Blackstar Series One 50 vs Marshall JVM 205

[ubermetaldood]

What are your experiences, and are there any amp gurus who can shed some light on Blackstar build quality/components?

 

[nigelpkay]

Stick with a Marshall. I REALLY wanted to like the Blackstar (I've owned an HT100 and HT-Dual pedal, but have also tried a Series One 100 and 104EL34 at a store), but the tone just sounds kind of synthetic and sterile, and it doesn't stick out in a mix. It sounds good in the room on its own when you try it out, but when you compare it to a Marshall you can instantly tell the difference. They made it so that with the ISF you can go from a Marshall sound to a more Mesa sound, but you never reach the heights of either, just this muddled version in the middle. It has more low mids than a Marshall which is kind of cool, but you are completely missing that sweet base tone.
They make really amazing practice combos and mini-heads (the HT5 is their best), but I would never use it as my main tone.

For the Marshall I would get a JVM410 or JVM410HJS. I don't like the high-gain channel on the 205/210, it's that thinned out scooped OD2 version only. With the 410 you get the more standard Marshall tone on OD1 with a mid-center of 650hz, and the modern one on OD2 with the mid-center pulled down to 500hz. On the HJS they are switchable.

Not the best videos, and it's with a Vintage Modern, but you get the idea

 

[ubermetaldood]

Stick with a Marshall. I REALLY wanted to like the Blackstar (I've owned an HT100 and HT-Dual pedal, but have also tried a Series One 100 and 104EL34 at a store), but the tone just sounds kind of synthetic and sterile, and it doesn't stick out in a mix. It sounds good in the room on its own when you try it out, but when you compare it to a Marshall you can instantly tell the difference. They made it so that with the ISF you can go from a Marshall sound to a more Mesa sound, but you never reach the heights of either, just this muddled version in the middle. It has more low mids than a Marshall which is kind of cool, but you are completely missing that sweet base tone.
They make really amazing practice combos and mini-heads (the HT5 is their best), but I would never use it as my main tone.

For the Marshall I would get a JVM410 or JVM410HJS. I don't like the high-gain channel on the 205/210, it's that thinned out scooped OD2 version only. With the 410 you get the more standard Marshall tone on OD1 with a mid-center of 650hz, and the modern one on OD2 with the mid-center pulled down to 500hz. On the HJS they are switchable.

Not the best videos, and it's with a Vintage Modern, but you get the idea

I know exactly what you mean, but the Series One is on a whole other level than their HT stuff. I'm sure you are an knowledgeable player, but playing a Series One in a store doesn't seem like a fair evaluation. For instance, I personally prefer to leave the ISF at 3:00 or more on British side as I can never seem to find exactly what I want on the American side, though there are tones from time to time in between. However, just on the British side there are so many great sounds, and the DPR is incredible. At times the HT50 and HT100 sounded sterile to me, but then again, I never really cranked them. However, the HT20 has amazing tone for the money.

Like you say though, Marshalls just have a certain sound and EQ, and that's what hangs me up. However, I opted for the Series One since I have a Landry and feel it covers all the Marshall territory for me. I still wish I had specifically a JVM or DSL sound, but most of the time the Landry does everything and then some.

To make matters worse though, I came across a Vintage Modern 2266 which I played the other day. I used to have one exactly like it and regrettably sold it. Now I feel like I need a JVM and a Vintage Modern to scratch the Marshall itch.

 

[nigelpkay]

I preferred the Series One 104EL34 the best out of the ones I tried. The Series One amps have a full tube path while the HT series don't. Trust me I really wanted to like it, but when I got my JVM410 that was the tone I wanted. (Since then went to the JVM410HJS).
If you have the ISF around 2-3 o'clock as you said, and crank the mids, you do get close to the Marshall sound. I do like the extra low mids the Blackstar gives you over the Marshall. There was just something in the base tone that wasn't sitting right with me.

 

[ubermetaldood]

I've only put in probably about an hour of play time on the JVM 410HJS, but I like whatever improvements they made that affected the cleaner channels. However, the stock 410 sounds a bit rawer, so I prefer the stock version on the distortion channels. What are your thoughts between the 410 and 410HJS?

