Thanks so much for this video!!! I have worked on 1000's of vintage hand wired Valve amps. I don't work on PCB amps. I always sent PCB and solid state amps to another shop because I had so much vintage amp work and because I hate working on PCB amps. :( Friends of mine have a 16 year old son who is learning to play. No sound at all coming out of his Blackstar HT-20R amp. All lights, switching worked and the valves were fine. They called me and asked if I could take a look at his 6 month old Blackstar HT020R. The components are so tiny in this amp, it's insane. No solder joints broken that I could see on front panel or the speaker jacks or on the board, but even with magnification, this amp was a tiny parts nightmare inside. Thanks to your video I was able to quickly spot that same inductor as being bad. There was a smoky film next to L1 on the board surface and there was a tiny solder blob stuck to the inductor. The inductor just fell off the board when I poked it with a chopstick. I jumpered across the two half's of the inductor and the amp came back to life. The dealer that sold the amp new had a heart attack and will not be back open for several weeks. They can see what he can do for them when he returns. For now, the boy has an amp and is able to play and so that is a happy ending.
Well done! Yes those Blackstars are a nightmare AND they have now stopped doing replacement boards for the HT1 and HT5 - so those are all now landfill when they go wrong. It's all a bit annoying really. Like you, I very much prefer to work on valve amps and am quite picky about which transistor amos I take on. Just given up on a VOX VT15 for the same reason - all surface mount.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 I have gutted many PCB amps over the years and installed hand wired boards. Using a classic circuit like a Marshall Plexi, 18 watt, 20watt. Or Fender champs, Bassmans, AB763, etc. The circuit used depends on the amp chassis size and the number of valves.
Fabulous journey Stuart - thank you for your honest video, warts and all showing just how frustrating life at the tech bench can be. I have a Blackstar HT Studio 20 (same type of amp, but with EL 34 valves) that is D.O.A. so similarly not relishing the imminent deep-dive! Keep the vids coming! xx
@@BrandonKJohnson - moved house recently with everything still boxed/in storage so sorry, no progress. As soon as garage is cleared, will be setting up my bench again - very happy to be in a new home, but truly underestimated how much life disruption this move would cause. Will report back in due course...
I had the same static/lack of input minus the “grumbling”, found the resistance of C1 to be .3 ohms. Resistors downstream of the coil checked out. Removed C1, short still present. Removed the coil, short gone! Put in a couple jumpers to bypass the coil and reinstalled C1, everything is working again (for now)! Thanks for the diagram, thanks for the video.
I was scouring the internet for a tutorial on the head removal and found this video! I see a wad of yellow glue in mine as well as the screws, so I suppose I'll need "The Persauder" as well! Thank you, sir!
They might as well have just wired in the heaters on some tubes, said "hey look a tube amp", on a solid state amp and called it a day. Glad you met the challenge. Sometimes that is the real payment.
Well done . I totally agree with your sentiments . And I also look forward to getting a few straight forward jobs , as I've had a few tricky ones lately too .
My nephew owns a Blackstar HT-50 212 combo. He has had it repaired twice for preamp issues. Shortly after getting it back, it operates perfectly, then the same failure occurs. He now uses the return only, with an external preamp. These amps were not engineered for serviceability. I do not fault you for refusing to work on these disposable douche amplifiers. Nevertheless, carry on and I look forward to your next installment. cheers!
I had an HT-20 Mk.1 (that's a MK.2 you have there). I paid $350 brand new in a clearance sale as they were phasing out the EL34 powered Mk.1s to the EL84 equipped Mk.II. I reckon the clearance price was so low because Blackstar were no longer making a lot of the parts including the PCBs for the Mk.1s. When I had a look at photos and videos of gut shots of the amp I sold it immediately for $280 and put that money towards a cool Soldano designed Jet City JCA2OH for exactly $280 with a full replacement tube set included free of charge! Good amp, great seller. It'll be even better once I mod it :) Thanks for these. The only Blackstar amps I'd consider are the Artists and the Artisans. The latter are P2P handwired amps but cost a fair bit. The Artists are okay amps.
