Blackstar AMPED 1

AMPED 1 Design Philosophy
We had two main goals in designing the AMPED 1.

First, to produce a 100W, no compromise, pedal platform floorboard rig capable of delivering the toneand feel of traditional valve amps. Countless hours went into the development of the sonics culminatingin a complete, from the ground up, redesign of our digital signal processing. The voices and responsescontained within AMPED 1 are both the most authentic replications of their analogue counterparts andthe most refined that we have ever crafted in a digital product.

Secondly, to offer the ultimate companion for any amp modeller or profiler. With an AMPED 1, any linelevel guitar amp signal can be imbued with 100W of power, providing the flexibility to go straight into astandard guitar cab, to front of house or directly into a DAW. The structure of the AMPED 1 caters foras much or as little tone shaping as desired, using the Flat voice with the standard power valveresponses or in combination with the Linear response for totally transparent power amplification.AMPED 1 provides the opportunity to experience any modeller, profiler, preamp pedal at its absolutebest.

As has been the design philosophy of Blackstar from the beginning, these products have been designedby referencing the sounds of traditional and modern valve guitar amps, but we are not enslaved by olddogmas with regard to emulating the actual components and topologies used. We applyuncompromising care and attention to every sonic and electrical detail to get the sound andperformance that we want and modern players expect.

Cab Rig
AMPED 1 includes our new and exclusive state-of-the-art Cab Rig software. Connecting via USB to acomputer enables the user to alter and fine tune many elements of the built-in DSP based presets forspeaker/cabinet/microphone/room emulation.

Front Panel Features
USA Voice:
The gain structure and sonics of this voice have been inspired by classic American amplifiers of themid ’60s. It is very clean and bright but with a solid low-end and controlled mids.Also, on this voice the power valve responses are set to be tight and relatively clean and linear acrossthe frequency range. This is one of the most popular choices for a ‘pedal platform’ as it provides a solidclean foundation to apply effects to.

UK Voice:
The UK voice emulates a ‘classic’ valve/tube preamp topology based on a much loved British ‘class A’amplifier of the early ’60s. This is a low to medium gain preamp that can beused clean, warm or mildly overdriven. This voice also features a hybrid MIDDLE control; below halfwaythe MIDDLE control will interact with the BASS and TREBLE controls, as per a typical tone stack, butabove halfway the MIDDLE control will transition into an active mid boost. Again, this is a very popularchoice for a ‘pedal platform’ as well as for a great responsive crunch tone. When this channel isselected the power valve responses are set as ‘open-loop’. This has a looser feel with a resonant bottomend and lively highs.

FLAT Voice:
This voice is intended for use with typical amp modellers. Using this voice will bypass all gain structurestypically used in guitar amp channels and provide a linear and extremely high headroom voice to avoidunwanted colouration of your tone. The typical tone stack will also be bypassed and instead the BASS,MIDDLE and TREBLE knobs will control a semi-parametric EQ to allow for gentle tone shaping. With theknobs at 12 o’clock this EQ will be totally transparent.

The semi-parametric EQ is set-up as below:
BASS: Low shelf at 300Hz +/- 10dB
MIDDLE: Peak filter at 800Hz +/- 10dB
TREBLE: High shelf at 1KHz +/- 10dB

Responses
The Response control delivers five distinctly different and authentic power valve responses - KT88, 6L6,EL34, 6V6, EL84. Each setting delivers the response, dynamics, sag and break-up characteristics of theselected valve power amp. The Linear response offers transparent power amplification, use incombination with the FLAT voice when pairing your AMPED 1 with an external amp modeller with itsown power valve emulation.Blackstar’s power valve responses change the characteristics of the sound from dynamic and tight tocompressed and spongy.

• KT88 - Tight, bold and dynamic Class A/B with strong low end
• 6L6 - Tight dynamic Class A/B with extended high and lows
• EL34 - Classic British Class A/B full bodied crunch with focussed mids
• 6V6 - Crisp Class A with high compression and tight mids
• EL84 - Bell-like full bodied Class A with lots of compression and soft break-up
• Linear – Transparent and high headroom

As you move from KT88 to EL84 the amount of compression and overdrive available from each valveresponse is increased.

Reverb
The reverb type, time and tone can be customised using Blackstar’s Architect deep-editing software andsaved to the AMPED 1 in place of the default reverb.When the Reverb is active, holding the Reverb footswitch will activate the ‘Freeze’ effect. Whilst theReverb footswitch is held down and the ‘Freeze’ effect is active, the Reverb will decay over a muchlonger period of time, achieving a synth-pad-like effect. Playing into the Reverb will add to the ‘Freeze’.

Preset
You can recall the stored Preset with this footswitch. When you activate this switch, the LED above thefootswitch will light up and the settings stored in the Preset will be applied, overwriting the physicalstate of the controls. Deactivating the Preset will revert the settings to the physical state of the controls.Holding the Preset footswitch for 2 seconds will store the current settings to the Preset. The RecallIndicator and Preset LEDs will flash to confirm a successful save.

