What is ISF? | Blackstar Potential Lesson

[@HooksBill]

This is a much needed improvement in Blackstar's advertising of their amps. A lot of people try to understand where Blackstar sorta fits in the amp world. I've heard many ask, "what is a Blackstar amp?" I have a Club 40 MKII and have played with the controls daily for about a year and discovered the tonal versatility is amazing. Not only in its price point, but really any price point. Thanks for the explanation. Please more videos like this.

[@LeighFugeGuitar]

Hey! Thanks for checking the video out and thank you for the kind words. I'm really glad you enjoyed my explanation of the feature. The great thing with Blackstar, as you already know, is that it can fit into any pocket you want it to! The ISF is quite a tricky feature to explain so I'm glad that this helped! Thanks again!

[@williamnolan1943]

Best amp in the world. I just dime the clean channel on the American side. It’s so fucking huge. I play blues btw.

[@pepesanchez1502]

Great explanation and the fact to consider guitar changes depending on the music style that is being explained is great to have the real sound experience. I've seen other videos where metal sounds try to be demonstrated using a telecaster. Thumbs up for this one!!

[@LeighFugeGuitar]

Hey Pepe, Thanks for the comment. I do think that's quite an important part of the amp too. The guitars you choose have a big part to play in how something sounds. I think that's quite important for showing off the characteristics of certain sounds. Our favourite guitarists sound they way they do because of the combination of a specific guitar and a specific amp. The ISF works so well with different guitar types.

[@bradleyshuppert3393]

I love my Blackstar HTII “Black and Blue” with the 6L6 black plates…. This amp changed the way I play and sound all for the better!!! One of the best amps I have ever played

[@Aiphiae]

Either my ISF was buggered during delivery or I'm doing something wrong (most likely). I barely notice a difference (if any) when using the ISF.

[@pavanpatel4150]

Same here. Even worse is that I have two Blackstar amps (HT20RH Mk II head and a Series One 50W head). The ISF barely mkes a difference on either one. I'm not hugely fussed because they're still good amps even without the ISF, but I would have liked to have an ISF that actually makes a difference

[@73prd]

Same I hear no difference lol

[@DerpRulesAll]

And this is the fifth video where people have said they don't hear a difference with the ISF. I don't own a Blackstar, but you figure you should hear a difference in the videos, and I do not.

[@aryandart2001]

Either i am tone deaf, or this is a gimmick.. i hear absolutely no difference with ISF.

[@robinjgill]

I've got a strat and single coils and an Artist 30. With the settings in the first example (2.27) there's no way I'd get any crunch all. The sound is completely clean up to 12 o'clock.

[@CarySagady]

I hear the biggest change on the Zep demo....but should the high spank be on the British side...aka Vox? Is the knob backwards? I notice IFS most on distorted signal. I have read the patent and should work better than demoed. IMHO

[@Clkysor]

This is a lot better of an explanation then in the past. I just want to know if you have your American ton at 0 fender and your high gain amp at 10 Marshall. Then how can you create a Vox like tone on this amp? The obvious answer would be buy a vox amp. But if this is black star and that’s the tone that’s in my head how do I achieve this sound?

[@LeighFugeGuitar]

Hey! Firstly, thanks for checking out the video and the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's a great question. Technically speaking, the HT20mkII is more Vox like in the British side than Marshall, but it's really more of an EQ thing there. The AC30 and the HT20 are both EL84 style amps, whereas Marshalls are typically EL34 or KT66/88. With it in the British side, you can dial in the rest of the difference with the EQ. I kept the EQ straight up the middle in this video just to give an over arch of what the ISF can do, but you can really get deeper and tweak it more. A Vox for instance would be brighter and more aggressive, so push the Treble up more, but a Marshall would have a more pronounced midrange so you could dial the Treble back a touch and push the mids. And of course with the ISF, you can dial in everything in between! Hope that helps!

[@Clkysor]

Hey, thanks for the response back, I have a HT Club 40 the first model not a Mark 2. It still has The 2x ECC83 2x EL34, so would this still get me the same tone?

[@pepesanchez1502]

I just bought my HT5R MkII! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@MALO-nf1qz]

Congrats Man, the right choice. Hope you have a lot of fun. I got HT1 mk1. Great Amp, like all Blackstar Products I tried.

[@LeighFugeGuitar]

Excellent choice! Thanks for checking the video out too man! Hope you enjoyed! Let me know how you get on with the HT5R when it arrives!

[@josephsantana3094]

I got one too amazing little amp. 5 watts through the right cab can handle small venue gigging and on the 0.5 watt setting its absolutely amazing for home use. Takes pedals really well too.

[@paulkclews]

As much as I like Blackstar Amps. This really is ‘the emperor’s new clothes’.

[@Marcelo_Mammana]

I agree. I have an id-core 10 (far from this model, I know), but I still cannot see that much of a difference. Anyway, I really love my IDCore, and probably buy an HT5 or 20 mkII as my first valve amp.

[@Morganstudios]

I have a smaller amp and there's just one knob with "EQ" written on top and "ISF" written below it. The instruction manual doesn't mention EQ at all. Is it just an ISF knob? Is there someway to use it for EQ as well?

[@Blackstaramps]

Sounds like it's the ID:Core you have here? If so, on the panel there is just a single ISF knob which will take you from a UK to US style tone. However if you connect to the Architect software you can access a full EQ and save your preferred EQ setting to the patches on the amp. Hope this helps!

[@mickavoidant4780]

I can't hear much, if anything, between US and UK settings in this walkthrough. There's a lot between them on the Fly 3.

[@classicraceruk1337]

Great explanation I will practice on mine later

[@LeighFugeGuitar]

Hey! Thank you so much for checking it out. Glad you enjoyed my explanation of the ISF. It''s such a great feature and it makes the amps so versatile!

[@stan6458]

Why isn't this feature on the blackstar amplug 2 bass?

[@korayblues865]

Thank you body....take care....

[@Blackstaramps]

Thanks!

[@minjordi8394]

I guess it doesn’t give dramatic change..

[@73prd]

I actually dont hear any difference and i own the new stage mk3