To be fair, I have a Blackstar Artisan 15 which is really quiite neat point to point hand wired with big old components, a huge contrast. I had an HT-5 before that which I didn't get on with at all but the Artisan is great and very repairable. Made in South Korea I believe and the story I read claimed Blackstar engineers were in Korea for ages training locals on their QA requirements. Unfortunately manual, skilled labour isnt cheap with the result that the lower end of the market is mass produced on machines designed to make SMD boards because it is more cost effectve. Like many things, you pay your money and make your choice, it is just a shame that the cost of the better made equipment tends to be high.
Yes I think that's absolutely right, it's purely cost and what people want to pay. What I find unforgivable though is Blackstar stopping selling replacement boards for these surface mount amps. That's NOT a cost issue as they could actually make a good profit on selling them. So it must either be 'we don't care' or 'we can't be arsed'. Neither of which are acceptable.
A 'technique' which may help in future is to use two small soldering irons to remove SM caps etc (one iron on each end), though you have to flick the component off once removed as it always sticks to one iron. Rumble diagnosis by scope only I suspect, thankfully you have the schematic.
Down the Blackstar rabbit hole. I've had only one brush with SMT, it was a Laney with an opamp on the backside of the board and the complaint was an intermittent EFX loop.. So I bought some chipquik and a whole passel of surface mount opamps to practice on and a nice big magnifying lamp and then as I was examining it under a 12x glass I saw a small ball of solder that was rolling around among the pins of this opamp. I fished it out with a bit of wire, and have never ever touched surface mount anything again. I did report to my parole officer the whole sorry affair, and struck Blackstar and Mesa off my list of things I will work on. Right now anything that uses SMT or a Mesa that needs board level repair gets handed off to them what made it to struggle with. I'm finished.
Could You tell us mr. Stuart, from the repair technician perspective, what brands and models of affordable guitar tube amps are reasonably well made and servicable? For example i really want Fender Bassbreaker 007 or 15 but from what i've seen and heard they are horrible to service. Maybe something like Ibanez tsa 15? It's like the cheapest, good sounding 2x 6v6 amp.
@@richclayton5785 I don't expect perfection or handwired stuff, just not micro smd stuff and crazy closed from all sides multi board madness. I think that something like Blues Juniors are servicable and reliable enough, and some Orange, Marshalls, maybe Egnater Tweaker? I just would like to hear some confirmation from professional service technician.
Like most things, I think it depends on price - as I mentioned earlier they do make rather nice point-to-point wired amps in the Artisan range but they are not so versatile and not cheap.
This is why back in 08-09 I built (2) Metroamp plexi 100s and a JTM 45 to accompany my 1992 SLP Marshall head. I could see that these amp manufactures where doing what the car industry has been doing over the years. They have been making things more and more difficult for us shade tree techs to repair. They would prefer you throw it out the back door and go buy another amp from them. What a shame really. The less clutter there is in a circuit, the less inhibited the signal and purer the tone in my opinion. And it just raises the chances of something going wrong right in the middle of a gig.
I'm not sure that is a totally fair comparison - I suspect that a decent set of transformers for a 100w plexi style amp costs more than this entire Blackstar amp. If they could produce a comparable repairable amp for the same sort of price I wonder if they would? I suspect the answer is yes and that the lack of repairability is a side effect of needing to make these things cheap to be able to compete commercially. That doesn't explain why they don't sell replacement boards, unless the cost of stocking them and staffing a spares shop makes it financially unviable. It isn't new that manufacturers won't help hobbyists repair amps, I had an Orange AD-5 that blew the OT, it's a 5 watt SE amp and the OT looks like a no-name Chinese product. I think their argument was that it is too dangerous because I am not an Orange certified repair guy - replacement is soldering 4 wires, I build amps, it isn't rocket science. Would Orange sell me a transformer? Not a hope though I could send the amp over seas to get it replaced... In that case it was a no-brainer, replaced with a Hammond equivalent and away you go, sounded better too but the attitude sucks.
I've always believed that putting SMD components into a tube amp is insane. I don't really know why they do it, cost savings or space reasons. Either way, I would never buy such an amplifier. That bubbling noise is a lot like the noise a dry condenser makes. But as you say, Stuart, it is better not to work with these types of amps. Cheers
You need to watch some Louis rossman videos! I can see why blackstar have a bad rep I have a HT dual distortion pedal and have never been able to cure the scratchy pots, luckily it sounds like junk, the LT Dual is great I love it
I have the same blackstar ht 20r mk2 amplifier but it is making some strange sounds randomly. It gets worse when I disable the attenuator from 2w to 20w. As it is under warranty I haven't opened it. I have already contacted the store and they say that if there is wear on the tubes they will cover travel to the technician and the inspection by the Blackstar technician. Is this a correct procedure?
