Blackstar Amplification might be based out of Northampton, England, but for its latest release, the guitar amp specialist’s R&D team have been looking across the pond to vintage US combos for inspiration, and they’ve come up with the TV-10 A.
We’re just going to assume the A is for “American” because this compact 1x12 tube amp is all about US tone. It’s all about simplicity too. Look at the control panel. There are cream chickenhead dials for Gain, Tone, Reverb and a master volume.
There is a push button to engage the onboard drive section, and there are standby and power on/off switches. There’s nothing complicated here. But then there is no need to complicate an amp like this.
You can see the inspiration before you hear it, with Blackstar dressing this in a rich cream Tolex, the tan leather handle and wheat-coloured grille clothe offering a nice contrast – and the black control panel background the least subtle of its design references.
Blackstar has equipped the TV-10 A with a digital reverb. Around the back of the amp you will find an effects loop with level switch so you can invite your pedalboard to the party.
There is also an emulated line out that is positioned after the power amp section, ensuring that when you hook it up via stereo/TRS cable, and send that signal out for recording, you duly capture the response and tone profile of the Class A power output, and the sound of that 6L6 power tube and output transformer working overtime.
The included footswitch can be used to turn the Drive function on and off, making it something of a de facto two-channel design. And if you’ve got a Blackstar FS8 footswitch, sold separately, you can use it to turn the reverb on and off, too.
But otherwise this offers an old-school drive, with a Class A amp circuit driven by a single 6L6 power tube, and an ECC83 in the preamp. Blackstar says the reverb is voiced accordingly, and while it doesn’t say “spring” that is surely how it’ll shake out when you turn that dial.
“Through meticulous R&D and listening to vintage reference units, we’ve faithfully captured the tone of the best valve amplifier reverb tanks,” promises Blackstar.
Fitted with a 12" Celestion speaker, the TV-10 A weighs in at 14.7kg. And it strikes us that this, with 10-watts of tube power, is the sort of amp that could prove its worth in the studio and have enough juice for the stage, too.
The TV-10 A is out now, priced £599 street. See Blackstar Amplification for more details.
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