Valve guitar amplifiers are portable if you only need a few watts for home practice, however if you want an amp to take around the world and play on any size of stage, it needs to be bigger and that means heavier – often a lot heavier. We’ve grown used to this over the years, however, let’s be honest, bulky 4x12 cabinets and 30kg-plus combos are only fun to use if someone else carries them around for you. Does it have to be that way today? Blackstar think not and they’ve just announced a new range claimed to be the world’s lightest 50-watt all-valve amplifiers. Meet the St. James. Named for the district that’s the heart of Northampton, Blackstar Amplification’s home town, the St. James amps are available in two distinctly different flavours: a medium gain preamp with an EL34-based output stage that’s inspired by classic British designs