Hi Stu, agree about fixing these amps, although I have done a fair few I'm never happy to get one in. I never would have guessed that common mode choke would go short, nasty! Just a guess, but I wonder if one of the anode resistors or a coupling caps on V1 were causing that rumble?
Yes I'm kicking myself a bit now for not spending more time around V1. I think I was so fed up spending all that time tracking down the input fault that I just wanted to sign off on the job. Not very professional, agree!
Crawling with chips! 😂 My Blackstar HT Studio 20 makes a lot crackling noises and when playing it sometimes randomly gets louder and then back to quiet again. Very strange. Could this just be that it needs new tubes? I don’t know if it is really worth forking out a hundred odd quid for new tubes when it might not be the problem. The orange lights appear to be glowing OK when amp is on! 🤷♂️
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 thanks very much for the reply Stuart! I had a closer look in the back and the only thing I could notice is one of the valves is in very tight and the other one is a bit wiggly compared to that other one. Not sure if that matters? I think I might cut my losses and sell the amp on as used/broken and get something new. 🎸👍
Yeah, I hate those surface mount boards. If it's not a simple, easy fix like a bad jack or something, then I don't work on them at all. It's a good job to let somebody else work on it, preferably a Blackstar engineer.
I can change SMD components. It does take a long time to learn and really it's a question of getting some scrap board and practising with decent flux and a hot air gun. But my main issue is besides that, how on earth are you meant to troubleshoot that? You can't lift any legs or swap out something in the route to see if something changes, you can't piggy back a signal onto it, there's nowt you can do. That amp is simply e-waste. And that is really shameful!
because it is made on the same sort of pick-and-place pcb manufacturing machine. If your public wants a feature filled amp for a competitive price you have to use the cheaper construction methods which means whatever is the most common - in this case the construction methods used by mass electronics manufacturers, You cant automate point-to-point (as far as I know) and skilled manual labour with good quality control is not cheap.
Blackstar designers clearly overengineered their amps. This looks to be an issue on many other Blackstars, e.g. Studio 10 6L6, same exact thing. Message to the manufacturer - either make you amps repairable, reliable and not disposable or don't make them at all! You're wasting people's time, money and last but not least, the environment at last.
Thanks so much for this video!!!
I have worked on 1000's of vintage hand wired Valve amps. I don't work on PCB amps. I always sent PCB and solid state amps to another shop because I had so much vintage amp work and because I hate working on PCB amps. :(
Friends of mine have a 16 year old son who is learning to play. No sound at all coming out of his Blackstar HT-20R amp. All lights, switching worked and the valves were fine.
They called me and asked if I could take a look at his 6 month old Blackstar HT020R. The components are so tiny in this amp, it's insane. No solder joints broken that I could see on front panel or the speaker jacks or on the board, but even with magnification, this amp was a tiny parts nightmare inside.
Thanks to your video I was able to quickly spot that same inductor as being bad. There was a smoky film next to L1 on the board surface and there was a tiny solder blob stuck to the inductor. The inductor just fell off the board when I poked it with a chopstick. I jumpered across the two half's of the inductor and the amp came back to life.
The dealer that sold the amp new had a heart attack and will not be back open for several weeks. They can see what he can do for them when he returns.
For now, the boy has an amp and is able to play and so that is a happy ending.
Well done! Yes those Blackstars are a nightmare AND they have now stopped doing replacement boards for the HT1 and HT5 - so those are all now landfill when they go wrong. It's all a bit annoying really. Like you, I very much prefer to work on valve amps and am quite picky about which transistor amos I take on. Just given up on a VOX VT15 for the same reason - all surface mount.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 I have gutted many PCB amps over the years and installed hand wired boards. Using a classic circuit like a Marshall Plexi, 18 watt, 20watt.
Or Fender champs, Bassmans, AB763, etc.
The circuit used depends on the amp chassis size and the number of valves.
