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And the Winner is… - 19th January 2012

Over the Christmas period we ran the ‘Shred the Halls’ competition on the Blackstar Facebook page. ‘Shred the Halls’ was our Christmas present to all the Blackstar users out there with the chance to win a whole host of Blackstar goodies, with one person winning the overall prize of a small but mighty HT-1R. We can proudly announce the winner as Russ Vale from Birmingham. Congratulations Russ!

To keep up with Blackstar and any other competitions we run, LIKE the Blackstar Facebook page here

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Blackstar Amplification at NAMM - 9th January 2012

It’s the start of a new year and that can mean only one thing - another NAMM Show is approaching. Held at the Anaheim Convention Centre in California, USA, the NAMM Show is one of the biggest music product trade shows in the world. Blackstar will be there showing off our full range of products including Series One, Artisan and HT Venue, plus we’ll be unveiling an exciting new product that’s guaranteed to melt faces and tear down buildings. Check the website for more information on the 19th January.

You can find us on the Korg USA booth: Hall A booth #6440

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The Series One 6L6 wins a Best Buy award and the HT-1 wins the MIA Best Amplifier! - 13th December 2011

Another mammoth month for Blackstar; we’re pleased to announce that we’ve won two more massive accolades. First our Series One 1046L6 head won a Total Guitar Best Buy award and second the HT-1R won the highly coveted MIA Award for Best Amplifier 2011. The MIA award is voted for by the guitar playing public, so to win it makes us immensely proud.

The Series One 1046L6, one of the newest additions to the Series One range (alongside the 104EL34) was reviewed in Total Guitar’s Winter 2011 edition. Reviewer Stuart Williams gave it a 5 star rating and their Best Buy award.

You can read more about the Series One 1046L6 here and the HT-1 here.

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Hard Rock Hell - 13th December 2011

Usually there’d be very little reason to visit the North Wales seaside during the first weekend of December, but when you throw some of the world’s best hard-rock bands, reasonably priced bars and Pontin’s Holiday Camp together, you get the hugely successful Hard Rock Hell festival in Prestatyn.

Powered by Blackstar and now in its fifth year, Hard Rock Hell plays host to 3 days of debauched hard-rock, metal and glam. Some stellar Blackstar users played including Steve Conte (Michael Monroe), Bonafide, Crash Diet, Kobra and the Lotus, Million Dollar Reload and Raven Vandelle. All three stages were furnished with the cream of our Series One range, which ensured the 3 day festival sounded awesome.

We had a great time and we’ll be sure to be back for next year’s bigger and better Hard Rock Hell VI!

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Guitar Idol 2011 - 13th December 2011

Guitar Idol is the world’s biggest online guitar talent competition, with past finalists and winners gaining global recording, touring and tutorial deals.

December 4th 2011 saw a six string battle for supremacy, with contestants flying in to London from all over the world to do battle for the title of Guitar Idol 2011. Blackstar have supported the competition since 2008 and provided the prize of an HT-1R valve combo for the lucky winner.

The live final was the headline event for the first Licklibrary Live show, an all-day guitar festival which featured live performances, clinics and master-classes from some of the top names in guitar playing. Budding guitarists were offered the chance to jam onstage with top Licklibrary stars Stuart Bull, Andy James, Danny Gill, Michael Caswell and Jamie Humphries.

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We have a winner - Everywhere's A Venue - 30th November 2011

Last week Barrie Walker was announced as the winner of our Everywhere’s a Venue competition. Barrie was the lucky winner of the HT Stage 100 stack which is now living in his lounge. To enter the competition guitarists sent us a photo of them using their Blackstar amp in strange and unusual places, showing that Everywhere really is a venue! We got some amazing pictures ranging from chicken-pickin’ in a field full of hens, to jamming on an air field next to a jet fighter!

Barrie’s winning picture featured him sharing his bed with his beloved HT Stage 60 combo. If that didn’t upset his girlfriend, the full stack in the lounge might!

Congratulations again to Barrie!

