I’ve spent a week with the new bass amp from Blackstar and with a little sadness I have to honestly admit that the U700 sounds better than my GK and will be replacing it. There’s not a lot of really good information about the amp online yet but I’m happy that I took the risk and ordered it from my guy Matt Kreager at Sweetwater because I was able to get some killer sounds out of the amp within minutes of opening the box. The preamp section has a 3 position toggle that lets you choose between “Classic, Modern and Flat” and it also has another 3 position toggle that changes the output response from “Linear, 6L6 and 6550” and with the EQ flat you can make a lot of tonal changes with those switches alone. It also has a really amazing overdrive section that is capable of being controlled via the 2 way included footswitch. It has a drive knob to control the amount and another 3 way toggle switch that gives you the option of choosing “OD” “Distortion” (Based on the same circuitry as the Darkglass B7K) and “Fuzz” (which of course is based on the Bigg Muff circuit). If that’s not enough it has a built-in onboard chorus and octave effects with adjustable parameter controls on the back of the amp and footswitchable control like the overdrive section. Lastly it has a compressor that is actually pretty good for being an onboard unit with only a single control knob.
Overall I have to give a lot of credit to Blackstar on their entry into the extremely competitive bass market because they have instantly become one of the front runners in the world of compact, powerful bass amps that are the majority of the bass amps now sold. I’m pretty confident in putting this amp “head to head” with anything else on the market for $599 U.S.!
I’m really getting a killer tone with the “Modern” and “6550” settings with a little midrange scoop, but I’m pretty sure you can get whatever you’re after with this amp pretty easily as it’s very intuitively designed and you get a lot out of very little adjustment from all of the adjustable parameters and the EQ seems to be voiced to stay in the sweet spot for bass. If you’re a fan of the Mesa amps it does that, if you’re a fan of the Darkglass amps it does that (and it has cab impulses and DAW connectivity for desktop recording), if you’re a tube amp kinda person you might be surprised how much it not only sounds like an expensive tube amp but also with the right settings how much it feels like you’re playing through warm tubes. I will get some audio clips posted soon when I’m able to spend a few minutes with Ableton.
Overall I have to give a lot of credit to Blackstar on their entry into the extremely competitive bass market because they have instantly become one of the front runners in the world of compact, powerful bass amps that are the majority of the bass amps now sold. I’m pretty confident in putting this amp “head to head” with anything else on the market for $599 U.S.!
I’m really getting a killer tone with the “Modern” and “6550” settings with a little midrange scoop, but I’m pretty sure you can get whatever you’re after with this amp pretty easily as it’s very intuitively designed and you get a lot out of very little adjustment from all of the adjustable parameters and the EQ seems to be voiced to stay in the sweet spot for bass. If you’re a fan of the Mesa amps it does that, if you’re a fan of the Darkglass amps it does that (and it has cab impulses and DAW connectivity for desktop recording), if you’re a tube amp kinda person you might be surprised how much it not only sounds like an expensive tube amp but also with the right settings how much it feels like you’re playing through warm tubes. I will get some audio clips posted soon when I’m able to spend a few minutes with Ableton.