Just had almost exactly the same fault on one of these. Looks like it's a common failure. Thanks for the videos 👍
Great I hope you are able to fix yours too.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 replaced the choke with wire links - job done 👍
@@RonanCantwell Nice one, well done.
Fabulous journey Stuart - thank you for your honest video, warts and all showing just how frustrating life at the tech bench can be. I have a Blackstar HT Studio 20 (same type of amp, but with EL 34 valves) that is D.O.A. so similarly not relishing the imminent deep-dive!
Keep the vids coming! xx
Thanks Andrew
Any luck with the HT STUDIO 20 ?
@@BrandonKJohnson - moved house recently with everything still boxed/in storage so sorry, no progress.
As soon as garage is cleared, will be setting up my bench again - very happy to be in a new home, but truly underestimated how much life disruption this move would cause. Will report back in due course...
I had the same static/lack of input minus the “grumbling”, found the resistance of C1 to be .3 ohms. Resistors downstream of the coil checked out. Removed C1, short still present. Removed the coil, short gone! Put in a couple jumpers to bypass the coil and reinstalled C1, everything is working again (for now)! Thanks for the diagram, thanks for the video.
Hi Christopher, oka well done!
Holy shit Stuart! This was exactly my problem. Thanks for sharing this and the input schematic because it was indeed unfindable. Much love, Paul
I was scouring the internet for a tutorial on the head removal and found this video! I see a wad of yellow glue in mine as well as the screws, so I suppose I'll need "The Persauder" as well! Thank you, sir!
YEs a lump hammer and cold chisel work wonders...
They might as well have just wired in the heaters on some tubes, said "hey look a tube amp", on a solid state amp and called it a day. Glad you met the challenge. Sometimes that is the real payment.
Well done . I totally agree with your sentiments . And I also look forward to getting a few straight forward jobs , as I've had a few tricky ones lately too .
Thank you for this video, I have the exact same Blackstar amp that grumbles as well.
I hope you manage to sort it.
My nephew owns a Blackstar HT-50 212 combo. He has had it repaired twice for preamp issues. Shortly after getting it back, it operates perfectly, then the same failure occurs. He now uses the return only, with an external preamp. These amps were not engineered for serviceability. I do not fault you for refusing to work on these disposable douche amplifiers. Nevertheless, carry on and I look forward to your next installment. cheers!
I had an HT-20 Mk.1 (that's a MK.2 you have there). I paid $350 brand new in a clearance sale as they were phasing out the EL34 powered Mk.1s to the EL84 equipped Mk.II. I reckon the clearance price was so low because Blackstar were no longer making a lot of the parts including the PCBs for the Mk.1s.
When I had a look at photos and videos of gut shots of the amp I sold it immediately for $280 and put that money towards a cool Soldano designed Jet City JCA2OH for exactly $280 with a full replacement tube set included free of charge! Good amp, great seller. It'll be even better once I mod it :)
Thanks for these. The only Blackstar amps I'd consider are the Artists and the Artisans. The latter are P2P handwired amps but cost a fair bit. The Artists are okay amps.
Ok thanks for sharing the info Matt
Stuart, you are soooo generous with your time! You are going to hate me with th next amp I bring in to you (hint, it's not a Blackstar!)
Designed Obsolescence what a myopic business model.
That's a very good summary!
To be fair, I have a Blackstar Artisan 15 which is really quiite neat point to point hand wired with big old components, a huge contrast. I had an HT-5 before that which I didn't get on with at all but the Artisan is great and very repairable. Made in South Korea I believe and the story I read claimed Blackstar engineers were in Korea for ages training locals on their QA requirements. Unfortunately manual, skilled labour isnt cheap with the result that the lower end of the market is mass produced on machines designed to make SMD boards because it is more cost effectve. Like many things, you pay your money and make your choice, it is just a shame that the cost of the better made equipment tends to be high.
Yes I think that's absolutely right, it's purely cost and what people want to pay. What I find unforgivable though is Blackstar stopping selling replacement boards for these surface mount amps. That's NOT a cost issue as they could actually make a good profit on selling them. So it must either be 'we don't care' or 'we can't be arsed'. Neither of which are acceptable.
Now that's a 🔨....I like that stu "grumbles away" I'm gonna steal that and use it.....great video .. that's insane how that board is done....
Awesome! This is one main reason why I do these vids.
