Blackstar St. James 50 EL34 50-Watt Valve Amplifier Head with Cabinet Simulation
The St. James 50 is Blackstar's lightest and most innovative head, tailor-made for studio and stage musicians who want one amp to handle DI recording, live performance and everything in between. This is the EL34 version, the more vintage-leaning of the power valve options.
- Candlenut plywood construction: reduces the weight significantly while maintaining the look and feel of a boutique amplifier.
- Two channels: from crystal cleans through vintage crunch to gut-punching grind, with channel and voicing selector switches around the front.
- EL34 power valves: fantastic for low to medium gain settings, with a vintage-tinged voice that sounds good in classic rock and heavy metal settings.
- Onboard cabinet simulation: included as standard, so DI recording does not need extra hardware.
- Power reduction: also on board, for valve tone at lower volume.
- Footswitch included: an external pedal for channel switching, with a footswitch input around the back.
The weight is the reason most people look at a St. James in the first place. The cabinet simulation and power reduction are the reasons they keep it.
Everyone from jazz box architects to 8-string sweepers will find a lot to love in the Blackstar St. James 50-watt tube head. As Blackstar's lightest and most innovative head available, it is tailor-made for studio and stage musicians seeking an all-in-one amp to handle everything from DI recording to live performance and beyond. This is the EL34 model.
Weight without compromise
St. James heads are constructed from candlenut plywood, reducing the weight significantly while maintaining the look and feel of a boutique amplifier. That matters more than it sounds on paper. A valve head you can carry up a flight of stairs in one hand is a valve head that actually leaves the house.
Two channels of range
When Blackstar set out to make the St. James series their most versatile and portable amps to date, they did not cut corners on tone. Two channels take you from glassy cleans to vintage crunch and even gut-punching grind, with channel and voicing selector switches around the front for easy toggling and a footswitch input around the back to swap channels using the included external pedal.
The EL34 voice
The EL34-equipped model is fantastic for low to medium gain settings, with a vintage-tinged voice that sounds great in classic rock and holds up in heavy metal settings too. EL34s are the classic British-voiced power valve, which lines up with the character Blackstar describes for this version.
Cabinet simulation and power reduction
The St. James comes stock with onboard cabinet simulation and power reduction. Adding features like these to a rig separately usually means extra hardware and extra cables, and having both built in is a large part of why this head works as a genuine all-in-one solution for recording and stage use alike.