 

[lessthan12]

I had the 6l6 version series 1. I bought it brand new from GC for $600 because it was leftover stock from the Daddys buyout. Out of all the amps Ive owned I thought it sounded really great, up there with some of the amps Ive had that were over $3k. Im actually looking at getting another one now

 

[nigelpkay]

I've only put in probably about an hour of play time on the JVM 410HJS, but I like whatever improvements they made that affected the cleaner channels. However, the stock 410 sounds a bit rawer, so I prefer the stock version on the distortion channels. What are your thoughts between the 410 and 410HJS?

I REALLY love OD1 Amber on the original JVM410, that channel is gold. But overall, I found the amp too compressed, OD red channels were too gainy and noisy, and the lower gain channels just didn't seem to crunch as much as they should. The clean channel was really nice though.
Looking back I wish I had tried this amp with lower gain pickups that I didn't have at the time, but I sold it to fund the HJS.

The JVM410HJS fixes a lot of these problems, less compression, more old school, more like a true JCM800 with a ton of gain, the OD channels are looser though, sometimes you need a boost depending on your pickups. The clean channel sucks in my opinion but Joe wanted the same clean channel from the 6100. The noise gates are a god-send. Compared to the stock JVM, in a band mix the HJS cuts through much better.

I wish I could combine the amps so I have the best of both worlds.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Stick with a Marshall. I REALLY wanted to like the Blackstar (I've owned an HT100 and HT-Dual pedal, but have also tried a Series One 100 and 104EL34 at a store), but the tone just sounds kind of synthetic and sterile, and it doesn't stick out in a mix. It sounds good in the room on its own when you try it out, but when you compare it to a Marshall you can instantly tell the difference. They made it so that with the ISF you can go from a Marshall sound to a more Mesa sound, but you never reach the heights of either, just this muddled version in the middle. It has more low mids than a Marshall which is kind of cool, but you are completely missing that sweet base tone.
They make really amazing practice combos and mini-heads (the HT5 is their best), but I would never use it as my main tone.

For the Marshall I would get a JVM410 or JVM410HJS. I don't like the high-gain channel on the 205/210, it's that thinned out scooped OD2 version only. With the 410 you get the more standard Marshall tone on OD1 with a mid-center of 650hz, and the modern one on OD2 with the mid-center pulled down to 500hz. On the HJS they are switchable.

Not the best videos, and it's with a Vintage Modern, but you get the idea

From those videos the Marshall is the worst of the bunch, to me at least.

 

[ubermetaldood]

Stick with a Marshall. I REALLY wanted to like the Blackstar (I've owned an HT100 and HT-Dual pedal, but have also tried a Series One 100 and 104EL34 at a store), but the tone just sounds kind of synthetic and sterile, and it doesn't stick out in a mix. It sounds good in the room on its own when you try it out, but when you compare it to a Marshall you can instantly tell the difference. They made it so that with the ISF you can go from a Marshall sound to a more Mesa sound, but you never reach the heights of either, just this muddled version in the middle. It has more low mids than a Marshall which is kind of cool, but you are completely missing that sweet base tone.
They make really amazing practice combos and mini-heads (the HT5 is their best), but I would never use it as my main tone.

For the Marshall I would get a JVM410 or JVM410HJS. I don't like the high-gain channel on the 205/210, it's that thinned out scooped OD2 version only. With the 410 you get the more standard Marshall tone on OD1 with a mid-center of 650hz, and the modern one on OD2 with the mid-center pulled down to 500hz. On the HJS they are switchable.

Not the best videos, and it's with a Vintage Modern, but you get the idea

From those videos the Marshall is the worst of the bunch, to me at least.

Actually, I think in the 2nd video, the Marshall VM sounded good. The real surprises were that the Blackstar Club and Mesa Boogie both sounded better than the Orange. That's the thing about Orange amps. Every time I play a Rockerverb, I want to buy one real bad until I play one next to another amp and then they don't seem as special to me. I hate to say that because I think Orange amps are great.

Perhaps to an extent I can agree about the VM because for some reason that guy isn't able to coax the rich tone the Vintage Modern offers. The way he sounds makes the VM sound kind of like a dry JTM45 replica or something. Still a good sound but I think it can be better. It's hard to dial that amp in though to work with your pedalboard setup since you have to find just the right setting for the body control, gain, etc... to compliment each other and allows maximum versatility when you click on pedals; at least to me that's how it is.