Very educational video!
Thanks Don!
Stuart, you did it again. Very good video. Thank you.
A 'technique' which may help in future is to use two small soldering irons to remove SM caps etc (one iron on each end), though you have to flick the component off once removed as it always sticks to one iron. Rumble diagnosis by scope only I suspect, thankfully you have the schematic.
Woo hoo 1st! Hello Stuart jack Matthews from America here.Love the content great great vids
Down the Blackstar rabbit hole. I've had only one brush with SMT, it was a Laney with an opamp on the backside of the board and the complaint was an intermittent EFX loop.. So I bought some chipquik and a whole passel of surface mount opamps to practice on and a nice big magnifying lamp and then as I was examining it under a 12x glass I saw a small ball of solder that was rolling around among the pins of this opamp. I fished it out with a bit of wire, and have never ever touched surface mount anything again. I did report to my parole officer the whole sorry affair, and struck Blackstar and Mesa off my list of things I will work on. Right now anything that uses SMT or a Mesa that needs board level repair gets handed off to them what made it to struggle with. I'm finished.
Hi Robert You were brave to even try!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 Mama didn't raise no fool.
Could You tell us mr. Stuart, from the repair technician perspective, what brands and models of affordable guitar tube amps are reasonably well made and servicable? For example i really want Fender Bassbreaker 007 or 15 but from what i've seen and heard they are horrible to service. Maybe something like Ibanez tsa 15? It's like the cheapest, good sounding 2x 6v6 amp.
My experience is that what you and I would like to have simply does not exist.
@@richclayton5785 I don't expect perfection or handwired stuff, just not micro smd stuff and crazy closed from all sides multi board madness.
I think that something like Blues Juniors are servicable and reliable enough, and some Orange, Marshalls, maybe Egnater Tweaker? I just would like to hear some confirmation from professional service technician.
What a flippin' nightmanre..!! Why make such an amp, if it's impossible to repair..Blackstar woldn't be my first choice. Nice repair Styart..Ed..uk.😀
I have been hearing about reliability issues with Black Star amps over the past few years. I can see why now.
@@gib412 Yes, not the best Stuart..!
Like most things, I think it depends on price - as I mentioned earlier they do make rather nice point-to-point wired amps in the Artisan range but they are not so versatile and not cheap.
Thanks Edward!
This is why back in 08-09 I built (2) Metroamp plexi 100s and a JTM 45 to accompany my 1992 SLP Marshall head. I could see that these amp manufactures where doing what the car industry has been doing over the years. They have been making things more and more difficult for us shade tree techs to repair.
They would prefer you throw it out the back door and go buy another amp from them. What a shame really. The less clutter there is in a circuit, the less inhibited the signal and purer the tone in my opinion. And it just raises the chances of something going wrong right in the middle of a gig.
I'm not sure that is a totally fair comparison - I suspect that a decent set of transformers for a 100w plexi style amp costs more than this entire Blackstar amp. If they could produce a comparable repairable amp for the same sort of price I wonder if they would? I suspect the answer is yes and that the lack of repairability is a side effect of needing to make these things cheap to be able to compete commercially. That doesn't explain why they don't sell replacement boards, unless the cost of stocking them and staffing a spares shop makes it financially unviable. It isn't new that manufacturers won't help hobbyists repair amps, I had an Orange AD-5 that blew the OT, it's a 5 watt SE amp and the OT looks like a no-name Chinese product. I think their argument was that it is too dangerous because I am not an Orange certified repair guy - replacement is soldering 4 wires, I build amps, it isn't rocket science. Would Orange sell me a transformer? Not a hope though I could send the amp over seas to get it replaced... In that case it was a no-brainer, replaced with a Hammond equivalent and away you go, sounded better too but the attitude sucks.
Yes agreed I much prefer the simple hand point wired amps.
I've always believed that putting SMD components into a tube amp is insane. I don't really know why they do it, cost savings or space reasons. Either way, I would never buy such an amplifier.
That bubbling noise is a lot like the noise a dry condenser makes. But as you say, Stuart, it is better not to work with these types of amps.
Cheers
It's purely cost. A robot can assemble a pcb like that in under 3 minutes!
Thanks for the video, I’m having the same issue. What did you use to replace the L1?
