100 is a serious piece
of guitar amp technology with a modern design
that can appeal to a wide assortment of guitarists at an affordable price. The idea was to
produce an amp that could offer a variety of
high-quality tones and maintain them at any volume level. What’s surprising is that the resulting
amp is not complicated with umpteen-bazillion
switches and rows of knobs and requiring a
dozen tubes or more. The most unique features
of this amp are the ISF and the DPR. Although
the basic tone shaping is much like any other
amp of this type, the tonal characteristics can be
varied almost infinitely because of the ISF—so
don’t expect this amp to have any one definable
tone. The DPR is genuinely useful in maintaining the playing dynamics in lower wattages
without sacrificing tone. My only concern is the
slight volume discrepancy when switching from
Crunch to Super Crunch. According to Blackstar,
the increase in volume between the Crunch and
Super Crunch is a subtle 1.6dB, and is there to
offer the player the option of a lead boost. If the
role of the Super Crunch mode is to be a boost
above the Crunch mode, then perhaps a separate volume is needed.
you want versatility, flexibility and
tone that can maintain performance
integrity at any volume.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you prefer an amp with one identifiable tone and voice.
Rating...
4.0
ONTHEWeb
Click here to hear sound
clips of the amp in action at
premierguitar.com/reviews
Blackstar Amplification
Street $1699 (Head); $999 (Cab)
blackstaramps.co.uk