Keep checking our facebook page for information about new competitions.

HT-1 is the perfect recording tool for the studio - 14th November 2011

The HT-1 is the perfect recording tool for the studio. Its compact size and powerful punch make it perfect for putting real valve tone onto tape or disk. Watch our simple three step set-up guide to show how easy it is!

Watch it here:- HT-1 Recording Video

Metal Month has arrived at Blackstar HQ - 11th November 2011

Through November we’re celebrating all things metal! We have brutal Series One users Dimmu Borgir, DevilDriver and Opeth all playing dates across the UK this month so if you want destructive metal guitar tone, November has it by the bucket load.

Check our events page here for the latest tour dates.

Firefest – Nottingham Rock City - 31st October 2011

Firefest, a celebration of all things 80’s rock, came around for another year last weekend powered by Blackstar Amplification in collaboration with Classic Rock and Fireworks magazines. With the likes of Strangeways, Steve Augeri, Coney Hatch and Unruly Child playing, fans of 80s rock got the chance to see some real legends of the era perform.

Organiser Tony Marshall commented, “Firefest was an amazing weekend, all the amps were outstanding. Every single guitarist was blown away with the sound and adaptability of them. You guys have set the benchmark for design and tonal quality with your products.”

Blackstar provided, S1-100, S1-1046L6 and S1-104EL34 stacks for all the guitar backline over the weekend.

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Blackstar Presented with Queen’s Award -11th October 2011

After hearing the news that Blackstar had received the 2011 Queen’s Award For Enterprise back in April, we welcomed Lady Juliet (Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire) and Eleanor Ansell (Civic Services Manager) to the Blackstar offices to officially present us with the award. After meeting the four founding directors of Blackstar, Lady Juliet was given a tour of Blackstar HQ and introduced to the team. She took great interest talking to everyone and hearing about their roles within Blackstar.

It’s such an honour for us as a new company to receive this award. You can now find Blackstar products in more than 40 countries and there are more territories signing up all the time. This is one of the highest accolades a UK business can receive and it wouldn’t have been possible without such an amazingly talented team of people around the world all working together towards a common goal, and you the guitarists for playing Blackstar.

Congratulations team!

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HT-1R the ultimate recording tool for home or studio - 7th October 2011

Fed up of struggling to get your tone recorded? One of the easiest ways to get the full award-winning Blackstar tone onto your recording projects is to use the small but mighty HT-1R. Simply create a new track in your favourite DAW, take an instrument cable from the emulated output to your DI box or audio interface, plug your guitar into the HT-1R and hit record. Simple. The two channel, 1 Watt valve monster has all the tone of a larger amp but packed into a tiny combo. Featuring an 8” custom-voiced speaker, lusciously deep stereo reverb, our patented Infinite Shape Feature, MP3 line in and state of the art speaker emulated output, the HT-1R is the ultimate tool when recording at home or in the studio. Click here to check out Andy James putting the HT-1R to the test.

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San Diego Blues Festival returns in strong form - 30th September 2011

For the first time since 2004, the San Diego Blues Festival returned to San Diego’s oceanfront Marina Park on September 17th to bring genuine American roots music to the masses in an idyllic setting. Blackstar artist reps participated for the first time, providing amps to the main and second stages and introducing British high-gain amps to the US blues community.

The festival was launched in 1998 and was held for six years, headliners included Robert Cray, The Staple Singers and Booker T & The MG’s, before financial realities led to a seven-year hiatus. This year’s lineup included James Cotton, the Tommy Castro Band, Little Ed & The Blues Imperials, Cafe R & B, Tracy Nelson and many others spread over the multi-stage festival grounds. Los Angeles based Cafe R & B stole the show with a powerhouse main stage set led by guitarist and Blackstar endorser Byl Carruthers who coaxed searing blues tones from a Blackstar Series One 1046L6 half stack. You can check out some of Cafe R&B’s set at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_3vClzh8s and keep track of their upcoming dates at http://www.caferandb.com/.