Hi Kyle It's been a while now but from memory I simply linked it out. Good luck.
Hmm. Quite a nice cabinet and speaker, transformers might be cool too. Maybe a good candidate for a 2204 circuit build?
Good idea!
You need to watch some Louis rossman videos! I can see why blackstar have a bad rep I have a HT dual distortion pedal and have never been able to cure the scratchy pots, luckily it sounds like junk, the LT Dual is great I love it
Interesting thanks.
I have the same blackstar ht 20r mk2 amplifier but it is making some strange sounds randomly.
It gets worse when I disable the attenuator from 2w to 20w.
As it is under warranty I haven't opened it.
I have already contacted the store and they say that if there is wear on the tubes they will cover travel to the technician and the inspection by the Blackstar technician. Is this a correct procedure?
Sorry I don't know what the 'correct procedure' is here. I hope you get it sorted.
Another excellent video, Stuart. Any recommendations for an inexpensive valve tube tester?
Thanks,. No, sorry I never really found a cheap one which was any good. I use Eurotubes as they make a good tester. ABout $120
Hi Stu, agree about fixing these amps, although I have done a fair few I'm never happy to get one in. I never would have guessed that common mode choke would go short, nasty! Just a guess, but I wonder if one of the anode resistors or a coupling caps on V1 were causing that rumble?
Yes I'm kicking myself a bit now for not spending more time around V1. I think I was so fed up spending all that time tracking down the input fault that I just wanted to sign off on the job. Not very professional, agree!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 quite understandable. I think it was very professional of you to even make the attempt that you made.
Crawling with chips! 😂
My Blackstar HT Studio 20 makes a lot crackling noises and when playing it sometimes randomly gets louder and then back to quiet again. Very strange. Could this just be that it needs new tubes? I don’t know if it is really worth forking out a hundred odd quid for new tubes when it might not be the problem. The orange lights appear to be glowing OK when amp is on! 🤷♂️
Hi Chris My gut feeling is this not be a tube issue. I hope you manage to get it fixed but it isn;t easy finding someone to do these amps.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 thanks very much for the reply Stuart! I had a closer look in the back and the only thing I could notice is one of the valves is in very tight and the other one is a bit wiggly compared to that other one. Not sure if that matters?
I think I might cut my losses and sell the amp on as used/broken and get something new. 🎸👍
Last night mine stopped working on clean but on overdrive it works
Ok I hope you get it working. Not the easiest of amps to repair!
speaker input cable, from the amp to speaker connection.
I wanted to buy a blackstar guitar amp 40 6l6 I'm not so sure now!
Yeah, I hate those surface mount boards. If it's not a simple, easy fix like a bad jack or something, then I don't work on them at all. It's a good job to let somebody else work on it, preferably a Blackstar engineer.
I can change SMD components. It does take a long time to learn and really it's a question of getting some scrap board and practising with decent flux and a hot air gun. But my main issue is besides that, how on earth are you meant to troubleshoot that? You can't lift any legs or swap out something in the route to see if something changes, you can't piggy back a signal onto it, there's nowt you can do. That amp is simply e-waste. And that is really shameful!
i will not get the blackstar guitar amp them!
Have u tried getting a schematic, good luck . Ill never buy another .
Yes I found it under the Holy Grail which I also recently discovered....
Oh god I don’t understand
Looks like a computer!
Exactly! And Blackstar have now stopped selling replacement boards!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 is that because some of the Ht models are obsolete?
@@donciseau Yes I think so. It's stil;l very bad of them though not to support the product.
The guitar amp looks like a computer!
because it is made on the same sort of pick-and-place pcb manufacturing machine. If your public wants a feature filled amp for a competitive price you have to use the cheaper construction methods which means whatever is the most common - in this case the construction methods used by mass electronics manufacturers, You cant automate point-to-point (as far as I know) and skilled manual labour with good quality control is not cheap.
@@sjgreaves That's true.
Blackstar designers clearly overengineered their amps. This looks to be an issue on many other Blackstars, e.g. Studio 10 6L6, same exact thing. Message to the manufacturer - either make you amps repairable, reliable and not disposable or don't make them at all! You're wasting people's time, money and last but not least, the environment at last.
Well said!
People. Make Stuart's job easier. Don't buy a Blackstar amp.
This man speaks the truth!