The transparency of this pedal means that it's easy to dial in practically any sound you want to hear from early Townshend-era power chords to Gary Moore's endless sustain, and all with total authenticity. We tried Blackstar's HT Dual, which incorporates a two-stage switchable overdrive and a bypass, effectively turning the A100 into a modern fire-breathing three-channel monster. Or you can use the voice switch to raise headroom for a fabulous clean sound and then add your choice of pedal for distortion. With a decent humbucker-powered guitar and the voice switch on its highest gain setting, the A100 can be pushed into a powerful crunch at levels that shouldn't overpower an averagely loud band. This isn't necessarily a good thing if your playing style is sloppy, but if you tighten up left and right hand fingering and hit every note with conviction you'll really get your point across. If you swap to the Fender-voiced Channel 2, every nuance of your playing is reproduced with stunning clarity. Using a Strat fitted with standard, medium-output single-coils, this is something that's immediately evident - all the highs are there, but even at serious power levels the A100 doesn't separate your fillings from your teeth.Īnd we mean serious: with transformers big enough to power a small village let alone a guitar amp, the A100 is blessed with gargantuan headroom. SoundsĪs we mentioned above, the A100's Channel 1 is voiced to be a 'ready-jumpered' 'Plexi' and delivers a perfectly balanced tone that's neither too shrill nor too fat, with none of the high frequency garbage that afflicts many amps of this type. ![]() ![]() Attention to detail is evident and it's clear to us that Blackstar's Korean factory staff love building these amps. Overall, the build standard is quite exceptional at this price point. In keeping with the traditional design, features like effects loops, boost switches or headphone sockets are noticeable by their absence - like other amps in the Artisan range, the A100 is very much one for the purist. On the rear panel, you'll find a pair of loudspeaker jacks and an impedance changer. These feed a standard three-band EQ, which is followed by a four-position voice switch and a presence control. ![]() There are two channels, each with a pair of high and low sensitivity inputs and separate volume controls. The A100 is very much a traditional valve design and at first glance follows the standard 'Plexi' control layout quite closely. However, on the A100 every single solder joint is perfect, with the wires carefully bundled, twisted and pushed into the chassis corners to minimise hum. The standard of soldering and wiring is as close to perfection as we've ever seen - on most amps like this you can tell at which point the soldering started and finished by how neat it is. The capacitors, resistors and diodes that make up the A100's circuit are soldered to these posts, with a fair amount of wiring connecting the front and rear panel controls, and of course the valves.
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