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Supro 1812R Blues King 12 £ 599 , PRS Sonzera 20 £ 658 ,
Fender Blues Junior IV £ 609Versatile, affordable and hard to beat
9 /10 for small gigs and home practicewith lots of headroom – though when
pushed hard with the volume and tone
controls, it will eventually start to break
up at the edges. There are plenty of usable
tones here, beautifully enhanced by the
well-voiced digital reverb.
If edgier tones are what you’re after,
press the voice button (or footswitch)
and the bright green light tells us we have
selected voice two. The tone takes on
a much edgier ‘British’ character, with
added high mids helping to push the amp
into a natural overdrive slightly earlier on
the dials.
There’s a wide choice of flavours
available using both humbuckers and
single coils, and it’s particularly gratifying
to be able to access these sounds via the
two-watt setting, at what could just about
be considered bedroom levels!
Selecting the OD channel, the amber
light illuminates, and we now have access
to the gain and EQ section, really making
the most of those two ECC83s in the
preamp. Voice one offers a smoother,
slightly lower gain range (though there
really is plenty here for most applications),
which can be comprehensively shaped
via the EQ and ISF controls. There’s no
presence control, but the treble and ISF
do a pretty thorough job, so there’s plenty
of choice when shaping the high frequency
character and ‘cut’.
Selecting voice two ignites a red LED
and the gain is moderately boosted; there’s
extra high-mid detail and what Blackstar
describes as a “looser, more aggressive sound
due to reduced power amp damping”. We’d
concur, but add that in practical terms, the
net effect is very much like driving an older
valve head with an overdrive pedal in the
time-honoured style, so there’s plenty of
focus for modern metal riffs.The custom-designed
12-inch speaker
handles everything
we throw at itA pair of EL84 power
valves provides more
than enough heft for
pub and club stagesREVIEWS114