Blackstar St. James 100 212 Guitar Amplifier

The Blackstar St. James 100 combo puts the 100-watt St. James tube amp in a 2x12 cabinet with two Celestion G12Z-70 Zephyr speakers. It is built for players who want a full 100-watt tube combo they can carry: Blackstar uses candlenut plywood for the cabinet and developed the Zephyr speaker with Celestion to save weight, and the combo weighs 18.9 kg. The amp has 6L6 and EL34 power tubes, four footswitchable channels, power scaling down to about 5%, and CabRig direct outputs for silent recording.

Four Channels, Two Power Tube Types

Clean takes its voicing from mid-1960s American amps, and Crunch from early-1960s British Class A amps, with a Boost switch that adds 10 dB of clean gain in front of the preamp. OD 1 combines cascaded tube overdrive with a British-style tone stack, and OD 2 adds saturation, with a Tight switch for a modern high-gain voice. The Output switch selects the 6L6 pair, the EL34 pair or all four tubes, and the Power control sets the power tube headroom anywhere from full output down to about 5%, so the amp keeps its power tube feel at low volume.

Silent Recording and Control

Setting the standby switch to Silent sends the power amp into the internal reactive load and disconnects the speaker outputs. The CabRig speaker simulator then feeds the balanced XLR output, the stereo 1/4" line and headphone output and the USB-C audio output, with three CabRig settings stored on the amp and deeper editing in Blackstar's Architect software. The included FS-23 six-way footswitch selects the four channels, the Boost and Tight voices, the solo boost and the reverb, and MIDI In and Thru give a MIDI switcher the same control. The effects loop switches between series and parallel and between +4 dBu and -10 dBV, and the mains input accepts 100 V to 240 V, so the amp runs anywhere without adjustment.

Features

• 100 W tube combo with 2 x 12" Celestion G12Z-70 Zephyr speakers
• 3 x ECC83 preamp tubes, 2 x 6L6 and 2 x EL34 power tubes
• Output switch for the 6L6 pair, the EL34 pair or all four tubes
• Power control, continuously variable from full power down to about 5%
• Four channels: Clean, Crunch with Boost, OD 1, and OD 2 with Tight
• Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence and Reverb for the Clean/Crunch pair and for the OD pair
• Footswitchable solo boost, adjustable from +2 dB to +6 dB
• Built-in reactive load with Silent standby mode
• CabRig IR-based speaker simulator with three stored settings, editable in Architect
• Balanced XLR D.I., stereo 1/4" line/headphone output and USB-C audio
• Effects loop with series/parallel and +4 dBu/-10 dBV switches
• Three-position Cut switch for the 10 kHz to 20 kHz band at the speaker outputs
• MIDI In and Thru
• FS-23 six-way footswitch included, plus a TRS jack for a 2-way latching footswitch
• Universal power supply, 100 V to 240 V, 50/60 Hz
• Extension output for one 16 ohm cabinet alongside the internal speakers
• Illuminated front logo

Specifications

• Power: 100 W RMS
• Preamp tubes: 3 x ECC83
• Power tubes: 2 x 6L6, 2 x EL34
• Channels: 4 (Clean, Crunch, OD 1, OD 2), 6 footswitchable voices
• Speakers: 2 x 12" Celestion G12Z-70 Zephyr, 16 ohm load
• Extension cabinet: One 16 ohm cabinet alongside the internal speakers
• Direct outputs: CabRig balanced XLR, stereo 1/4" TRS line/headphones, USB-C audio
• Effects loop: Series or parallel, +4 dBu or -10 dBV
• Footswitch: FS-23 six-way (included, connects with an XLR cable), 2-way TRS jack
• MIDI: 5-pin DIN In and Thru
• Mains: 100 V to 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 681 x 528 x 259 mm (26.8 x 20.8 x 10.2 in)
• Weight: 18.9 kg (41.7 lb)