Rear and Side Panel Features
Cab Rig Switch and Level ControlThe Cab Rig switch selects between the three currently stored Cab Rig patches. The three factorypatches are completely customisable using the Cab Rig section of Blackstar’s Architect software (moreinformation in the Cab Rig section below), which also offers additional Blackstar presets and almostlimitless further options and permutations.

This control allows quick access, physical control over the XLR, Line Out and USB audio Channel 3output level. At maximum (fully clockwise), this control has no effect on the signal level. At minimum(fully anti-clockwise), this control attenuates the signal on these outputs by 20dB.

USB Audio - Cab Rig Output
This USB type C socket is used for USB audio and connecting to the Blackstar Architect software app.The audio output via USB from your amplifier directly to your computer is carried across fourindependent, simultaneous channels:

• Channel 1: Cab Rig, left channel – The fully processed guitar sound, with power amp andspeaker cabinet emulation. This will include the left channel of the Cab Rig Room. This signal is taken from after the Master volume control.
• Channel 2: Cab Rig, right channel – The fully processed guitar sound, with power amp and speaker cabinet emulation. This will include the right channel of the Cab Rig Room. This signal is taken from after the Master volume control.
• Channel 3: Preamp output – The sound of the preamp voices and EQ stages, taken before the reverb and without any speaker or cabinet emulation. Ideal for use with your own effects and power amp/cabinet emulation plugins within your recording software/DAW. This signal is not affected by the Master volume control or any controls within Cab Rig, but it can be attenuated by up to 20dB using the Cab Rig Outputs ‘Level’ control on the side panel.
• Channel 4: Unprocessed dry guitar signal – This is the direct signal from your guitar as received by the input stage of the amp. This signal is ideal for reamping. This signal is not affected by any of the amplifier’s controls.

Your AMPED pedal can also receive audio input from your computer:
• Channel 1: Line input, left channel – Used for audio monitoring or backing track playback via the XLR and Line Out Cab Rig outputs.
• Channel 2: Line input, right channel – Used for audio monitoring or backing track playback via the Balanced XLR and Line Out Cab Rig outputs.

Mono Balanced XLR – Cab Rig Output
This output is for using an industry standard 3 pin XLR cable for connection to a recording device, stagebox or mixing desk. This provides a low noise, low impedance, quality connection for recording or live use.

The signal from this output is the fully processed guitar sound, with power amp and speaker cabinetemulation through Cab Rig with the left and right channels summed to mono. This signal is taken fromafter the Master volume control.

This signal can also be attenuated by up to 20dB using the Cab Rig Outputs ‘Level’ control. The stereoline input signal via USB will also be affected by the Level control.

Stereo Line Out – Cab Rig Output
This ¼" TRS jack socket provides a stereo connection to connect to a recording device or mixing desk.This output can also be used to connect headphones for silent practice.

The signal from this output is the fully processed guitar sound, with power amp and speaker cabinetemulation through Cab Rig. This signal is stereo and taken from after the Master volume control.

This signal can also be attenuated by up to 20dB using the Cab Rig Outputs ‘Level’ control. The stereoLine input signal via USB will also be affected by the Level control.

Mono Effects Loop
The AMPED 1 uses a single TRS socket for the integrated effects loop. The supplied y-splitter cable willseparate the send and return.Using Blackstar Architect the effects loop can be set in series or parallel and pre or post the onboardreverb. When the effects loop is set to parallel there is also control over the return level withinArchitect.

MIDI In
Voice switching, tone controls, response selection etc. can be controlled entirely via MIDI. The defaultfor receiving MIDI messages via the MIDI In is set to channel 1. The MIDI channel can be changedusing Blackstar’s Architect software.

DC Pedal Power
The AMPED 1 features two 9V pedal power sockets to power external effects pedals. The totalmaximum combined current draw for these power sockets is 500mA. For example, two pedals drawing250mA or one pedal drawing 100mA and another drawing 400mA.

Electronic Design and Construction
Dual Gain Control
To ensure that the AMPED 1 can function optimally as both a traditional guitar amplifier and also as acompanion power amp for amp modellers, the AMPED 1 features a dual analogue/digital input gainstage. The gain control on the AMPED 1 simultaneously adjusts the analogue gain of the input stageand parameters within DSP and to achieve optimal levels for both instrument and line level inputsignals.

Reactive Class D Power Amp
The AMPED 1 features bleeding edge power amp design meaning that it reacts to the connectedspeaker cabinet, just like a traditional valve amp. The loose-coupling effect between a traditional valveamp’s output transformer and a connected speaker cabinet is achieved within AMPED 1 using currentfeedback, enhanced with masterful DSP engineering. The result is an incredibly authentic sound, withall of the subtleties of tone and feel experienced when playing through a real valve amp.

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